thekua.com@rest – Page 58

First Celeb Spot

July 16, 2007 Patrick UK Life

Seeing as Jaimee hasn’t updated for sometime, I thought I’d better write about our little outing on Sunday. After a brief SMS conversation with Ben, I ended up heading out to a picnic on Sunday in Green Park to welcome Dave back into the country.

The picnic started out very promising with enough blue patches to keep us hopeful for the rest of the afternoon. Shortly after 2pm, a light shower saw us head for the trees at which point, the very perceptive though not as discrete Jaimee shouted out “It’s Joshua Jackson“, who is best known for his role, in my generation, as Pacey from Dawson’s creek. He and a female companion were walking down the centre of the park while the rest of us sheltered between our shared brollies.

I’ve probably walked by a few celebrities by now (especially considering how many C and D level celebrities exist in England) though I never really seem to notice them. Oh well, first official spot (even if it was by someone else). Thanks Jaimee!

Exposed to iPhone-mania

July 15, 2007 Patrick General, Shopping

Last night I had a few people around at my flat for a bit of a catch up. Mike, currently visiting from over in the States, who’d recently bought an iPhone fortunately had it with him so we all got a little hands on sneak preview. Strangely he’s had to take the sim card out since they can’t disable global roaming at the moment and would cause his bill to sky rocket.

The iPhone looked a lot smaller than I imagined it would be, approximately the same size as the current standard iPod. The interface is simple, with a single button at the bottom and everything else controlled via either motion or touch sensors. Its interface is, for the most part, very intuitive. For example, unlocking the phone simply requires a finger drag from left to right across the “lock” icon displayed on the screen. Predictive text input is much more advanced, context sensitive if you’re web browsing or texting and autocorrecting based on the letters in the vicinity (and not just the buttons you pushed).

My most favourite bit was definitely when you put the phone into iPod mode. Turning the phone on its side turns it into a visual display of all the albums where you can flip through each and every one that’s currently on your phone. A flick of the finger moves either left or right, and a longer drag results in a much faster way of going through them all. Visually very satisfying!

I can’t say that I’m going to convert any time soon considering I’m pretty happy with my current phone and can’t really justify the premium.

Soho Pizzeria

July 13, 2007 Patrick Food, Restaurants, UK Life

If you want something fast and relatively affordable, then perhaps Soho Pizzeria is for you. A West End Italian restaurant that apparently is popular with lots of locals, this venue also offers live music (lots of Jazz) on most nights of the week. Pizza and pasta offerings are fairly average, though with prices starting at just over a fiver and most other dishes well below eight quid there’s not too much to complain about.

They offer an extensive wine list although be warned it’s obvious they must must quiet a bit from the non-alcoholic drinks (£1.75 for a 250mL juice!). Being an Italian restaurant, this restaurant also offers a decent range of desserts including Tiramisu and a rather disappointing frozen block of Cassata.

Details: Soho Pizzeria
Found on: 16-18 Beak Street, London W1F 9RD
Contactable on: 020 7434 2480
Highlights: Lots of dining table, cheap pizza and pasta and live music on most days of the week.
Room for improvement: Food generally was so-so and drinks are well overpriced.
The Kua Rating: 6 out of 10

Oxegen 2007

July 12, 2007 Patrick Music, Travel, UK Life

What: Oxegen, rock music festival
When: July 7 – July 8, 2007
Where: Punchestown Racecourse, Ireland

Highlights
I enjoyed Saturday’s line-up the most with an amazing set by Muse finishing at 2am and a stunning light show. A very modest Snow Patrol also performed a very enjoyable set just before them. Pigeon Detective’s lead singer made quite a show when asked to have mud thrown at him and a never-ending supply streamed towards him throughout their entire set.

Other bands we managed to see on Saturday included The Rumblestripes, The View, The Maccabees, The Goo Goo Dolls, The Gossip, The Fratellis, Kings of Leon, and Maximo Park.

I found Sunday’s headliners, The Killers, slightly disappointing with a relatively quiet performance and regretfully missed an amazing light show by Daft Punk on the other stage. Highlights of Sunday must go to the Klaxons who performed a much heavier than expected set and the energetic bouncing Scotsman, Calvin Harris. Thankfully we got around to seeing all the people we wanted to see, even if it was in very small doses including Razorlight, Babyshambles, Arcade Fire, The Kooks, Bloc Party, CSS, James Morrison, The Thrills, Jason Mraz, Unklejam and Bright Eyes.

I particularly appreciated the food options available that went much further than your typical burger and chips with stalls serving food such as hog roast rolls, falafels, fresh salads, crepes, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, paella and Italian food though most meals cost between €7-€10

Lowlights
I went completely unprepared bringing only a pair of old trainers only to swap them very quickly for some new wellies. It didn’t seem like I was the only one at least. Thankfully my raincoat kept the rest of me relatively dry for the most part. By Sunday almost everywhere you stepped was at least ankle-deep pools of mud or muddy water. Getting back to Dublin on Sunday night post-festival almost ended up in disaster when the organised Dublin bus system completely broke down and people started stampeding their way onto any available bus. I’m amazed no one got crushed.

Overall it was still quite a great experience, as tiring and exhausting and as dirty as it got. Plenty worth it for the number of bands we got to see and the fun and friendly atmosphere. See the rest of the photos that turned out here.

Enough H2O at Oxegen

July 10, 2007 Patrick Music, Travel, UK Life

Festivals over here mean something plenty different to the ones back home. Chances are you’ll skip the sweltering heat to be replaced by lots of rain and what follows… plenty of mud. After just getting back from Ireland (about half an hour ago), to attend Oxegen I assure you we were in no short supply of all that brown stuff. More to come in a day or two.

Eating at Inaho

July 3, 2007 Patrick Bayswater, Food, Restaurants, UK Life

It’s only about six attempts later but on Thursday I finally managed to have a meal at Japanese restaurant Inaho. When I used to live in Bayswater, I had several, obviously, failed attempts at dining at this place. It seemed so innocent – a very small restaurant, painted blue on the outside yet seemingly very popular when open. It’s definitely not open on Sunday, and only open Saturday evenings and I definitely recommend booking for dinner especially then. I’d probably even book for dinner during the week just to make sure.

To say the place is small is very generous – the restaurant only contains about eight or ten tables of which the majority only seat two people. Even still the tables that are inside sit very closely to each other, maybe at most ten centimetres apart. It feels almost canteen-like Wagamama style but not quite there.

Their menu offering seems quite broad and similar to the more authentic Japanese restaurants in London. Their menu includes a decent selection of sushi, as well as a small number of dishes such as udon, soba and Japanese salad. We ended up having my favourite unagi sushi, that tasted extremely fresh. The tender eel flesh was moist and just warmed through with just enough sauce to balance it out. We also tried the teriyaki chicken, some udon and kara-age (Japanese fried chicken) that all went down very easily. You do have to pay extra for rice as many of the main dishes do not come automatically with it.

Unlike many reviews I read, our waitress spoke excellent English and although service wasn’t forth-coming, we didn’t really have any problems ordering or getting the bill. I’m not sure if I would make a cross town trip just to have Japanese at this place, but I would definitely eat there again if I was in the area.

Details: Inaho
Found on: 4 Hereford Road, London, W2 4AA
Contactable on: 0871 3327807
Highlights: Tasty Japanese food. It feels like a very friendly atmosphere and I can probably guess it is still family-run.
Room for improvement: Need to really plan ahead. The small handful of tables together with the tiny space mean that you end up quite intimate with a number of other diners.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10

Tripping Around Italy

July 2, 2007 Patrick Travel

Besides the rather intense week of the conference in Como, I still managed to visit a number of towns nearby including Milan, Lecco and Bergamo.

Milan
Milan, the fashion capital of Italy is a surprising little city. The public transport is fantastic with the options of buses, trams, trains and the underground easily getting you around. Equipped with a decent map and a decent understanding of how piazzas and streets connect, the city is also very pedestrian friendly. One thing I learned very quickly is that pedestrians don’t have the right of way and even the footpath does not keep you safe from the bikes and mopeds that drive right up and around you.

We visited the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II where many of the high brand fashion stores are and situated next to the Piazza del Duomo, a huge cathedral towering over everything. We had planned to go see the Last Supper painting and ended up disappointed since we hadn’t booked in advance and apparently is constantly sold out – so plan ahead! We also walked around the huge park in the centre of the city (Parco Sempione) and I even managed to see the European Athletics Championship in the Milan Stadium located to the side of the park on my last Saturday in town.

Navigli is the area around the river in the southern bit of Milan. It’s definitely less formal, more alternative and very student focused compared to other parts of Milan. It has plenty of bars and cafes that are extremely busy at least on a Saturday night. Market stalls also line the river side and is quite a great place to walk around. This area was particularly great in the summer time since all the tables are out and everyone is enjoying the late evenings.

I can’t say that I had very memorable food even though all the food was quite nice. We ate at a few places that the Lonely Planet recommended for traditional but I really can’t say you’d be too wrong going to other places. If you’re near the Cadorna Train Station, definitely drop into Chocolat Milano at Via Boccaccio 9 for at least a gelati if not a cake or a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

Lecco
We ended up in Lecco purely by mistake after trying to catch the train to Bergamo. Though we ended up detoured for a couple of hours, I think it was definitely worth the trip as the train weaves its way over and past a number of rivers and descends upon the town and its lakeside. I can’t say there seemed to be much to do in Lecco other than walk around and relax, and a visit to the lake is definitely in order since its so peaceful.

Bergamo
Even though Bergamo is almost an hour-long train ride out of Milan it’s definitely a city worth the journey. The city is spilt into effectively two parts with most of the commercial and residential bits in the lower city. From the train station you can either catch a bus or take a generous stroll along the city’s main road to the bottom of the first of two funiculars.

The first funicular takes you to the stunning upper city – a medieval looking city filled with pedestrian-only piazzas, cobble stone streets and plenty of cafes and restaurants to sit and people watch all day. Of course there is the obligatory large church and the number of gelati, deli and coffee bars dotted along all the paths. We were lucky enough to be able to indulge in the fantastically sunny weather and lounge around one of the outdoor cafes.

Como
The final city and the one I spent the most time in, Como is actually part of the greater lakes district of Italy. The lake stretches out in an extremely long fashion though it’s not that wide and you always get a view of the other shore from one side. Ferries or sailing boats take you around from city to city, although even the fast ferry takes a while to get from one town to the next.

One of the newer Star Wars films (when they return to Naboo) had been shot at Como, with the lake side scenery so beautiful that it only ended up slightly touched up instead of being fully digitised. Standing upon the shore and walking around, you can easily see why it was picked as a great spot. Bellagio – another lake side city is a must visit if you end up in Como and is great for wandering up and down the little side streets and hills. Some great places to eat in Como include Ristorante Pizzeria Pepe Nero for thin crispy based pizzas (Via Boldoni 26), Il Pomodorino (Via 5 Giornate 62/b) for more traditional Italian dishes and the restaurant in the Albergo Sociale Nero.

A Sunny Weekend in Alghero, Sardinia

June 30, 2007 Patrick Travel

The last few weeks seemed to have run away with me. If not busy with work, it’s been preparation for the conference (XP2007), or actually spending time at the conference itself, though I’ve at least still had a chance to fit sessions in at the gym before work and have myself a little bit of a rest.

I also managed to escape for a weekend before this all started and ended up in Alghero, part of the Sardinian islands in Italy. My weekend started especially early with my flight out of Stansted at the almost unbearable time of 6:30am. Of course this actually meant about three hours sleep on Friday night before leaving to catch a bus from Liverpool street since no trains or underground run at that time.

Arriving at the airport was quite a sight, with pretty much all chairs covered with people sprawled uncomfortably, all waiting for their early morning flights. It looked like many people had camped as well, taking their sleeping bags to the airport for comfort. 5am rocks around and staff starts waking everyone to get the airport moving again – I certainly felt sorry for many people who looked like they needed the sleep more than I did.

The flight was relatively painless, and getting to the city was very easy. You buy a bus ticket from a dilapidated looking machine for €0.90 and it’s easy to see the bus heading into town since everyone else seemed to be waiting for it. It drives right along the coastline, on its way to the middle of town giving you a magnificent idea of what the beaches and harbour offer.

There is not a terrible amount to do in Alghero though what they have was exactly what I needed. Upon arriving we walked briefly through the old town before catching a cruise out to the Caves of Nettuno or Neptune’s Caves. These deep marine caves found on Cape Caccia offer walkways through well-lit caverns where stunning stalactites and stalagmites reach out all around you in an eerily quiet setting. I highly recommend taking the cruise instead of the bus to the Cape because what can really beat sitting on a good sized boat, soaking up the sun and enjoying the azure blue ocean and sea spray in the air?

Alghero offers many different experiences for food, though be aware that most places shut down between 3 and 6 for a rest before starting up again. It’s safe to say it’s hard to go wrong at many places, with fresh seafood available on almost every menu. We read about the restaurant Paco (7, Largo San Francesco) before arriving and enjoyed the food and service offerings. It seemed to be popular with locals and tourists alike, offering outdoor and indoor dining and many traditional dishes. Look out for these other local foods: Mirto – a very uniquely flavoured liqueur, Limoncello – lemon based liqueur though more Italian than exclusively Sardinian, Pecorino – a hard cheese made from sheep’s milk, Dolci sardi – collections of small sweet biscuits and pastries. A weekend is definitely not enough to try all the local cuisine and unfortunately we didn’t get around to trying things like Seadas (deep fried honey cheese pastries), suckling pig, and pork with mirto.

Other than walking around the old town, Alghero offers some very nice beaches, with sand almost as fine as the Gold Coast but with many more facilities and activities. Deckchairs line the coastline, and paddle boats can be hired or indulge yourself at any of the cafes and bars that line the beach.

My weekend in Alghero didn’t end up as expensive as I thought it would have, given that it’s apparently a popular destination for wealthy Italians, and a much needed relaxing one at that. Check out more photos here.