BBQ at Bodean’s

Patrick Restaurants, UK Life

London is one of those places where I would not expect to find any BBQ cooking, not withstanding any of those American chains that serve an average affair. After a bit of research I uncovered a few little gems and so, this weekend, I went to Bodean’s BBQ in Soho for lunch.

As you walk in the door, their ground floor does not appear like your typical London restaurant, with the long tables surrounded by rotating high chairs and retro diner-like decorations making it feel like a casual American diner. Downstairs holds more table seating and they serve food with proper table services, opposed to the cafeteria and take away style upstairs. A number of TVs show American basketball and NHL most days and the rest of the décor, though not fancy, is extremely well suited for this place.

The food on offer is what you would expect for a BBQ smoke house restaurant including BBQ baby back ribs, pork spare ribs, beef back ribs, BBQ chicken, Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Pulled Pork and Beef Brisket. They also serve a number of other American foods like Buffalo Wings and Clam Chowder. I ordered the half slab of baby back ribs that were both deliciously tender and quite filling. The best thing about this restaurant is their own brand of hickory smoked BBQ sauce, with each table equipped with at least one bottle for easy access.

Details: Bodean’s BBQ Smoke House
Found on: 10 Poland Street/16 D’Arblay Street, London, W1F 8PZ (Soho) and 169 Clapham High Street, London, SW4 7SS (Clapham)
Contactable on: 020 287 0506 (Soho) 020 7622 4248 (Clapham)
Highlights: Good place for American ribs and their distinctly branded BBQ sauce
The Kua Rating: 7.5 out of 10

The Academy, Notting Hill

Patrick Restaurants, UK Life

Gastropubs have become one of the more popular places to eat in London, with an emphasis on high quality ingredients presented in a distinctive manner but typically served at finer restaurants. London has an abundance of these dining places, a reflection on the importance that both good food and the pub culture have to the city. It was only fair that, when our fellow Australians (and honourary US residents) Gerrod and Kristy visited us, we take them to experience a reasonable one, and so we had dinner at The Academy, a gastropub nestled in the streets of Notting Hill.

The Academy is not overly large, decorated more to be a restaurant than your typical London pub. It has a small room out back with tables and a long but rather narrow bar out front, accompanied by a roaring fireplace at the entrance. The quality of food was exceptional and the price of the main meals (ranging from £8-£12) was reasonable for the food on offer. Desserts are comparatively more expensive, with many of them almost half to a third of a main, but is worth it if you are feeling indulgent.

A consequence of its reasonable prices and excellent menu offerings is that the people who dine at this place are a little more silver-lined and sedate, but also reassured me that the visit was worthwhile. The only downside to this gastropub is that it does not prohibit smoking in their dining room, meaning you might have an awful night depending on who your neighbours for the night are.

Details: The Academy
Found on: 57 Princedale Road, Notting Hill, W11 4NP
Contactable on: 020 7221 0248
Highlights: Excellent food at reasonable prices in a little bit of a classier atmosphere than your typical pub.
Room for improvement: Could have a separate area for non-smokers and beer prices were a little more expensive than your average pub.
The Kua Rating: 8 out of 10

Blue Man Group

Patrick Theatre, UK Life

Last night I went to see the Blue Man Group (BMG) at the New London Theatre. I find it very difficult to describe the show the BMG puts on other than very original. The show, best categorised as performance art more than theatre, is composed of a series of skits and musical performances that are richly visual involving various types of mime, percussion and illusion. At the centre of each of the skits are three men covered in blue-coloured masks. Their generally expressionless faces would easily be recognised by most people since they fetured in a number of Intel ads several years ago.

Throughout the show I was either laughing or just simply stunned by the visual richness each skit contained. The show is not cheap at £40 but is something that no one else is capable of executing as well as them.

TheKua Rating: 9 out of 10.

Saturday Morning Surprise

Patrick UK Life

Breakfast with a twist

This morning I got up relatively early for a Saturday in order to meet some Australian friends, Gerrod and Kristy from their intercontinental haul from New York. This was all part of a grand scheme to surprise their good friends, Ben and Michelle who had not seen them for some time and had no idea they were coming.

Karl had convinced both Ben and Michelle to meet the gang for breakfast at Raoul’s in Notting Hill. I was going to meet them there, and unbeknownst to them I was going to arrive with a couple of additional guests.

I first walked in, and then seconds later Gerrod and Kristy followed and the stunned look on Ben and Michelle’s faces said it all. All in all it was completely worth the early morning and the fun weekend that would follow.

Oriental Delight at Queen Elizabeth Hall

Patrick Entertainment, UK Life

Last night my sister and I went to see the Chinese State Circus and the Shaolin Wushu Monks at London’s Southbank. The Chinese Circus is unlike any other circus act you may have seen. Though it has nothing like the drama of Cirque du Soleil, the use of the Monkey King as the narrator for the entire show was effective in presenting all the different acts to the audience made up of the very young to the very old.

Though many of the circus acts when you list them appear standard such as acrobatics, juggling, contortion and tightrope, there is just so much more to the way that the Chinese State Cirucs managed to execute them. There was an elegant lady with long sleeves that was also used to throw daggers to pop balloons with precision, clay pot jugglers that performed some amazing balancing and juggling feats with heavy pots, a traditional dragon dance that was visually spectacular, and a lady that effectively become a human candelabra balancing five sets of lit candles all whilst rolling around on the ground in different ways. There was amazing hoop diving, fantastic tightrope walking/running/skipping/jumping not to mention the stunning feats of the Shaolin Wushu warriors.

It is an entertaining show that I think everyone of all ages could easily enjoy.
The Kua Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Fatboy Slim @ The Brixton Academy

Patrick Music, UK Life

Fatboy Slim at Brixton AcademyDespite being severely tired from the weekend’s activity and the week just gone, I still managed to attend yet another gig last night to see Fatboy Slim do what he does best at the Brixton Academy. This has been the third time I’ve been to the Academy, and not having bought the tickets, was surprised to be at the gallery level which is the unreserved seating section. Although this was one of the gigs where most people would not be seated for the majority of the gig, I was in away pleased to be away from the heaving body to body mass that was the entire ground level because I knew I just didn’t have the energy reserves for the entire night to make the most of it. There are other downsides to being upstairs (i.e. smoke heads towards the ceiling) but it did not damper any ability to enjoy the show of brilliantly mixed songs and the spectacular screen shows.

Fatboy Slim came on just after half past twelve and played a set that lasted until just after 3am. His decks were elevated to float in the middle of the stage, and were surrounded by panels on all sides including behind him. It was an extremely effective way for him to be a central focal point for the night even whilst giant smiley-faced yellow balloons bounced around the crowd and a small chorus of showgirls pranced around on stage for a while. It was yet another great evening out with a great bunch of people to watch yet another great artist.

Coldplay @ Earl’s Court

Patrick Music, UK Life

Coldplay @ Earl's Court LondonI just got back home after heading out tonight to witness Coldplay deliver another warmly received performance at Earl’s Court tonight and just had to write up my review. Earl’s Court is an interesting place to hold any concert, with the massive exhibition hall being turned into an area with standing and seating room, by our estimate, to hold about ten or fifteen thousand people. Our seat was up there but not quite in the nosebleed section and although we had to sit at an angle, still had a decent view of the band and screens.

Coldplay’s support act was Richard Ashcroft, from The Verve, and who I had just seen as a guest performer at Monday’s gig. I remember the band The Verve only by two songs, The Drugs Don’t Work, and Bitter Sweet Symphony, both of which were played in addition to a number of his own ones. His fifty minute act was pretty good, but was definitely shadowed by the stunning performance of Coldplay.

It only took about a half hour for them to reset the stage, which Coldplay quickly stormed with a string of their biggest songs including Square One (the opener from their new album), Yellow, Politik and the Speed of Sound. Each song had obviously been well choreographed with amazing visuals that complemented the mood for each song, with pulsating coloured squares, giant yellow balls bouncing around the crowd, and the lights that projected what looked like a star system around the hall into the entire crowd.

The set was a great mix of a lot of their new songs, a lot of their old songs and a number of tribute songs all of which the crowd evidently enjoyed as they sang along. The entire set, including encore was a decent length with a total of almost two hours of solid quality music.

By the end of the show, everyone was standing up in their seats demanding more. Though starting off on a slight mistake, Coldplay soon satiated this hunger by playing three mores songs including Shiver, In My Place and the hauntingly skin-crawling lyrics and melodies of Fix You from their latest album. It is a concert that will be memorable for some time to come and I can now thoroughly recommend you see Coldplay if you ever get the chance.