Author Archives: Grace

Oliver!

Posted on by

It has been a long time since saw the original movie or even read the original Dickens’ tale but I did not expect Oliver! The Musical to be as dark or as adult as what I saw tonight. There were some extremely mature themes in tonight’s performance which makes me question how any parent could possibly think of bringing their child to see it. There were quite a few sex jokes and don’t get me started on the violence or at least suggested spousal violence.

Speaking of bringing children who are too young to the olitre there was a family of four in front of us including one particularly chatty girl who spoke through the WHOLE musical and her parents did nothing at all to try and keep her quiet. In addition the family were constantly rustling food wrappers and just being generally disruptive. This proved nearly too much for the people next to us and the people next to them as halfway through the first act a fight nearly broke out. Needless to say the people sitting next to the family left to sit somewhere else after the intermission. It didn’t shame the noisy family though because they carried on being disruptive.

The darkness was unanticipated especially after an entertaining upbeat opening number by the kids in the orphanage. The kids were pretty amazing with their timing – how they kept that and their spots in the energetic frantic chaotic piece is a total mystery – but somehow they did!

Critics have been nearly unanimous in their praise for the production but I found myself not liking it at all and I can’t quite work out why. Other than a more than justified dislike of the Bill Sykes character there wasn’t anything I could point to which has caused me to feel dissatisfied. The set was great, most of the cast were pretty good especially the little boy who played the Artful Dodger (great comic timing and much better in his role than Oliver) and, last but not least, the little puppy dog! He/she was just gorgeous! I think it could have been all the depressing and dark themes – it just didn’t sit well with me. James liked it though!

Caffe Uno

Posted on by

Caught up with a bunch of people tonight (Mei, Jonny, Annie, Randy, and Leo) tonight at Caffe Uno. It was great to see them all especially Mei who’d just come back from a few weeks in Perth. I was extremely jealous of the tan she was still sporting – when will I be that colour again!

Food at Caffe Uno is not spectacular at all. My salmon was at least a decent size, unlike Randy’s lasagna special, but it was so overcooked (seemingly deep fried at that!) that it practically resembled chicken. However at least they let us sit at our table long after we’d finished food and drinks. I’ve never sat in a restaurant for nearly three hours having eaten only one course!

Obsessed with Wasabi

Posted on by

I’m absolutely obsessed with Wasabi at the moment. Wasabi has recently seen an explosion of the chain all around London. It offers freshly made sushi as well as hot food at a reasonable price. Granted the quality of the ingredients are unlikely to be same as you’d get in a restaurant like, say Nobu, but for what they’re offering and the convenience of what they’re offering – its not too bad at all.

Theatreland Walking Tour

Posted on by

As part of the Get Into London Theatre promotion they were running a free (shortened) version of what is normally a paying walking tour through the theatre district of the West End. Led by a Blue Badge guide (theatre expert Diane Burstein) I was expecting something pretty good and although I knew that we weren’t going to be backstage anywhere I still thought we’d at least hear some juicy gossip.

The walk, in all honesty, wasn’t the most thrilling of walks however we did hear some history of some pretty important monuments, such as the Charlie Chaplin statue, and theatres, such as the Coliseum and Theatre Royal Drury Lane, where I’m going to see Oliver! in a few days time.

At least the day was a lovely day for a stroll.

I’m sure that all the information we heard today is available somewhere but hearing it in person makes it so much more compelling. Actually the most interesting part of the walk was watching the sign-interpreter do his magic for the deaf people on our tour. He was amazing!

Pearl Liang

Posted on by

Yum cha dishes are generally served with three dishes per dish so Sandra had the bright idea that Pat should join us for lunch today at Pearl Liang so we could order a wider variety of dishes. Although this did work out logistically we somehow still ended up eating way more than we normally would so nearly rolled out of the restaurant!

Pearl Liang is supposed to be one of the better yum cha restaurants in London and in times past when I’ve visited they’ve normally delivered. On today’s visit, though the food was reasonably of good quality though not as good as I remembered it to be, the service was absolutely horrid. The restaurant was busy (so if you want to come always make sure to book) but that was no excuse for the lack of service that we got. For a start the restaurant didn’t have enough menus to even give one menu per person and secondly we could hardly get the attention of any wait staff to get our orders in. It was very disappointing.

Orrery

Posted on by

I caught up with Su Yin and Kelly at Orrery tonight. Orrery is another in the stable of the D&D restaurants and sits on top of a Conran shop on Marylebone High Street. Its probably a surprise to see that there is this restaurant upstairs – I almost didn’t see the entrance! Orrery serves “French inspired” and tonight’s experience proves why some of the best service you’ll ever find will be in a French restaurant.

But let’s start with the food. We were taking advantage of a set menu offer – £30 for 3 courses and a glass of bellini. As is the trend with many of the posher restaurants these days we also got a few little extras – which was good because the food portions were, I guess rather typically, small!

(I think we spent more time taking photos than eating our dishes!)

Our meals were started with an amuse bouche of Parsnip soup and mushroom foam. It was very cute and intensely flavoured. We followed this with a starter of seafood tortelinni, lobster bisque which I was pleased to see came with a giant prawn (thankfully peeled) on top. Delicious but I could have done with at least two more portions of it. Heh heh.

For mains I stayed with my seafood theme with Sea bass, truffle mousseline, champagne veloute. Beautifully presented even if I do object to the foams and smears of “sauce”. I was expecting stronger flavours but as usual the truffle essence is lost on me. The sea bass was quite fresh.

Food at this stage was coming out really quite quickly and when combined with the fact the portions weren’t too huge I thought we’d be in and out of the restaurant in half an hour! However, there was a slight delay on our desserts. Whilst waiting for our dessert we were surprised by a pre-dessert of vanilla foam (more foam!) and pear and apple crumble which was very delicious. I would have been happy to get a full dessert of it that’s for sure.

The delay was soon explained by this:

I had opted for the pear frangipane and vanilla ice cream but I wasn’t expecting the silver candles and the Happy Birthday written on the plate! I was wondering why I got the place but could only track it back to when halfway through our main meal Su Yin had suddenly said “Happy Birthday” to me. She said it quietly but our hovering waiter must have overhead! I was well impressed that the waiter did something about such a subtle hint! It was so funny because even the guys next to us chipped in wishing me a happy birthday … my birthday isn’t until later in the year by the way! But see what I mean about French service.

Because we were having such a nice time in the restaurant we finished our meals with some tea. Stepping right up to the task Orrery delivered with some delicious petit fours, which our waiter was more than happy to top up:

The waiters were really lovely and their presence was exactly spot on: there when we wanted them and not there when we didn’t need them although I did note that the later the night got the more harried they seemed.

Orrery was a truly enjoyable experience with fine food, fine food, and fine atmosphere. It may have been a little on the pricey side for the amount of food we got on our plates but you do get quite a few extras and the ingredients are pretty high quality.

Jersey Boys

Posted on by

Who knew that the Four Seasons, or Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, were responsible for so many hits! To be fair the Four Seasons were one of the most successful rock ‘n roll groups from the 1960s so I shouldn’t really have been surprised to hear all their hits in tonight’s musical. It is, however, no surprise to me that this musical, or the Broadway version from which it sprung at least, has been the recipient of numerous awards because it is a pretty awesome show (though it wasn’t always perfect.)

Starting with the pretty awesome: let’s face it one of the major pluses to doing a musical based on a musical group is going to be the song list. Hits such as Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like a Man, My Eyes Adored You and Oh What a Night were just a few of the hits that are in the production and every single one of them was a blockbuster.

The cast were stellar in their delivery of all the musical numbers and not one person in the crowd could stay still when they really hit their stride. The core cast was very strong vocally, with great moderation on volume, and clearly the four male leads had great stamina and great chemistry. They were pretty fine actors as well with the characterisations just as I’d imagine them to be. They were also well supported by the minor cast – which was surprisingly small with a number of them taking on multiple roles – and a darn good orchestra.

The staging was fantastic and took great advantage of the available technology (including large LCD screens and use of Andy Warhol type comics.) The production was slick with quick set and scene changes.

And now to the less awesome. The story-line, especially in the first half, seemed to drag quite a bit. It was a bit ho-hum so thankfully the musical pieces came in to save the day and bring it to life. It was kind of like the writers thought – here are all the songs we want to perform so now we need to write in a filler around them to bring them together.

Other than that, Jersey Boys was definitely a great show to see, and is a fab night out. I know Rehana agrees!

Off to buy the soundtrack!

Caro’s Pie: Two-ways

Posted on by

Nate and Caro are always out to take good care of me most especially by ensuring that I eat well. Yes I know what you’re thinking – Grace does not have a problem with that!

Not that I ever need an excuse to visit my good friends but one of the reasons that makes my trip out to their home in Earlsfield so memorable is the delicious food that Caro always manages to turn out. Today it was pie day. Pie has to be one of my favourites and Caro certainly delivered with her beef pie and applie pie. Not only were the pies good but the french fries (well seasoned with chilli powder) and vege that accompanied the beef pie were fantastic too.

Yummo!

The Citypoint Club Deluxe Spa Day

Posted on by

There is no better way to spend a chilly winter’s Saturday than indoors in a lovely warm spa! Ha! Red Letter Days had a sale on their spa days a little while back so Sandra and I decided to take advantage of one of their packages. For just under £80 each we would get unlimited access to the facilities (which included a pool, the gym, the jacuzzi, the sauna, the steam room, a plunge pool, the squash courts and a very funky but very busy tropical fish relaxation lounge) plus a relaxing facial, Serenity back, neck and shoulder massage (treatments lasting about 25 minutes each) and a two-course lunch.

The Citypoint Club is about five minutes from Liverpool street. I’d say that the club is used mainly by the city folk to get in their gym work outs and then weekends is probably when you get the day spa people in. It was kind of weird to be going to a spa day at a regular gym that’s for sure!

In an attempt to not make this day a totally lazy one we spent the morning using the facilities including a work out on the squash court (we were too busy laughing at ourselves to get a proper work out) and a jog on the treadmill. After a quick costume change it was into the sauna and steam room followed by a few laps in the pool. Well, Sandra did a few laps – I was feeling to fatigued so satisfied myself laying on the lounge. Before lunch we also had a dip in the jacuzzi which was lovely.

After our lunch (fairly small serves but tasty) it was time for our treatments. The massages were first up and both Sandra and I were punished by our respective masseuses! That’s what we got for asking for a firm massage – my shoulder blades have never had that much pressure before. I was too scared to ask my masseuse to take it easier – ha ha! It did feel really nice though and strangely relaxing. After a quick break in the fish relaxation lounge (I’d love a room like that in the mansion that I’ll have one day – lounges with comfy blankies in a darkened room lit only by the giant fish tank I was practically asleep before Sandra roused me four our facials!) it was time for our facials. There was a bit of a mix-up with mine so I had to wait a bit for my girl to turn up but I didn’t mind as the facial was nice and the girl was very chatty.

We had a lovely day at the Citypoint Club. Any more people and I think the venue would have been too busy but today at least we had pretty much use of whatever facility we wanted without too much hassle. The service was pretty good as were out treatments.

Lana’s 30th: Sushinho

Posted on by

The problem with my visit to Sushinho tonight was that I was expecting a restaurant which delivered a meal as spectacular as the one that I’d had at Sushi Samba in New York. Basically the two restaurants have the same premise – the fusion of Brazilian and Japanese cuisine but where Sushi Samba really delivered on presentation and content I felt Sushinho was a little flat. But that’s not to say it was overall a terrible experience because some of the food, the tempura especially, was quite nice.

For starters we all ordered some sushi, whether it was a sushi special or the platter. We were expecting the dishes to come out served individually but for some reason rather than present the dishes separately, to emphasise the ingredients, they piled everything on to one plate. I understand that they were trying to encourage shared eating but when I compared it with the flamboyance of Sushi Samba it kind of paled in comparison. My sushi special was the samba roll (eel and papaya, tobiko, lime dressing, 6pcs) as I can never resist eel. Taste-wise it wasn’t terribly exciting – the eel flavour wasn’t strong and even the lime dressing didn’t even cut through.

Things improved when it came to my seafood tempura. I have to hold my hand up and say that it was quite possibly the best tempura I’ve ever had. The batter was perfectly light and crispy and the dish somehow managed to stay quite warm. It was delicious through and through.

The hot mains (or the sushinho specials and grills as they are called on the menu) are served as is (that is with no accompaniment) so bear that in mind when ordering as you’ll likely need a side of rice or something to bulk up the dish a bit. My dish was actually quite attractive – red snapper fillet with gnocchi (about five pieces) cooked in squid ink, cucumber and fennel salad and black sesame sauce. It was an odd combination but actually worked quite well. At £22 I felt it was slightly over-priced but I guess this is what you get when dining on King’s Road!

We didn’t get to try any of the desserts which was both a curse (cause I love dessert!) and a blessing (saved myself a bit of money!) as Lana had brought her own dessert! We were actually at Sushinho to celebrate Lana’s 30th birthday so she had planned ahead and bought a dozen beautiful cupcakes from Lola’s at Selfridges! How nice of her! The cupcakes were delicious but after a big meal we all got to take a “doggy-bag” cupcake away. Heh heh. I was impressed that the staff didn’t say anything about us having the cupcakes there but to be honest tonight the service was fairly relaxed anyway!

Overall I’d say Sushinho was a nice, though pricey experience. It’s a pleasant atmosphere (room is quite dark and minimalist so quite intimate) and I imagine on a busier night they might even have some funky South American music going on (I didn’t really notice if any was playing tonight as we were to busy chatting!) Not quite as brilliant as Sushi Samba but from the reviews I’ve read it has certainly improved since it opened just over a year ago. I’d really like to see them innovate on their sushi a bit more and work on presentation.