Author Archives: Grace

On Anon

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Tonight was unbelievably the first night that we could get that everyone was apparently free for a night out on the town. Technically it was also Rehana’s birthday a couple of day’s ago so this was a sort of quasi-birthday do though really because of the sort of random “cliques” of girls that we had attending tonight I was treating it more as a general girl’s night out. Whatever it was labeled we hit On Anon and made it a night to remember. I think my feet will be the part of my body that remembers it most.

When ideas were floated for where to go tonight ideas ranged from Strawberry Moon (not a bad place and popular on a Friday night but it would have been disappointing to me if we’d ended up there considering we had so many weeks to decide on a venue) and then Rehana came up with the idea of Sound. Unfortunately when we turned up it was to find that the venue had been booked out for some sort of private party. Unfortunately we couldn’t blag to get in and even more unfortunately there were loads of scantily clad and I must say extremely fit lads running around topless with only a bow tie on. Hmmf. Too bad I didn’t have my 12x zoom with me …

So, anyway we ended up at the newly revamped On Anon just around the corner.

By the time we got our act together to get into the joint (a relatively early-ish) 8.30pm-9.00pm whilst the place wasn’t exactly heaving finding an area which could seat the eight of us was nearly impossible. We ended up camped on a few bar stools in an awkward spot near some stairs. However, true to our style though, we ended up owning the area for pretty much the rest of the night.

On Anon is a lot larger than you can imagine – with about five floors all playing distinctively different music and all distinctily decorated. Right on the top floor is the lodge where it was oddly relaxing if a bit strange for a bar!

Towards the end of the night one of the girls asked if we wanted to check out the VIP room. It was about 2am and, of the girls remaining, legs were definitely getting a bit weary so we thought a change of scenery would be cool. We were taken to The White Room floor. It’s white, no surprise there, with a long bar on side and the entertaining raised platforms for dancer girls/boys wannabes. We were taken to the larger VIP room but soon realised it was only a way to get us to buy drinks. As nice as it was to have a bit of quiet space (the VIP rooms were practically empty) we were long past having the energy to get any drinks so we snuck out when we could!

We had a fantastic night even though the music was on and off brilliant and awful. The DJ would hardly take requests either so that was kind of frustrating. With all the girls in killer outfits we certainly got a lot of attention from the lads, which is always flattering, though that’s not to say that any of them were particularly luscious. For shame! Sadly, everyone’s favourite was the married and unavailable Alex. Great fun.

However, if there was ever a bigger meat market than On Anon I challenge anyone to suggest differently. Still, most of the guys out on the pull are pretty good natured though I was a bit freaked out when one guy waited for me to come out of the toilet (and considering I was in there for probably 20 minutes as well trying to fix my spanx!) to try and get my number.

Dans Le Noir

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Dining in the dark. Dining in the complete dark. Soooo much easier than it sounds.

Approaching Dans Le Noir? you walk into what looks like a bar from the outside. Opening the door what greets you is vast area of open space (no seats or anything much) and a small bar at the back. You are probably supposed to be greeted immediately to guide you through your experience however our member of staff took a few minutes to get to us. There are about five or so Dans Le Noir? staff floating around who are there to basically check your booking, explain how Dans Le Noir? works, ask you to choose a menu (2 or 3 courses from either a meat, seafood, veg or chef surprise menue) and then either direct you to the bar if you want a drink before going in or hand you over to a blind waiter who will bring you in to the restaurant.

Just note that at this stage there seems to be quite a lot of pressure to buy drinks from the bar or to upgrade to one of the packages which includes drinks.

To be honest we were a bit confused by our greeter. We said we happy to sit down immediately for our meal and just go with tap water. But he kind of just directed us to the bar and left us hanging. We weren’t really sure what we were supposed to do. We must have looked helpless as another guy, I think the manager, saw our confused faces and asked us if we were ready for our meal.

Inside it is pitch black. And by pitch black I mean not an ounce of light. I really thought that there would be some sort of dim lighting. A silly thought I know as clearly they are trying to replicate a blind person’s environment and blind people will have no perception of light at all. In aid of this they get you to put all your belongings in a locker so this stops people with their mobile cameras, normal cameras and also to give you comfort that your precious valuables are not being spirited away. Slightly irritatingly the guy next to us had a watch that flashed every 30 minutes or so. In the pitch black darkness this was actually quite distracting. Otherwise it was a total visual sensory depravation.

Its amazing to realize just how much I rely on my vision to move smoothly, to eat, to drink, to bob out of people’s way if you can see they’re on a collision course for you and to even speak. It was bizarre to hear Rehana’s voice “appearing” out of the dark and actually it “felt” like it was coming from somewhere higher than I thought. However, although your sense of hearing is intensified it was also it was a bit difficult to speak because it was very noisy in there – not sure if people were shouting to be heard over each other or shouting because they couldn’t see – but everyone was definitely speaking louder than necessary. The waiters working the restaurant must like it because unless they said something near you – you could never get their attention unless you shouted their name and hoped they were in the vicinity of your table! As a result they probably get pestered less than in a normal restaurant.

Tables are practically communal. I’m curious just how large the room is – you never rally find out. At least we were at the end of the table so only had to deal with jostling from one side. We seemed really close is all I could tell.. There was also the danger that your neighbours might drink your drink! Further, Rehana seemed to have a problem with wait staff continually knocking into her or her chair though my position wasn’t nearly so exposed. A few times our water touch my shoulder or felt my side just to check my position and I got a few brush by’s but no one really knocking into me.

So, food-wise what did I think? To be honest except for a couple of dishes like the tortellini starter and our dessert combination the food wasn’t as stimulating to the taste as I expected. Food wasn’t served particularly hot to start with (probably to reduce the chances of someone burning themselves) and I think our flavours got seriously mixed up. Our starters of Grilled English asparagus and quail egg with crispy lardon and mixed cress selection and Gorgonzola and walnut tortellini with wild mushroom sauce was easy enough to separate but when we got to our mains, which ended up being three different type of game in three different styles of sauce, everything got mixed up. They change the menu regularly so I don’t think there’s a danger in disclosing what we had to eat: Crocodile stir-fry with soya sauce and fennel seeds, Oven roasted spring bok with apricot chutney and crispy pancetta, and Breasts of Guinea fowl with roasted vegetables and gravy.

The other thing the experience at Dans Le Noir? proved was that I clearly do not know a lot of my food – meat especially as I couldn’t even begin to have guessed what we were eating! The funniest part of the night was the fact that I ended up using my fingers to sweep my plate to ensure I’d finished as I lost count of how many times I picked up my fork to find nothing on it! Hope there was no one sitting around the room with night-vision glasses on!

To finish our desserts of Chocolate cups with marscapone, vanilla and red berries compote, Lemon Posset and Pear tartlets with citrus dressing were pretty divine. Again I had no clue what we were eating (except for the Lemon thing) – I’d even guess that the chocolate cups were coffee flavoured!

Ironically, not having bumped into anyone inside the restaurant, knocked anything off the table or spilled drinks/food on myself or anyone else, it was when we entered the lit entrance on exit when I finally ran into something. Bl**dy hurt my arm too! I blame it on the fact that I was blinking like a mole emerging from his hole at the time. At this time they show you a little folder with photos of the food you’ve supposedly just consumed. They really could have served you anything and you wouldn’t have known it (for example, I thought we’d eaten beef, some sort of bird, and potentially lamb!)

Overall, Dans Le Noir? is quite an expensive adventure but worth it for that one off experience. I’m still undecided whether I’d go again – there’s nothing like that first experience of a place like this and I’m sure second time round it might have lost some of the charm it would otherwise hold.

Openhouse London Day 02: Horse Guards Parade, City Hall, Albert Hall

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Day 2 of Openhouse London weekend dawned not so bright but it wasn’t raining so I was grateful for that considering we probably had to spend about 30 minutes waiting in a line in the open outside Horseguards Parade. It was another 20 minutes before we got into the tour proper. I wasn’t too upset though as people behind us certainly had a lot longer to wait exponentially than we did. In fact a fight nearly broke out when the people in front of us, a bigger tour group of sorts, let in three of their latecoming members into the line after the person in charge of the queue had already done a head count. Pat and I were about four or five from the end so we were okay but the people behind us would have been pushed into the next group of tours which was a half hour after we could enter so they made sure to voice their opinion. The guy in charge of the queue was actually really good about ensure the three latecomers went to the end of the line but it did get very heated for a long while before it was resolved.

You probably know Horse Guards Parade best for the area just down the road from Number 10 (in fact from the parade you can actually see in to what is the back of number 10 except for all the big bushes and barbed wire fence in your way) where there are troopers from the Household Calvary mounted and on foot. It’s the horses which are the main attraction normally though the troopers on foot also get their fare share of attention for their interesting uniforms. You’ll know the area as there are millions of tourists normally milling around trying to get photos of and with the horses and guards.

Small trivia which may surprise but in 2012 it will actually host the beach volleyball competition during the Olympics.

The only time, I think, you can get a guided tour of the buildings at Horse Guards Parade is on openhouse weekend so they are normally quite a popular choice and its first come first serve so its best to get to the parade relatively early as tours are only every 20 minutes and limited numbers per tour. You are taken though the various rooms, shown a video, get to handle a beefeater hat (which are made of Canadian black bear fur ;( Actually £1m was contributed by Madonna, Stella McCartney and crew to try and make an alternative synthetic cap but this never went through as they were no good!)

We went into the Major General’s room (painted a slight green which is supposedly the most soothing to the eye.) In this room the light is never switched off. There are three stories: 1. something about leaving the light on for one of the soldiers who was out at a party and then got lost in the trees coming home and fell asleep at the bottom of one and he used the light to guide him home 2. something about the Duke burning the midnight oil and 3. something about it being left on for returning soldiers. I kind of like the thought of option number 3 but also the green side of me thinks it would be better for the environment if it was switched off!

Just at the exit/entry of the tour on the roof of an arch is painted a black and white symbol. This marked where the parish boundary of St Margaret’s, Westminster and St Martin-in-the-Fields passes from East to West exactly through the centre of the building apparently separating the posh from then not so posh …

After Horseguards Parade we headed towards City Hall. Along the way we saw the giant chess pieces in Trafalgar square but couldn’t be bothered getting too close so utilised my 12x zoom to get some pictures:

Here are some other random shots we saw along the journey (its quite a walk!)

I love city hall. Its one of the most interesting looking buildings in London and sitting across from the Tower of London it certainly makes quite a contrast. Open House allowed you go to into the building and up to the look out points though we had a lot of fun with photos from inside the building too. I’m not sure if they allow access to the public during normal business hours. Thankfully we didn’t have much of a wait. In previous years I’ve seen very long lines indeed to get into the building.

Finally, we finished off our day of viewing London buildings with a tour of Royal Albert Hall. It’s a pretty cool tour. I think they are also available normally but at just under a tenner or something. I’ve never really thought about it. I don’t know if our tour was the same one you’d get normally but I was happy with where we were taken.

Some fun facts we learnt about Royal Albert Hall:
– There are apparently more than 2,000 letter “A’s” scattered throughout;
– Rent per annum on the seats was 1 shilling on a 999 year lease
– 1,300 of 5,222 seats £100 per seat for 999 year leases
– There are 9,999 pipes in the organ in the Royal Albert Hall itself (9 miles, 42 feet with the smallest the size of a little finger)

Our first stop was the Queen’s suite and the Royal Retiring Room. It was nice but actually it wasn’t as spectactular as I imagined it to be. We were then taken to the actual performance area ourselves to gaze at the roof and the organs and watch them setting up for the next performance. We were then taken into the bowels of Royal Albert Hall. It is nearly as deep as it is tall which allows them to basically set up the performance area downstairs and then literally lift the floor up. The coolest thing is that they are planning to use the loading bay areas for funky launch parties which would be very different.

Oh yea – the queen has her own box but there are certain rules which should never be broken:
1. You must dress smartly – men must wear ties
2. There is no drinking in your seat and
3. There is to be no dancing in the box.

Can you believe it? Nelson Mandela was the first, and only, to break the rules! He came into the box without a tie and he danced!

I had a fantastic Openhouse weekend and I love learning more about London every day.

The Zetter

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Even though we were still super full from our breakfast and lunch earlier in the day Pat and I rocked up to the Zetter for an earlish dinner. Pat had made the booking so it seemed a shame to waste it. ;-P

My fullness also didn’t stop me from eating the bread:

The Zetter Restaurant is located in Clerkenwell in, wait for it, The Zetter Hotel! Just like the hotel which markets itself as a funky little boutique hotel the restaurant is equally funky and stylish. The Restaurant space itself is dominated by a rather long bar and it also has a more relaxed casual area almost like a café off to one side. As a result rather than feeling posh and stiff it was a pleasantly welcoming environment and we felt at ease despite the white linen table-clothes and well dressed wait staff.

Before I get into the food I have to comment on the service which, unlike our earlier dining experience at Smollensky’s, was just about perfect. It was friendly, efficient, and charming. Food came at a good pace and we never had to do more than lift our heads to get attention if we wanted it from the wait staff. Fabulous.

The Zetter is labeled as Modern European with an apparently monthly changing menu. I almost couldn’t make my mind up about what to get! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves for the moment.

Our starters: my Garlic roasted prawns with chorizo, sweet potato & glazed pork belly and Pat’s Aubergine, yogurt and cumin soup:

Our mains: my Linguine with crab, chilli & coriander and Pat’s seafood paella:

Our desserts: my crème brulee and Pat’s I think berry tiramisu.

The food was divine. I absolutely loved my starter and I actually didn’t finish my main meal because I wanted the highly recommended cream brulee. I was dying because I was overeating but I had to finish dessert …

Lovely venue and would highly recommend!

Openhouse London Day 01: Channel 4, BFI, OXO Tower

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We hit three buildings during today’s Openhouse events: Channel 4 at Victoria, BFI Imax Theatre and the OXO Tower.

Of the three Channel 4 was the most disappointing. We were expecting to get a walk through some of the more interesting aspects of the building but instead the visit was limited to the glass walkway on the third or was it fourth floor. It was aesthetically pleasing but in terms of an insider visit hardly openhouse. Here are the photos:

An interesting fact: to help reduce the need for air-ducting chilled water is used to make the air-conditioning more compact and the external glass cladding has bands of sun-screen mesh.

It took us about ten minutes to do the whole thing and that was with us trying our best to make the most of the visit! As a result of this rather brief visit we ended up walking around Victoria and Westminster for a bit before our next building: BFI Imax.

Our walk included a short visit through the Treasury which was a literal walk through the building and courtyard:

To get tickets to BFI Imax you had to email them and book on to the tour in the weeks leading up to it. I expected it to be quite a popular tour but only four other people ended up at our booking. We weren’t sure what to expect but it turns out that basically the visit entailed you going up into the projector room during a screening. Admittedly this was quite cool and you get to do what not many other people have a chance to but we did expect more of a guided tour than just being brought up there and then leaving it up to us to ask questions of the projector guy.

The actual film being projected is massive. I can’t remember how long an actual film is but I remember thinking at the time it was mega long. The secret behind 3D screenings is that it is actually two reels of film projected simultaneously through a twin lens system. But I guess you know that huh?

The highlight of Openhouse Day 1 was our visit to the top of the Oxo Tower! It was actually hard work getting a spot on one of the guided tours up to the top of the tower and required knowing about the building in advance. Tours were on a first come first serve basis however bookings for the tour started an hour before the first tour. We got there about an hour early and already there was a rather long line.

They turned many people away but they did start taking names with the potential for offering the tours after Openhouse weekend had finished. For those who missed out on climbing the tower itself you can still go up to the (free) public viewing gallery on 8th floor at the bottom of the tower. This is also where the Harvey Nichols’ Oxo Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie is located.

As the climb to the top of the Oxo Tower involves climbing up some rather dubious stairs you are asked to wear a construction hat to protect the noggin. Very attractive.

Here is our climb marked by the letters of the tower:

I love this photo of St Paul’s through the small windows:

And then we were at the top!

Smollensky’s On The Strand

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Its Openhouse weekend this weekend and since I’ve missed the last couple this year I wanted to make up for it with a vengeance so I set out a fairly ambitious schedule. To ensure that we had the right kind of energy hiking all over London and up and down buildings my brother and I decided to stop off at Smollensky’s on the Strand for some lunch. That we could take advantage of a top table 50% off offer just sweetened the deal.

Today, Saturday, seemed to be kids party day with a whole area dedicated to the little munchkins and their parties. For the most part it didn’t really interfere with our meal though I couldn’t help but look at the clown with apprehension. I HATE clowns. They scare me to death!

The menu at Smollensky’s is what you’d expect from a grill with a predominantly American selection including ribs, burgers, mac and cheese with some, as the website describes it Mediterranean and oriental dishes. Normally the kind of menu I would drool over though in all honesty both Pat and I were still fairly full from our breakfast at Giraffe!

Given the very American styling of the restaurant we expected the service to be just as top notch as what you get in American. We were sorely disappointed. We had come in for lunch relatively early and thought we would beat most of the lunch time rush. Sure there were a couple of groups of kids but since they were being entertained by the scary clown and therefore weren’t exactly clamouring for waitressing attention for the early part of our meal it was just a couple of other tables and a few wait staff. Therefore we were very surprised when it took them forever to take our order, then clear our table, then offer us dessert. We couldn’t even hail a waitress for all the money in the world and at one stage when asking for the bill I took a chance to ask one that I encountered on the way to the toilets! However that’s not to say the wait-staff, when we did get their attention, weren’t friendly – they were just so slow and clearly struggling to cope! We had to ask for our water and dessert a couple of times.

Food-wise it was, if not divine, at least not too terrible. Pat wasn’t too impressed with his rack of ribs which appeared to have been boiled and then simply smothered in barbecue sauce. His favourite item was the chipotle mayonnaise … I went for the Smollensky’s Macaroni Cheese which is your traditional mac and cheese with some leeks, chicken and bacon thrown in. It looked tasty but was mainly salty from what I recall. Strangely a bit watery too. The main reason I wanted to go to Smollensky’s was to try the Grandma Smollensky’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake. It was as rich sounding as it the name suggests. Even for a sweet-tooth like me it was just a little sickenly sweet.

Overall I wasn’t left super-impressed with Smollensky’s. I do however quite like American grill food so would be willing to give it a chance again, with different meal choices, with the 50% off and hopefully improved customer service.

PA celebration and Ozer Restaurant

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James and Catherine from work have recently been promoted so they went out for a few drinks after work to have a mini-celebration. I met with the lot of them fairly late as I went along after my yoga session. However, in hindsight, it was a bit of a huge mistake to come out tonight after my session of Bikram Yoga. Not only was I feeling super relaxed and lethargic but I also downed a few too many drinks too quickly including skulling some disgusting ale. Eugh. Anyway, I paid for it by getting a splitting headache and being sick in the restaurant toilets at Ozer. Gross huh?

Still, I had a good time otherwise. We ended up at Ozer Restaurant for an extremely late meal (nearly 11pm.) Ozer is a branch of the Sofra stable of Turkish Restaurants. It’s a really nice venue a short walk from Oxford Circus. I don’t know if it normally happens but the restaurant was extremely generous with their freshly warmed bread and hummous tonight. It kept coming and coming and coming. Being rather hungry we kept eating and eating and eating … as a result I couldn’t even finish my main course of spicy venison! Prices here are fairly reasonable especially if you go for any of the specials including the “healthy” menu with 12 dishes!

Bikram Yoga

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Jules has recently started up a new training regime which is a little more well-rounded than his usual regime for training for marathons. This includes embracing new techniques such as introducing Bikram Yoga into his routine. I’ve always wanted to improve my flexibility (the reason why I started Tae Kwon Do many years ago though in Oz though I haven’t followed through with it in London) so I thought I’d join him for a session.

Bikrams Yoga was developed by Bikram Choudhury and involves moving through a series of 26 postures in a room at 40+°C and high humidity. Classes are generally specific with an instructor taking you through the postures in normally 90 minutes. This yoga is apparently a bit different in that you often have rest and recovery breaks in between postures where some other yogas will have you continually moving in and out of postures. The high temperature in the room is a double-measure for sweating out toxins and keeping the body warm to increase flexibility.

Today we got to the class quite early. Many people turn up to the session early so they can lay down and relax in the very warm room. Its very quiet and almost meditative – no one is laughing or joking around or even talking. It was pleasant to lay in the room waiting for the class to start. You can attend the class no matter what level you’re out though the instructor makes sure to ask if there are any beginners so he/she can tailor their instructions accordingly. I was the only newbie in today’s session! However, I was pleased to see that I could actually get into most of the postures though I struggled with any that involved flexing my arms like the Garudasana or Eagle Pose which involves twisting one arm within the other. Something to do with my man shoulders!

You’re advised to take two towels – one to put down on the mat you use and one to later wipe yourself down after the class. I was in no way prepared for just how sweating I would get from stretching and holding poses. It was amazing. As soon as I entered the first pose I started dripping sweat. No, actually it was more like a torrent of sweat. My towel was drenched by the end of the session.

Consider we didn’t move from our spots on the towel tonight’s session of Bikram Yoga was one of the toughest workouts I’ve had a in a long while! Even my heart was pumping a bit though that was probably from my body trying to cool itself! Very interesting.

Bounce: Insane in the Brain

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I love the dancing performances at the Peacock Theatre so I thought I’d introduce Rita and Rache to something a little different. Insane in the Brain is the title of the dance unit Bounce’s interpretation of a hip hop version of the classic story “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The story, set in a mental asylum, and its characters provide a rich backdrop for a number of creative interpretative pieces. It was so popular it came around the first time last year that it was back at the Peacock Theatre for another telling.

Bonce is a dance collective recently responsible for a Michael Jackson tribute in Stockholm. You can catch it here:

Its pretty cool!

But back to Insane in the Brain. The show opens with five dancers who are identity-less but for the white masks on their faces. Playing with our perceptions the dancers deliver a number that has them presenting their backs as their fronts and their fronts as their backs. This way we are slowly introduced to the mental hospital and its inmates who are struggling to find a way to rebel against the mean head Nurse Ratched and her crew of “heavies.” Entering the scene is a man who has faked insanity to escape a prison term and after this the hospital is never the same again.

The show is a bit hit and miss but mainly hit. And when the dance numbers hit you will be amazed and impressed. Not only are the cast supremely talented but the pieces, choreography and use of the set, are innovative, brilliant and great fun.

It would be difficult to explain the dance pieces but they ranged from what appeared to be a simple set up but actually required an amazing amount of skill and concentration – people in their bed dancing but the moves required and muscle control and strength required to keep the timing right and energy up must have bee incredible – to innovate use of the set – such as the dancing down a leaning wall and nearly falling to their faces on the ground. For example, for most of this last dance the dancers were practically 90 degrees to the ground! There was another dance piece which involved a guy dancing on crutches, there was a bollywood scene, there was this amazing rock and roll segment which was WAY loud but high impact. The dancers at one stage even “escaped” into the audience to “watch a film”. The film was one of the misses of the show I thought. Although it was cool to see the dancing on the film it went on for way too long.

Over all Insane in the Brain was entertaining and worth the ticket entry. Fantastic soundtrack too!