Category: London
New High Tech Cocktails at The Berkeley, London
Imagine you’re on the beach, enjoying a rum and coconut concoction beneath a thatched umbrella, soaking up the sight and scent of the sea. Somehow, no matter how faithfully you follow the bartender’s recipe, that cocktail will never seem quite the same at home on a dreary, grey winter evening.
“Some drinks just taste right in a certain place, because context impacts flavour,” says Rashid Ghuloom, manager of The Berkeley’s Blue Bar in London, England. “So, we decided to recreate that place.”
The Berkeley Hotel has partnered with Bacardi Limited to introduce the “Out Of The Blue” extrasensory imbibing experience, using sight, smell and, of course, taste to establish the perfect environment for four different cocktails. With these immersive sipping sessions, a maximum of four guests are ushered into a small square room, where 360-degree films and molecular scents provide clues to the ingredients within a quartet of mystery cocktails.
Out of the Blue cocktail experience. Courtesy The Berkeley Hotel.
Picture a more sophisticated version of a “Smell-O-Vision” movie theatre…but, y’know, with alcohol. So, you might find yourself sipping a fruity vodka mix, perhaps detecting a whiff of suntan cream in the air, as an extreme close-up of a pineapple exploding in slow-motion, Quentin Tarantino-style, plays out over four walls. Later, stay tuned for a whisky-based beverage, accompanied by footage of mossy streams and the smoky scent of peat and leather wafting through the room. (more…)
Take Home a Taste of London: Gourmet Gift Ideas
Two of London’s most legendary establishments are making it easier to enjoy the UK capital’s culinary indulgences at home.
The Wolseley’s Christmas Hamper. Courtesy The Wolseley.
The Wolseley, the iconic London café by restauranteurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, has launched a mail order shop for gastronomic gifts. Spoil the extra-good girls and boys (or ladies and gents) on your holiday list with a Christmas Hamper packed with champagne, wine, Christmas puddings, biscuits and more (£350).
For the restrained teetotaler, options range from silver-plated teapots (£235) and tea strainers (£49) to a set of miniature tea tins for a suitably small price (£18.75).
Art Deco teapot…or Aladdin’s lamp? Courtesy The Wolseley.
Sometimes, though, it’s nice to be naughty. Who would say no to a box of Cognac chocolate truffles (£29.50)?
The Wolseley’s Cognac chocolate truffles. Courtesy The Wolseley.
Claridge’s Hotel, a favourite of both crowned heads and Hollywood royalty, also debuted its first cookbook this autumn. The hotel’s executive chef Martyn Nail, together with food writer Meredith Erickson, share 160 years of Claridge’s most famous recipes and tips for entertaining.
The 260-page Claridge’s: The Cookbook includes chapters on subjects like Afternoon Tea, The Art of Carving, Cocktails, and—for the truly ambitious (i.e. masochistic) gourmand—How to Host a Dinner for 100. Maybe you’ll even be inspired to treat Santa to something posher than milk and chocolate chip cookies this year.
Available through Amazon for £10, or order a copy autographed by Chef Nail and packaged in a gift box directly from Claridge’s for £30.
Grand Designs Live: Great Gadgets & DIY Inspiration
Kevin McCloud (far right) on stage at the Grand Designs Live Grand Theatre.
At least one night each week, you’ll find me on my sofa, bowl of popcorn in hand, feet propped on the coffee table, and eyes glued to the TV screen as one of my favourite dramas unfolds. At times, the tension is almost too much to bear. Will a family be torn asunder, a marriage destroyed, dreams shattered like a sheet of two-storey glass installed by a rickety crane while the rain blows sideways over a windy moor?
That’s right. This isn’t one of those dark, moody murder mysteries where corpses pile up like cords of wood. It’s Grand Designs, the long-running British home-building series, where cords of wood pile up like corpses.
This week at Grand Designs Live, fans of the show have an opportunity to meet Grand Designs’ host, architect Kevin McCloud, and some of the fearless folks who have dared to translate their castles in the air into genuine bricks and mortar (or occasionally, straw and daub).
Tom Raffield (right) and Kevin McCloud discuss how Tom and his partner Danielle transformed their cottage with their own bent-wood designs.
The event runs through 7th May 2017 at London’s ExCeL Centre, and in October, it heads to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham—England, that is. (Sorry, Alabama). Click HERE for a special discount code, offering two tickets to the London show for £22.
For aspiring builders and renovators, Grand Designs Live offers a wealth of resources. You can attend design lectures, meet with architects to discuss your own plans, and chat with hundreds of vendors selling everything you ever needed for your abode, alongside loads of stuff you’ll never actually need but can’t live without once you’ve seen it.
There are acres of great home inventions to explore. Here are a handful that captured my imagination. (more…)