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20 Nov

Chinese Cricket Club Opens at Crowne Plaza London, The City

Posted by Nic in Eating Out No Comments

Chinese Cricket Club

This week, I was invited to the launch of Chinese Cricket Club, a new restaurant at the Crowne Plaza in The City.

The venue has unusual decor for a Chinese restaurant, with pictures of cricketers behind the bar and a distinct hotel feel that belies the quality and general scrumptiousness of the food. 

Head Chef Brendan Speed (formerly of Zuma Istanbul) and his team provided wonderfully spicy orange beef, steamed prawn dumplings, succulent lobster in the shell, soft shitake mushrooms, zingy squid, miniature hot and sour soups, and a light coconut mousse with tropical topping. 

As far as I could see, the hungry work crowd thought it was simply delicious, and so did I!

Guests quaffed champagne and Jim Barry wines while they watched one of the chefs whip up dumplings. 

It was extraordinary how he picked an identically sized piece of pastry off a roll, smacked it with a cleaver into a circle, and filled and pleated it so evenly. 

Chinese Cricket Club is named after the newly formed Chinese national cricket team and also celebrates the recent translation into Mandarin of the laws of cricket.

The association with Jim Barry wines extends the cricket theme: one of the Jim Barry vineyards has a cricket pitch in the middle, and the wine of choice at the launch was Cover Drive cabernet sauvignon.

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9 Nov

Meet & Wine at Meat & Wine

Posted by Nic in Eating Out No Comments

Meat & WineTurns out I don’t “know my Australian wines blindfolded”.

I’m not sure if my sense of sight, smell or taste let me down when I caught up with Meet & Wine on one of its regular wine club meetings at Meat and Wine at Westfield London last week.

Meat & Wine is the only restaurant of the worldwide chain in the UK. The menu includes a range of steaks as well as specialist meats such as kudu, ostrich and kangaroo. There is a huge wine list (at reasonable prices) to match your choice.  

Exposed stone, rich reds and browns, spacious seating with big tables, and candle-light reflecting off thousands of wine bottles in glass towers give a lush feel. It’s a steak house with a bit of class.

We had a wonderful intro from Ryan Morgan, representative of Rathbone Wine Group. He comes from the Margaret River region near Perth, which sounds simply fabulous: “You’re either a winemaker, a surfer, or you run an arts-and-crafts shop.”

Ryan ran through prominent Australian varieties and regions, and topped up our knowledge of vintages, alcohol content and price points before we began the blind tasting. 

Looking at the results, my team lacked both a nose and a palate, but knew approximately how much a wine should cost and how alcoholic it was.

Meet & Wine events offer different wine experiences each time – one popular summer event involved matching wines with barbecued meats. 

All the events are designed to improve your wine knowledge and palate while having fun. I’m no connoisseur and had a fabulous time. You just need to enjoy wine to have fun!

Next year, the Meet & Wine evenings will be quarterly, kicking off with a Valentines-themed evening of bubbles in February. Keep an eye on the site for more info.

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6 Nov

Last Night’s Visit London Awards 2009

Posted by Nic in Special Events No Comments

Wicked's Ashleigh Gray Last night, Westfield London was home to the BT Visit London Awards 2009.

After a champagne reception, guests made their way through to the Atrium of the shopping centre. Screened off with flowing curtains from high on the first floor, the cream of London’s hoteliers, venue operators and London lovers were dressed to the nines and celebrating the achievements of the year.

It was easy to get into the swing of things with some fabulous acts, including a hula hooping marvel Marawa Ibrahim, currently starring in La Clique!

An illustrious panel of judges had made the hard decisions on who won what, and it was great to see the excited winners claiming the rewards for their hard work.

The lucky winners included the National Maritime Museum (Gold Award for Visitor Attraction of the Year), Wicked The Musical (Best Family Fun) and Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley (Outstanding Achievement Award).

Full details of all the winners can be found at awards.visitlondon.com

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1 Nov

Change: Magical Theatre From Arturo Brachetti

Posted by Nic in Theatre 1 Comment

Change starring Arturo BrachettiGasps of wonder and spontaneous applause filled the Garrick Theatre last night as a Beefeater momentarily obscured himself with a sheet and dropped it to reveal a punk rocker. It was just one of many spectacular transformations made by magician and actor Arturo Brachetti during his new production, Change.

Change tells the story of a performer’s life as the artist spins his way in and out of spectacular costumes.

The art of quick change is centuries old and involves the use of props such as sheets, umbrellas and boxes to cover the performer for a split second as they change from one costume to the next.   

Part magician, part comedian, and a consumate showman, Brachetti’s signature show A Man of a Thousand Faces has been seen by more than one million people worldwide. 

Even a period of simple shadow play (probably so he can catch his breath) is charming.  Brachetti’s masterful performance really does need to be seen to be believed.

This delightful act, London-themed to further engage the audience, is one for the whole family – the children in front of me loved it. 

Change is at the Garrick Theatre until 3 January.

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