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12 Nov

Super K Sonic Booooum at the Shunt Lounge

Posted by Hannah in Arts, Attractions, Clubs, Pubs & Bars No Comments

Super K Sonic Booooum by Nelly Ben Hayoun

Last night I dressed in a white boiler suit, hard hat and wellies. Accompanied by a scientist, I boarded a dinghy and floated through a dark tunnel lined with 600 silver balloons.

It was all part of Shunt Lounge’s current installation, Super K Sonic Booooum by Royal College of Art graduate Nelly Ben Hayoun.

Sonic Booooum is a recreation of the Super K underground science centre in Japan, where scientists study tiny particles called neutrinos.

During the boat trip, your on-board expert (a scientist from Imperial College or Queen Mary University) explains the concept of neutrinos, and why they’re important.

And if you want more info, you can pop into one of the “drop in, drop out” lectures, where remarkably friendly scientists tell you more about neutrinos and answer all your questions.

Super K Sonic Booooum is at the Shunt Lounge until Saturday 14 Novmeber.

If you’ve never been to this amazing dark and cavernous venue, make sure you check it out soon, as it’s due to close this weekend.

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12 Nov

Girls Aloud’s Sarah Harding Opens City Bar

Posted by Jenny in Clubs, Pubs & Bars 3 Comments

kanaloa_bar

Club Tropicana drinks are free – and so were the cocktails at the launch of Polynesian-themed bar Kanaloa last night!

Admittedly, you will have to pay on a regular night, but with cocktails starting from £8, it’s certainly not the most expensive drinking hole in the The City.

Just like its sister bar Mahiki, Kanaloa is all bamboo, palm trees and low level lighting. The music favours 80s cheese with a few modern pop and 60s hits thrown into the mix.

There’s ample seating and a reasonably sized dance floor, with a net full of brightly coloured balls above it.

If you’re here to impress, order The Dead Man’s Chest, a £100 cocktail brought to you in a parade of sparklers, lanterns and cheering from the bar staff. (It’s a voodoo funeral procession apparently.) The cocktail is mixed before your very eyes in a treasure chest, which is then filled with straws for your drinking pleasure.

Will Kanaloa tempt the Royals into The City? It already has a fair celebrity quota, as it counts Sarah Harding and DJ Tom Crane among its investors. Plus JLS, Sugababes and Cilla Black were all spotted at the opening. We’ll keep you posted…

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10 Nov

80s Flashback at the Met Bar

Posted by Jo & Jamie from the Met Bar in Pubs & Bars 2 Comments

I Remember the 80s quizFor those of you who know their Duran Duran from their Japan, last Friday night in the Met Bar would have been the event for you. We time-warped back to the era of shoulder pads, mullets and power ballads for our first I Remember the 80s music quiz.

Hosted by none other than Met Bar loyalist Jonny Awsum, our eight teams of members (including Oasis’s Andy Bell) were each given a different 80s wig, from punk rocker to Tina Turner.

Music intros from one-hit wonders to cartoon theme tunes and famous faces were played in quick-fire rounds.

To buzz in, guests had to don their wig, jump up and scream “I Remember the 80s” first. One point was awarded for every correct answer, but two were deducted if the answer was wrong! Suffice to say, much chaos ensued (what can you expect with a room full of DINKIES and BOBOs)!

After an hour and a half of intense battle (and a little bit of cheating), the final bell tolled and the scores on the doors were totted up by Jonny’s glamorous Flashdance assistant, Eleanor. For the losers, a wooden spoon; for the winners, neon leg warmers and the chance to sing karaoke on stage to Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer!

 

Another successful Met Bar event involving fancy dress and slightly wild behaviour (you might notice a pattern emerging!) In fact, we enjoyed it so much we have decided to host a 90s quiz next time. So dig out your combat trousers, your Spice Girls fan club badges and your yoyos, and watch this space!

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5 Nov

Met Bar Spooktacular – Part II

Posted by Jo & Jamie from the Met Bar in Pubs & Bars No Comments

The Met Bar team

We know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for our second Halloween instalment, following our Met Bar Spooktacular – Part I, and now that we have *finally* recovered, here it is!

Last Thursday the Met Bar was transformed by the fabulous Serena Mattar into a rock’ n’roll graveyard for our Death on the Dancefloor party. Giant cobwebs, dismembered skeletons and ex-rockstars’ gravestones littered the bar, making more than a few of our day-time guests jump!

As dusk descended, the Broken Hearts hit the decks and the special effects make-up team from Lost In Beauty, Primrose Hill arrived to give the Met Bar team our macabre makeovers. With us both transformed into a vixen vampire victim and suicide cupid (guess which was which!), it was time to drink some Devil’s Punch and get the party started.

Joined by the ever fabulous Johnny Blue Eyes (stylist to Beth Ditto) dressed as no other than Jesus (complete with light-up crown) the party was full of the weird, the wonderful and the downright scary. Miss Pandemonia was resplendent in her usual PVC get up. Throw in a couple of super-sized red Japanese wigs, Marie Antoinette’s ghost and a dead prom queen and you’ll get the idea!

When Freddie Mercury scrambled onto the bar for a rendition of  We Will Rock You, we knew our Halloween party was going down in the history books! Definitely one of the wildest and kookiest nights we’ve ever had in the bar, and our members certainly created the infamous electric atmosphere.

And, as if one Halloween party weren’t enough, on Saturday night the bar hosted fright night festivities again. Yes, two of our members clubbed together and hosted a Halloween party for a crowd of 150 guests. Jamie dusted down his wings and shot himself through the heart once again to join in yet another gory celebration, with the bar hitting capacity for the second time in a week!

Suffice to say we are now ready to leave Halloween behind for another year… roll on Christmas!

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27 Oct

Met Bar Spooktacular – Part I

Posted by Jo & Jamie from the Met Bar in Clubs, Pubs & Bars No Comments

Scream Tea at the Met BarWith our penchant for extrovert occasions, it’s no surprise that we take Halloween very seriously here at the Met Bar. Not content with just one instalment we will be updating you on our Halloween happenings in a two-part fright night special.

Yesterday saw the launch of our Scream Tea menu in collaboration with turntable goddesses, the Broken Hearts. Inspired by the work of Tim Burton and Tim Walker, as well as their own interest in the macabre and the aesthetics of Halloween, the Broken Hearts have created a delectable seasonal menu that will be available daily 3pm-6pm from Monday 26 October until Saturday 7 November.

Guests can expect a frightfully delightful menu including seasonal pumpkin, blackberry and blood-red versions of the legendary low-fat cupcakes, combined with a classic Broken Hearts colour palette and a few spooky surprises such as taxidermy crows, giant spiders and edible artwork by illustrator and Halloween-enthusiast Rob Flowers. You can also expect to hear a mouth-watering culinary soundtrack handpicked by the Broken Hearts themselves.

And speaking of the Broken Hearts, they will be our special guest DJs on Thursday night for our Death on the Dancefloor Halloween Extravaganza – until then ”stay spooked” for our next episode where we will spill all the gory details…

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22 Oct

Viva el Vino Gourmet Tapas and Wine

Posted by Lisa in Eating Out, Pubs & Bars 2 Comments

campo-tapasIf you’re a foodie who fancies something different, try Viva el Vino – a collaboration between one of the hippest tapas joints in town (Pinchito Tapas) with the equally cool Spanish wine label, Campo Viejo.

This marriage made in heaven involves first choosing your wine and then allowing the talented Pinchito chefs to match the tapas to the wine.

Pinchito Tapas is a young, funky, friendly and informed tapas restaurant. We loved it because the all the action takes place around the bar. This is not because we’re obsessed with drinking (well, not totally) but because we loved the sociable, buzzy atmosphere – and it reminded us of Spain.

My friend and I had the tough job of sampling the menu. We were given eight different wines with matching tapas. It was a delicious, easy and exciting experience. Surprises included Campo Viejo Gran Reserva 2002 served with morcilla (Spanish blood sausage), caramelised apple, cabrales (Spanish cheese) and golden onions and rocket.

The menu we tried costs £30. For that you get eight generous samples of wonderful wines and are inundated with delicious matching tapas, things that you probably wouldn’t choose yourself, but actually work brilliantly.

The Viva el Vino menu is available until Janaury 2010 and if you’d like to try it, it’s best to book ahead. We’ll definitely be back for more

Do you have a favourite Spanish restaurant in London?

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8 Oct

FrankMusik Live and Found at the Met Bar

Posted by Jo & Jamie from the Met Bar in Clubs, Pubs & Bars No Comments

FrankMusicAs a child of the electro generation, it’s no surprise Jamie became a big fan of electro-pop whizz kid and singer-songwriter du jour, FrankMusik.

Recently back from touring with Keane, Pet Shop Boys, Lady GaGa and Perez Hilton Presents in the US, it only took a few calls to entice FrankMusik to the Met Bar decks.

Or, we should say BACK to the Met Bar decks? Although not commonly known, FrankMusik used to DJ here regularly before starting his glittering music career!

His return was much anticipated, and after a quick bite in Nobu on Thursday evening, he came down to an already packed bar full of Met Bar members, achingly cool music moguls and the gorgeous Natalie Imbruglia (with friends Sam and Holly Branson).

With the paps going crazy outside, the atmosphere was quite simply electric – echoing the sounds from FrankMusik himself including remixes of his latest hits – the beat-boxing and vox-popping went long into the night.

Suffice to say it was Berocca popping for us on Friday morning! Watch this space for the next big Met Bar party…

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8 Oct

London Restaurant Festival Vanity Fair Opening Party

Posted by Claire Doble in Eating Out, Pubs & Bars, Special Events No Comments

logo_lrfLondon Restaurant Festival was launched last night with a glittering opening party hosted by Vanity Fair magazine at iconic London restaurant Quaglino’s.

The red-carpet event’s guests were the great and good from the restaurant industry, plus foodie celebs including Fay Maschler – critic extraordinaire and co-founder of the festival.

With the festival’s main events getting underway today, the organisers have already had a fantastic response from chefs, restaurateurs and the public.

Pre-event targets of signing up 500 restaurants were exceeded with an exciting and diverse range of London establishments getting involved.

Tickets have been selling like hotcakes, with several festival events already sold out. But don’t fear, you can still book a Festival Menu, and get a great ticket deal on the following events by visiting the Festival Hub in Covent Garden:

From lunchtime today, London Restaurant Festival attendees can also vote for their favourite festival menu. Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 13 October.

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26 Sep

Femme Fatale at the Met Bar

Posted by Jo & Jamie from the Met Bar in Music, Pubs & Bars No Comments

If you have ever been seduced by an alluring woman, you will be familiar with the meaning of Femme Fatale. Until last night we (Jo and Jamie) had never succumbed to the fatal charms of a woman but in true excessive style, we fell for not one but four in one evening!

Last night, our new live music event Femme Fatale debuted in the Met Bar in conjunction with ZEN FM presents, showcasing the best in emerging female musicians. Naively sipping our cocktails, we were unaware of the potent mix of music that was to follow.

Axe Girl

The first performance, a Celtic Harpist called Jharda, enchanted the audience with her haunting voice and melodic strings, delicately evoking a strange desire to dance in the royal courts of Henry VIII.

Then, Axe Girl with her punky attitude rocked the stage with a mix of edgy pop-rock anthems. Cue much head banging and air guitar action.

After we were released from the clutches of our first two sirens, voluptuous songstress Charley Bird sent the audience into a heady whirl of Kit Kat club excitement with her Dietrich-esque voice and pin-up poses.

Finally, Chyna Wyne captivated the crowd with her striking beauty and Reggae beats in her gravity defying high heels (teacher by day, diva by night) whilst we got up and got down to the bongo beats!

Dazed and delighted, we took to our carriages in a love-struck stupor satiated by our first experience of Femme Fatale. Tempted? Join us for the next Femme Fatale in December.

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9 Sep

Monkey Shoulder Tree House Swings Into London

Posted by Jenny in Attractions, Pubs & Bars No Comments

The Monkey Shoulder Tree House at The Big Chill

For those of us who don’t find ourselves regularly hanging out with the Royals in Mahiki, there’s a new pop-up bar coming to town made by Cheeky Tiki, the conceptual designers behind the celebrity hang-out.

OK, so being a tree house made from reconditioned whisky barrels, this new pop-up bar doesn’t have quite same the glamour as Mahiki.  But the wooden bar with board games, orange lanterns, and whisky cocktails is still the perfect place to catch the last of the summer sun.

The Monkey Shoulder Tree House lands at the Old Truman Brewery from 10 to 13 September.

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