A London Journal

Resto 25 Searcy’s St Pancras Grand Restaurant

A bit soulless but ok if you're getting the train and want somewhere more upscale than Carluccio's.

Resto 24 Saki, Crouch End

Eeels are good, eels are good their bloody eels are good.

Sidney Nolan at the Australian High Commission

Discreetly advertised, so discreetly both on the street and in the media that it would be easy to miss it, is the best exhibition in London. I went to the Michelangelo/Sebastiano yesterday but it wasn't the artistic highlight of my week. That honour goes to Unseen, an exhibition of a couple of dozen works by the Australian artist Sidney Nolan.

Marivaux Pt. 2

A bit of repetition of a previous post but I recently wrote this for the French History Society blog:- Adapting Marivaux’s L’Ile des Esclaves in 2017 One of the things that never occurred to me until this year was that I might end up adapting a play by Marivaux for the stage. Marivaux’s L’Ile des…

Resto 23 Cinnamon, Soho

Between the library and a gig at the Wigmore we were looking for a bit of spice. Soho's Kingly Street being on the way we took a chance on Cinnamon, which from the outside looks rather too carefully put together in the Bills/Dishoom tradition. I was wrong to have doubts.

Resto 22 Dragon, Crouch End

A Chinese restaurant isn't the traditional venue for a Good Friday dinner I guess but if you're in the grip of the perma-hang it's good option.

Resto 21 Norte by Bilbao Berria

Resto 21 Norte by Bilbao Berria Meh food & service next to geriatric teenagers. Underwhelming.

Restaurant 20 Ma Salle à Manger, Paris

Listening to Jacques Dutronc's Paris 'Paris s'Eveille' I realised I'd never actually BEEN to the Place Dauphine. Now I have.

Restaurant 19 Galette Café, Paris

We wanted a quick lunch on the way to the Louvre and galettes (or Breton pancakes) seemed a good option.

A short ramble round Leicester

Coming to a brief spell of teaching at De Montfort I thought it might be of use to the casual cultured visitor to point out some of the less well-known elements of Leicester that are worthy of consideration.