What to do This Weekend: 13th – 15th October
The evenings may be drawing in, the leaves are changing colour, but there’s so much going on in London that we’ve no time to mourn, let’s instead go and stuff our faces with chocolate at The Chocolate Show, or swig rum at RumFest or beer at Heist Bank Beer Festival. It’s Diwali too, there’s afternoon tea at The Roof Gardens, there really is something for everyone!
The Roof Gardens and Babylon
What: Afternoon tea at The Roof Gardens
Why: When is afternoon tea in an English country garden not afternoon tea in an English country garden? When it’s afternoon tea up one of the tallest buildings in Kensington. The Roof Gardens is the quintessential country garden, with manicured lawns and walled recesses. Over summer they’ve been holding regular sell-out afternoon teas and and this Saturday marks the end of the series for 2017. Taking place in the cosy Tudor marquee, go and indulge in a traditional assortment of sandwiches, golden scones and cakes, all accompanied by specially selected teas and coffees and a glass of bubbles!
Saturday 14th October
Where: 6th and 7th Floor, 99 Kensington High Street, Kensington, London, W8 5SA
Website:
www.virginlimitededition.com/the-roof-gardens
Aesop London
What: Aesop’s dinner series continues
Why: If you thought that skin, hair and body care formulators Aesop only cared about your outsides, you’d be wrong, they are also looking out for your stomach! Aesop’s series of Richmond dinners continues with chef William Gleave this weekend. Gleave honed his skills initially at Garagistes in Hobart, Australia before arriving on our shores where he built quite a reputation at P. Franco in Clapton and most recently at 40 Maltby Street in Bermondsey. His sampling menu will include a starter of garden vegetables and fresh cheese, Charentais melon and cured pork Cornish crab or almond milk wheaten bread and whey butter followed by a choice of mains featuring scorched mackerel, elderflower and tomato, young peas, Scottish girolles and anise hyssop or roast saddleback, onions, white currants and black currant leaf and a pudding offering of lemon verbena, mulberries and cultured cream or warm chocolate tart and sour cherries. All washed down with carefully paired wines.
Saturday 15th October
Where: 19 King Street, Richmond, TW9 1ND
Website:
www.aesop.com
Hutong
What: It’s Mid-Autumn at Hutong
Why: It’s the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival and what better way to celebrate the shortening evenings and changing trees than by staying very much indoors and, ideally, at Northern Chinese restaurant Hutong. After all, when you’re half way up The Shard you don’t really mind that it’s overcast and drizzly, because the view is so great. And so is the food. The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is the second biggest Chinese celebration after New Year and Fei Wang, Hutong’s new head chef and Sichuan expert, has created a chilli-based set-menu using ingredients traditionally served during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Dishes include Red lantern crispy soft-shell crab with Sichuan dried chilli (crab is lucky in China), whole crispy sea bass with pickled chilli sauce, cuttlefish and enoki mushroom, white sesame and chilli oil, beef-tenderloin with dried chilli in spicy chilli broth, Hutong’s spicy fried rice with prawns, fennel seeds and chilli oil and chilled string beans with Sichuan ginger sauce. Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate to us!
Saturday 14th October then every Saturday
Where: Level 33, The Shard, 31 St Thomas Street, London, SE1 9RY
Website:
www.hutong.co.uk
Red Roast
What: Bottomless Bordeaux? Cheers!
Why: If you didn’t think a roast dinner could get any better, you obviously hadn’t thought of adding in bottomless red wine. Thankfully Butler’s Wharf Chophouse, Paternoster Chophouse, Skylon and New Street Grill already did. Launching Red Roast this month the four venues will be offering their fantastic meaty wares along with unlimited Bordeaux wines specially selected by the restaurants. If you’re looking for something to do this weekend we can’t think of a more productive use of your time than a roast Aberdeen-cross sirloin and braised Welsh lamb shoulder served with all the trimmings and lashings of gravy at Butler’s Wharf or Paternoster Chophouse. Or an afternoon gazing over the river while savouring Hereford sirloin of beef with roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables at Skylon. Or how about a tender rack of Welsh lamb and roast free range chicken for two down at New Street Grill? All with no end of Bordeaux.
Every weekend in October
Where: Butler’s Wharf Chophouse, 36e Shad Thames, SE1 2YE, Skylon Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, SE1 8XX, New St Grill, 16 New Street, EC2M 4TR, Paternoster Chop House, 1 Warwick Court, Paternoster Row, EC4M 7DX
UK RumFest
What: Rum Festival
Why: There’s nothing rum about this one, UK RumFest markets itself as the world’s premier rum festival and given London is the epicentre of the global cocktail culture it’s quite possibly right. Buy a ticket to the event and choose from over 400 different rums from around the world, from major producers like Jamaica to little known corners of of the rum world like the tiny Japanese island of Minamidaito. As well as seminars on all things rum, festival-goers will have the chance to drink in the world’s largest Tiki bar! The Tiki-head bar, the creation of Plantation Rum will showcase the brand’s pineapple rums, while Fever Tree’s Highball Bar will give us all a lesson in the best mixers to enjoy with rum. Yo ho ho and a bottle of finest overproof for us, please.
Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th October
Where: ILEC Conference Centre, 47 Lillie Road, Earl’s Court, SW6 1UD
Website:
http://rumfest.co.uk
Heist Bank
What: Beer and Pizza
Why: If you live by the motto ‘beer today, gone tomorrow’ then rush down to Heist Bank for their beer festival this weekend. This celebration of all things beer will feature some of the best breweries in the UK and beyond. Staring roles go to Fourpure, Thornbridge and Wild Beer Co who will be launching special, seasonal releases as well as collaborative brews. European craft beer like To Øl from Copenhagen and Norwegian Lervig will be in situ not to mention beers from further afield including New Zealand’s Yeastie Boys and 8 Wired. And if you didn’t think things could get any better, then all weekend Heist Bank’s pizza oven will be blazing away creating their signature pizzas with a wide range of toppings. It’s making us hoppy just thinking about it.
Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th October, tickets are available here
Where: 5 North Wharf, Paddington, W2 1LA
Website:
www.heistbank.com
Dishoom
What: Diwali at Dishoom
Why: What better way to celebrate the ancient Hindu festival of Diwali than be heading down to Dishoom’s Diwali Party? The event, part of the festival of light celebrations going on across London, will be held at the Camden Centre, this year, and will feature tasty Dishoom dishes and refreshments including pau bhaji, bhel and far far. But as well as food people of all backgrounds are invited to take part by enjoying a variety of activities and performances, including a 90 minute re-telling of the story of Diwali by the Sujata Banerjee Dance Company, with a performance by Shammi Pithia. Throughout the day there will be different activity stations such as henna, face painting and Rangoli (colourful floor art).
Sunday 15th October, tickets are available here
Where: Various
Website:
www.dishoom.com
The Chocolate Show
What: So much chocolate!
Why: Chocolate is, objectively, the best thing in the whole world. So an event where this brown miracle food is front and centre-stage is music to our gluttonous ears. The Chocolate Show is back for the fifth year running and will see over 20,000 chocolate fans file into Olympia to celebrate its existence. As well as every chocolate maker you’ve ever heard of, there will be a number of celebrity chefs lining up to demonstrate, masterclasses from the likes of Hotel Chocolat, Lauden and the Bad Brownie Company and various pairing and tasting events. We’re already planning to attend Chocololics Anonymous come Monday, but my it’ll be worth it!
Friday 13th to Sunday 15th October
Where: Hammersmith Road, Kensington, W14 8UX
Website:
www.thechocolateshow.co.uk
Aster
What: Nordic-French Bottomless Brunch
Why: The sound of the brunch alarm is ringing, that sweet, sweet sound that lets us know that Aster has just launched their bottomless brunch. To drink will be bottomless prosecco or brunch cocktails and combining Nordic and French flavours, dishes will include: cinnamon bun French toast with maple syrup and crispy pancetta; venison burger served in a juniper brioche bun, and field mushrooms and poached egg on sourdough with truffle hollandaise. Choose two courses if you want, but with coconut panna cotta and poached peach melba on the menu for pudding, we predict you’ll go for three.
Saturday 14th October and then every Saturday
Where: 150 Victoria Street, London SW1E 5LB
Website:
www.aster-restaurant.com
Haymarket Hotel
What: FloatFit
Why: How can we tempt you out of bed for a 9am fitness class? With the offer freshly baked waffles, bananas and strawberries and sweetcorn chilli fritters with avocado, tomato, lime salsa and poached eggs? That would probably do it. Here’s the small print: before you get the brunch, you need to take part in FloatFit HIIT, an exercise class that takes place on boards in swimming pool, trust us, it’s going to really work your core and balance.
Saturday 14th October and then every Saturday until 2nd December
Where: 1 Suffolk Place, London, SW1Y 4BP
Website:
www.firmdalehotels.com
Mondrian London
What: Family Package at the Mondrian London
Why: ‘I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues.’ Something for us all to think about there…another thing to think about is that to celebrate the return of The Lorax at The Old Vic, Mondrian London have come up with the I am the Lorax package which is perfect for families visiting London. Starting this Sunday, it includes 25% off the room, breakfast, a two-course Riverview pre-theatre menu, four tickets to watch Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax and free in-house films for children. You don’t even have to be visiting London, why not just go on a family holiday in London?
Sunday 15th November to Sunday 5th November
Where: Mondrian London at Sea Containers, 20 Upper Ground, London, SE1 9PD
Website:
www.morganshotelgroup.com
34
What: 34 Mayfair X Liberty London
Why: 34 Mayfair have partnered with Liberty London to create an exclusive limited-edition print, Garden of Beauty and with it comes a beautifully intricate dessert and cocktail both inspired by the print. Reimagined from the Liberty London archives, the Garden of Beauty print features colourful and vibrant floral patterns, so the pudding is an airy chocolate and cherry parfait ‘cushion’ bearing the Garden of Beauty print with a fragrant rose centre and sat on a sweet and sour Griotte cherry sauce, pistachio cake, edible flowers and dried crisp cherries. The cocktail which is sweet and floral is also finished with edible flowers. We suggest a decadent Sunday afternoon of cocktails and puddings.
Available Now
Where: 34, Grosvenor Square, London, W1K 2HD
Website:
www.34-restaurant.co.uk
Bounce Farringdon
What: Next Level at Bounce
Why: When video mapping meets a smart-ball game (admittedly not a common encounter) the result is Wonderball at Bounce, they’re basically upping the ping pong experience. State of the art projection mapping technology is going to unlock brand new games, turning the table into a giant interactive arcade that will even keep track of your score. Friday after works drinks are sorted then.
Available Now at Both Bounce Farringdon and Bounce Shoreditch
Where: 121 Holborn, London, EC1N 2TD
Website:
www.bouncepingpong.com
Old Spitalfields Market
What: Old Spitalfields Market’s New Chapter
Why: The next chapter of the market’s 200-year history is about to start as ‘The Kitchens’’ are completely transformed and the market floor is modernised. Sitting in the heart of the new market will be ten of London’s much-loved restaurants and food stalls: Berber and Q, Breddos Tacos, Barbarian, Dumpling Shack, Flank, Happy Endings, Rök, Thousand Knives, Sood Family and Yum Bun – so that’s your weekend of eating sorted. By the time the market is completed in spring 2018, it will feature in excess of 100 market traders and we’ll all be significantly heavier.
Opens Friday 13th October
Where: Old Spitalfields Market, 16 Horner Square, E1 6EW
Website:
www.oldspitalfieldsmarket.com
Hyatt Regency London The Churchill
What: Hyatt Regency x Saatchi Gallery
Why: This is the last weekend that you can try The Montagu’s menu that has been created to celebrate the hotel’s latest partnership with London’s Saatchi Gallery, a brand new ‘Beneath The Colour’ hotel exhibition and unique Saatchi Suite. The menu includes: cured British Isle salmon, poached lobster, pea, edamame, fresh horseradish puree and Sharon fruit dressing; baked cauliflower cheese with crispy kale and spiced pine nuts and local raspberry lemon thyme mousse with damson sorbet and a blueberry almond slice. Afterwards, head to the The Churchill Bar & Terrace for the exclusive themed cocktail, Chromatic.
Available Now until 20th October
Where: 30 Portman Square, London, W1H 7BH
Website:
www.themontagurestaurant.co.uk
The Westbury
What: Tea cocktails at The Luxury Collection
Why: You’ll want to be dipping your trunk into this series of Elephant themed cocktails from The Luxury Collection’s London Hotels. The group, including The Westbury, The Wellesely and The Park Tower Knightsbridge, have teamed up with Indian-American designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia in honour of charity Elephant Family. Infusing the cocktails with teas developed by Waris’s House of Waris 100% of the profit from teh cocktails will go toward Elephant Family’s conservation in India, ahead of The Extraordinary Elephant Adventure rally across Rajasthan in November. The Hibiscus Royal blends House of Waris Organic Hibiscus Citrus Tea with Scotch whisky, vanilla syrup and Mandarin Napoleon and garnished with a physalis. The Ganesha cocktail is a mix of turmeric syrup paired with House of Waris Tea Elephant Gin-infused White Pomegranate Tea. Finally Haze Tower is a classic cocktail of whisky infused with House of Waris Tea Earl Grey Tea and paired with Gomme Syrup Giffard and finished with a dash of freshly squeezed lemon juice. You don’t have to be an elephant to never forget these creations.
Available now
Where: Bond Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 2YF
Website:
www.westburymayfair.com
The Frog E1
What: Book Ahead Supper Club
Why: When it comes to rising stars in the kitchen, Elliot Hill is one chef to watch and for one night he will be putting on a five-course menu at the award-winning The Frog E1, a restaurant known for championing up and coming talent. The menu includes: buttermilk fried chicken liver with beetroot, bacon and horseradish; Dingley Dell pork with apple, celeriac, roasted onion, chicory, and malt honey parfait, ginger, lime curd, brown butter and honey comb.
Get Tickets Here
Monday 23rd October
Where: 2 Ely’s Yard, Old Truman Brewery, Hanbury Street, Shoreditch E1 6QR
Website:
www.thefrogrestaurant.com