THEGAYUK

Author: Thabian Sutherland

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | Pharmacy 2

    RESTAURANT REVIEW | Pharmacy 2

    Now open until 2am on Saturdays for ‘Summer Lates’

    Pharmacy_2

    South of the Old Smoke’s river is becoming ain’t-no-thing-but-a-chicken-wing trendier by the week. The Tate Modern’s new pyramid Switch House has opened its awe-inspiring 360ᵒ viewing terrace; Canadian apparel brand Kit and Ace’s new boutique resides in Borough Market; and Damien Hirst and Mark Hix’s new venture – Pharmacy 2 (P2) – situated above Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall (NSG), Hirst’s very own gallery exhibiting Damien’s personal collection from the likes of Banksy, Tracey Emin and Picasso. P2 hosts Saturday ‘Summer Lates’ night where the dripping-in-Hirst-decor eatery pumps out club grooves from 10pm until 2am with a DJ on the reins.

    Nowadays, you can’t hit the south side of the Millennium Bridge unless you’re sporting a beard, spray-on jeans and a whole menagerie of flaming birds tattooed across the back of your neck.

    Super-ish cool, hip and roughly happening kids that we are at TheGayUK – we thought we’d better slip into our skinnies and take a butchers.

    Our first artist of call: Jeff Koons, whose work currently dominates the NSG. Obvs a fave of Mr Hirst’s, he owns the whole collection here bar two pieces. A giant Balloon Monkey, oversized mound of rainbow Play-Doh and Inflatable animals intwined in household objects and each other. Just imagine if Willy Wonka didn’t have a sweet tooth.

    It was a long-term ambition of Damien’s to own a gallery and share his art wares – entry is free. Don’t miss Made in Heaven in the ‘no photos aloud’ room – see-no-evil emoji monkey.

    Appetites dosed up, we sauntered up the Fun-House-esque spiral staircase to the restaurant and were greeted as if we were clutching a Wonka Gold Ticket – a hot-chocolate welcome.

    Our waiter diagnosed parched palates and swiftly remedied with an Espresso Martini: Merlet c2 Café and espresso at £9 – and a Temperley Sour: Somerset Cider Brandy 3 years, Somerset Pomona Burrow Hill apple juice, lemon and egg white at £9.50. The martini was rich and aromatic with a firm head – just the medicine. Glüwein spices, ripe apples with zesty undertones made the West Country infused sharpener quite the positive anesthetic.

    If the staff at our local Boots had half the enthusiasm and knowledge as well as following P2’s smart dress sense we’d look forward to lining up for prescriptions.

    Our waiter administered direction – we started with Brick à l’oeuf de canard with rose harissa at £6.95 – do you remember when granny couldn’t get the Sunday Yorkshires to rise? A light half-frisby, crispy wafer pastry covering a runny egg – lively peppers and chilli from the harissa was the perfect cardiac-stimulant to complete the simple Tunisian plate. Tasty.

    The next starter: Pockstones Estate grouse on Yorkshire toast with bilberries and chanterelles at £12.50. The cure of the night, and one that should be sold over the counter. The tender bird is infused with woody overtones and hints of sweet gamey partridge – fruity aromas from the mushrooms, and bitter but intense currant flavours merge beautifully to make the ideal antidote.

    As you would expect from Damo, you’re surrounded by medicine cabinets, Hirst’s butterfly Kaleidoscope paintings and mosaics of pills – this is an adverse drug experience – beats any operating room. Capsule-ating – make an appointment with your GP.

    Pharmacy_2_interior_1_Prudence_Cuming_Associates__2H_Restaurant_Ltd._All_rights_reserved_2016

    The serum recommend to accompany our mains: Beaujolais “Vieilles Vignes”, Domaine de la Rocaillère, Burgundy, France, 2014 at £30.50. Hints of gusto Noël with savage strawberries and a modest oak bouquet – a sophisticated and well balanced bottle of plonk.

    For our mains: Torbay monkfish tail curry with onion bhaji at £16.95, and Peter Hannan’s barbecued sugar-pit rib of beef with Lambridge Farm pea salad at £18.95. The fish was succulent and the aromas were infectious – but lacking in symptoms of India – basic vital signs of flavour. In some cases braised beef can cause nausea and vomiting – quite the contrary here. Hix knows how to cook cow. Once through the syrupy barbecue coating, you’re met with a pink and supple meat – a wholegrain mustard injects tart and completes the dish.

    Throughout the evening a steady stream of well attired patients entered the premises – creating a natural buzz – no extra pharmaceuticals needed. Towards the end of our meal the DJ became the central nervous system bestowing a club/bar feel.

    ‘Summer Lates’ and Jeff Koons exhibition both finish 16th October. We prescribe a good dose of both.

     

    Reviewed by: Thabian Sutherland

    Address: Pharmacy 2 Restaurant, Newport Street, London, SE11 6AJ

    Phone: 0203 141 9333

    Website: www.pharmacyrestaurant.com

    Star Rating:  ★★★★★ (explained)

    Every Saturday Newport Street Gallery is open from 10am-10pm (last entry at 9:45pm).
    ‘Summer Lates’ at Pharmacy 2 will run from 10pm-2am (starting Saturday 30 July) until the close of the Jeff Koons show on 16 October.

    The next “late” is on the 24th September.

    Pharmacy 2 is open all-day serving breakfast / brunch, lunch and dinner.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Much Ado About Nothing

    THEATRE REVIEW | Much Ado About Nothing

    ★★★★ | Much Ado About Nothing

    Shakespeare fans “roll up roll up” – thou art in for The Tempest of treats. The young British theatre company, The Faction, have refashioned, revved up, edited, Selfridges-styled and speared Much Ado About Nothing into the 21st century – much like Alessandro Michele’s influence on Gucci.

    Much Ado About Nothing at Selfridges
    CREDIT: PR Provided

    Popping a pop-up theatre in the basement of Selfridges is poetry to one’s ears. Sampling Roja Parfums: A Midsummer Dream, eau de parfum – a snip at only £295 – while passing through the perfumery. Then straddling the escalator to the lower deck – a quick whizz through Conran and Danish design brand Hay, followed by a spot of wick sniffing in Jo Malone – all before parking your derrière in the contemporary mini-catwalk 122-seat auditorium.

    You wouldn’t produce a production of Romeo, and no Juliet – so why a theatre and no bar? #justsayin

    Director Mark Leipacher and Co-director Rachel Valentine Smith have sharpened William’s comedy of confused love, slander and tell-tales with news bulletins, Kooples clobber, an enthusiastic, flowery and playful cast thrown in with some horny, animalistic line-dancing. The story is clear and punchy. They’ll be no “wherefore art thou amusement” – the humour is as fresh as the dark amber and ginger lily emanating from the defusers in Selfridges Ultra Lounge.

    “The course of true love never did run smooth” – but Shakespeare, Selfridges and The Faction is no question, to be.

    Much Ado About Nothing plays at Selfridges Refashioned Theatre until the 24th September

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | Bright Courtyard Club

    In the affluent district of Marylebone lies the street made most famous by Sherlock Holmes – laid in the 18th century and named after William Baker – Baker Street.

    CREDIT: PR Supplied

    In amongst the commercial premises and behind a corporate and grey exterior sits a little piece of East Asia – Bright Courtyard Club (BCC).

    Once we’d stepped into the club we needed for nothing. A warmer-than-a-steamed-dumpling welcome – martial-arts service from start to finish.

    We were offered tea as an aperitif – a tradition in China and probably refreshing, but it wasn’t cracking our fortune cookie. Friday nights for TheGayUK involve something a wee bit stronger.

    And stronger is what we received – two Old Fashion cocktails arrived made with bourbon and aniseed at £10.50. Liquorice and fennel flavours gave the sharpener a unique edge on this old favourite.

    We asked for a selection of what they do best.

    To start we shared: Shanghai marinated beef shin slices, boiled chicken slices in chilli oil and edamame beans.

    The beef was dry and brought back memories of primary school lunches. The chicken was tender and livened up by chilli.

    CREDIT: PR Supplied

    As well as: classic Shanghai pork and crab dim sum ‘Siu Long Bao’ at £7.50. Hints of ginger, onion, sesame and garlic elevated both meats. The broth was tart and enhanced the light pastry – Guangzhou’s street market has nothing on them.

    The Old Smoke is one of the world’s culinary hotspots, with Asian eateries such as Sexy Fish with her mid-century glamour decor displaying works of Damien Hirst and Frank Gehry. And then there’s Yauatcha Soho with contemporary expertly crafted dim sum and interior – the list is almost as long as the Great Wall of China.You have to stand out. That’s sadly where BCC doesn’t – the ornamental fixtures are cliché and tired.

    To wash down the mains we ordered a French Pouilly Fumé Cuvée de Boisfleury at £43: flowery, with a citrus bouquet and suggestions of grapefruit – it yinged our yang.

    There were more lobsters in the tanks than there were other diners – an empty-shell like ambience.

    For our mains, we shared: Chilean sea bass steamed with preserved vegetables at £15, and braised pork belly with grandmum’s recipe at £16. The fish was succulent and sweet with undercurrents of coriander – setting flames to our paper lanterns, beautiful. Vinegar and plum made the delicate pork moreish – not too fatty, an elegant dish.

    There’s an old Chinese proverb: “Ròu bāozi dǎ gǒu” – which translates: to hit a dog with a meat-bun – which we don’t recommend. But we do recommend, if you’re in the mood for authentic Asian cuisine, you don’t have to be one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional characters to dine on Baker Street.

    REVIEWED BY: Thabian Sutherland

    ADDRESS: 43-45 Baker Street, London W1U 8EW, info@brightcourtyard.co.uk, Tel: 020 7486 6998

    WEBSITE: brightcourtyard.co.uk

    STAR RATING: ★★★ (explained)

    COST RATING:  ££££ (explained)

    TIPPING POLICY: A discretionary 13.5% gratuity will be added to your total

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Chemsex Monologues

    ★★★★ | The Chemsex Monologues

    Introducing a hexagon of narratives that will surge a memory, ignite a demon or pep your G spot.

    PR Supplied

    If you’ve never darkened the dimly lit doorway of a chill-out, you’ll grasp that the etiquette for accepting others’ pharmaceuticals is to putout; sexual health workers hand out condoms in saunas to the beats of Kylie; Bermondsey is a hotspot for Roman style orgies; gays high on meth get lost buying cigarettes; G-o’clock equals a contorting face; overdoing the liquid-high could leave you with an unexplained bleeding rectum.

    Writer Patrick Cash leans on the darker side of the drug-fueled free-for-all, with more authenticity than an Eastenders’ Christmas double bill – graphically touching on a mosaic of very real circumstances.

    Sex, high on narcotics, can rocket your orgasm to another sphere, but, for some, what happens when the euphoria fades?

    Denholm Spurr (Nameless), snorts Andrex-Puppy-ness into a character you’ll know, have seen or can relate to. Charly Flyte (Fag Hag Cath) is credible and injects a decent size syringe full of humour.

    Leave ya poppers at home and there’s no need for laughing gas. You’ll rush, and sink to the bottom, in this well-quilled chem-hole.

    The Chemsex Monologues plays at The Kings Head Theatre until 20th August 2016, 0207 226 8561 

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | ‘O ver Italian Restaurant

    If a Londoner wants white, earthy, luxurious truffle oil, or by chance pungent époisses, or perhaps is in the mood for Pacific fresh rock oysters – where does an Old Smoke dweller go?

    Borough Market’s a given. But what if you’ve a hankering for seawater pizza? Up until now you’d have had to cross the Channel and head to southern Italy. But as of 29th July 2016 you can now hop on the Jubilee line to south London’s borough of Southwark, where the Big Smoke’s first seawater pizza restaurant resides – a mozzarella-ball’s throw from Borough Market.

    At the opening night we arrived to chaos – it was like feeding the 5000 without the miracle. Prosecco and pizza were being served as if they only had five loaves and two fish – at first, not a lot didn’t go very far.

    The space is bright, clinical and intimate – fresh white walls, marble counters, a wood-fired pizza oven and being able to see the chefs beavering from every angle, make up the main fixtures. A neat, boutique Pizza Express, with a White Cube gallery feel.

    ‘O ver’s mantra is healthy, delicious, genuine Neapolitan street food. Eventually, when we were able to bypass the other locusts we were able to try:

    First up: Regina, Neapolitan buffalo mozzarella, piennolo cherry tomatoes, San Marzano tomato sauce and fresh basil. Our moods lightened instantaneously – the pizza base is almost crape floppy, light and beautifully salty. Ripe tomatoes lifted with aromatic and peppery basil – scrumptious.

    We did manage to get our hands on a glass of Prosecco, but there was so little in the glass it’s not worth writing about.

    Margherita: Fior di latte from Monti Lattari, San Marzano tomato sauce and fresh basil. It’s all ’bout that base, ’bout that base, no treble. Instead of adding salt and water to make the dough, they add purified seawater from an already ‘pure section’ of the Mediterranean – apparently, withholding its 92 minerals and the sea salt – making a lean, moreish lip-lickin’ pizza.

    After wrestling a few hacks out the way, we made it to the bar. We were offered: Aperol Sprits, Aperol, “Mabis” Prosecco Millesimato DOC, Soda. It took two staff six mins to make two drinks – serving others in between was apparently more important. Thanks were given to the second member for taking over the process, at which she retorted “I don’t like the way you were looking at me – I can do two things at once”. Pleasant. The Sprits was bitter, sweet and orangey – decent, unlike the service.

    The last we tried: Paloma, smoked mozzarella from Sorrento, Chiodini mushrooms, rolled Italian pancetta, black pepper and fresh basil – again, limp and luscious. Truffly mushrooms gave the spicy meat and smoking gooey cheese a sophisticated edge.

    Mama Mia the ingredients are fresh, pizzas are £7 to £15 and so worth a jaunt to SE1. Hopefully, after a few weeks of being open, they would have regained that Neapolitan charm.

    Star Rating: ★★★
    Price Rating:
    Website: http://www.overuk.com
    Phone: 44 2073789933
    Address: ‘O ver 44 Southwark Street London, SE1 1UN

  • 5 Summer Fashion Faux Pas

    5 Summer Fashion Faux Pas

    It’s that time of year when we bare our extremities, show off our pins and give the guns an airing.

    CREDIT: Oneinchpunch-bigstock
    CREDIT: Oneinchpunch-bigstock

    It’s all well and good to embrace the warmer months and regurgitate last summer’s clobber, hit Selfridges for new Havies and stock-up on string vests – but not if you’re recoiling alfresco diners, beer garden drinkers and the pond life of Old Compton St as you misconstrued bumsters were ever in.

    Leave Chewy At Home

    CREDIT: wernerimages / bigstock
    CREDIT: wernerimages / bigstock

    If you insist on donning a vest, a neat amount of chest fuzz is acceptable. Unkept armpits, Chewbacca shoulders and if it looks like a squashed chinchilla is creeping up to mate with the back of your neck – manscape – or pop on a cotton roll-neck.

    Popeye will pop eyes

    It’s all very well staying cool this season but exposing your arms if they resemble a nine year-old-girl’s will deter hot predators, attract finger lickin’ and enthuse passers by to take interest in your ring “my precious”.

    Declawing

    Reptile nails, ciabatta crust heels and toe jam might have been appealing to inmates at The Clink, but nowadays will repulse most gifted with vision. It’s defo good to give ya hooves fresh oxygen but not if they look like they’ve just stepped off Middle-Earth.

    The Muffin Man Can

    © szefei Depositphotos

    You might have been able to squeeze into the those denim shorts two years ago.
    And just because Dolce & Gabbana’s S/S collection was laden with tight T’s it doesn’t mean you should offend your compadres, colleagues and the rest of us with your protruding crap-ladder sporting muffin-top.

    Speed-offs

    Budgie-smugglers: unless you’ve a body similar to the British Olympic diving team, Chris Hemsworth or Michelangelo’s David – just don’t.

  • BAR REVIEW | Myki Sand Bar Sails into Soho

    ★★ | Myki Sand Bar

    Archer Street Bar Soho, oddly enough on Archer Street, when mentioned might send an immediate dentist-implement-touching-nerve to your heart. This used to be the bricks and mortar that housed a guaranteed-tug-in-the-toilets bar and felt like throwing-shapes-on-three-week-old-pina-colada dance floor, once known as Barcode Soho. The good old days: still missed by many, we are sure.

    What London needed, and of course what this great country needed, was another heterosexual establishment. Archer Street Bar draws a clientele that travels to Ascot by coach, buys their fascinators from Debenhams and still thinks holidaying in Ibiza is cool.

    Myki Sand Bar is located on the lower ground floor where the sticky dance floor once resided, and is billed as ‘London’s first beach club bar’ – a pop-up until late 2016. White and blue sails hang from the ceiling, white painted wooden boards, blue cushions, sandbox seating areas and some scattered beach balls – an impersonation of Neptune’s from ITV’s Benidorm.

    It would have been quicker to fly to Mykonos and sample an authentic Greek cocktail – the beach boys behind the bar were as quick as a deflating lilo.

    Parched, but eager to sample, we started with a Myki’s signature cocktail, Heatwave: Ciroc vodka, peach liqueur, chilli bitters and orgeat served martini-style at £12.50. Peachy with a sand-in-ya-eye chilli twist – worth its weight in budgie-smugglers.

    Corporate functions and those who think they are worthy of a ‘VIP booth’ (Myki’s has a few) will like the setup.

    Our next tipple, Boys of the Summer: Ciroc pineapple, blood peach puree, lime juice, vanilla topped with Billecart Salmon champagne. It was like drinking breakfast juice – maybe they thought one cocktail was enough for us gays and didn’t add the alcohol. At £14.50 a pop we could have better spent on two bottles of Factor 15 Piz Buin – what a waste.

    If you want sand this summer head to Kent’s Botany Bay or hop on a plane.  If you want over-priced but decent cocktails, head to Ham Yard Hotel or The Blind Pig at The Social Eating House – both in Soho. And if you want to wear a Hawaiian shirt – best not to leave the house.

    Myki Sand Bar Opening Hours: Thurs–Sat: 4pm–1am

    Private Hire: Monday – Saturday

    Capacity: 220

    Archer Street |3-4 Archer Street Soho London W1D 7AP T – 020 7734 3342 www.archerstreet.co.uk
    bookings@archerstreet.co.uk

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | Top Dog Diner Soho (CLOSED)

    One could easily meander past Top Dog (TD) on Frith Street Soho without a second squint.

    UPDATED: 26th Sept 2016 – now closed

    First of all, the name doesn’t grab you like Herman Ze German or House of Ho – but equally, it’s not as off-putting as La Polenteria – really, polenta-smolenta. And secondly, the dark exterior doesn’t wink at you – one has to sport a bright button-hole on one’s lapel to make an impression in this neck of the smog-laden metropolis.

    But you’re not to be put off, TD has recently undergone a bit of a refurb and has utilised the space upstairs by transforming it into a speakeasy bar. What they don’t exude in a colourful shopfront they make up for in cool.  A minimalist bar with ’70’s leaf-shaped and made-out-of-scaffolding tables, grey walls with a hand painted mural: think a merman Eddie Izzard in a spacesuit, sporting an orange umbrella, serving drinks – it just works.

    We arrived to the Going Live of all receptions; the staff are animated and personable – move over Ant and Dec.  We were whisked straight up to the speakeasy drinking room where two cocktails were suggested.

    Dill or No Dill: Gin, elderflower cordial, lemon, cucumber, dill and smoked sea salt at £8.  A martini-style imbibe, aromatic and citrusy. The cucumber tones down the salt – slightly bitter.  Not bad, but not top hound.

    El Chaplulin:  Olmeca Altos Reposado, Tio Pepe, Briottet Cacao and Briottet Menthe Blanc at £9. A touch of the My Fair Lady’s, a decent enough tequila softened by the dryness of the sherry – a fruity kick from both Briottets enhances tobacco flavours. The world was a better place once the glass was empty – Top Dog.

    After our sharpeners we were led downstairs to the restaurant. You’ll feel as though you’re sitting in an industrial staff canteen, but with a touch of the Hoxton Square’s.  More of the scaffold, simplistic bare wood chairs, tables and work counter all lit with factory-style caged bulbs.

    We shared all the nosh.

    To arrive first: Kentucky fried cauliflower served with home-made BBQ sauce at £4. If you like cauliflower, and you like tempura – you’ll find this finger-lickin’-good.  We then tucked into truffle mac and cheese at £6.50: al dente pasta – the truffle oil didn’t overpower the mild cheese. My dining chum vacuumed up the lot.

    Before choosing the food we were informed all ingredients are straight off the farm wagon and all the burgers and hot dogs are made on the premises. We think they secretly have a little abattoir and greenhouse out the back – f-f-fresh.

    Next up: chilli cheese hot dog, cheese sauce, lettuce, coriander, pickled chillies and red onions at £9. A sophisticated hot dog – quality meat, porky and beefy notes elevated by lemon and nutty undertones from the coriander. Chilli and pickle is like adding hollandaise to a poached egg and muffin – the ruler of dogs.

    And: pulled pork ’n’ slaw, slow-cooked pulled pork, apple slaw, lettuce, pickles and Kansas City BBQ sauce at £10. My dining compadre wasn’t keen, which made me very happy indeed – not a crumb was left. An addictive beef patty oozing beefiness covered with succulent pork all merged with sweet apple and tomato – hints of garlic and chilli and a tease of paprika – makes a Big Mac seem like a shrivelled up chipolata – we’ve all been there.

    Along with: sweet potato fries at £4 – overdone and dry.  The house white, El Muro Macabeco 2014, had a similar bouquet to carpet stain remover.

    Bung Top Dog to the top of your Soho easy stops to line stomachs before snogging hotties in the Shadow Lounge, for an easy-on-the-Gucci-purse-strings buzzy din-dins with chums or if you just need to fill ya chops with a decent, fresh, meaty flavoursome sausage.

    Review By: Thabian Sutherland
    Address: Top Dog
    48 Frith Street
    London, W1D 4SF
    Telephone: 020 3019 2380
    Star Rating: ★★★★ (explained)
    Cost Rating: ££ (explained)
    Tipping Policy: A discretionary 12.5% gratutity is added to all bills.

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | 155 Bar & Kitchen at Clerkenwell London

    Absolutely apt in eagerness for the release of Absolutely Fabulous The Movie 1st July, The Gay UK were PR-ed an equally fabulous brunch invite. We, emanating fabulousness were only too joyed to Lacroix-up, sweety, and head to Clerkenwell London’s (CL), 155 Bar & Kitchen in – you guessed it – scenester-site and trendy-wendy haunt Clerkenwell.

    Moi’s dining chum was running a smidge late – he said: “fell back to sleep”, we say: “Bolli Stolli” – which gave ample opportunity to saunter round the labyrinth that is CL’s 13,000 square metre concept store. The tour started in the nordic-loft-apartment-esque CL’s 155 Bar & Kitchen, a long rectangular room with taupe painted brick walls, dark wood floors and newfangled saloon bar with rich-teak tables methodically spaced. Chairs accessorised with sheepskin throws, Finnish wooden funnel-shaped birch-slat lighting shades and hints of a botanical garden. Clean lines, simplistic – cool and laid-back. Edina and Patsy wouldn’t grumble.

    From the restaurant you walk into the first section of the store which feels like a Mike Leigh filmset, only missing Alison Steadman, a 1970s Vinyl Lounge with custom-built decks facing a round Starship-Enterprise/Emirates-first-class style martini bar. The next room is a boutique selling hand-picked objets d’art and “gorgeous, tasteful, little stylish little gorgeous things – sweety darlings” as well as housing a glass and iron cube art gallery displaying works from local artisans. Each corner of the boutique leads to either a men’s or ladies’ tailors.

    You walk downstairs and you arrive at the Dior of furniture showrooms exhibiting the handcrafted haute couture works of Tree Couture – the Henry Moore of furniture. On with the exploration: behind a mahogany-coloured leather-tiled partition hides a men’s casual department offering On Tour t-shirts, Bethnals jeans and Stutterheim raincoats – we likie.

    Turn left and you’ll arrive at what looks like Nigella Lawson’s post-modernistic kitchen with a huge oak work-island for spreading avocados and racking up lines of coconut-chicken skewers. In fact it’s the mother of all wine-tasting rooms, walls lined with jewels such as Sophia Loren’s favourite fizz: Tendil & Lombardi Cuvée Rosé Champagne NV, and organic plonks from Chateau La Coste by one of the most gifted winemakers of his generation, Matthieu Cosse.

    CL hosts educational wine-tasting events – with Master of Wines Sarah Abbott and, wine brand developer and founder of Above Sea Level wine and culture magazine, Aimee Hartley – for £15 per head. We at The Gay UK are always keen to improve our already well-trained palettes – we’ll be booking in.

    And finally the piano room: another sizeable space that has a touch of the King’s-Road-avant-garde-lounge-bars, complete with private dining room and baby grand. Contempo ostentatiousness simplified.

    Appetite primed, back to the bar and kitchen.

    On recommendation I ordered savoury waffles: house-made waffles, maple-glazed streaky bacon and scrambled eggs at £11. Creamy waffles with a vanilla undertone worked swimmingly with the fluffy eggs and strong woody flavours from the crispy bacon – all elevated by mapley sweetness. My comrade went for avocado and eggs: smashed avocado with créme fraîche on toasted sourdough and two poached eggs at £9. The eggs were runny, and the créme fraîche gave our green calorific friend a lighter texture, colour and taste without the sensual gestures and voluptuous curves.

    The staff are slick and standoffish. Brunch is from 10am to 4pm – you can pay £15 per person for bottomless fizz, available for two hours from your booking time – we were game. They’ll serve you an award-winning Paladin Prosecco DOC Tappo Spago NV, flowery, light and aromatic with citrus notes. Not too dry or acidic – a bloomin decent prosecco. Dangerous with so much tempting merchandise on display.

    The Gay UK are looking at relocating to 156 Farringdon Road; failing that, we’ll just set up camp in the piano room.

    Reviewed by: Thabian Sutherland

    Address: 155 Bar & Kitchen
    155 Farringdon Road
    EC1R 3AD
    London, UK
    Telephone +44 (0)20 3675 8847
    Star Rating: ★★★★★ (explained)
    Price Rating: ££££ (explained)
    Tipping Policy: An optional service charge of 12.5% will be added to your bill

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | Jamboree Foodfest & Bar

    Opening a burger/foodfest restaurant and bar with a sizeable backroom complete with stage for live music in a space joined onto a Novotel hotel might not seem like the most conventional of pairings.  But Jamboree on Blackfriars Road SE1 is a breath of rainbow-bunting fresh air for the borough of Southwark.

    Don’t be put off by the French, mid-range hotel brand’s corporate exterior.  The building is accessorised with a fun red neon Jamboree sign and their colourful interior can be seen from across the traffic-magnet main road.

    Once inside you’ll feel as though you’ve walked into a London take on a barn dance bar.  High ceilings laden with multicoloured bunting and exposed vintage bulbs, bare wood beams, walls, floor and tables.  A clean spit-without-the-sawdust gaff.  We approve.

    To wet our whistles we were pointed towards these two bad-boys:

    Fire Apple:  Fireball cinnamon whisky, cloudy apple juice, bitters and ginger beer.  It was like pouring an energetic San Francisco Stomp down the gullet where all the participants were hot-footing it in cinnamon-laced cowboy boots.  Not too sweet and plenty of yeehaw from the bitters and ginger.

    Knees Up: Blackwoods gin, basil, lemon, apple and ginger.  A few defuser reeds and this imbibe could easily freshen up the mustiest of rooms.  If TheGayUK owned a five-star luxury spa, the Knees Up would replace the complimentary cucumber water.  An abundance of herby, floral and citrus notes.

    We sampled three burgers, all of which were sandwiched in white, spongy, slightly sweet buns.

    Maryland soft shell crab burger: a sugar-paper texture followed by light fishy candy-esque meat.  Claw-icious.

    Racing Bull Argentina beef burger with chimichurri: succulent, gamey and moreish beef elevated by the parsley, garlic and punches of vinegar from the chimichurri – a burger worth saddling up for.

    The Yucatan veggie burger: a smooth sombrero-sporting falafeley filling with a hint of oregano.  My pulse-and-prune-eating pal polished off the lot, but it’s not for everyone.

    Thursday evenings, Jamboree will be filling their stage with live music.  The bar has been set high after hearing the five-piece band Gatsby – http://www.gatsbyband.co.uk – performing their own takes on Bieber, Bruno Mars and Coldplay – we almost buckaroo-ed out of our chairs and threw our stetsons in the air.

    With cocktails at only £7.95 and a decent burger for £13.95, we suggest you jump on the bandwagon.

    REVIEWED BY: Thabian Sutherland
    ADDRESS: Jamboree London Blackfriars, 46 Blackfriars Road, SE1 8NZ, LONDON
    WEBSITE: https://jamboree.co.uk
    PRICE: £££ (explained)
    RATING:  ★★★★ (explained)

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens

    ★★ | Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens

    CREDIT: Will_Frost

    Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens is billed as an inter-galactic disco extravaganza that explodes all around you. Well something exploded, or backfired. Think all-singing, trying-to-dance Battlestar Galactica meets Mad Max, throw in some glitter, silver lamé and a few other odds and sods from another solar-system’s secondhand dressing-up box.

    In amongst magnetosphere-of-madness is a wannabe poet cosmic Cyclops, a zodiac German doctor impersonator, a metallic-headed basque-sporting Medusa with two klingons in tow – the vixen trio. And thrust into the starlight as if she just landed from another planet, Chesty Prospects (Sophie Cordwell James): imagine Cheryl Fernandez-Versini trying to pull-off ‘fierce’, with a live vocal performance wearing a studded bra and stardust. Light years from close.

    Confused? So were we. There’s a serial killer, and these super-fashion crime-fighters from a groovier galaxy with a mission to fight crime and liberate the universe harnessing the Power of Disco. Or, a dark-matter Rocky-Horror-esque disco blended with a whole sphere of amateur cabaret.

    The production lifted off quite well but gravity kicked in and it landed flat on Uranus. The concept is fun but the stage time could have been halved, and for some, more rehearsal time added.

    Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens  plays at The Kingshead Theatre until 21st May