THEGAYUK

Author: Tim Baros

  • FILM REVIEW | The Assistant – gripping, timely and realistic

    FILM REVIEW | The Assistant – gripping, timely and realistic

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    What happens if your boss is molesting women in his office, an office that is right behind where you sit?

    This is the dilemma Jane (Julia Garner) faces in the new film The Assistant. Jane is an assistant to the chief of a film company (he’s never seen but his presence is felt throughout the film).  

    It’s Julia’s first real job in film and she’s kept busy doing a wide variety of tasks during the day; making coffee, keeping the office kitchen tidy, maintaining her bosses busy diary, managing visitors, dealing with his uncontrollable wife, and, handling the potpourri of women who float in and out of his office.

    One of these young women, Sienna (Kristine Froseth), who has a lack of office skills, was hired by the same boss for reasons that are obvious. But when Julia appears to have had enough, she goes to HR to complain, but the HR director, who annoyingly takes a personal phone call during their meeting, tells Jane to keep her head down and focus on her role, and that she’s got a great opportunity. He lays into her that to file a claim against her boss would just wreck her career. Meanwhile, her male co-workers (Jon Orsini and Noah Robbins) seem to be oblivious to the shenanigans of their boss.

    The release of The Assistant coincides with the jailing of Harvey Weinstein – it couldn’t be better timing. Garner is brilliant, but the takeaway of this film is her boss, not at all seen in the film but felt enormously throughout.

    Writer and Director Kitty Green has written and directed a powerful film that perfectly highlights what the Me Too movement is all about. 

  • FILM REVIEW | Crisis Hotline – clever, dark and very sexy gay suspense film

    FILM REVIEW | Crisis Hotline – clever, dark and very sexy gay suspense film

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    The clock is ticking when a distressed young man calls an LGBT suicide hotline – but there is more to his story in the suspense-filled drama Crisis Hotline.

    It’s a film cleverly written and directed by Mark Schwab. The story begins where it ends and tells the caller’s story and why he has contacted the hotline on that particular night.

    Simon (a very good Corey Jackson) is in his first-week volunteering at the hotline office and not much has happened. But one night a young caller, sounding very distressed, threatens to kill himself. So Simon gets the caller to tell his story and the events that have led up to this very disturbing call.

    Danny the caller (Christian Gabriel), who is from the Midwest, is new to the big city, trying to find his feet, with a dull job and a very small apartment. Soon enough he meets sexy, hot and fun Kyle (Pano Tsaklas), who on the surface appears to have it all: a great apartment, a sexy smile and hot body, and a great job managing websites for a gay couple who have a voracious appetite for sex and all things dark.

    Soon enough Kyle introduces Danny to his bosses Curtis and Lance (Mike Mizwicki and August Browning). Danny then finds out more about Kyle’s line of work and what he really needs to do to keep his job and apartment. But Danny eventually gets drawn, unwittingly, into their dark games, with Kyle setting him up, which ultimately leads to the hotline call. And throughout the call, the suspense builds and builds and the story gets darker and darker until the shattering, and totally unexpected, finale.

    Schwab, who also produced, has a keen eye for suspense and drama and gets great mileage from his cast. While Gabriel doesn’t quite live up to his role and seems to be sleepwalking through the film, Tsaklas owns the movie with his looks, charm, and relative ease in his complicated role as an on-the-surface good and loyal boyfriend but with a dark and dangerous streak. Mizwicki and Browning are okay, but Jackson brings much to the film as it’s his pivotal role that holds the film together.

    He’s actually fantastic.

    Crisis Hotline throws social media, sex, love, lust, voyeurism and the dark web into one big mixing bowl to make an eerie, clever, dark, very sexy and fun film.

    Now available in the UK through Dekkoo.com

  • FILM REVIEW | 15 Years – A very sexy gay love story

    FILM REVIEW | 15 Years – A very sexy gay love story

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Yoav is one angry man – so angry that he sacrifices relationships with his partner and his best friend for a life of solitude – in the new heart searing film 15 Years.

    An Israeli production and filmed in Tel Aviv, 15 Years focuses on sexy daddy Yoav (Oded Leopold) who appears to have everything a gay man would want: an extremely sexy partner of 15 years Dan (a very sexy and well-cast Udi Persi who brings comfort to the screen every time he is on), a good job as an architect, absolutely gorgeous best female friend Alma (Ruti Asarsai), and an amazing apartment overlooking Tel Aviv. What he didn’t have was a great relationship with his parents; his mother is long gone while his father lies comatose in a local nursing facility. Then one night, while he and Dan are hosting a dinner party with all their friends, Yoav loses it. Why? Because their gay friends now have children while Alma had previously announced that she is pregnant.

    Yoav starts complaining that they are all turning into straight people – with families – something he’s just not into. But when Dan starts to reassess their relationship and feels he could possibly see a baby in their future Yoav doesn’t accept this and leaves and moves into a dilapidated apartment, and his life starts falling apart. His company loses a very lucrative contract, his father passes away thereby leaving wounds still open, his friends shun him, he doesn’t want to be at Alma’s side when she has her baby, and a one-night stand he has turns into a mess. Meanwhile, Dan has moved on and has met a much younger guy who’s he’s really smitten with. So is Yoav and Dan’s 15-year relationship really over? Will Yoav come to his senses and realize what he’s lost?

    What’s really frustrating with this film is Yoav’s anger. Sure he can be mad at the world but enough so to lose everything he’s worked for? Anyone would kill to have people like Alma and Dan in their lives – what is Yaov’s anger and demons really all about? We are never convinced. But having said that writer and director Yuval Hadadi has made a very good film with perhaps the sexiest gay couple you’ll see in a film this year, a film that really left me thinking about past relationships and what-ifs.

    15 Years is now available from all good digital platforms. Visit the website for more details.

  • FILM REVIEW | Moffie – Beautifully well-told story of a young gay soldier in the South African army

    FILM REVIEW | Moffie – Beautifully well-told story of a young gay soldier in the South African army

    Rating: 5 out of 5.

    It’s 1981 South Africa, a time when the country was still at the height of apartheid, and blacks were not the only class of people who were discriminated against, homosexuals didn’t have it easy either.

    In the new amazing film ‘Moffie’ – based on an autobiographical novel by Andre Carl van der Merwe – beautifully tells the story of a young man called Nicholas (Kai Luke Brummer – wonderful), a teenager, who, with no choice, is sent to complete his compulsory military service. But Nicholas is not your boy next door – he’s gay, and not at all out of the closet. So he has to endure two years of military service in a system that spits up and chews out young men and turns them into hardened soldiers, hardened men. It’s a culture full of testosterone and machismo. And while Nicholas doesn’t let his secret out, he falls in love with another young soldier Dylan (Ryan de Villiers). In fact, it was Dylan who initiates, and Nicholas, while a bit nervous during their first encounter, soon finds being with Nicholas very natural. But some soldiers do no adjust very well to army life (one soldier shoots himself in the head), while Dylan is sent away for unknown reasons, leaving Nicholas to endure his remaining time in the service, while still pining for Dylan, and still a moffie (faggot in the Afrikaans language).

    ‘Moffie’ – which was called a masterpiece by Variety Magazine – is indeed an excellent film. Director Oliver Hermanus hits all the right notes, from Nicholas’ family life prior to going into the army (his father gives him a stack of straight porno magazines), to the daily brutality he and his fellow recruits get from their Major, to the barracks scenes where the tension is palpable and tense, which is what you have when a couple dozen young men are all bunking down in the same room. But the scene when Nicholas, as a young boy, is with his parents at a public swimming pool, and he looks longingly at an older boy in the showers but is then exposed and scolded by an adult shower attendant in one amazing long shot will have you holding your breathe – it’s quite a very dramatic scene and excellently done. And at 104 minutes, ‘Moffie’ is quite a movie. Don’t miss it.

    UK Release Date – April 24th – exclusively on Curzon Home Cinema

  • FILM REVIEW | The Host – a thriller that will put excitement into your evening!

    FILM REVIEW | The Host – a thriller that will put excitement into your evening!

    Rating: 3 out of 5.

    Why spend your evening on a boring Zoom chat when you can watch a film that is thrilling, dramatic and sexy!

    The film is The Host – and it is being released on April 17th on iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Apple TV and all major VoD platforms. 

    London banker Robert Atkinson (Mike Beckingham) has a good job, good looks, good everything, but wants more. When an opportunity arises for him to come into a lot of cash, via a Chinese cartel, he grabs it, but this leaves to unintended consequences that take him to Amsterdam, where he winds up as a guest in a very large house that has more secrets than you can count.

    The lady of the house, Vera (Maryam Hassouni), is mysterious yet alluring, domestic yet spidery, and she lures Robert into her web-like presence to a point of no return. Eventually, Robert’s brother Steve (Dougie Poynter) goes to Amsterdam to look for him, along with two detectives (Nigel Barber and Suan-Li Ong) who are investigating a crime they believe Robert is involved in. Mystery, drama and a good looking cast should be enough for an evening’s entertainment – yes?

    And even Sir Derek Jacobi makes an appearance!

    The Host is produced by Pearl Pictures Productions, who recently sponsored the Critics’ Circle Film Awards back in January (it feels like a long long time ago). Made by Pearl Pictures Productions, produced by Pearl’s Zachary Weckstein, and directed by Andrew Newberry, The Host was filmed in the heart of Amsterdam and London and has a great appearance by singer and actress Ruby Turner. 


    http://www.thehost.movie

  • FILM REVIEW | Ravers – Rave like there’s no tomorrow

    FILM REVIEW | Ravers – Rave like there’s no tomorrow

    Rating: 3 out of 5.

    Hey, want to forget all that is happening in our world and go to a Rave? Well, perhaps the new film Ravers is for you.

    Why attend an online rave on Zoom where all you see are faces when you can actually watch a real wave (digitally of course), a rave which combines all the right elements: excellent music, being illegal, millennials, drugs, and said millennials turning into zombies.

    ‘Ravers’ is the wave you crave but it’s also a film with an excellent soundtrack – for real! The story is basic. Poor Bucky (Georgia Hirst), a budding journalist who has not quite found a great great story to write about. And while she’s not the most social of butterflies amongst her circle of friends, she’s convinced to go to an illegal rave in an abandoned factory that used to produce energy drinks. Years ago there was an incident at the factory where one of the employees went on a killing spree. So no guess where this film is going as once the rave kicks in, a stash of the energy drink is found (which was contaminated) and is passed out to the ravers.

    But the drink doesn’t give the ravers energy (there are all drugged up anyway), it turns them into flesh-eating killing zombies. So Becky and her friends who didn’t drink the substance are all trapped inside the factory (someone has blocked the only entrance) and there is no way out. As the music goes on (the D.J. is killed but one of the zombies – a wannabe DJ – takes over the turntables and pumps it up), the real people must run around the factory trying to save their lives while also trying to think of a way to quiet the zombies. Becky, meanwhile, tries to rescue her love interest Hannah (Manpreet Bambra) from zombiedom. Will they get out? Are they able to get the zombies to turn into normal loud obnoxious millennials again? 

    Ravers, with a tagline ‘party like there is no tomorrow’ pretty much sums up the situation we are all in. It’s a fun movie not to be taken too seriously, and while it’s not awful, the music in this film is awesome – much more enjoyable than the film itself! But at only 90 minutes it’s much more enjoyable than being part of an online rave.

    However, attend at your own risk – and make sure there are no energy drinks or millennials around!

    Available now on iTunes

  • FILM REVIEW | Vivarium – scary, and all too real!

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Imagine being trapped, held against your will, in a house and a neighbourhood that is weird and creepy. Actually that’s our reality right now, but take it one step further and imagine that there is simply no escape – and what you have then is Vivarium.

    Vivarium literally means an enclosure, container, or structure adapted or prepared for keeping animals under semi-natural conditions for observation or study or as pets; like an aquarium or a terrarium. In the new scary and disturbing science fiction movie Vivarium, Tom and Gemma (Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots) are being observed, studied, but by whom they, nor we, don’t know.

    Before this, they were just a young ordinary couple looking for a house to buy. Gemma was a teacher, while Tom was a DIY man. But one day they walk into a real estate agents office and meet an odd, clean-cut and crisp robotic salesman named Martin (Jonathan Aris) who is more than happy to show them a house at a development called Yonder.

    Once they get there, everything looks and seems perfect; homes all alike in an environment with round clouds and blue skies, while the house Martin shows them is perfect, almost too perfect. But Martin disappears while Gemma and Tom are looking around the home, and they get into their car and realize there is no escaping the neighbourhood. It’s then that their young idyllic future turns into a nightmare as they are forced to live in the house in which they can’t escape from, where food, and a baby boy, are delivered right to their doorstep, to create one happy family.

    ‘Vivarium’ shows a young couple right at their most vulnerable, put in a situation they simply just can’t escape from. Director and writer (with Garret Shanley) Lorcan Finnegan has a keen eye for detail, and as the mystery builds, so does the nightmare of the whole situation. Without being bloody and violent, Vivarium, is just downright scary, but more chillingly as perhaps because it seems all too real.

    Vivarium is available on the following digital platforms:

    iTunes/Apple TV
    Amazon
    Sky Store
    Virgin
    Google Play
    Rakuten
    BT
    Playstation
    Microsoft
    Curzon Home Cinema
    BFI Player

  • FILM REVIEW | And Then We Danced – a Gay Georgian love story

    FILM REVIEW | And Then We Danced – a Gay Georgian love story

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Georgia, where the LGBT population still face challenges, is the setting of the gay love story And Then We Danced, which is very good thanks to a great script, and great directing and acting. 

    Swedish Director Levan Akin’s (he is of Georgian descent) film is about young men of the National Georgian Ensemble where the typical dance routines are more masculine in nature.

    Levan Gelbakhiania plays Merab. He desperately wants to dance for the main ensemble but is still struggling at the junior level, and is given great support by his partner Mary (Ana Javakhishvili). Merab lives with his mother, grandmother and lazy brother, all in a flat where money is hard to come by and where the electricity gets turned off because the bill is not paid.

    One day a new dancer, Irakli (Bachi Valishvili) joins the junior ensemble, and soon enough he and Merab are among the few who have been chosen to audition for the main ensemble – both of their dreams. But on a weekend away with other dancers, Mareb and Irakli finally get to act on the chemistry that they had when they first met. But with the audition days away, and bad news from back home which might impact Irakli’s chances, will their new found relationship survive?

    When And Then We Danced premiered in Georgia, it was met with protests and violence. But it’s an achievement, both in it’s telling of a gay love story in a country where gay love stories don’t exist (it’s also a story about forbidden love), and an achievement in film because the story is beautifully told (written by Akin), and the acting is realistic by two leads who had no acting experience prior to this film.

    A must film to watch while you pass the time away at home.

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | Bala Baya, London – A real find!

    RESTAURANT REVIEW | Bala Baya, London – A real find!

    ★★★★★| Bala Baya, Southwark, London

    A real find in the restaurant scene is Bala Baya. It’s a real find because it’s tucked away in a spot hard to find and it’s a real find because it’s extremely delicious. 

    A few minutes walk from Southwark tube station in the revitalised railway arches now chock a block full of restaurants and a couple of small theatres is Bala Baya. 

    Top-notch Israeli food cooked with care and to perfection is delivered to tables with grace and elegance in a space that is uniquely designed to make everything just perfect. 

    There are many choices on the menu but the best value is the set menu where you’ll share 7 dishes at £42 per person where each dish is so unlike the others.

    The Chickpea Hummus (£7 on the a la carte menu) is an excellent blend of mixed spices, pine nuts (superb and plentiful), pickled chillies (for that extra kick), with tomato pulp, and served with two fluffy and very soft pitas. Just superb overall. The Mackerel & Harissa (£13), a dish I would normally never order, was an unexpected delight thanks to the combination of the Sharon Fruit (variety of persimmon), mustard cress and tomatoes which gave the dish a nice zing! While the mackerel was, of course, very fishy, the non-fish portion of the dish pushed it over the edge into delicious category. But what was more than delicious was the Wild Tomatoes dish. Very large (£10) and with each ingredient superb, it consisted of Mooli (white root), pickled red onions, Manouri cheese (similar to feta but cooked and better-tasting), and coriander with blackberry vinaigrette to top it off. Superb, zingy, and beautifully presented, with all the ingredients a great mix. It’s a dish I could eat every night! The Cauliflower & Roe (£13), while not as fabulous as the Wild Tomatoes (it’s hard to beat), consisted of a large cooked cauliflower with harissa, sweetcorn black pepper and cured fish roe on top of acidic vinegar, which, along with the harissa, gave the cauliflower a minor kick but it was an excellent texture. Next up was the Crispy, Sticky and Crunchy dish (£11) of chicken thighs – and all four pieces were of the name, with bitter orange, harissa, kimchi, butternut squash puree, hazelnuts sprinkled on top, and sumac.

    While the Kimchi was too spicy, the combination of the rest of the ingredients gave this dish the perfect taste. But what was to come after just topped everything: the Cheeky. It was Ox cheek (a nice round portion, and slow-cooked for 3 hours we were told), with a large aubergine resting comfortably on top, and plum tomatoes alongside with the entire dish swimming in beef and date jus. And if this sounds mouth-watering it’s because it was! A dark brown dish, with the plum tomatoes giving it colour, it was large enough for us to share, but to be honest I wanted more of this dish even though I was getting full! Superb. It’s £18 on the a la cart menu by the way. 

    Too full is an oxymoron when you know there is dessert still to come. And we had two from the menu: the Burnt Babka and the Malibu Malabi. And if they both sound delectable it’s because they were! The Babka (dough baked into a golden brioche-like bread with added chocolate and hazelnuts and plums) reminded me of a cinnamon bun but with much more flavour. I absolutely loved this dish – and it was up to standard with the mains we had just devoured! The Malabi was coconut, orange blossom, mango, citrus fruit, sumac and rose all compacted into a glass dish.

    My dining companion loved it but I was very happy with my Babka! Both desserts are also on the a la carte menu (£9 and £8 respectively).

    As mentioned previously, the tasting menus are a bit better value than the a la carte menu. The other tasting menu is £53 per person – you get one more dish but this menu does not include the Cheeky nor the Wild Tomatoes dishes – which were two of my favorites.

    As for drinks, it’s a given that Bala Baya has a drink for everyone. Cocktails are fine, with the Flying Camel a standout (Ketel One, Cointreau, grapefruit, sumas and rose), but I need to go back and try the Champagne Martini (yummy!), the Pomegranate and Ginger, and (!!) the Peach (with peach liqueur, lemon and prosecco). The wines are a good value, at two pages you have your pick of white, rose and reds, but as Bala Baya is an Israeli restaurant, your best bet is to jump in with both feet and go for the Israeli wine.

    Chef Eran Tibi, a descendant from a Middle Eastern family, successfully brings his family’s cuisine to London. Trained at Le Cordon Bleu and the kitchens of Ottolenghi, the Roundhouse’s Made in Camden kitchen and founding Executive Chef at Zest@JW3, Eran’s passion and creativity are apparent in every one of his dishes.

    It’s a slick, cool two-story restaurant with the downstairs in full view of the open kitchen but it’s upstairs where you want to sit. With an overhang of plants in the back, to the high ceilings and the floor to ceiling windows at the front, it’s a very comfortable environment where the tables are not too close to each other. And it’s under the concept of Desert Bauhaus, with interiors designed by the award-winning architect Afroditi Krassa. The wait staff are superb, attentive and very nice, and there is nothing bad to say about this place. It’s just perfect, like a lazy Saturday afternoon on a Tel Aviv Beach. 

    For bookings click here

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Spy Plays, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Spy Plays, London

    ★★★★★ | Spy Plays, Above the Stag Theatre, London

    Intrigue. Attraction. Mystery. Lust. Sex. Murder. These are the themes surrounding two plays rolled into one and called ‘Spy Plays’ now at the Above the Stag Theatre.

    David Thame’s ‘Kompromat‘ and ‘London/Budapest‘ are shown together for the first time, and both based on true life events where the same actors play different characters in both, 60 years apart.

    ‘Kompromat’ which in Russian culture is short for “compromising material”, and which has been previously performed at the Vaults, tells the chilling story of Gareth Williams, the presumedly gay man who worked for a government agency and who was found dead inside a sportsbag in the bathtub in his Pimlico flat in 2010. The show takes the story further by surmising that he picked up a man at a gay bar on that night and took him back to his flat. Guy Warren-Thomas plays Gareth, shy yet brilliant, while Max Rinehart plays Zac, the young mysterious Hungarian who seduces Gareth and perhaps had something to do with his death. In ‘London/Budapest’ it’s 1955 and Author Adam de Hegedus (Warren-Thomas), has just met a young man (Rinehart again, at his most seductive) at the Jermyn Street Baths, and takes him back to his Pimlico flat. But who is this young man? Is he who he says he is?

    And did de Hegedus actually commit suicide or was he murdered?

    So what links these two men? A Pimlico flat, and that both dead had connections to the spy world. And Director Peter Darney beautifully, with the help of the production team, brings it all to life on one of the stages at Above the Stag. In ‘London/Budapest‘ we are whisked to a appropriate era set with a comfy lounge chair while in ‘Kompromat‘ it’s a modern bachelor flat where death will rear its ugly head. And the acting couldn’t be better. While Rinehart has the most dialogue and delivers it with passion, Warren-Thomas Is just perfect in his duel roles and is also absolutely breathtaking when he enters the stage in ‘Kompromat’ in an outfit that’s unexpected yet very, very sexy.

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | Arabica, London – fresh, delicious and very very good food

    RESTAURANT REVIEW | Arabica, London – fresh, delicious and very very good food

    ★★★★ | Arabica, Kings Cross, London

    The Kings Cross neighbourhood continues its renaissance with more and more shops and restaurants opening up, and with new apartment and offices sprouting up like weeds. Also new to this area is Arabica. 

    Arabica, situated on a corner facing the establishing and pleasantly calm, green space known as Lewis Cubitt Gardens, is slightly away from the hustle and bustle of Coal Drops Yard and Granary Square in this rapidly developing area. 

    One of six branches in London, Arabica brings food, ingredients and more from the Middle East to London for food and flavours that are delicious and flavourful. The Kings Cross location, open only for four months, is one large room with an open plan kitchen with bar and is a sleek and calm environment with service and food to match. Anyone from a single diner, couples or larger groups would feel comfortable at Arabica, with seating arrangements appropriate for all.

    Open seven days a week (the Borough Market location as well), Arabica is open for brunch, lunch and diner. It was the brunch menu that we tried, and we were treated to a combination of dishes which brought a potpourri of smells and flavours to our noses and tastebuds. 

    The Arabica Fry Up (£10) was just that – Rookery farm eggs (cooked over easy soft), house-cured lamb bacon, beef sujuk, roasted tomato, chestnut mushroom, Za’atar (Persian) bread, served in a small frying pan, and is one delicious dish. The beef sausage and the lamb bacon (rather like mini lamb steaks) were very very good (though a bit too salty), with watercress in the pan to give the dish a bit of colour and zest. While not 100% filling it’s perfect for those who like it all but don’t want to feel too full and bloated.

    The Turkish-Style Fried Eggs dish was simple yet flavoursome (£9). Fried Rookery farm eggs with roasted peppers, aubergine, tomato, herbs, and crispy shallots was a bit similar to the fry up, except substituting roasted peppers, aubergines and shallots for the meat, and with parsley sprinkled on top for the green look, with a serving of beef sujuk – slices of a mildly spiced beef sausage – were an excellent accompaniment to this satisfying and tasty dish. Very seasonal and very good. 

    But the stand out dish was the Moorish Buckwheat Pancakes. A snip at only £7.50, the three large pancakes were amazing. Topped with sweet caramelised bananas, salted date honey caramel, with roasted pecans generously sprinkled on top, and with orange blossom cream which brought together tastes that were very delicious. The pancakes have a great flavour and texture (buckwheat) that make them so very very unique with each mouthful as satisfying as the last. Highly recommended. Other brunch choices include the Breakfast Pide and the Halloumi & Herb Tortilla (both £9).

    The Turkish Coffee was thick and aromatic as hoped, with the cardamom flavour clearly and pleasantly evident from first to final sip. The Turkish Delight served alongside this was a lovely touch, and among the best I have sampled, with pistachio nuts and pomegranate molasses providing a sticky, chewy treat, which was not overly sweet.

    Perhaps a visit for dinner is in order just to be able to eat dishes from the Hot Mezze selection (Steak & Bone Marrow Pita and Lamb Kibbeh are some of the highlights), the Clay Oven choices (Babaganoush Man’Ousheh and the Lahmacun – Turkish pizza with spiced lamb), or the Charcoal Menu (Berbere Spiced Cauliflower, Beef Shish, and the Chicken & Pistachio Shish), as well as the Vegetable and Grains section which all sound very very delicious and very very healthy.

    The cocktails, though we didn’t try any, also sound amazing, from the Turkish Delight (Vodka, hibiscus liqueur, strawberry & rosewater jam, vanilla aquafaba – £9) to the Pomegranate Margarita (yummy – £11), or the Halva Daiquiri (Dark rum, fig & hazelnut liqueur, ginger syrup, lime, tahini aquafaba, walnut bitters – wow – £12) or perhaps the Turkish Coffee Martini (£10) which will no doubt blow your socks off.  

    The selection of fresh, delicious and very very good food are some of the reasons I’d go back to Arabica, whether the Kings Cross of the other restaurant locations (Borough), Selfridges (Food Hall) or to the Market stall locations (Borough again, Southbank and Real Food Markets). Great service, beautiful looking food, and a generally warm feeling all over are other reasons I’d go back.