A Taste Of The Underground

London / Go Eat
en by Henry Castiglione /  Henry Castiglione, 27. Jan 2010

I often feel sorry for visitors to London. Despite all the hype about London being a gastronomic paradise, it is still very easy to pay a lot of money for poor food. Some of the best food I have had has been cooked by friends, family and of course by my mother. Bad food in restaurants, good food in private homes – hmmmm there might be something here. In the past year a number of 'underground restaurants' have opened across London in which you can eat in private houses. These veer between haute cuisine at haute cuisine prices, Savoy Truffle Supperclub in Blackheath; an arty amalgamation of food, art and cabaret, Pale Blue Door, in where else but avant garde Dalston, or simple food at The Underground Restaurant in Kilburn, beautifully done by foodblogger Ms. Marmite Lover.

At her Victorian house, Ms. Marmite Lover offers a 5 course set menu for £25, you can bring your own wine and her surly Goth daughter will open it for £5 and throw in some eye-rolling if you are really lucky. I was a bit wary of this place because: a) it doesn’t contain any meat, only fish and vegetables b) our hostess’s background is as a rock photographer and her catering experience comes from cooking at an anarchist vegan restaurant and at G8 protestors camp!  From my limited experience of lefties and vegans, I have found that tasty food ranks low down their list of priorities. Reader, I had to swallow my prejudices. This was proper cooking. The highlight being a goat’s cheese soufflé with asparagus and hazelnut oil. We also had perfectly cooked piece of monkfish wrapped in banana leaves with coconut and lemongrass and for pudding a passionfruit pavalova.

It’s great social occasion as everyone sits together so it is hard not to make new friends. On a busy night it can get noisy so if you want some romantic privacy then there is always the shed (really).  I would compare it to being at a really good dinner party but without having people ask you what you do for a living or boring you about property prices. For added spice the whole thing may not even be legal hence why she trades under a nomme de plume and her exact location is top secret. You will only find out the address when you book a table or cookery course through wegottickets.com. She does not want the council to look too closely into what goes on behind her front door.

The best places underground restaurants get booked up far in advance so do some research before you arrive. Some other places that have been recommended to me include: Salad Club, The Bruncheon Club and Eat With Your Eyes. Aspiring cooks are opening their doors the whole time so look on Google, Facebook or best of all ask a Londoner.

Now if only I could persuade my Mother to open up the Castiglione mansion then we could make some real money. I can just see my dear old Dad as the maitre d’hotel in his ill-fitting dinner jacket leering at the girls and making inappropriate jokes, actually on second thoughts maybe I should be front of house.

Published by
Henry Castiglione

Reading Books, Drinking Beers And Rolling Stones

London / Go See
en by Henry Castiglione /  Henry Castiglione, 20. Jan 2010


Shoreditch House Literary Salon

I love reading and I like drinking but have found it hard to combine the two. After about half a bottle of wine my eyesight wanders and I get the urge to whisper facetious comments to my friends. Help is at hand thanks to London’s burgeoning literary salon scene.

If your image of book events is shaped by the image of an author droning on self-importantly to a crowd of geriatrics then think again; today’s book events are convivial and often quite rowdy.

Published by
Henry Castiglione

London's Retro Dance Explosion

London / Go Night
en by Henry Castiglione /  Henry Castiglione, 19. Nov 2009


'Oh My God I Miss You' Photo: Barry Newman

I was having my haircut by my barber, Kiri, at his shop in Kensal Rise, North West London. He asked me whether it was true that people in the East wear double-breasted suits and have moustaches and generally act like it’s the 1950s. I told him that it was not only true but they had special nights where they could do this in the company of like-minded people and dance to records from the era and pretend that the modern world of health and safety, mobile phones and alcopops never happened.


'Oh My God I Miss You' Photo: Barry Newman

The epicentre of this retro dance revival is the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. There are nights for everyone as long as you like your music pre-1970s. I tipped up on a Friday night for 'Oh My God I Miss You' and it was crammed with immaculately coiffed girls in vintage polka dot dresses jiving to New Orleans Jazz and music from the Jungle Book. And these people really can dance. I looked rather out of place in my chinos and Lacoste sweater bopping self-consciously (though I did look bloody stylish.)


Kiki Kaboom Photo: Spencer Cartwright

The flipside to all this putting on of old clothes is the explosion in taking them off and dancing provocatively. I met up with the winner of Best Newcomer at the London Burlesque Festival, Kiki Kaboom, at the Albion on Redchurch Street. She had the Irish stew, I had the Kedgeree. Kiki mentioned how trends that start in music go on to take in other forms such as fashion, dance and film. People are not just content with listening to 50s rock n’ roll, they want to be in Happy Days. All this retro stuff requires time and effort, you can’t just get an outfit from H&M. See it is a reaction to the slovenliness of modern Britain.

For those of you who think Burlesque is just glorified stripping, Kiki pointed out a crucial difference: the audience at these nights are predominately female. Women like it because it celebrates the female form rather than promoting an unhealthy ideal of femininity. Kiki sees it as empowering and said how she was so much happier with her body since starting burlesque. Having seen her in action, I can only agree


'Oh My God I Miss You' Photo: Barry Newman

You would expect these nights to be promoted by handbill or organ grinder but as with so much these days, the internet is the place to look. Check out the links below or you can use spoonfed to find crazy retro dance in your area even, I have heard, in Kensal Rise.

links:

Bethnal Green Working Men’s club
Hula Boogie
Madame JoJo's
Light jive

Go further:

Let's dance #1: Moving and shaking with Cairo's own
Let's dance #2: Swinging New York: Fancy a shag?
Let's dance #3: Dancing dawn the Spree
Let's dance #4: So you think you can dance(hall)
Let's dance #5: Dancing 'til dawn on the booze cruise

Published by
Henry Castiglione

The Best Indian Restaurants In Central London

London / Go Eat
en by Henry Castiglione /  Henry Castiglione, 13. Nov 2009


Photo: Ewan-M

England is famous for its Indian restaurants. In many parts of the country they are the only places where you can get an edible meal. Most London guides send lovers of Indian food to the peripheries: to Brick Lane (terrible food), to Green Street (it’s a slum) or to Southall (it’s not even in London.)

This is not necessary. There is superb, cheap Indian food to be had within zone 1. Fitzrovia – the area between Oxford Street and the Euston Road is teeming with delicious eateries but first you must go to Drummond Street.

Published by
Henry Castiglione

Local View Sebastian Horsley's London

London / Go See
en by Henry Castiglione /  Henry Castiglione, 7. Oct 2009

 

If you spend any time in Soho, you are sure to run into Sebastian Horsley. He is distinctive for his height (usually exaggerated by platform boots), his clothes and remarkable good looks. Everyone recognises Sebastian but no one is quite sure what he does. He has had many occupations: an artist who had himself crucified in the Philippines and swam with sharks; a playboy who made a million on the stock market and spent it all on drugs and women; a sex columnist fired for being too graphic. He is now the author of a lavishly praised autobiography, 'Dandy in the Underworld'. Johnny Depp is keen to make it into a film though Sebastian is not sure if Depp is good-looking enough to play the lead. Sebastian is currently turning the book into a one man show but his main occupation is being Sebastian which is more than enough work for one man.


Photo: Aye-eye

We met at Lorelei which has been a Soho institution for more years that the owner cares to remember. Regulars called it the mermaid due to the mural of a mermaid on the wall, We both had the pasta which is cheap and basic “the great thing about the Mermaid is that whatever you order it always tastes the same” Sebastian quipped.

My first question was about being a Londoner:

Sebastian interrupted “I don’t consider myself a Londoner, I live in Soho, I am a Sohoer or a Sohoite. I would not live in Chelsea and I get ill if I go south of the river. Beyond Hyde Park is a desert to me. Any invitations to art galleries in Notting Hill go straight in the bin. Soho is a village; it even has a village church. It is a community of misfits.”

Sebastian lives in a flat off Dean Street. One wall is lined with skulls and he keeps a loaded revolver by the bed. Due to difficult financial circumstances he has had to take in a lodger. She pays very well but keeps him up at night with her constant visitors.

So where would you live if not in Soho?


The launch party for Sebastian's retrospective at the Spectrum Gallery stopped the traffic

I would move back to Hull, failure is less apparent in the provinces, or go to Los Angeles but that’s could be because they won’t have me.” Sebastian was meant to go to America to promote his book earlier this year. He got as far as JFK when he was stopped by immigration, questioned for 6 hours and sent back to London due to his “moral turpitude.” “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, they all know about the book. The bad news is, they all know about the book.” Sebastian remarked at the time.

Apart from Lorelei, where do you like to eat in London?

I don’t like haute cuisine. When I go out I only want people to notice me, I don’t want to be upstaged by the food.” Sebastian frequents the old cheap cafes – such as the Star café - that Soho used to be rammed with but have increasingly been replaced by chain coffee shops.

After his book was launched in September last year he took over cult Italian restaurant Zilli’s. Sebastian is also an unlikely regular at celebrity hangout The Ivy on 1-5 West Street. Sebastian loathes celebrities but they took some art from him and paid him in meals. “They took some syringes from me so I called them the IV.”

Where do you get your fabulous clothes?

I don’t go shopping and I don’t wear designer clothes. I ain’t no clothes Horsley. I design my own clothes and get them made. “Sebastian is one of the very few if not the only person to have had a collar named after him at Turnbull & Asser (71 Jermyn Street). It is called, aptly, The Horsley. You will note its distinctive lines in the photos. Suits come from amongst others Richard Anderson on 13 Savile Row. Sebastian’s unique style is an inspiration to designers such as Comme de Garcons who used Horsley as a model during Paris Fashion week last year.

How do you think Soho has changed?

People are always going on about how things were better in the past. Were they? Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.” But Soho is changing. The Colony Room, long time hang out of artists such as Francis Bacon, is closing. Sebastian is part of a campaign to keep it open. “People will look back at the closing of The Colony Room as on par with the destruction of the hanging gardens of Babylon or the burning of Byron’s papers.”

The great thing about lunch with Sebastian is that you will be amused, challenged, flirted with but you will never get a direct answer to your questions. Recommendations are not what Horsley does. Sebastian’s Soho is as much about attitude as it is about place. Read his book, come to Soho and seek out his company: “Come to my room at 7.00pm. If you’re late, I'll start without you.”

'Dandy in the Underworld' by Sebastian Horsley is published by Sceptre in the UK and Harper Press in the US. It comes out in Germany next year.

Go further:

Local view: Catherine Sanderson's Paris

Local view: Melissa Maldonado's Berlin

Local view: Jerome Weatherald's London

Local view: Lauren Elkin's Paris

Local view: Gilles Valentin's Istanbul

Local view: Adam Kuban's New York

Local view: Christophe Abric's Paris

Local view: Maaike Gottschal's Amsterdam

Local view: Jozef Spodniak's Prague

Local View: Dana Boulé's Paris

 

Published by
Henry Castiglione
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