Henry Castiglione

The Adoration Of The Sacred Lamb Shawarma

Henry Castiglione — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:05:00 GMT

Visitors to London will probably be amazed by the number of kebab shops there are here. They will wonder at the huge grey piece of meat that slowly turns in the windows and wonder who would dare eat such a thing. Then they will look at the drunken hordes around them and find their question answered. Kebabs are to be avoided then? Not necessarily. . . .

Beity

Amongst all the dross there are a few places that marinate their own meat and make it up into donner kebabs. What to look for is instead of it being a mass of homogenous grey matter it instead looks like roughly chopped up roast lamb pressed together.

Beity

Where will I find these delicious creatures? Good hunting grounds are amongst the Turkish and Kurdish areas of Camden, Hackney and Finsbury Park.
Also good are some Syrian joints but the best tend to be Lebanese. You must head West and look for the word Shawarma.
Baalbak

Edgware Road where there are hundreds of Lebanese restaurants is the obvious place also Queensway, Notting Hill and along the Harrow Road. There are also a few places in central London, Chelsea and further West.

Baalbak

I love Beity on 92 Queensway not least for its gleaming interior but my absolute favourite is Baalbak on 91 Golborne Road in Notting Hill. The lamb is usually beautifully tender, charred on the outside and slightly pink in the middle and flavoured with lemon, garlic and rosemary. Wrapped up in a flat bread with some pickles, chilli and garlic sauces – it is a heavenly snack.

Good Turkish kebabs:

Anatolia; 253 Mare Street, Hackney

Woody Grill, 1 Camden Road, Camden

Go further: Read here where in Istanbul Adventureist eats giant kebabs.

An Unmarked Door In Soho

Henry Castiglione — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:35:00 GMT

I had fallen into a conversation at the bar with a man called Steve. Alice, my romantic possibility, waved and said that she would like a Gin and Tonic. “Is that your bird?” Steve said. I nodded. "If you don’t mind me saying. She’s a bit out of your league mate.”

I didn’t mind. We were at Trisha’s in Soho, or maybe the Hideout, or is it called the New Evaristo Club? No one seems to know. It is technically a private members bar but anyone can come in as long as they like the look or you or don’t dislike the look of you too much.

There is a doorway at which a man sometimes stands, you then go through a hallway that looks like the entrance to a not very prosperous accountant’s office. Head downstairs and you come into murky little room decorated with pictures of boxers and mafia types and British and Italian flags on the walls. The tables are formica and the toilets are basic.

The best thing about Trisha’s is that you never know what you are going to find or who you will meet at the bottom of those stairs. That night there was a man playing Kate Bush numbers on a guitar in a trad jazz style.

When I find the entrance I am always amazed that this place is still here or that it even exists at all. It is like a half-remembered film that has sprung to life.

Trisha’s, 57 Greek Street, Soho, London W1D 3DX

The Hare: Celebrating Diversity In East London

Henry Castiglione — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:45:00 GMT

I went to meet my little brother for our usual Saturday drink at The Hare on Cambridge Heath Road. Whilst I was waiting for him to turn up, I pondered what I liked about this place so much.

Initial signs to the unwary aren’t that positive. The carpet is worn and some of the seats have repaired with gaffer tape. A few of the clientele look a little insalubrious. On a Saturday afternoon there will be football shirts and shaven-headed men shouting at the telly, things I normally hate.

London pubs tend staffed by itinerant Poles and Australians who are here to make money and, for all their friendliness, are not committed to the place at which they work. They seem to change every week. Not so at the Hare. The landlord’s, Julian, presence permeates this place. The beer is excellent because Julian is interested in real ale (traditional unpasterurised English beer which is notoriously difficult to keep.) He is a jazz fan so they have jazz on a Sunday. The girls who work there know what you want to drink and will serve it with a saucy smile.

Whereas most pubs in London especially in the fashionable East End attract tribes, the Hare is a real focus for the community. You get old people, young people, black people, white people, middle-aged mods, trendy girls with silly haircuts, the beautiful people and the local builders.

Best of all the Hare makes no pretence towards gastronomy, food means crisps or you can try and persuade them to let you eat a kebab from next door with your pint.
There aren’t many places like this left but the Hare seems to be thriving. Oh and did I mention that it’s cheap. .

The Hare, 505 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London. E2 9BU.

James Smith & Sons: Keeping Londoners Dry Since 1830

Henry Castiglione — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:03:00 GMT

For my 30th birthday my ex-girlfriend, Nicci, presented me with an umbrella. This was not just any umbrella but one from James Smith & Sons of New Oxford Street, London.

Anyone who has spent more than a few months in London will have noticed this shop. It looks like it hasn’t changed for about 140 years. All the surrounding shops look shoddy and temporary in comparison. It makes me long for the wondrous Victorians who put so much pride into the everyday.

But the outside is but an hors d’oeurves to the wonders that lurk within. As you would expect, there are more brollies than you can shake a stick at. Who would have thought that the humble umbrella could exist in such a multiplicity of varieties?

If you want an umbrella with a handle shaped like Sherlock Holmes they will have it. How about an umbrella with a retractable blade like Patrick McNee used in the Avengers? Not a problem, sir!

They are not cheap but you are paying for rare craftsmanship, each umbrella is hand made. The manager told me that due to two terrible summers in a row, they have far more business than they can handle.

He was slightly reluctant to let me take pictures in case this piece sent a flood of bright young things through their doors. But don’t let him put you off. Visitors to London will need an umbrella and this is the place to buy one.

James Smith & Sons, 53 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1BL

Grape Expectations

Henry Castiglione — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:01:00 GMT

I used to work as a wine merchant during my early twenties and picked up a sizeable drink habit, a very basic knowledge of wine and a love of passionate salesmanship. There was nothing I liked more than a customer coming in and saying “what would you recommend for £7 to go with mutton”.

A few years ago I had quite a lot of money to spend on a case of wine for my father’s 60th birthday so I minced around various shops with an eager expression on my face determined to be sold something wonderful and, more importantly, to be taken seriously as wine buyer.

I was served my supercilious boys who treated me as an ignoramus or by older men who thought I was trying to steal something. Then I met Philip Shorten at Milroy’s. He listened to my needs, pretended that I really knew what I was talking about and I bought a case of Brunello di Montalcino from Sesti.

I would like to say that this was the start of a beautiful friendship but sadly I am generally short of cash and so tend to buy most of my wine from the bargain bins of supermarkets. If, however, I am having people over or want to impress my ladyfriend, then Philip is my first port of call. He has never let me down with a recommendation.

They are also a whisky specialist and Philip will often give you a little taste whilst you are browsing.

Twice a year they have free tastings to which they invite all their regular customers; I normally get drunk and disgrace myself and they keep inviting me back. Oh and if you live in the UK, get on their mailing list – they have some amazing sales.

Last Xmas I spent most of my bonus on mature Rieslings from Alsace – much better than squandering it on drugs and the horses like I normally do.

Good recommendations:

The Dr. Burklin-Wolf Ruppersburger (2007)

Morgon Cote de Py, Domaine Jean-Marc Burgaud. 2006

MILROY'S OF SOHO; 3 Greek Street, London W1D 4NX

Not Just For Children

Henry Castiglione — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:57:00 GMT

Oddly enough I first heard about this place in a novel 'What I Loved' by Norwegian-American writer, Siri Hustvedt. This novel is set entirely in New York apart from a passing mention of the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood. I had to go.

This really is the perfect museum for the generation that never grew up. Here we can relive the toys of our youth and our forefather's. There are giant robots, 1960s meccano sets and wobbly mirrors from old-fashioned fairgrounds.The labelling of the exhibits is rudimentary but this just lets you make up things up – just like being a child again.

What children probably don't appreciate is the magnificence of the building in which all this is housed. It looks like part of an ornate railway station but was actually especially designed as a museum in Kensington and later dismantled and moved to Bethnal Green.

The inside is one enormous space with galleries on either side. The floor was laid by women from a local prison. It had a makeover a few years ago which meant that a vaguely, Moorish box was stuck on the front. I've no idea why they did this but it could have been done worse.

What interested Ms Hustvedt were the dolls and the doll's houses with their lavish attention for detail. One of the houses dates from the early 18th century and is only slightly smaller than my flat.

The dolls with their Victorian clothes and fixed grins look like mummified children. I was so frightened that there were nearly tears before bedtime but luckily i was distracted by the delicious smells emanating from the cafe on the ground floor. It's hard to throw a tantrum when you are eating a sausage roll and there is the promise of ice cream.

BETHNAL GREEN MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA

Local View Sebastian Horsley's London

Henry Castiglione — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:30:00 GMT

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

Two Wheels Good

Henry Castiglione — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:14:00 GMT

Boris Johnson Photo: Internets_dairy

London recently voted in a cycling Mayor in the form of Boris Johnson. There is now much hope in the cycling community (I love the idea of a cycling community as if we all live in one street and cook for each other) that more cycle lanes will be constructed. If the new lanes are as idiotically planned and badly constructed as the current ones then this will be a dangerous waste of money. I prefer to take my chances in the traffic. If you aren’t prepared to do battle with the buses and couriers then try cycling on Sundays when the roads especially in the City of London are deserted.

Cyclists in front of Bank of England

I sometimes go out with my flatmate James though he is much fitter than me and tends to go too fast. The great thing about central London is that it is flat so you don’t need to be particularly fit or have lots of gears. You can hire very sturdy three-speeders from Go Pedal.

Spitalfiels market seen from outside Christ Chuch Photo: Ed.ward

My favourite lazy Sunday route takes me down Commercial Street which is on the edge of the City past Spitalfields market on 105 Commercial Street and on the left you have the awe-inspiring Christ Church Spitalfields. Take a right here past the market and you will get to Bishopsgate. You are now in the City.

St. Botolph's Aldgate

Turn right off Bishopsgate and head down Threadneedle Street to the home of the increasingly fragile British pound, The Bank of England. From here I like to wonder aimlessly around looking for the old churchs located amongst the monstrous glass and steel towers. Gems include St. Botolph’s Aldgate.

All this exercise makes a man hungry and on my way home there is The Owl and the Pussycat on 34 Redchurch Street. They do a good roast lunch in a delightfully shabby environment.

Beyond The Grave #3: Highgate Cemetery

Henry Castiglione — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:15:00 GMT

Is it strange, when visiting a vibrant city, to seek out the local dead? Why do cemeteries – full of old stones and ancient history - attract so many modern travelers? Momondo asked our city bloggers to unearth an explanation and give us the low-down on the neighborhood necropolis. You'll read about the best burials in Berlin, the most entertaining interments in Prague, the graves of American heroes in New York and a cemetery with a magnificant view of Istanbul plus tips on what JP Sartre likes on his Paris grave and about Soeren Kierkegaard's and Karl Marx's last resting places in Copenhagen and London. Are you ready to go beneath the surface?

Highgate Cemetery

“A dreaded sunny day so I’ll meet you at the cemetery gates” as Morrissey famously sang. It wasn’t that sunny but I had arranged to meet my old friends Anna and James and head to Highgate Cemetery.

Perhaps foolishly considering that it is located at the top of the steepest hill in London, we decided to cycle. By the time we got to the top of the hill we were all bathed in sweat despite the November weather. I thought I was going to be sick with exhaustion so Anna suggested a visit to The Flask for chips and ultra strong cider.

Suitably fortified, we headed to the cemetery, paid the small entrance fee and went inside. I should not have been surprised considering how much my legs hurt but Highgate Cemetery really is very high up indeed. The views of the distant city below are breathtaking.

This view and the graves of the famous are why most people come here, the biggest names are Karl Marx and George Eliot, but it is the things that you find for yourself that really appeal: the grave that says that nothing about who resides there except that he was a lawyer, the headless angels, the pink granite mausoleums and the way the grave stones battle with the trees and seem to be losing - a wonderful metaphor for life overcoming death.

All these combine elements create a magical air; it is as if the dead are not beyond our grasp. Here religious differences are forgotten, Muslims lie alongside Christians. There is even a combined Jewish/ Christian grave with a joint headstone in English and Hebrew for an interfaith marriage. Most poignantly, the husband is yet to join his Jewish wife.

There is something about solemnity that brings out the naughty schoolboy in me, and in James and Anna too. Initially we swore and made silly remarks but Highgate is so moving and so strange that we were very quickly stunned into a contemplative silence.

HIGHGATE CEMETERY; Swain's Lane; Hampstead; London.

Flowers To The People

Henry Castiglione — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:06:00 GMT

Hackney Road is unsentimental place on any day of the week. It's Sunday and the alternating wholesale handbag shops, fried chicken joints and strip clubs are closed, there is no sign of life. But what's this? Is that really a palm tree rustling behind that van? And look a girl laden under a burst of bright colour and there's a man and his little daughter struggling with a Christmas tree. As with so often in London, unpromising arterial roads hide gems.

Running parallel to Hackney Road and surrounded by council estates is a quaint cobbled street of Victorian terraces called Columbia Road and on Sundays there is a flower market. I was with my ex-girlfriend, Alice. When we lived together she used to buy flowers to decorate our flat whilst i prepared lunch. My flat is now flowerless and the fern we bought together is dying but we are still firm friends.

Photo: Paul-in-London

The street is packed with people and the air alive with Cockney Market banter. It offers value for money. You can buy huge bunches of tulips for £5 and plants as big as trees for £10 (plants as big as trees are probably just trees). If you want a even more of a bargain come about 2pm when the traders want to get rid of everything and go home.

Photo: Ewan-M

The shops along the street sell household brick-a-brac, there are restaurants and people selling coffee and bacon sandwiches. Halfway down the road is The Royal Oak, once famous for scenes of astonishing early morning hedonism as local ravers used to turn up when the clubs closed, it's now of course a Gastropub.

At the end of the road (no. 80) is The Birdcage where on a Saturday night they have karaoke. Last time i went a portly moustached gentleman brought the house down with a rousing rendition of “I am what I am.” I didn't make it to the flower market the following day.

Silent Cinema: Let The Romance Commence

Henry Castiglione — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:13:00 GMT

For many years I have avoided going to the cinema due to a dread I have for being stuck in one place for over two hours without any alcohol. It’s not that I’m an alcoholic; I just think that there are few activities that are not made better with a glass of wine in your hand (driving, eye surgery and operating heavy machinery spring to mind).

This is why the Silent Cinema nights have really grabbed my imagination. Every month they show a classic film in the beautiful Andaz hotel (formerly known as the Great Eastern) next to Liverpool Street Station. It is called Silent Cinema because you wear wireless headphones; this means you can fidget as much as you like and not hear your neighbours fidgeting, go to the bar or the lavatory with minimal disturbance and you can still hear the film. How modern is that?

I went just before Xmas to see, 'It’s A Wonderful Life'. Now recently single, I decided to bring a prospective ladyfriend. We met in the lobby, she looked delicious in a little dress trimmed with rabbit fur, I looked ridiculous in a jumper like Andrew Ridgely wore in the video for 'Last Christmas'. We were ushered upstairs by our host Damian Barr who welcomed us and the other guests with a very strong gin-based cocktail. As we settled onto our comfy sofa, drinks in hand with the film just about to start, my date looked at me as if I was this most dashing man in London. Let the romance commence!

It wasn’t to be; the film for the evening was 'It’s A Wonderful Life' and as soon as it started, I started crying and did not stop. Though she liked this display of sensitivity, she told me that she prefers her men a little more rugged; a little more like Jimmy Stewart in fact. The next film they are showing is Casablanca, another weepie. I hope my next date likes her men tearful.

ANDAZ LONDON, 40 Liverpool Street, London EC2M 7QN

Go further: Watch movies in Berlin's DDR-style Kino International or on the waterfront in Paris.

Always Look At The Bright Side Of Strife

Henry Castiglione — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:59:00 GMT

There's no better time to travel than during a global financial meltdown. Price wars between airlines have led to plummeting ticket prices, and posh hotels are practically giving away their beds. Promotions on all kinds of products – ranging from hot chocolate to haute couture - make it possible for even unemployed bankers to get a taste of the good life. We asked our local bloggers to uncover the best deals, and to tell us about the simple and inexpensive pleasures that can always be found in their cities. With cheap tickets and insider advice, there's no reason why a shrinking economy should stop you from expanding your horizons.

London

Image from '28 Days Later'

Interest rates have been cut again and still no one is spending. Oxford Street reminds me of the film '28 Days Later' where London is deserted except for a few flesh-eating zombies; the markets of East London, quiet just before Xmas when you would expect people to be spending heavily, seem to be dying.

This is worrying for the Britain’s finances. But if you do go shopping it does mean that you won’t have to wade through crowds, you will be served promptly by desperate staff eager to help and prices have been slashed. And you can do this safe in the knowledge your actions have been sanctioned by Gordon Brown himself.

The smart restaurants that would not even pick up the phone last year are now offering bargain “Credit Lunches.” Take Le Gavroche for example. They now offer a lunch for £48. That’s for 3 Michelin stars and includes wine. It’s not just Le Gavroche, all London restaurants are offering cheap lunches. I am now almost a regular at Kensington’s Launceston Place for their £18 set meal. One place on 171 Farringdon Road in Islington, the Little Bay Restaurant, even lets its customers decide how much they want to pay for their meal. We’ll see how long they stay open for.

Don’t forget that the pound is as weak as new born lamb so your dollars, euros and zloty are now worth more. If you can, like me, be paid in foreign currency then you get to play the tourist in a developing country but in London! Once proudly one of the most expensive places on earth London is now almost affordable. £3.50 for a pint of beer? Why that’s only 4 euros!

Inside Princess Louise Photo: Kelpenhagen

But you don’t even need to pay that much. For some reason lost in mists of time some of the most beautiful central London pubs are owned by a Yorkshire brewery called Samuel Smith’s. They only sell their own brand alcohol so you get Bitter for under £1.80, Lager for £2 and a double Scotch for £3. Pubs such as the Princess Louise in Holborn or The Champion in Fitzrovia are perfectly preserved examples of Victorian pub architecture. That’s where real Londoners are sitting out the recession. It’s better than borrowing more money to buy more things you don’t want even with such tempting interest rates.

Related recession posts:

Recession or not, New York is a bargain

Keep economic crisis out of your pockets

Getting happy at all hours - New York Stylee

How to go on holiday for less than 150 euro

Soviet fastfood with a view of Canal Grande

Crisis? What crisis?

Battling the financial meltdown: the Rudd response

Paris for recessionistas

Recession? Not for Istanbul's tourism industry

The Empire Strikes Back: The Aussies Are Transforming London's Coffee Society

Henry Castiglione — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:32:00 GMT

Rumours have been slowly been drifting across the oceans that something is going on with food in Australia. For years I ignored them, Australia is so far away and the people so brash. What would they know about good food? Still these rumours persisted so I sent my little brother over and he came back with tales of fresh produce, incredible Vietnamese food and above all, extraordinary coffee. I couldn’t wait to go unfortunately I couldn’t afford the airfare. I was at a loss until I stumbled upon Lantana on Charlotte Place.

Inside Lantana

The coffee here made me do a Cary Grant-style double take. The girl behind the counter had suggested I have something called a Flat White. This is like a cross between a Latte and Macchiato. What hit me immediately was how fruity and chocolaty the drink tasted. What didn’t hit me was any of the bitterness or burnt watery taste that you get with high street offerings. So what are they doing so right? Owner Shelagh Ryan put it down to properly trained staff who take pride in their work.

Dedicated baristas at Flat White Photo: [177]

Making good coffee is not complicated but it is a process in which each step has to be done perfectly or you will not end up with that magical taste. This starts with very fresh beans from Monmouth Coffee Company in Covent Garden, good quality milk and goes on to making sure that your equipments is scrupulously clean.

You have to be an obsessive to make good coffee. Cameron McClure a New Zealander who runs two shops in Soho, Milk Bar and Flat White, said that it is a good occupation for someone with Attention Deficit Disorder.

A flat white from Flat White Photo: Lameen

In the Antipodes they don’t really have chain coffee shops so your drink will be made by one of these caffeine crazed-obsessives. Contrast this with the American-style coffee shops which dominate London staffed by students or itinerant workers where your Latte will taste like dirty dish water and your Espresso only palatable with a mountain of sugar.

Thanks heavens for Antipodeans and their restless need to travel. Shops either started by Antipodeans or by British people influenced by Melbourne and Wellington are springing up all over the capital. “London is an exciting place to be at the moment because people really are waking up to what coffee is meant to taste like.” Cameron enthused.

London's Retro Dance Explosion

Henry Castiglione — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:05:00 GMT

'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

Local View: Bob Stanley's London

Henry Castiglione — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:12:00 GMT

There was much excitement in the Castiglione household when it was announced that Saint Etienne will be playing their debut album 'Foxbase Alpha' in its entirety at the Bloomsbury Ballroom. Their back catalogue is being reissued in deluxe editions starting with this album and the previously-import-only Continental. As a rather morbid guitar music-obsessed teenager in the early 1990s, the music made by Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell came as a breath of fresh air. Their music was infused with light, optimism and, best of all for a boy from the suburbs, it evoked the streets, landmarks and personalities of London. There is even a track on Foxbase Alpha called 'London Belongs to Me'. I was lucky enough to meet with Bob Stanley, ask him some questions and bask in his godlike aura.

Like many of London’s top chroniclers Bob was from outside town in this case Horsham which according to Bob “may as well have been 100 miles from London.” Oddly the big city did not exert much of a pull on the young Bob. He went to Peterborough of all places before moving to London to do a town planning degree at central London Polytechnic (if Bob hadn’t moved into pop music just think what beautiful towns he would have planned.)

How has London changed since Foxbase Alpha?

Photo: BEAT NIK

Given St Etienne’s nostalgic image, you might be surprised to learn that Bob Stanley thinks that London has mainly changed for the better since the early 1990s: “It was very grubby. There was not much going on at all. Now the food is much better, it’s even more cosmopolitan and the streets are busier.” When pushed Bob mentions how many of the classic cafes such as the New Piccadilly have now closed though thankfully Mario’s Café in Kentish Town featured on their album 'So Tough' is still going strong and Bob was involved with the campaign to have Pellicci’s on Bethnal Green Road listed. Also there are less record shops and “rooms above pubs where you can put on an impromptu gig.” Bob remembers seeing the Manic Street Preachers playing their first London gig above The Horse and Groom on Great Portland Street.

And which pubs and bars do you visit?

Photo: Ewan-M

“I like the Old Red Lion, a theatre pub on Upper Street. Never go to the theatre just have drink. It’s one of the last old boozers. They have just changed the carpet but it still looks the same. I like its dingy atmosphere – a good place to spend a day drinking.”

The other place Bob mentions is the New Evaristo Club (or Trisha’s as it is sometimes called) in Soho. “I’m amazed that it kept unknown for so long. There used to be two or three barflies and that was it and it was on Frith Street for God’s sake! It used to a after hours drinking den for waiters so did most of it’s trade after 11.”

St Etienne made a film about the Lea Valley where the Olympics sites are being constructed called What did you do today Mervyn Day? Are you glad that the Olympics are coming to London?

Barbican Photo: Oobrien

“I’m fairly pro. It’s very easy to be sceptical. We are sceptical about big projects in general in Britain. We seem to will disaster on projects such at the Dome. It’s a national trait. It’s going to cost more than people said it would as anyone who has had building work would agree. Hopefully it will be amazing. The whole area will be transformed. What we tried to get across in the film is that it needed to be regenerated. It had amazing history but absolutely bugger all there now and it stank! It has to be a good thing.” There are rumours that Saint Etienne may be writing the official Olympic song; Bob is keen. He said how it would be good to have a song rooted in East London rather than have Björk like they did at Athens. “They should have had Nana Mouskouri or Vangelis” he adds.

The Royal Festival Hall Photo: ShiftOperations

Thrillingly, Bob lives in Highpoint, an icon of 1930s Modernism in North London. I asked him what his other favourite buildings in London are. “I do really like the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall. I spent so long in the festival hall because we were making a film out of it that it felt like being a school say that the Barbican is my favourite. I like the amount of public space. Both of them – feel, quiet, step down a gear. There is always something interesting to do whenever you turn up.” Both these buildings are modernist but, unlike much post-war architecture, are built with people in mind. Modern but human much like Saint Etienne’s music.

Saint Etienne combine a deep affection for London’s recent past with a view of the present and future so optimistic and uncynical that it is almost old-fashioned. The music is up-to-date but the attitude is not. Needless to say the gig was brilliant. Sarah was self-effacingly beautiful whilst Pete and Bob stood at the back providing the groove like Kraftwork as imagined by Gerry Anderson. Anything seemed possible – 'Nothing Can Stop Us Now'.

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