New and Old

This weekend has been about exploring the more genteel side of London.

Saturday involved a wonderful expedition to Alfies Antiques Market down the bottom of Lisson Grove. If you can get over the slightly snooty 'antiques' dealers and are ready to drive a hard bargain, this place is a minefield of treasures from the very old (Egyptian beads) to the funky vintage 60's lights. It's worth spending a good couple of hours at Alfies and if your tummy can't take that long without a refuel, there's a delightful top floor cafe and roof terrace with good views of London. http://www.alfiesantiques.com/

On to the new - well new to me at least. All day bistro - Bob Bob Ricard is a new pretender to the well loved Wolseley Crown. Situated the Soho end of town, this hidden gem has an immediate charm in its eccentric decor. Walking into the lux turquoise and salmon dining room, one can only envisage this as the kind of place Holly Golightly must have dined. Menus are good and original, service friendly and efficient.
http://www.bobbobricard.com/

2009 - oooh we like this

1. Mints - all kinds - deeply under-rated when you think about it; Everton, Butter, Toffee, Cream, Humbugs - the variety alone tickles my fancy. A little like tea, oolong, green, white, needle, jasmine, darjeeling, black, orange pekoe, flower, oh stop me stop me stop me. Mints AND tea - talk about afternoon delight.

2. Spotify - a kind of radio jukebox heaven, now fully open to Joe Public - that means you. Enjoy https://www.spotify.com/ I am mostly listening to my mum's golden oldies and loving it. Dire Straits here I come.

3.The Film industry - been pulling out some corkers for this year - more serious challenging topics, more docs in the mix - has the credit crunch filtered the wheat from the chaff? On my to watch list - Frost / Nixon, Man on Wire, The Reader.

4. Twitter - whats the point? If you don't know, I can't tell you fool. But in my book, if Fry likes it, I like it.

5. Sorry for the tone today - for some reason, I think I have turned into Mr T for February, I think it keeps out the cold or something.