Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar to launch in March

(ARTIST IMPRESSION)

– The English steakhouse is a cut above the rest –

Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar to launch in March

A quintessentially English dining experience, Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar will celebrate the best of English when it launches at the end of March 2012.

Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar will be the most English of English dining destinations, from the interior design to each cut of beef. Set in the County Hall, built 100 years ago to house London’s government, with views of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, few can claim a more inherently English location or vista.

The choice of namesake, James Gillray, a famed caricaturist of the late eighteenth century, reflects the political history of the County Hall’s past, and the intelligence, style and humour of the English personality. James Gillray’s work punctuates the menu and will be exhibited on the walls of the steakhouse restaurant and bar.

An English steakhouse of the finest design, Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar is a homage to top quality beef -35-day dry aged Hereford Cattle from the Duke of Devonshire’s Bolton Abbey Estate in Yorkshire. The menu features nine cuts of steak – bone-out and bone-in – 300g Fillet on the bone, 450g Porthouse and 600g T-Bone steaks. Gillray’s Steakhouse signature dish, the 1000g ‘Bulls Head’ steak, will steal the show – a 1000g-butterfly cut, double rib steak served with the bone in.

Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar is all about indulging in great English produce. Every inch of the menu reflects this, displaying English food at its best – Brixham Diver Clams & Mussel Broth, Foreman’s London Cured Smoked Salmon and hand chopped Steak Tartare.

The design is sophisticated but unpretentious, playing on the eccentric but charming details of classic lighting and furniture pieces, such as Chesterfield sofa and Waterford chandeliers, all bespoke designs by designers Blacksheep.


The bar offers a sophisticated and stylish Thames-side destination, featuring one of the finest selections of gin in London and an impressive cocktail collection designed by head bartender, Carlos Santos. The newly created cocktail menu is ordered by historical era, from the Georgian era – cocktails such as
National Debt, Wife & No Wife and Very Slippy-Weather each taking their name from popular James Gillray sketches – through to contemporary and modern English concoctions. The cocktail collection doesn’t stop there, but gives a nod to the next generation of cocktails – molecular mixology. >>

(ARTIST IMPRESSION)

>> The Englishness of Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar is evident throughout the bar menu, populated by 10 English beers (and two Scottish beers from Innis & Gunn), 33 English gins (including a few British favourites such as Hendrick’s) and five English vodkas. The bar snacks menu brings Englishness to life in bite-sized morsels – Pigs in Blankets, English Crumpet & Soft Boiled Egg and Venison Sausage Rolls with HP Sauce – England on a plate.

Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar opens at London’s County Hall at the end of March 2012.

www.gillrays.com

Chinese creativity hits London Fashion Week

The “Mountain, Water” themed show brings original Chinese fashion brands, EVE CINA and EXCEPTION de MIXMIND, to the London catwalk.

Eve Group is regarded as China’s leading high-end men’s wear groups. With more than 300 stores in China the group has five brands: EVE CINA, NOTTING HILL, KEVIN KELLY, JAQUES PRITT, and EVE CINA. EVE gains creative inspiration from Chinese culture with a Western style and confidence. The brand’s design signature is delicate traditional culture in modern city life.

Ladies wear brand EXCEPTION is one of China’s longest-established, most successful art and fashion labels. With over 90 outlets across China, its design is original and contemporary. Its popular sister brand, WUYONG (“Useless”), is a leading creative label.

“China is a huge focus for us right now and an increasingly important market for our designers. I hope that China’s creativity will be a highlight of this Fashion Week. London is a creative powerhouse and China has a burgeoning creative industry. If we combine these two I believe great things can happen. This is the goal of the China Britain Fashion Alliance which I launched last August”, says Harold Tillman CBE, Chairman of the British Fashion Council.

“EXCEPTION and EVE are examples of well established Chinese brands that have real potential to build international followings. Let’s hope London will be a platform for them to build on in the future”, said John Walford, director of the shows”.

Londoners Life 25 by Phil Ryan

Well the snow didn’t hang around thank goodness. But it’ll probably blast back in March! Right now I’m trying to avoid the Mayoral election nonsense. It’s very simple really. All of them are pointless to a large degree. Ken and Boris are arguing about high tube fares who’ll put them down or up – the fact of the matter is that whatever they are far too high and the service is lousy and continues to be lousy. And the fringe candidates are basically invisible. The mad Green woman who looks like a bush was spouting off about punishing car drivers again to save the planet. The failed ex-cop was going on about more police. Er that’s about it. So we’ll get stuck with a fight between two fools who are all about self-promotion and self-advancement. I’ll never forgive Ken for many things but his most offensive crime was building that hideous City Hall building opposite the tower of London.

Desecration. They should lock him up in the Tower Of London and force him to watch Londoners blowing it up as he’s pelted with rotten fruit! And Boris’s ludicrous billion pound buses will arrive soon. Why don’t the pair of just set up a permanent photograph of themselves being laser beamed onto the clouds above London. We get it guys. You love yourselves and couldn’t care about Londoners. Under both of you everything went up, life got harder, travel got worse, more taxes appeared and ultimately you have bugger all power. Remember folks your vote is essentially worthless. Nothing ever gets better or cheaper. Remember that. They could make one of the Muppets Mayor at least it would be entertaining and cheaper.

Travel in London really is getting to be a soul destroying experience. This Friday I had the horrible experience of arriving back at Victoria by train at around 6.30pm. Trying to get to the underground across the station was like swimming in a tide of bodies. Angry depressed bodies who were rooted to the spot necessitating a weird ducking and diving route – it was like a giant desperate game of pacman. And when I finally got to the tube the platforms were pleasantly six deep. Apparently two other tube lines had gone down (the usual reasons – aliens at baker street – a wave of indifference at St Johns Wood – badgers with guns at Charing Cross) and now Victoria was reduced to holding back groups of commuters behind gates a completely common occurrence the miserable and clearly suicidal guard guy told me (I think they’d taken away his laces and belt before they stuck him on the platform with his little microphone). It certainly wasn’t for the faint hearted. London’s underground system seems to just swallow tons of public money now and I honestly can’t see much difference. It’s over-priced and over-crowded (I’m sure that will improve during the Olympics with the expected six million extra journeys they’ve predicted – oh joy)

Talking of our much anticipated London Olympics we now learn that this money sponge for the amusement and enrichment of corporate sponsors and construction companies is into another revelatory moment again. Turns out that the ticket fiasco continues with an American ticket printing company getting the contract to print the tickets instead of a British company, the second revelation that most of the merchandise and goods are produced in China by Chinese companies and just when they couldn’t break anymore promises and commitments we now find out that they’ve let an American company sell tickets to Americans that we Londoners can’t get hold of! I notice that we grabbed back Mr Fred Goodwin’s title what about Lord Coe. If the guy told me it was the morning I’d check with five other people plus look out the window. For a London event paid for in the main by Londoners the guy has simply lied to us time after time. Virtually everything he has promised Londoners hasn’t materialised. And don’t get me started on the LOCOG bunch. Slightly darker in the way they operate than the Syrian regime they have been quietly flogging off the buildings and land to foreign property developers and foreign corporations. The London Olympics? I don’t think so. It’s the International Greed Olympics with all the gold going out the country to everyone except Londoners and Great Britain. But it’s a done deal. Nothing can be done. That’s total corruption with complete government backing for you.

But to finish on a positive point I’ll return to my usual trend spotting game. It really is the new Korean revolution alongside the sushi invasion. Loads of places called Bim Bam Bong and Noodle Beng Bim Bom Bang (Okay I am making these up) seem to be popping up. Udon Noodles are now the order of the day. Just an FYI Udon noodles are those fat disgusting long ones with the consistency of rotting slugs and a similar discomforting sensation when swallowed ( not that I’ve swallowed rotting slugs but go with me on this one) They have also copied that clever Japanese canteen style of making you sit on a cold and cement hard plank like wooden bench. This of course causes people’s buttocks to go numb at the same time that their stomachs are being paralysed with tasteless horror food. All together more of a punishment than a dining experience. But hey it’s fashionable. And in London we like our variety. And when I asked some people I was jammed next to recently in a Korean restaurant what they thought of the food they all told me it was challenging! Very London. And despite the pointless mayoral elections and Olympic fiasco do any of us truly care. No. We just get on with our lives. Why? It’s a London thing.

Made In Chelsea Stars Attend Launch of MEGAzine.

Celebrities including Henry Holland, Cheska and Kate Walsh come out to celebrate the launch of Aigua Media’s Fashion and Beauty MEGAzine

Celebrities including Henry Holland, Cheska, Bobby Sabel, Kate Walsh and Lizzie Cundy come out to celebrate the launch of Aigua Media’s Fashion and Beauty MEGAZINE

Aigua Media last night launched the UK’s first Fashion and Beauty MEGAZINE. The company that owns top fashion sites including OSOYOU and Catwalk Queen showcased some ‘UK first’ website features to a host of guests including Henry Holland, Cheska, Kate Walsh, Lizzie Cundy, and Trinny Woodall.

With a reach of over 1.25 million, the MEGAzine is home to hot on the pulse commentary for fashion followers from the top style stalkers, the best bloggers and the readers themselves.

www.aiguamedia.com

Stars of the MEGAzine include:

OSOYOU – the ultimate shopping resource where the world searches, shops and shares

Kiss and Makeup – the most exciting shopping destination for beauty anywhere

Catwalk Queen – the first fashion blog ever to be invited to London Fashion Week

Shoewawa – for shoe, shoe and more shoe style

Baglady – bagging all the news, must-have buys and celebrity style handbags

EAT, SLEEP, FASHION AT THE MAYFAIR HOTEL

London Fashion Week starts tomorrow and one of my favourite hotels is the official sponsor. I have had many a good time at The May Fair Hotel.

You can Live like the fashion elite, as The May Fair Hotel introduces its Eat, Sleep, Fashion package for February London Fashion Week. A hotel located in the heart of Mayfair, the May Fair is THE fashion hotel; proud to announce its status as the official hotel of London Fashion Week, for the fifth year running.

As ever fashion week brings fierce fashion fervor to London, with everyone wanting to be part of the enviable fashion scene. Now you can, book a weekend stay between February 10th – February 26th 2012 to take advantage of this exclusive overnight package, which includes £100 to spend in the hotel’s stunning Quince Restaurant & Bar; all from just £350. (per room, per night).

The package also includes an overnight stay in a superior room, a full English breakfast and Champagne and chocolates delivered to your room. The Quince Restaurant & Bar is the place to be and be seen during fashion week; with its modern Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, from chef patron Silvena Rowe, and its Ottoman Empire-inspired design, the dining experience here is one of relaxed sophistication, offering an exciting insight into the beauty and scents of the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Finish the evening off, like a true fashionista, in the hotel’s uber cool May Fair Bar, where you can sample the latest cocktail creation from the bar’s renowned mixology team – The Show Stopper. Don’t miss the launch of the capital’s hottest rising star, in fashion and music, Sunday Girl. The new Sunday night DJ residency “Sunday Girl @ The May Fair” will kick off on February 19. Mixing the coolest tunes, with old-school tracks and eclectic beats from 8pm-9.30pm every Sunday night, Sunday Girl will be supported by the May Fair Collective; a set of music stars from 6.30pm-8pm. On February 19, Jesse Wood son of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood will be the first to support Sunday Girl.

For those who feel in need of some reviving spa time, the May Fair Spa has created a number of express treatments to deal with LFW fatigue, in particular The Crystal ‘Face of Fashion’ Massage (30 mins £55), which will leave you feeling fresh-faced and glowing with radiance. For those suffering with tired, aching feet the Fashion Eco Chic Pedicure (50 minutes £65.00) nourishes and softens. Only organic products are used, leaving you revitalised with aromas of peppermint, lavender and geranium.

Even if you don’t have front row tickets, you’ll feel part of the LFW scene at the May Fair, as live catwalk shows will be screened around the hotel and complimentary pink candy floss handed out to guests between 5-7pm each day.

For further information please visit www.themayfairhotel.co.uk

From a Muffin Top to a Skinny Muffin

From a Muffin Top to a Skinny Muffin

By Alison Clark, independent nutritionist and spokesperson for Europe’s no 1 healthy eating plan, Eurodiet.co.uk,gives advice on how to get rid of a muffin top.

What is a muffin top?

According to the Oxford Dictionary a muffin top is “a roll of fat visible above the top of a pair of women’s tight-fitting low-waisted trousers”. You might also call it spare tyre, love handles or back roll but either way, what most of us want to know is why is it there and how can we get rid of it?

In some cases, the only risk from the over spilling of flesh above the waistline is one of sinning against fashion. However, for many more this excess fat could be a sign of central obesity, indicating a real risk to future health.

As we are often reminded, being overweight is bad for your health. What many people don’t realise is that carrying extra fat around the middle of your body can put you at an even higher risk. This is because there are two types of fat with different characteristics: the fat carried under the skin, called subcutaneous, and the fat stored around the tummy surrounding the organs, which is called visceral fat. Visceral fat is the most dangerous, significantly increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

How do I know if I am at risk?

Get to know your body! Apple shaped people store more fat around the middle than pear shaped. It’s a good idea to make a habit of measuring your waist circumference – see the table below for the key limits.

Increased risk

Very high risk

Women

80 cm or more

88 cm or more

Men

94 cm or more

102 cm or more

To measure your waist accurately, use a soft tape measure and aim for halfway between your hip bone and your lowest rib. If you’re not sure, measure just above your belly button – the important thing is to always measure the same place so that you can keep track of any changes.

What can I do about it?

The only way to reduce fat is to lose weight! The best way to do this is with a combination of a balanced diet and regular exercise and the good news is that shrinking that muffin top won’t be the only benefit of adopting a healthier lifestyle.

Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, aim for at least five different ones every day to ensure that your body gets all the vitamins, minerals and fibre it needs. If you prefer a little help and want to go on a diet, try a high protein diet such as Eurodiet.co.uk, they have revered engineered foods normally associated with high carbs into high protein such as bread, pasta and risotto. Base your meals on wholegrain starchy carbohydrates to make sure that you have plenty of energy throughout the day. Include lean meat and fish and try some alternative protein sources for a change such as pulses and eggs.. Make sure you also include low fat dairy products in your meals to get the calcium your bones need. Avoid fatty, sugary, fried and salty foods and drink plenty of water.

Finally, in order to have a healthy lifestyle and lose the love handles, you will need to exercise. Although targeting your stomach with sit ups or crunches will help to tone the muscles in that area, it will not specifically reduce abdominal fat – you need to lose weight from your whole body. Start with 30 minutes a day or moderate activity and build up from there. If you are not sure then speak to a personal trainer or gym staff who will be able to advise you on the best exercises for you.

Ink Exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery

Ink
The New Ink Art from China
at the Saatchi Gallery 16-28 June 2012
and at Asia House July 2012

Xu Lei, Tree of Blue Underglaze, 2008, Ink and color on xuan paper, (213 x 125 cm)

Ink is an exhibition featuring the finest examples of contemporary Chinese Ink art at London’s landmark Saatchi gallery and subsequently at Asia House. The exhibition, curated by Michael Goedhuis, is the first comprehensive display of this genre to be shown in a public gallery of international standing and draws together major examples from distinguished private collections. Timed to coincide with London in June when art and antique collectors from all over the world descend on the capital, this cutting-edge show will feature ground-breaking artists from the internationally recognized Xu Lei to the avant-garde Qiu Anxiong. Ink will run from Saturday 16 June to Thursday 28 June 2012 at the Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s Square, London, SW3 4SQ.

“I am delighted to be working with the Saatchi Gallery to finally be able to provide the general public access to The New Ink Art which is perhaps the boldest pictorial experiment in art today. Artists trained in, and deeply knowledgeable of classical painting, are meeting the challenge of creating a pictorial language that is a convincing expression of the world of TODAY and in particular the transformed world of China. It is the theme of this exhibition to define just how audacious and innovative the best of these artists are, despite, or perhaps because of, their deep study of the past. Just as Cezanne and Picasso assimilated the work of Poussin and Velazquez and other Old Masters in order to develop their own revolutionary language, so the ink artists are grappling with the same challenge – how to express the transformation of their society with works that are meaningful precisely because they take account of the past in order to make sense of the present”.

The New Ink Art is increasingly being recognised, not only in China but also internationally, as the most audacious and idealistic movement in contemporary culture and is poised to shortly enter the mainstream of the art-world’s focus.

Michael Goedhuis, who was the first dealer in the west to recognize the significance of these radical innovations in Chinese culture, has concentrated in the past eighteen months on identifying for this exhibition the artists who are in the process of shifting the axis of Chinese aesthetics. It is for this reason that informed art-lovers and collectors and indeed the public at large will be drawn to the Saatchi Gallery for this culturally ground-breaking initiative. Although this exhibition is a loan show and works will therefore not be for sale, it is significant that the price range for the best of contemporary ink paintings is still very accessible by international standards.

A highlight of the exhibition is Tree of Blue Underglaze by the internationally feted artist Xu Lei who last year was the chosen artist for the design of the 2008 vintage Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine label. Inspired by the significance of the year 2008 for the Chinese and to highlight Mouton’s stature in the Chinese wine market, Mouton selected a Chinese artist. Xu Lei himself is one of China’s foremost artists and a leader in the innovative field of ink painting; he serves as the art director of the Today Art Museum in Beijing and is the editor-in-chief of the magazine ‘Classics’.

Qiu Jie, Mao in the Cotton Field , 2007, pencil on paper, (150 x 168 cm)

Other works of note include Gao Xingjian represented by the painting Dream Mountain (La Montagne de Rêve), who was born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province in 1940. A writer, translator and dramatist he moved to Paris in the 1980s as a political refugee. Here he immersed himself in nature creating semi- abstracted landscapes, believing that art should not be used for political activism, but instead should be an expression of the soul. He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 2000. Qiu Jie, who was born in Shanghai in 1960, grew up during the most violent phase of the Cultural Revolution and by the age of 10 was nurturing his talent making copies of propaganda images from local newspapers. He creates images blending stark themes from the Cultural Revolution with striking elements from contemporary culture (see illustration).

Artists to be exhibited include:
Gao Xingjian (???), Gu Wenda (???), Huan Yong Ping (???),Jennifer Wen Ma (??), Li Huayi (???), Li Jin (??), Liu Dan (??), Liu Kuo-sung (???), Liu Qinghe (???), Liu Wei (??), Lo Ch’ing (??), Lu Hao (??), Qin Feng (??), Qiu Anxiong(???)?Qiu Deshu (???),Qiu Jie (??), Qiu Zhijie (???), Wang Dongling(???), Wei Ligang (???), Wilson Shieh ( ???), Wu Yi (??), Xu Bing (??),Xu Lei (??), Yang Jiechang (???), Yang Yanping (???), Yao Jui-chung (???), Zeng Shanqing (???), Zeng Xiaojun (???), and Zhang Huan (??).

After the Saatchi Gallery, the exhibition will travel to Asia House where it will remain until the end of July. Founded in London in 1996, Asia House is the leading pan-Asian, non-profit and non-political organisation in Britain.

Diary of a Fashion Week Intern…

Having given up my place at the London College of Fashion for Drama School, I have never looked back, but it hasn’t stopped me wondering where I would be now if I did chose to embark on the fashion world instead of the thespian… would I be treading the boards at Elle, Or selling my creations at Portobello Market?  I’m sure if I chose that over acting, I would be sitting here thinking exactly the same. It goes without saying, I have not lost my passion for fashion and continue to build a portfolio of fashion drawings as a hobby. So it was a great pleasure when Catherine Balavage, the esteemed editor of Frost Magazine, was looking for interns to cover London Fashion Week, the most prestigious Fashion event of the capital.

Whether you have been to fashion week before, or not, I’m sure you can imagine the biggest dilemma I am faced with…WHAT TO WEAR????

 

 

Keshini Misha

xx