When I lived in India, they seemed to love the "ing" form of verbs so much ... so to go to a market is to go marketing. This Sunday was all about marketing for me. I needed to finish the last bits of Christmas shopping and frankly, I just could not face the idea of another day in the Oxford St-Bond St-Regent St triangle. There are just too many tourists there and the shops are far from inspiring. All chains, chains, chains ... the last thing I want is to be chained up.
So I headed to the East End instead. First it was the Old Spitalfields Market, which was full of pretentious stalls selling junk that you can buy in Camden for a better price, like those plastic handbags which look like records. (Btw. pork sandwich for five quid, anyone? Ewww ...) I had a look around but really did not fancy anything. It's a nice, clean open space to walk around, though. Next up, Brick Lane. No one comes to eat here any more, apart from the tourists, because the restaurants are crap. One of them even featured in BBC's Rogue Restaurants programme recently. Instead, I wanted to check out some of the Bengali clothes stores but they only seem to sell fabric, which is useless, since I am not really up for sewing. I want to buy some cotton kurtas, the kind that you get in Pantaloons, Westlife or Fabindia in Delhi. Anyone know where to get those in London?
There are several markets and independent shops around Brick Lane, ranging from upmarket butiques to drunken men selling stolen stuff out of a suitcase. Lots of streetwear and customized outfits - think Viviene Westwood, punk, men in tight fuchsia jeans, women with purple & green hair, tartan, dresses which had parts of them put through the office shredder, then a few flowers and buttons were sewn in. Very personalized but if you go round the stalls for long enough, you will see that they all sell the same stuff and it's all a little bit boring. One lady at the Sunday Up Market tried to sell me two bracelets for fifteen quid. "Look, handmade." Right. If you're gonna tell me something is handmade, first take the Ikea tags off. How "Up Market" is that? There are a few nice food stalls there, if you fancy a curry or all kinds of vegetarian and ethnic food on-the-go.
I also popped down to the Eastside bookshop on Brick Lane and bought some nice postcards there. It seems like a cozy place and they even have comfy armchairs (which are not all occupied like in Borders on Oxford Street) where you can sit down and read. They seem to be well stocked-up on the South Asian themed novels, appropriately for their location. If you want some old shoes, very pretty old shoes, in fact, then Absolute Vintage on Hanbury Street, just off Brick Lane can be recommended.
On the way home, I stopped at Shepherd's Bush to visit the new Westfield shopping centre. I never realized how run-down the area actually was. I mean, it's not soo bad but I imagined Shepherd's Bush as a prettier place. I mean, it's a pretty name, right? Westfield is everything you would expect from Europe's largest shopping centre. It's big! I mean, really BIG. I only saw about 10% of it. You could spend a week here. And, unlike Oxford Street, it's all indoors, which is quite pleasant now in winter. And and and there are less people here and no tourists. There will also be a cinema inside opening in 2009. As much as I am done with commerce and sick of this whole shop-yourself-silly culture, I have to say, when it needs to be done, this is the place I will come back to do it. It = shopping, of course.
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Friday, 12 December 2008
Meeerrry Christmas! Office Christmas Party at Gloucester Road
Office Christmas party today at the Millenium Hotel, Gloucester Road. It's where that Russian spy was poisoned. Our company probably got a good rate on it. Never worked so hard in my life. Terrible conversation - some old, idiotic gray-haired guy talks shit to me about my former employer. Actually, I had a good time there. Get lost. Pretend I enjoy his comments. Followed by terrible food. Pretend I like the raw carrots and awful Christmas pudding. Followed by terrible music. I tell the DJ to turn it down and change the CD. He does not listen. I consider attacking him with minced pies. I pretend I am having a good time and drink many, many glasses of white wine ... in the end, I go home early, around 6pm, excusing myself "I have another party to go to." I don't ... but being home alone is more fun.
Oh, and our Christmas bonus has been cancelled this year, citing "internal and external pressures". Life sucks.
Oh, and our Christmas bonus has been cancelled this year, citing "internal and external pressures". Life sucks.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Good Times of All Sorts: English National Ballet, Chinatown, Camden Market, West End, Thames
This weekend, Butch, a friend of mine from Germany came over to London. It was his first time here, so we had to do a little bit of sightseeing. We arranged to meet by the Eros statue at Picadilly Circus. While waiting, I played a game of spoiling photographs that the tourists were trying to take of their friends and relatives posing with the Eros and the neon lights. I would just walk into the shot and ruin it for them. I hate tourists, sorry! There is too many of them and they walk too slow.
We kicked off with an early dinner / late lunch at Tai Kai Lok on Gerrard Street, which was actually not too bad. Picking restaurants in Chinatown at random is potential suicide, because a lot of them are really, really poo. I always try to see if there are any Chinese people inside. If it looks like it's only tourists, then run. Run fast. The buffets are best avoided, in my experience. I had a duck rice and prawn dumplings. The duck was lovely, albeit a bit cold, the rice was lovely, the dumplings were OK, but not as good as the ones at Joy King Lau.
With our bellies stuffed, we headed to Camden Town, where I discovered Cyberdog and wondered how I could have missed this place before? If you want to buy a space suit or any kind of alien accessories, THIS is the place. Like you buy that every day. Don't you? Well, you should. It's super cool.
In the evening, we decided to have some fun in the West End. First I introduced Butch to Covent Garden, because it's a touristy sort of place and he was a tourist. We sat outside and had coffee. Yes, people do that in London, even in December. We might not have the same café culture that they have in Vienna, but we do have a smoking ban in all bars and restaurants, when coffee and cigarettes go together so well! So we have to do it outside. With the outdoor heaters, it wasn't half bad and the hot chocolate at Piazza Café was very tasty. Our next stop was the Round Table, which I had mentioned on here before. It is strange how I am attracted to places I had been to before, even if they were not good at all. I suppose I enjoy the feeling of being in-the-know. All I can say is that it's a lot more packed on a Saturday night. We drank a couple of pints of Staropramen at the bar. Initially, we took a seat upstairs but we were promptly kicked out by a guy from the Soho Comedy Club who needed to set up the room for their performance. You should have seen him moving people's tables while they were still sitting, chatting and totally not understanding what the hell is happening. Especially the Chinese tourists. In the true style of dry English humour, one of the guests noted: "The comedy is meant to be done by the performers, not the organizer of the show."
And with that, we were out and onto our next stop, the Marquis of Granby pub for some more beer. The place seemed unremarkable, that is until we decided to check out the extra seating upstairs. There was no one there! Saturday night, whole big room to ourselves. Pretty bizarre! We sat there chatting for a while, until we got hungry and partied off to McDonald's in Leicester Square for many, many calories. We didn't feel up for any serious clubbing, so we went to my house and drank homemade rum cocktails while watching YouTube videos. I learnt several new things, for example that Kabul used to be a hotspot on the hippie trail in the 70s. I had heard of (and been to) Goa and Thailand but I had no idea the hippies went to Afghanistan as well! OK, so it has nothing to do with London but it's fascinating stuff.
On Sunday, we took a long walk along the Thames, from Westminster all the way to St. Paul's Cathedral. The sun was shining, which is rather unusual for December in London. It was really lovely and there weren't that many people around (especially tourists). Did I mention I hate tourists? I did. So we sat down in Starbucks near St. Paul's for some coffee and snacks. I am not going to review Starbucks for you because, well, it's Starbucks and it's the same everywhere. We parted our ways at London Bridge, after crossing the river over the Millenium Bridge, which was my first time on the bridge and Butch was proud that he could show me something new. I should hang out by the Thames more often. It's pretty cool down there.
In the afternoon, I went to the London Coliseum to see the Sleeping Beauty. It was my first time seeing the ballet in a really long time and it was sooo beautiful. The costumes were lovely - beautiful colours and very sparkly. The dancers were great, the music was great, the set was lovely and did I mention the London Coliseum is a really nice place? I loved, loved, loved it and it made me remember all those times I used to go out to the theatre and to concerts as a child and a teenager back in the Czech Republic. But for the past few years, I have been a cultural drop-out. I will definitely need to do something about it because this was so much "better for the soul" than retail binges or watching all those chavs on TV. So for January, I have booked tickets to go to see Manon. Yeeeei. Cannot wait!
We kicked off with an early dinner / late lunch at Tai Kai Lok on Gerrard Street, which was actually not too bad. Picking restaurants in Chinatown at random is potential suicide, because a lot of them are really, really poo. I always try to see if there are any Chinese people inside. If it looks like it's only tourists, then run. Run fast. The buffets are best avoided, in my experience. I had a duck rice and prawn dumplings. The duck was lovely, albeit a bit cold, the rice was lovely, the dumplings were OK, but not as good as the ones at Joy King Lau.
With our bellies stuffed, we headed to Camden Town, where I discovered Cyberdog and wondered how I could have missed this place before? If you want to buy a space suit or any kind of alien accessories, THIS is the place. Like you buy that every day. Don't you? Well, you should. It's super cool.
In the evening, we decided to have some fun in the West End. First I introduced Butch to Covent Garden, because it's a touristy sort of place and he was a tourist. We sat outside and had coffee. Yes, people do that in London, even in December. We might not have the same café culture that they have in Vienna, but we do have a smoking ban in all bars and restaurants, when coffee and cigarettes go together so well! So we have to do it outside. With the outdoor heaters, it wasn't half bad and the hot chocolate at Piazza Café was very tasty. Our next stop was the Round Table, which I had mentioned on here before. It is strange how I am attracted to places I had been to before, even if they were not good at all. I suppose I enjoy the feeling of being in-the-know. All I can say is that it's a lot more packed on a Saturday night. We drank a couple of pints of Staropramen at the bar. Initially, we took a seat upstairs but we were promptly kicked out by a guy from the Soho Comedy Club who needed to set up the room for their performance. You should have seen him moving people's tables while they were still sitting, chatting and totally not understanding what the hell is happening. Especially the Chinese tourists. In the true style of dry English humour, one of the guests noted: "The comedy is meant to be done by the performers, not the organizer of the show."
And with that, we were out and onto our next stop, the Marquis of Granby pub for some more beer. The place seemed unremarkable, that is until we decided to check out the extra seating upstairs. There was no one there! Saturday night, whole big room to ourselves. Pretty bizarre! We sat there chatting for a while, until we got hungry and partied off to McDonald's in Leicester Square for many, many calories. We didn't feel up for any serious clubbing, so we went to my house and drank homemade rum cocktails while watching YouTube videos. I learnt several new things, for example that Kabul used to be a hotspot on the hippie trail in the 70s. I had heard of (and been to) Goa and Thailand but I had no idea the hippies went to Afghanistan as well! OK, so it has nothing to do with London but it's fascinating stuff.
On Sunday, we took a long walk along the Thames, from Westminster all the way to St. Paul's Cathedral. The sun was shining, which is rather unusual for December in London. It was really lovely and there weren't that many people around (especially tourists). Did I mention I hate tourists? I did. So we sat down in Starbucks near St. Paul's for some coffee and snacks. I am not going to review Starbucks for you because, well, it's Starbucks and it's the same everywhere. We parted our ways at London Bridge, after crossing the river over the Millenium Bridge, which was my first time on the bridge and Butch was proud that he could show me something new. I should hang out by the Thames more often. It's pretty cool down there.
In the afternoon, I went to the London Coliseum to see the Sleeping Beauty. It was my first time seeing the ballet in a really long time and it was sooo beautiful. The costumes were lovely - beautiful colours and very sparkly. The dancers were great, the music was great, the set was lovely and did I mention the London Coliseum is a really nice place? I loved, loved, loved it and it made me remember all those times I used to go out to the theatre and to concerts as a child and a teenager back in the Czech Republic. But for the past few years, I have been a cultural drop-out. I will definitely need to do something about it because this was so much "better for the soul" than retail binges or watching all those chavs on TV. So for January, I have booked tickets to go to see Manon. Yeeeei. Cannot wait!
Friday, 5 December 2008
food food, more food. (Chinese and French) and a bit of drink. (cocktails)
It's been a long time since I posted anything on here. My social life has been, frankly, limited to work-related dinners lately. OK, so I have had a social life, but it's been happening abroad mostly, so I can't write about it on my London blog. Yesterday, I spent an evening at the Cocoon on Regent Street, which was fab. It's a great place to go to, especially if someone else is paying. They serve pan-Asian cuisine, cocktails and a lot of champagne. It could just as well be called This-is-the-place-for-you-Lucie. Those of you who have seen my food cupboard will know that I have a box full of Indian spices and the rest of the stuff in there is mostly basmati rice, curry pastes, rice noodles, limes, peanuts, spring onions, garlic, tomatoes, ginger and pak choi. I live off Asian food. I could eat it every day for every meal. Who am I kidding, I do eat it every day for every meal. Sometimes I wonder where my Czech roots disappeared to.
So I kicked the evening off with a non-alcoholic cocktail, not on purpose, just couldn't locate the alcoholic page of the menu at that point. It was called Shouka and there was a lot of blackberries in it, which I love. Next up, it was Jasmine Fizz, a champagne-based cocktail with passionfruit pulp and jasmine, which had a very Asian feel to it.
The food was great. I remember prawn dumplings, crispy duck rolls, fish, fluffy rice, fabulous beef, seaweed salad, baby pak choi, sushi, cute little desserts and many other things. The décor of the place is very lounge-trendy, with low ceilings, dim lights and glass tables that have rose petals inside them. My only concern when I entered the place, was that it smelled of fish everywhere. Quite a lot.
Despite the fact that this was a work thing, I had a nice evening, with some great chitchat, although I can't believe people are still talking about the credit crunch so much. As a trendy and cool child, I have to tell you, moaning about the economy is like so last season. Get a new conversation topic already. How about the rising popularity of espresso machines in Europe? Fascinating stuff! And it's business-related!
Among other work-related things, I have also recently discovered my love for beef at the Brasserie Chez Gerard. Chateaubriand steak, meet Lucie. Lucie, meet THE STEAK. Yum. But it seems like ages ago now!
So I kicked the evening off with a non-alcoholic cocktail, not on purpose, just couldn't locate the alcoholic page of the menu at that point. It was called Shouka and there was a lot of blackberries in it, which I love. Next up, it was Jasmine Fizz, a champagne-based cocktail with passionfruit pulp and jasmine, which had a very Asian feel to it.
The food was great. I remember prawn dumplings, crispy duck rolls, fish, fluffy rice, fabulous beef, seaweed salad, baby pak choi, sushi, cute little desserts and many other things. The décor of the place is very lounge-trendy, with low ceilings, dim lights and glass tables that have rose petals inside them. My only concern when I entered the place, was that it smelled of fish everywhere. Quite a lot.
Despite the fact that this was a work thing, I had a nice evening, with some great chitchat, although I can't believe people are still talking about the credit crunch so much. As a trendy and cool child, I have to tell you, moaning about the economy is like so last season. Get a new conversation topic already. How about the rising popularity of espresso machines in Europe? Fascinating stuff! And it's business-related!
Among other work-related things, I have also recently discovered my love for beef at the Brasserie Chez Gerard. Chateaubriand steak, meet Lucie. Lucie, meet THE STEAK. Yum. But it seems like ages ago now!
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