London sales - Budd

Public service announcement -- some very good deals at Budd, the seriously old school shirtmaker in the Piccadilly Arcade. They have heavily reduced a large selection of silk ties, in stripes, polka dots and woven patterns. They are also selling off lots of stiff collars (i.e., detachable collars for tunic shirts).

Bagelmania

It's very hard to find good bagels in London.

Sure, the supermarkets sell tasteless rings of bread, passing them off as bagels. They're a very poor imitation of the real thing though.

The most reliable source for bagels is Brick Lane. This street in the East End has been home to successive waves of immigrants: Huguenots, Jews from central and eastern Europe, and more recently Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

There's little evidence left of the Jewish immigrants, except for an excellent bagel shop. The shop attracts customers from all over London in search of authentic bagels. It attracts a diverse clientele, from City bankers wandering over from Bishopsgate at lunchtime, to cab drivers, to club kids from Shoreditch in search of a late night snack (the shop is open 24 hours).





This past weekend, I could have headed over to Brick Lane to satisfy my bagel cravings. However, I decided to try something a bit more challenging.

I made my own.

I won't bother giving you a detailed bagel recipe. Those of you who are industrious enough, or crazy enough, to make your own bagels will undoubtedly be able to find a recipe.

The secret to making bagels lies not in the ingredients, but in the unusual cooking technique -- they're boiled first and then baked. It's enough for our purposes to say that they're made with a normal bread dough: strong white flour, yeast, salt and water. I added a little sugar to sweeten the dough slightly.

Let the dough rise, knead it, and then you can shape it into bagels. Let these rise for another 45 minutes or so.


Carefully poach them for about 1 minute on each side. You'll have to do this in batches - make sure you allow space for them to puff up in the water.


Now bake them in a hot oven until they begin to turn a golden brown on top. I brushed them with an egg wash before baking them - you could also sprinkle some poppy seeds on them at this point.


The finished product, with some other bread rolls I made.


Served with cream cheese.

Snow

The heaviest snow in London in 18 years, with an accumulation of about 8 inches.

Oslo or Vienna - or even New York - would easily cope with that much snow. But without the infrastructure to clear the snow, it brought London to a complete standstill. The trains and buses were out of action for most of the day, and the airports were closed.



It felt like a "snow day" off work for the entire city. Many people took the day off because they couldn't get to the office on public transport, and the centre of town was extremely quiet. Parks were filled with adults making snowmen and throwing snowballs.







The courtyard of Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy.


A Land Rover, the best form of transport in this weather.


Outside a local pub.

A cultural weekend

A cultural weekend in London.

On Friday, the new Palladio exhibition at the Royal Academy. In the evening, the Mariinsky Theatre (the company formerly known as the Kirov) performing Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, conducted by Gergiev. A sell-out show at the Barbican.

Saturday morning at the Wallace Collection.

On Sunday, the new film Frost/Nixon, adapted from the stage production at the Donmar.

Remembrance Sunday

Some photographs from the Remembrance Sunday service on Whitehall.

A sunny day in London

Readers in London may have noticed an unusual climatic phenomenon this weekend.

The sun was . . . shining.

After a damp and grey June, July and August, it felt like the first day of summer. Alas, I fear it will simultaneously be the last day of summer.

The Modern Pantry

This Georgian building in Clerkenwell has lain empty for years. It's a handsome building, not pretty, but with a sturdy appearance in keeping with the industrial past of the neighbourhood.

It's just been renovated and has emerged from the scaffolding as The Modern Pantry, a stylish new cafe and restaurant. Anna Hansen, formerly of Providores on Marylebone High Street, is in the kitchen.

There's an informal cafe downstairs, a soon-to-open restaurant upstairs, and a cake shop at the back of the cafe. I haven't eaten there yet, but have only tried a few of the goodies from the cake shop.

The first reviews have been extremely promising. It's fusion cooking, but without any identifiable source or style. The menu includes a sugar-cured prawn omelette; onglet steak marinated in miso; and chorizo, date and feta fritters (which one reviewer described as falafel for meat eaters).

Robes

As we move into Autumn and the evenings get chillier, the Man of Mode ponders wearing a robe around the house. While a towelling bathrobe is practical when stepping straight out of the shower, it's not a very stylish choice for relaxing at home. Fortunately, there are much more sophisticated alternatives available.

A stroll around Jermyn Street reveals many possibilities.

Gingham robes at Budd


Various colourful options at New & Lingwood




The silk facings on this robe at New & Lingwood have a skull and crossbones pattern


A short robe (or smoking jacket) with silk facings in a blue polka dot pattern at Hackett

New Dunhill store in Mayfair

Alfred Dunhill is opening a new store in London on August 30 and the builders are working furiously to get everything ready.



The shop is on Davies Street in Mayfair, just off the top of Berkeley Square, in what used to be the Duke of Westminster's London home. Dunhill promises "the ultimate in masculine luxury and retail lifestyle", offering their full range of clothing and accessories. The shop will also house a bar, private screening room and barber.

The silver lettering on the arch is, I think, a mistake. I would prefer some plain black lettering, or maybe an engraved brass plaque to the side of the archway.



Workers installing some sort of fibre optic lighting between the flagstones in the courtyard.



I'll report back after they open.

Hats from Lock

I was wandering around Jermyn Street and St. James's today and noticed numerous people, at least half a dozen, carrying around hatboxes from Lock. Is there a big event coming up that requires hats?

Electric cars

I have seen the future . . . and it's a clown car.

With oil still trading far above the $100 per barrel mark, electric cars are all the rage. While petrol fuelled hybrids like the Toyota Prius get most of the attention, there are also a few models available that just run on electricity. These cars have some major drawbacks: they are very small, they have a limited range (under 50 miles), and they must be plugged in for several hours to recharge the batteries. However, those factors are perfectly tolerable in a city car that is designed for short trips around town.



These little 2-seaters may look a bit clownish, but they're quite practical for a short commute or shopping trips in central London.

Some local councils in London are promoting the use of these cars by offering free on-street parking. Electric cars are also exempt from the 8 quid a day Congestion Charge. An article in this week's Economist notes the popularity of these cars, and the efforts by local governments to encourage their use, although it comments that many of these benefits are now being cut back.

The best perk I've seen is on Berkeley Square. The City of Westminster has installed several charging points that are free to use for drivers of electric cars; drivers just pay a nominal annual fee for a key to turn on the juice. With petrol prices at record highs, I can't think of anything better than having the local government pay to power your car.

Red Bull Air Races

The Red Bull Air Race World Series is an international competition for aerobatic pilots. The races are held in cities around the world, with championship points awarded for each round in a format similar to Formula 1 motor racing.

The London round was held this weekend, over the River Thames in Docklands next to the O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome). Qualifying rounds were held on Saturday, with the finals on Sunday.



The pilots race against the clock, flying through a slalom course of inflatable pylons. The agile, lightweight racing aircraft make extremely tight turns as they wind their way through the course. Certain slalom gates must be crossed with the aircraft wings horizontal, but others must be crossed with the aircraft in "knife angle" position, with the wings in vertical position and the wingtips pointing directly up and down.

It's a remarkable display of flying skill, with the pilots rolling the planes left and right in a split second as they weave in and out of the gates.

A better way to commute

After enduring the daily commute to Canary Wharf on the Tube, I recently discovered a much better way to travel. A fast boat service connects Docklands with central London, with departures every 20 minutes during the rush hour.

I can't imagine a more pleasant way to travel home on a warm sunny day.

Leaving Canary Wharf






River police headquarters






HMS Belfast, with Tower Bridge opening in the background for a tall ship


City Hall


Tate Modern