High and low marks of London restaurants and bars

I’ve recently been trying different restaurants, bars and clubs across London, including the areas of Richmond, Chiswick, Earls Court, Kensington High Street, SoHo and Camden Town. There have definitely been both high marks and low marks and I’ll share a few of my experiences.

High marks

Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in SoHo – this club is celebrating 50 this year and is a fantastic hang-out for a Friday night. My boyfriend and I went there on a whim, ended up chatting with a German man named Peter in the queue and sat together with him in the club. It has some tables for regular dinner closest to the stage and then there are a number of benches and long tables stretching like shelves along the sides of the room where you can order cocktails, wine, beer or snack food, but most importantly, remain focused on the performance on stage.

On Friday when we were there they had two different bands playing and a jazz drummer who had his birthday sat in for a song. The first band had wonderful musicians but in the second set we were in for an even better treat: Sarah Jane Morris. If you haven’t seen / heard her, I can warmly recommend an evening of her music, which is not pure jazz, but rather a mix of rock / funk / jazz. She managed to totally mesmerize me within the first 30 seconds on stage with her amazing stage presence, charisma, warm and rich voice and by performing one great song after another. Check out http://www.sarahjanemorris.co.uk/ for more info on Sarah and her music. I bought a CD – “Where it hurts” – and had Sarah sign it for me.

I was very impressed also with the impeccable sound at Ronnie Scott’s – compliments to the sound engineer. This club is a really nice and cosy place. Try it! Even the bouncers were polite and helpful.

Bingham Hotel in Richmond – this peaceful haven by the Thames, 5 min walk from Richmond Bridge, away from the busyness of central Richmond, hosts a terrace facing the river with stone tables and chairs on pebbles, making it look like a serene Japanese garden. They often have functions on the first floor and in the garden – wedding receptions, birthday celebrations and similar – but there is a very nice bar on the second floor with stylish sofas and a view over the river, well-trained bar staff and excellent service. Here you can enjoy a glass of champagne, a cocktail or afternoon tea and really relax.


Spring blossom in Richmond

The Pembroke on Old Brompton Road in Earls Court – this used to be a gay bar, but the place recently underwent a make-over and seems to have changed owners and clientele completely. Although I quite liked the slightly kitsch design with big chandeliers before, it is now a stylish bar with cosy lamps, a room further in with quite trendy wallpaper and a fireplace. It’s now a place where you can come in and enjoy a glass of wine, a beer or an Irish coffee while reading the Sunday paper or a good book and chill. They also serve food with a slightly more advanced menu than regular British pubs.

Ok-ish

Tarantella Ristorante Pizzeria on Elliott Road in Chiswick – this is a very small and narrow place where you can look into the kitchen or have the chef watching you and taking notice of your needs before the waitress does. They don’t have a very extensive menu, the food is fairly simple in a typical Italian style, but surprisingly good for the very reasonable price you pay. Despite being an Italian restaurant with Italian speaking staff and menu, they had some sort of a Gypsy theme art on the walls and played salsa music through the loud speakers…

The Bollo House on Bollo Lane in Chiswick – a quite nice, welcoming and large bar in the middle of a residential area, with a nice circular ceiling with windows letting in light. They serve quite decent steak, burgers, fish and chips etc. Don’t go there on a Wednesday night though – it’s their big quiz night and it’s impossible to keep a conversation because it’s annoyingly loud and busy.

Floridita on Wardour Street in SoHo – this little Bohemian, café-style bar serves only fairly basic wine, beer and drinks, but the staff is friendly and you don’t have to dress up to meet friends.

Côte on Wardour Street in SoHo – a large French restaurant in two floors. This seems to be very popular, you’ll need to make a reservation; when we came there with friends on a Saturday evening, they were full. It was a quite nice place with linen table cloths and decent food, albeit perhaps a little touristy.

Low marks

L Restaurant & Bar on Abingdon Road, a side street to Kensington High Street – the so-called cocktails as well as the fish I ordered for main course were absolutely horrible. It's a pity because I thought the place had potential at the first impression: the staff was very friendly and welcoming, they played salsa music through the loud speakers (always makes a salsa dancer happy) and the restaurant area had very funky design, with a rather narrow inner room with dinner tables basically under a small loft which also had seating. The Mint Fizz I ordered was granted a wild card, but it reminded me of wind-screen washing liquid and I don't think it's supposed to. I don’t know what they had done to the poor fish and sadly it was accompanied by too hard potatoes and watery green beans. The main course was simply revolting. Eating and drinking well is too important to me, so this place will sadly not get a second chance.

The Canal Side Bar at Lock 17 in Camden Town – located next to the locks in the canal in Camden Town as the name indicates, this bar has a steady stream of tourists as well as local hippie Londoners. If the weather is nice and the windows open towards the canal in summer-time this can be quite a nice spot for a cool beer, but the length of time it takes to order at the bar on a typical Saturday here – the bar staff is quite slow and disorganized – and the poor food disappoints you. I made the mistake of ordering potato wedges with cheese and this was just the most pathetic bowl of shrivelled and dried potato “puffs” I’ve ever been served. It took them two minutes to bring the bowl out to the table, so I guess they had just heated the old wedges in the microwave – the cheese on top had not even melted properly.


Boat in the canal at Camden locks

Speaking at the German Aerospace Center in Oberpfaffenhofen

Recently I had the privilege to give a presentation at the Galileo Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen in Germany. Located 60 km from Munich airport, it is hosted within the compound of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR). You’re not allowed to take photos here, so I have borrowed the photo of the Galileo Control Center from the DLR website. I must confess I had never heard of Oberpfaffenhofen before I was asked to go there, but was happy that the taxi driver at the airport knew where it was. It cost be €80 to get there and another €85 to get back the day after.

The reason for my trip was the Bavarian kick-off event of the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2009 (ESNC), an international innovation competition that awards the best ideas for innovative applications in the field of satellite navigation. It is organized by a company in Oberpfaffenhofen called Anwendungszentrum GmbH or “the Application Center for Satellite Navigation”. My company is sponsoring the competition with a special topic prize in the field of navigation and location based services for mobile phones.

The goal of the ESNC is to strengthen the international collaboration between a number of high-tech regions, particularly with regard to the development of applications and services made possible by the satellite navigation system Galileo. Galileo is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) currently being built (still in trial phase) by EU and the European Space Agency (ESA). It is complementary to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLONASS but aimed at reducing Europe’s dependency on American and Russian satellite signals. The European Commission has expressed an ambition to have 30 satellites launched in 2013.

A number of international and regional events are scheduled for the ESNC this year and will provide information to developers and creative innovators on various satellite navigation initiatives in preparation for Galileo deployment, including how to use NAVTEQ digital map data, LBS content and services for application development. The ESNC is carried out under the patronage of the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport, and Technology. There are over 36,000 people working in the Bavarian Aerospace industry alone, which is an indication of the size of the global market for these kinds of services and applications.

The event gave me a good opportunity to learn more about different development projects for use with satellite communication technology, including environmental mapping of seafloors, water depth and water quality. Other speakers covered geo-fencing solutions (tracking and secure locking / unlocking of valuable moving goods or hazardous materials), imaging and search applications using object recognition technology, and flexible address delivery of parcels by using GPS/GSM tracking solutions.

After the networking drinks I had dinner with the CEO of Anwendungszentrum and had interesting discussions over some delicious fish with melted hazelnut butter and spring vegetables, all the while it was snowing outside – big, pretty snowflakes like you want on Christmas Eve (well, at least if you’re a Swede). I was staying at Hotel Seehof by the Lake Wessling. The hotel was wonderfully peaceful with friendly staff, comfortable beds and it looked like a ski hotel in the middle of the Alps.

L.A. wedding at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel

Wow, I never thought this day would come. My six year older brother Urban has gotten married to a lovely American girl called Julia, also a talented musician, just like him. The whole family – my parents, sister, husband and three kids – flew to Los Angeles, California to attend the big event this past weekend. Also my boyfriend flew in from London.

I had been in Chicago for meetings through work for a few days so luckily I had already started to get used to the time difference between Europe and the US. We were staying at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Downtown L.A. over the weekend. This is a five-star hotel. Granted, the hotel foyer, reception halls and lounge areas have all the splendour required (have a look in the hotel photo gallery) – designed in Spanish-Italian Renaissance style with sculpted columns, hand-painted frescos, Rococo-style furniture, nice wooden or marble floors with thick carpets, bronze details, crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling etc, but I was not impressed with the hotel room. This was quite basic, would have needed a good make-over with repainting and touching up of skirting boards, more stylish furniture and refurbishing of the bathroom.

The dress code for the wedding was ‘black tie’ so I had to get an evening gown and managed to find a beautiful, midnight blue, strapless satin dress in Chicago last minute. However the zipper on the dress I tried at Bloomingdales was broken so I had to order one over the phone from storage in Minnesota and have it shipped directly to the hotel in L.A. There was not much room for error… I already knew the dress was too long even with high heels so I had to find a tailor close to the hotel to shorten it the day before the wedding. Phew!

I also desperately needed a pedicure and manicure and also wanted to get my hair done before the rehearsal dinner on the Friday. In the Guest Services binder in the room there was a pamphlet for the Visage salon on the ground floor. I called and talked to someone called Mindy and decided to walk down and have a chat with her about the arrangements. Originally from Vietnam, she was a little hard to understand at times. Although she had lived in the US for thirty years she had a very strong Asian accent. She turned out to be a lovely, helpful and very professional lady and I couldn’t have been in better hands – I can recommend anyone who needs to attend a fancy party in Downtown L.A., may it be a wedding, a red-carpet gala or some launch party, to make an appointment with Mindy. She doesn’t look like a million bucks herself, but I was very pleased with the service she gave, the foot massage, my nails looked fabulous and I really liked the hair-do with romantic curls she suggested would be suitable for my face shape, my particular hair quality and for the occasion, so I made an appointment with her to do my hair also for the wedding next day.

The wedding rehearsal was held in the Bernard room on the ground floor of the hotel where the wedding ceremony was to be held the day after. There was a temporary stage where the ceremony would be held and we all rehearsed walking in and out, being seated, where the bride and groom were to stand, the musicians be placed etc. The bride’s maids had made a “bouquet” of the gift wrapping materials and ribbons from the wedding shower which was then used as the bridal bouquet during the wedding rehearsal. I don’t know if this is an American tradition or just an idea they had – we don’t have this custom in Sweden anyhow – but I found it a little endearing and silly at the same time, which I am sure was exactly the purpose of it in the first place; an internal joke between the girls.

After the wedding rehearsal, there was the rehearsal dinner in the hotel restaurant, held for ca 40 of the close family and friends, which included the bride’s maids and groom’s party. There were a number of spontaneous speeches – I saved mine for the wedding reception – and Urban and Julia handed out gifts to the people in their wedding party and the parents to thank them for all their love and support and for making it all possible. I had understood from Shan, Julia’s mother, that you’re supposed to dress up for the rehearsal dinner, but there was an odd mix of family members in suits and dresses and friends in jeans and a shirt or even t-shirt and shorts! Hey, this was in L.A. after all, where supposedly anything goes!

On the day of the wedding, Frank and I had breakfast with Urban and our parents at a dodgy Asian-slash-Mexican food court on 5th Street past Pershing Square and on the left-hand side of the street from the metro entrance. Here you have a few options during different opening hours, over-the-counter serving from El Come-Come, Casa de China and some other name of the Mexican burritos / tapas counter next to them from which we got our breakfast pancakes, omelettes and beans.

Specimens of “America’s finest” came and sat at the table next to us. One of them congratulated my brother to his upcoming wedding, showed us the identity discs he had around his neck and claimed to be in the military soon going back to Afghanistan, however he and his companion looked like homeless and dirty crack heads, not proud US military, but who knows what war does to people. Sweden as a nation has fortunately not been to war in almost 200 years.

After this, my boyfriend and I hurried to Macy’s for last-minute shopping of accessories for the wedding. At first, I stopped at the jewellery shop in the entrance hall of Macy’s department store, saw some beautiful necklaces and innocently asked the clerk how much they were. I was dumb-struck when he said “$15,000” (I didn’t realize I was looking at some really precious stones – the store didn’t look that fancy after all and wasn’t located where I would have expected these kinds of gems) and quickly had to tell him that it was a little over my budget that morning… I got a silvery evening purse, a beautiful necklace and earrings within my own price range from Macy’s own jewellery department instead. With these necessities taken care of I had to hurry back to the hotel again to make my appointment with Mindy.

I almost completed and refined my speech as much as I had time for with my laptop on the lap while Mindy was curling and spraying my hair and had to redo my toe nails because I had messed them up the night before when putting on my shoes. In the end the speech never was completely finished, but I knew it was too long anyway and that I would have to cut it down, so by leaving some room for “winging it” on spot usually helps in that department. My Mom and Dad came down to help me out with some details on the finer points of the speech where my memory failed me from childhood, and Mindy agreed to do my mother’s hair after she finished with me. Then I had to hurry back to the hotel room, get changed and ready for the big event (don’t know how the bride herself manages to get ready in time – I guess by months of planning and not waiting till the last minute with things…). I printed the speech and the tweaked song lyrics of the traditional Swedish song Värmlands-visan (well, I couldn’t very well sing that he’s taking a bride from Värmland in the first verse!) in the Business Center of the hotel last-minute and was able to rehearse the song a couple of times with the professional pianist just before the guests arrived.

Guests in their pretty evening wear mingled on the sidewalk outside the hotel and in the ground floor lounge area and bar before the ceremony. Some of the wedding pictures were taken before the ceremony, some after. I was stunned to see my mother in a beautiful red dress – I’ve never seen her more radiant – and my sister and nieces all dressed up in long dresses and my Dad, brother-in-law and 12-year-old nephew in tuxedos. I’ve never seen any of them so handsome. Guess it takes an occasion like this to bring it all out. You can see a picture of me and my boyfriend to the right.

I had butterflies in my stomach since my speech was not exactly well-rehearsed and I felt a little intimidated to sing during the ceremony with the room full of (normally) critical musician friends of Urban and Julia. I had to calm my nerves with half a glass of wine in the bar just before the ceremony…

It was a beautiful, stylish and funny ceremony in the Bernard room at the Biltmore. The room was dressed up in white-covered chairs, golden waist-high pillars along the aisle with flower arrangements on, a white carpet sprinkled with rose pedals leading up to the stage where the wedding ceremony itself took place. All the wedding guests were seated but Urban and the close family, maids of honor and groom’s party walked down the aisle as part of the start of the ceremony. My sister and I were led down the aisle by one of Urban’s close musician friends, Michael, who claimed it was a dream come true to have two Swedish redheads by his side. Ha-ha, bless him. Then we all waited a few moments for Julia to walk in with her mother Shan and their close family friend Phil. Julia was a beautiful bride. The guitarist played and sang very nicely as she came in and walked “on stage” with Urban, who stood up front waiting for her with proud sparkles in his eyes.

Shan recited a Shakespeare poem during the ceremony and I made it through my song decently after a little shaky start. The microphone was placed in front of the guy officiating at the wedding, so I had to walk up on stage, round Urban and Julia and then face them and the rest of the room.

The funny elements that made everyone smile or even crack up, including the bride and groom, were one of the floral boys dropping a shoe as he walked in, Julia having forgotten to bring her card with personal wedding vows – they each read their own, personally written vows to each other which of course made most people in the room wipe the corners of the eye – and had to rely on the wedding coordinator to bring her the back-up copy, and then finally she dropped the ring when it came down to putting it on Urban’s finger. My new sister-in-law may be a little crossed with me now for revealing all of this so shamelessly on a public blog, but it’s all part of a good, fairly-tale but down to earth wedding story and I love it! It all effectively broke the ice and made for a fabulous wedding reception afterwards.

The newly wed walked out to Scottish bagpipes – apparently Julia has some Scottish blood in her – which was a quite cool ingredient in the whole wedding mix.

The reception was held in the Gold Room with group seating at round tables, a big dance floor and a stage where a jazz band was playing during the evening. I think the first couple up trying the dance floor while waiting for the newly-weds were Shan and Phil. Urban and Julia eventually walked in, again accompanied by the Highland bagpiper (wonder where they found him?) and onto the dance floor, where the jazz band took over from the bagpiper and started playing a slow foxtrot, "Twenty-Four Little Hours". The happy couple performed a little dance routine and looked very cute indeed.

After this, Urban and his bride took place “center-stage” at a separate table facing the stage and the five-course meal could begin. In a very organized fashion, there were of course a number of speeches throughout the evening, including those of Shan, my Dad, the best man Clark – in kilt to honor his Scottish-Canadian heritage – and myself.

Following me was Susanne with her “back-up vocalists” in the form of her three kids. They performed a rap song entitled “The Urban Beat”, I believe, with Susanne rapping the verses, telling a story about Urban, his two lovely sisters, some things that happened in childhood, how he moved to the US, met Julia etc, and the kids doing the “beat-boxing” and went “Um Urban, Hey Urban!” or something similar in between – absolutely hilarious! I laughed so much I can hardly hear what they are rapping on the video I shot.

It was a very nice and stylish wedding reception. I had great fun and enjoyed the speeches, music, dancing – it even included the traditional Jewish folk dance called Hora, which was good fun – and cutting of the wedding cake and all that. The wedding reception finished fairly early (think it was around midnight) so then there was an after party in a hotel suite that someone had rented.

I wish my brother and his wife all the best for a long and happy marriage!

USA All-Star Nationals
Located next to the big Staples Center, home to NBA basketball, the L.A. Convention Center hosts many different conferences and events throughout the year.

The day after the wedding, my sister and her kids wanted to go to L.A. Convention Center to watch the big cheerleading competition, USA All-Star Nationals. I was quite curious of this piece of American culture so I decided to come along. What perhaps surprised me the most was that there were so many boys in the cheerleading troupes. I thought cheerleading was for girls, but I guess these kinds of competitions have gone beyond the provocative wiggling and waving with pom-poms in the cheerleading section at a football game.

During the USA All-Star Nationals there were large teams competing in different age classes, from 7-year-olds or so to what looked like college kids. They flip flopped across the stage in rondats and salto mortals, threw each other up in the air, built pyramids, girls balancing on one leg in the air, striking different poses, while two to three team mates held them steady by the foot only. There were some poses and tricks that formed part of every troupe choreography, so these tricks seemed to be part of what everyone were to be judged on.



You can see one example of choreography in the video below. There were troupes that were more advanced, distinct and synchronized, but all in all, all contestants were very impressive athletes. Since we didn’t know anyone, we didn’t stay for the prize ceremony and handing out of trophies so we don’t know who won.

For those initiated, you can download and study the results from the different classes here>>

If you’re a fan or know anyone who happened to be competing on March 14-15 in L.A. you can buy the competition videos here>>

After the USA All-Star Nationals, we were dying from hunger, so we quickly settled for dinner at Denny’s, the American chain diner’s.

Barbeque in Venice
On Monday after the wedding, we were all invited over for barbeque at the house of Urban’s childhood friend Crille, wife Malin and baby daughter Mika in Venice. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I had of course forgotten sun block so after a couple of hours in the sun I had already gotten burnt, way before we walked down to Venice Beach to watch all the weirdo’s and could buy some sun protection cream in a store.

My 12-year-old nephew Jonathan (soon to be 13) likes skating and had borrowed a skateboard from Crille, so I headed down towards Venice Beach with him and my niece Emelie to shop for sunglasses and watch other skaters. Jonathan is not so advanced yet so he got some friendly and brotherly advice from more experienced skaters who were practising jumping and sliding tricks on the steel bars along the board walk. He could have stayed there for hours and hours. 14-year-old Emelie (turning 15 this fall) and I shared some moments of laughter at a – well, how can I put this – older nerd on inlines who desperately tried to get my attention by skating on one leg. He did the same “trick” over and over again, and each time he passed, he glanced at me and smiled. Emelie was cracking up already after the fifth time, but after twenty or so it started getting ridiculous. He mostly looked like a dog getting ready to pee against a tree….

My parents and also my sister, her husband and kids were staying in the US altogether some 20 days, I think, so both Jonathan and Emelie were after this convinced that they would want to move to L.A., one to bum around I guess and the other to “become famous” – unclear with what but she likes singing… My oldest niece Angelica, who’s 17, thought L.A. was cool enough and that it was nice to get away from school in the middle of the semester, but she probably also missed her horses back home.

We finished the day with a burger and a beer together with the whole family and Urban’s friends Clark (best man at the wedding) and wife Alexa at the Whaler on the corner of Washington Boulevard and Venice Beach.

Walt Disney Concert Hall
Before I flew back to London, I visited the Walt Disney Concert Hall, located on South Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. and only 10 min walk uphill from the Biltmore, giving your bum a little bit of an exercise while walking there. Designed by Frank O. Gehry and opened in 2003, this large metal building is made up of more than 6,000 panels of stainless steel.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of four buildings of the Los Angeles Music Center and by far the funkiest. The building is beautiful with many different shapes, curves and interesting angles, with the sunlight reflected in the metal surface.

It's located next to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and is home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. When I was there you could sign a guestbook for Esa-Pekka Salonen (the one who conducted the "City of Dreams" concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London that Frank and I attended recently), whose year as Musical Director here is coming to an end.

You can take an audio tour for free around the Walt Disney Concert Hall and its garden and listen to some of the details of the construction and design work, why the carpet has a playful and colorful Lily pattern (in honor of the biggest private donor Lillian Disney) and from what spot you can see all the way to the Hollywood sign in the far distance.

The building of the concert hall cost altogether ca $274 million and was partly funded by Lillian Disney, the widow of Walt Disney, who donated $50 million as a way to give something back to the community in this city of entertainment.

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

The trip to California came to an end and I’m back in the London drizzle... But stay tuned for upcoming excursions.

The London Eye

I am actually on my way to Beijing but am stuck at the Hong Kong airport due to a typhoon with heavy raining and strong winds. I missed my flight yesterday afternoon from Heathrow and was rebooked on another flight 4.5 hours later via Hong Kong. We had a very turbulent landing due to the weather and now the connecting flight is already almost 4 hours late. I have missed a whole day's sightseeing in Beijing with a colleague but was hoping to get there at least before midnight so I could take her salsa dancing. It looks uncertain if we'll even make it out of Hong Kong tonight. Oh well, at least it has given me some time to write about my sightseeing excursion in London last weekend.

It was raining cats and dogs with occasional thunder and lightning last Saturday – typical London weather, some would say, and you will regret if you have left your umbrella at home. Defying the weather, I however decided to do some sightseeing since a French salsa friend of mine, Ludovic, was visiting London. Neither of us had ever been to the London Eye, the huge observation wheel on the South Bank of the river Thames.

The observation wheel is about 135 m high and apparently the largest ever built. Opened in 2000, the wheel was meant as a symbol of the turning of the century according to the married couple of architects who designed it.

I have never been close enough to study the construction of it, but I had somehow imagined it to be like one of the “Paris wheels” you usually find at an amusement park with the cabins swaying in the wind. The London Eye however spun silently around and so slowly you couldn’t even feel its movement from inside the egg-shaped cabins, spacious enough for 20-25 people in each.

You can see quite far in the distance and many of London’s landmarks are clearly visible from up there, including the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey across the river in the City of Westminster. You have a great view over the Thames and several bridges, Victoria Embankment, South Bank with the Waterloo Station and the County Hall.

Westminster Bridge, Houses of Parliament with Big Ben and Victoria Embankment

The view over London from the wheel during its full-circle flight taking ca 30 min was marvellous, but the experience on this particular occasion was dampened by the wet weather. I also thought that the price was a little hefty, almost £14. I wouldn’t rush back in a hurry but on a sunny day I suppose it’s a nice experience and great photographic opportunity for the many tourists visiting London.

Left: Ludovic on Westminster Bridge with the London Eye and the County Hall in the background. Right: Big Ben.

After the London Eye tour, Ludovic and I walked across the Westminster Bridge, passing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, chilled to the bone and in search of a café where we could warm up with some hot chocolate. Westminster however consists mostly of old buildings and hordes of tourists so we ended up walking to Covent Garden via Trafalgar Square. Not that Covent Garden has fewer tourists visiting, but at least you can watch the bustling street life in the square while sipping a glass of wine or enjoying a coffee. We ended our afternoon sightseeing at a small café / pizzeria in the Covent Garden Market.

Ludovic close to Covent Garden

Spring chicken in California

I had four days off before Easter this year and went to California for a week to see my brother and hang out with one of my friends in Los Angeles. The benefit of L.A. is that you can get beach and skiing on the same week! :-)

My brother and his girlfriend live in Studio City in the San Fernando Valley in northern L.A. It’s a fantastic location, quiet and residential but also with some nice restaurants and shops. I spent some time shopping on Ventura Boulevard, the main shopping street and through-fare in the Valley, and also had dinner there at a cozy restaurant one night.

The weather in L.A. is mostly warm and sunny all year round. In the back yard at my brother’s, there is a lemon tree growing, constantly ripe with lemons (as you can see from the picture to the right), just waiting to be picked and used for fresh frozen margaritas!

On the Wednesday before Easter, my brother’s girlfriend, Julia Albert, a talented singer / songwriter, had a gig at Café Cordiale in Sherman Oaks. My brother played the guitar and sang backing vocals. Julia’s mother, brother, grandmother and some other relatives were also there to watch. We all had dinner there before the performance. Julia’s music is wonderful – check it out at http://juliaalbert.com/. It was nice to experience the intimate setting of this gig - see photos below.



I spent one of the days down at Venice Beach with my friend Thomas. For those of you who are not familiar with Venice Beach, this is a stretch of beach south of Santa Monica with a long beach promenade, along which people roller-blade, go skateboarding, biking and running, or work out in the sun at the Muscle Beach Gym, play tennis, volleyball or basketball at one of several courts dotted along the beach. The rather famous Venice Beach Boardwalk is full of quirky street stands, hustlers and weird people, trying to make a buck by making sand sculptures, wearing ugly costumes, juggling, selling their own, home made CDs etc. It’s definitely worth a visit – you’ll have a laugh and be fascinated by all the Weirdness there is in this world.

Since I am a passionate salsa dancer, Thomas took me to see one of his friends, John Davila (in picture to the left), who happens to be an On2 salsa instructor in L.A. We had good fun in the sun at his place for a couple of hours, learning a new On2 routine. Check out Davila's website at http://www.salsero.biz/index.php

On the Good Friday, Thomas and I went to Raffi’s Place in Glendale for some lovely Iranian food for lunch. I don’t think I have ever tasted Iranian food before, but I liked it. If you happen to be near Glendale, drive to Raffi’s Place and try it out. Nice staff and fresh food.



In the evening we went to Sherman Oaks Galleria for dinner and a movie. Thomas was mistaken for Eddie Murphy (very funny) by one of the visitors to the shopping galleria, who stopped him and almost asked for an autograph. The movie we ended up watching was really bad, not even sure why on earth we would randomly pick a film with such a title anyway… “10,000 B.C.”… If it screens at a movie theater near you, please pick another film for your evening out.

After four relaxing days in L.A., I was off to Big Bear / Snow Summit in Southern Caifornia for a couple of days of skiing with my brother.

London musicals, concerts and shows

London has a great selection of theatres and jazz clubs where you can enjoy various musicals, concerts, plays and dance performances. During my first 5 months here I have been to several musicals and dance performances, a couple of jazz concerts and to the ballet. There are constantly popping up new musicals and plays so you can always enjoy something new on the entertainment scene in London.

Greased lightnin’!

A salsa friend of mine from Sweden, Camilla Alenstål, and a friend of hers, Luis, came to London for a visit in October last year. We decided to go see Grease at Piccadilly Theatre. This was highly entertaining – if you haven’t see Grease yet, make sure you do! You’ll have a ball! It’s ultra greasy in every way and it’s hilarious. Danny and Sandy were played by Danny Bayne and Susan McFadden, both chosen by the public to play the lead roles in the London production from the finalists in the ITV show Grease Is the Word. My favorite scene in the London musical was the shower scene (does not exist in the film) – very, very funny.

The Magic Flute
I got a free ticket through work once to see a show at the Young Vic theatre between Waterloo and Southwark tube stations, a few minutes walk from the office. A South-African music company performed their own interpretation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Impempe Yomlingo) and got standing ovations from the audience afterwards.

This was a truly colorful, inspiring and entertaining show which left you in a state of shear joy and happiness. I was rather touched and had to wipe a tear from the corner of my eye at one point, although I was smiling broadly throughout the performance. I find it amazing that a European composer in the 18th century can have had such a powerful impact across the world through centuries, in a way that even the most remote country and culture with a completely different set of instruments and way of singing and expressing themselves have heard his music, learned to appreciate it, and been inspired by it to the extent that they have really let in influence their own.

Impempe Yomlingo was filled with colorful African costumes, Mozart blended with African harmonies, African drums and flutes, barefoot dancing, acting and singing with a strong South-African, melodious accent. A truly wonderful and refreshing experience!

Billy Elliot – the musical
When my brother Urban and his girlfriend Julia came for a visit from Los Angeles before Christmas, they wanted to see Billy Elliot. Said and done. I got tickets for the Victoria Palace Theatre on a Monday night. I wasn’t particularly impressed by this musical. The only one in the cast that impressed was the kid that played 12-year-old Billy Elliot. For being so young, he was quite charismatic and good both at acting, singing and dancing. In fact he was the only one that owned the stage when he entered. The rest of the cast was in my opinion rather mediocre on all accounts. Perhaps I was disappointed because I really liked the film and the musical version of it was…well, lame, with amateur actors and really poor dancers.

Katriona Taylor Quintet

My salsa friend Jeff Tarpinian’s ex-wife quit her job as a lawyer and became a jazz singer – well, isn’t that cool? Now she’s given out several CD’s and performs at various jazz clubs and festivals. Jeff invited a bunch of us from the salsa scene to come and see her at the SoHo Pizza Express in January. The jazz club is found in the basement and provides a quite intimate setting for the bands playing with dinner and drink tables close up to the stage. Apparently this club is where a lot of up-and-coming jazz musicians get started and receive recognition. We had dinner and a really enjoyable evening followed by salsa dancing at Bar Salsa after the concert.

The Nutcracker
I have long wanted to see a real classical piece of ballet. Alessia got Martina and me tickets for the Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House in January. It was a fantastic experience. The Royal Opera House is beautiful and of course provides the perfect setting for classical ballet. The Nutcracker was pretty silly in a fairytale kind of way, but there is no denying that the dancing was beautiful with impressive pirouettes, lifts and jumps.

Eddie Palmieri Y Su Orquesta
Earlier this month, the world-famous jazz/salsa virtuoso Eddie Palmieri was in London with his orchestra and performed at the Jazz Café in Camden Town. Born in New York with Puerto Rican parents, he is in his 70’s now so I wonder how many more concert tours he is going to manage. The Jazz Café was packed and it was an awesome concert. I was really impressed by the trumpet player, Brian Lynch.

Many of my salsa friends were there: Mouni, Osiel on a quick visit from Stockholm with his girlfriend, Denis, Steve, Chris, Martina, Jeff, Olu, Floyd, Saher (whom I met at La Isla in Stockholm last year – he commutes between London and Stockholm for work). I stayed dancing after the concert until a quarter past midnight, and then went to Bar Salsa as many other did. Salsa fanatics...?

Bounce – Insane in the Brain

Jessica, one of my girlfriends from university, came to see me for a couple of days earlier this month. After trying the cocktails at Skylon Bar in the Royal Festival Hall by the Thames, we went for dinner at Iguanas, a Latin bar and restaurant by the Hungerford Bridge, and then crossed the river and went further north to Holborn. Bounce, a street dance group from Stockholm, performed an astonishing dance theatre piece inspired by “The Cuckoo’s Nest” (remember the film with Jack Nicholson?) at the Peacock Theatre. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it. With very impressive dancing and strong acting it was depressing and funny at the same time. The performance stayed with us for a long time that night, even after entering the Sway Bar & Nightclub nearby.

Jessica & I sipping cocktails at Skylon Bar in the Royal Festival Hall

Jessica outside Peacock Theatre

London salsa – where and when

After 6 months in London I believe I have come to some conclusion on which the best places are for salsa dancing here, at least L.A. and Mambo style.

Mondays – Bar Salsa on Charing Cross Road close to Leicester Square. Super Mario usually DJ’s here when he’s in town. Usually a good crowd – the good dancers are there between 11pm and 2am (which is when they close and the bouncers come yelling at you, trying to hurry you out).

Tuesdays – never been out yet; does not seem to be a good club night for salsa.

Wednesdays – Bar Salsa, open till 2am.

Thursdays – my friend Jeff has started On2 courses and social dancing at Surya Bar at King’s Cross, open till 12pm. See http://www.salsageeks.com/ for more info.

Fridays – MamboCity event in Ealing Town Hall, open till 1am. This is usually jam-packed, hot and sweaty and a lot of fun.

Saturdays
– Scala at King’s Cross last Saturday of every month (usually open till 5 or 6am) + the night before all Bank holidays (open till 6am)
– Prodigal / Cape on Love Lane (close to St. Paul’s) open till 3am – this is a nice venue with a good salsa DJ and usually there are good dancers. Sometimes this clashes with Scala nights.
– Palladium at Latin Palace in Oval – I have only been there once but it was not good. Irene is trying to build a rep there and get people coming regularly but I really didn’t like the venue and it’s located way off and therefore hard to get home from unless you have a car of your own or can catch a ride.

On Fridays and Saturdays there are also occasional salsa events at Colosseum on Nine Elms Lane in Vauxhall which can be quite nice as a change. These events usually draw a mixed crowd of Cuban, LA style and mambo dancers.

Sundays – Salsa On Sundays (SOS) at the Royal National Hotel at Russell Square. This is the salsa social of the week organized by Leon Rose and Tamambo, and usually all good mambo dancers come here.