What To Do This Weekend 18.05.23
GET DATE NIGHT RIGHT:
Wine & Gelato Tasting at Badiani
Gelato producer Badiani is hosting a series of tasting evenings to celebrate two of Italy’s greatest exports: wine and gelato. The first event takes place tonight at 7.30pm at its Chelsea shop, led by in-house sommelier Maddalena Riccardi. You’ll be introduced to five unique flavour combinations, including a rosé paired with strawberry sorbet, a dessert wine with dark chocolate gelato, a white wine with ricotta gelato, and a sparkling wine paired with Badiani’s signature cream-based gelato. Tickets cost £40 and include a glass of prosecco on arrival, five Italian wines and gelatos, plus a glass of sgroppino – a traditional Italian palate cleanser.
Visit DesignMyNight.com
BRONAC MCNEILL
BAG A BARGAIN:
Women for Women International Car Boot Sale at Selfridges
On Saturday 20th May from noon to 5pm, charity Women for Women International is hosting a car boot sale at Selfridges car park to raise money for survivors of war. The luxury fashion car booter will feature a range of pre-loved, vintage and past-season items given by some of our favourite brands, including The Vampire’s Wife, Rixo, Reformation, Simone Rocha, Jimmy Choo, Kitri Studio, Manolo Blahnik, Me+Em and The Outnet. There will also be donations from Chanel, plus beauty items from Charlotte Tilbury, 111Skin, Elemis and Verden. Tickets start from £10 for one-hour shopping slots.
400 Oxford Street, West End, W1A 1AB
Visit WomenForWomen.org.uk
OLIVER TORRENO CORBACHO
MEET THE GIRLS FOR BRUNCH:
The Mandrake
The newly reopened YOPO restaurant at The Mandrake has launched a brunch (£65pp) in which diners can tuck into breakfast dishes and drinks at the South American-inspired restaurant while receiving an oracle card reading by the hotel’s head of spiritual wellbeing. Guests can order a three-course brunch, starting with dishes like padron peppers and smoked chilli salt, guacamole with corn chips, and crab and fennel tostadas, before moving onto fish tacos, chorizo and poached egg muffins, or brioche French toast with strawberries. Add on bottomless cocktails or champagne before receiving an oracle card reading. If you want to continue your spiritual afternoon, book a sound bath class at the hotel – they take place on Sundays at 4pm.
20-21 Newman Street, Fitzrovia, W1T 1PG
Visit TheMandrake.com
CHECK OUT AN EXHIBITION:
The Offbeat Sari
The Design Museum continues its exciting line-up of exhibitions with this new display on the contemporary Indian sari. The first large-scale exhibition in the UK to explore the piece of clothing, it includes over 90 styles of trailblazing saris, most of which are on loan from designers and studios across India and have never been seen in Britain before. Through the textures, weaves, colours and drapes of the beautiful textiles, visitors will gain a unique snapshot of the fashion revolution the sari is experiencing right now. Highlights include the first sari ever worn to the Met Gala (by Natasha Poonawalla in 2022) and incredible couture saris worn by Bollywood stars.
224-238 Kensington High Street, Kensington, W8 6AG; until 17th September
Visit DesignMuseum.org
ENTERTAIN THE KIDS:
Merchant Square Open-Air Screenings
Merchant Square in Paddington has opened a free open-air cinema. Bring a picnic blanket or sit on a deck chair with the kids to watch a family friendly film beside the canal. Tonight at 6pm, there’s a screening of Disney’s Inside Out, exploring the emotions inside a young girl’s mind as she goes through various life changes. Films being shown later this summer include Mean Girls, The Devil Wears Prada, Legally Blonde, Anchorman and Dodgeball. Visitors can bring their own snacks or buy ice-cream and Mexican street food from pop-up trucks.
9 Harbet Road, Paddington, W2 1AJ
Visit MerchantSquare.co.uk
JEROME GALLAND
BOOK A TABLE HERE:
Carlotta
Big Mamma group is on a roll. If you haven’t had a chance to dine at Jacuzzi on Kensington High Street, the group opened a new restaurant this week. Paying homage to Italian-American traditions, Carlotta on Marylebone High Street is the group’s fifth outpost in the capital. Spread over two floors, the restaurant has the group’s signature OTT interiors, with retro red leather banquettes, a gilded bar and dark wooden tables. On the menu you’ll find a selection of Italian-American classics like spaghetti and meatballs, seafood alla vodka, giant prawn cocktails and chicken parmigiana – all in keeping with the 80s vibe. Pasta and seafood are all served in copper pans at the table, while the star dessert is a slice of wedding cake served under a waterfall of vanilla cream and meringue.
77-78 Marylebone High Street, Marylebone, W1U 5JX
Visit BigMammaGroup.com
SLURP ON SOME NOODLES:
Supa Ya Ramen Guest Series
Asian restaurant Supa Ya Ramen is back with another series of kitchen takeovers. On Sunday 21st May, Taiwanese restaurant Mr Bao will head into Supa’s Peckham kitchen to serve new dishes, including shio ramen topped with pork belly, soy egg, spring onions, enoki mushrooms and crispy chicken skin; popcorn oyster mushrooms with sweet soy sauce, sriracha and crispy Thai basil; and steamed and deep-fried aubergine with toasted sesame sauce. Finish with a couple of Japanese beers or cocktails – we recommend the ‘Cucumber Margarita’.
191 Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4TP
Visit Resy.com
SHOP FOR A GOOD CAUSE:
UA Home Charity Sale
Ukrainian photographer Mariana Shafro is hosting a charity vintage market at a private residence in Hyde Park on Saturday 20th May from noon. Visitors can browse a selection of vintage mid-range and luxury designer goods straight from the wardrobes of famous Ukrainian designers and talents, as well as fashion and accessories from Ukrainian brands such as Gunia Project and Nadiia. You can also stop for a portrait by Mariana, and shop flowers and plants at the pop-up by Pepperose Studio. Profits from the market will be donated to the Superhumans Centre which creates prosthetics for Ukrainian soldiers. Tickets cost £13.50.
23-24 Princes Gate, Hyde Park, SW7 1QQ
Visit Eventbrite.co.uk
JANOS GRAPOW
BOOK AHEAD:
The Donovan Bar x Paradiso
On Wednesday 24th May, The Donovan Bar at Brown’s Hotel is being taken over by Barcelona’s Paradiso, which was voted the world’s best bar in 2022. It’s a one-off chance to try some signature drinks like the ‘Supercool Martini’, which uses frozen gin to build an iceberg in the glass. The two teams have also created a new cocktail menu for the event to showcase their world-class mixology skills – details remain under wraps until next week but we’re expecting good things.
33 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, W1S 4BP
Visit RoccoForteHotels.com
FINISH THE WEEKEND ON A HIGH:
Boundary
Boundary in Shoreditch has launched a roast dinner menu. The Insta-worthy venue, set within a converted Victorian warehouse, has a brasserie downstairs and a roof terrace for long lunches and lounging in the sunshine. Its new roast dinner – one of the best and most generous we’ve come across in recent months – features chicken, beef or pork (all from prestigious butcher HG Walter) served with duck-fat roast potatoes, honey-glazed carrots, cauliflower cheese and seasonal greens. If you’re feeling really hungry, start with oysters, ’nduja scotch eggs or charcuterie boards.
2-4 Boundary Street, Shoreditch, E2 7DD
Visit Boundary.London
CAITLIN ISOLA
DISCOVER A HIDDEN GEM:
London Rare Book Fair at Saatchi Gallery
Saatchi Gallery is hosting a rare book fair which brings together over 80 exhibitors specialising in rare books, first editions, manuscripts, maps and prints from around the world. Today until Sunday 21st May, the fair will showcase collections for every budget, whether you’re after a one-off hardback or an investment piece. Don’t miss the collection of classics and short stories by Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Virginia Woolf and JRR Tolkien, to name a few. Saturday and Sunday are free for all, or tickets today and tomorrow cost £11.
Duke of York's HQ, King's Road, Chelsea, SW3 4RY
Visit FirstsLondon.com
KATE BEZZUBETS UNSPLASH
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