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Seven Things Not To Miss In London This Weekend: March 31 - April 2
Consider your diaries filled, folks
FOOD: Som Saa x Pitt Cue
Culinary team-ups part 1: So, it's important that you know that, for the next month, Pitt Cue (aka finest barbecue joint in London) is joining forces with Som Saa (aka finest Thai in London) for a very special collab, each designing a dish for the other's restaurant. Over at Som Saa, you'll find 'Sai Oua' (Thai sausage) using Pitt Cue's Cornwall-reared Mangalitza pigs, with their house-made red curry paste and regional herbs and spices (£6.50). Meanwhile at Pitt Cue, you'll find SS's Deep Fried Day Boat Fish with sour fruits, dried shrimp and sweet fish sauce (£8). With 50p from each dish going to Crisis and Farms Not Factories respectively, we reckon it's only right that you try both.
1-30 Apr
Som Saa, 43A Commercial Street, London E1 6BD; Pitt Cue, 1 The Avenue, Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4YP
DRINK: Cocktails in the City
We like: sampling the wares of London's finest cocktail bars. We don't like: having to (ugh) move from one such purveyor of alcoholic goodness to another. EFFORT. Here, then, is the answer to our prayers: a three-day extravaganza that brings 25 such bars together under one roof, no walking/tubing/Ubers required. That's right: this weekend, One Marylebone plays host to the likes of Artesian, Cahoots, Gaucho and the London Cocktail Club, plus a hygge pop-up featuring three of Scandinavia's top cocktail joints. Oh, to be alive in times such as these.
30 Mar-1 Apr; £15 including cocktail
One Marylebone, 1 Marylebone Road, NW1 4AQ
NIGHTLIFE: Fuse presents Infuse
We've filed this one under 'Nightlife', but really we should be starting a new category, 'Daylife' – because this party kicks off at one in the afternoon. And there are many advantages to Daylife: 1. You can be happily raving away at 4pm, while the rest of the world goes to the supermarket/does the housework etc. 2. You're in with a much better chance of getting to bed at a decent(ish) hour, making the next day oh so much easier. And 3. It means this bash can squeeze in 12 hours of the very finest underground techno, curated by the Infuse label's Seb Zito and featuring the likes of Ferro, Odd, Fabe, Jack Wickham, Joseph Williams and Javier Carballo. WIN.
1 Apr
93 Feet East, 150 Brick Lane, E1 6QL
FOOD: Yard Sale x Rola Wala
Culinary team-ups part 2: So, it's also important that you know that Yard Sale (aka coolest pizza joint in London) is getting together with Rola Wala (aka the coolest street-food stars in London) for another very special collab. From next week, Rola Wala bring their twisted Indian flavours to meet Yard Sale's double-fermented doughy goodness – the result being the Nagaland Warrior, 12" (or 18" for the brave) of pizza topped with spiced pulled lamb, pomegranate, lemon raita, green chutney, Fior Di Latte mozzarella and coriander. Oh, and one last thing: see that chilli right in the centre there? It's a charred scorpion chilli, known to be one of the hottest in the world. Consider your challenge set, people.
3-17 Apr
Yard Sale Clapton - 105 Lower Clapton Road, London, E5 0NP
Yard Sale Finsbury Park - 54 Blackstock Rd, London N4 2DW
Yard Sale Walthamstow – 15 Hoe Street, London, E17 4SD
SHOPPING: Independent Label Market
Downloads are all well and good, but can you collect rare downloads, frame beautiful downloads or go to a market full of other download enthusiasts? That'd be a no, then. But happily you CAN do all these things with vinyl – especially this weekend, which sees the return of the Independent Label Market. Bringing the finest indies together in Spitalfields, expect exclusive records and merchandise from the likes of Warp, Heavenly, Bella Union and Discrepant, plus DJs, drinks and general tuneful shenanigans. Oh, and FYI: the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Tim Burgess and Jamie XX have been sighted at past events. Just sayin'.
1 Apr; free
Old Spitalfields Market, Horner Square, Spitalfields, London E1 6EW
NIGHTLIFE: Park Chinois
Retro glamour is having a bit of a moment (the soon-to-open The Ned, Disrepute, The Beaufort Bar at The Savoy), and nowhere more so than Alan Yau's decadent Park Chinois. The man who created Hakkasan, Yauatcha and The Duck and Rice is behind this flamboyant restaurant/bar/performance club on the site of the old Automat in Berkeley Street, which has seen the likes of Adwoa Aboah, Naomi Campbell, Georgia May and Alexa gracing the dance floor. Unless you have a trust fund (or a tame Russian oligarch), don't arrive hungry – this is not a cheap place to fill up on Peking Duck, Black Cod and Dim Sum, but you can just dress up, pop in for a Vodka Collins and soak up the 30s-Shanghai-jazz-club vibes from the atmospheric bar. This weekend honey-voiced Diva Cherise takes to the stage.
April 1
Park Chinois, 7 Berkeley St, Mayfair, London W1J 8EA, 020 3327 8888
POP-UP: Alternative Fragrance Festival
Love perfume, hate smelling like anyone else? Then this pop-up is, ahem, heaven scent. Because until Sunday, Liberty is celebrating all that is niche, nuanced and downright cool in the world of fragrance. Highlights include an exhibition looking back at the work of Pierre Dinand, creator of some of the world's most iconic flacons, a chance to see Jan Ahlgren, founder of Vilhelm Parfumerie, interview Dinand himself, plus discussions on subjects including landscape perfumery and the evolution of cult brands. Smells like scene spirit, wouldn't you say?
Until 1 Apr; £10
Liberty London, Regent St, Carnaby, London W1B 5AH
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