Things To Do In London This Weekend: Nov 16 - 18

As if Veuve Clicquot didn’t bring us enough joy as it is. Y’know, with the tasty champagne and all. But they’re outdoing themselves this week: returning to host the fourth instalment of their none-more-cool, none-more-arty pop-up The Widow Series. Each year a tastemaking cultural figure curates a series of rooms filled with performance art, set design, film and music. And in the driving seat for 2018 is graphic designer Tom Hingston (who’s worked with everyone from Chemical Brothers and Massive Attack to David Bowie) who has collaborated with artists including Hot Chip, James Lavelle and Young Fathers to create six rebel-themed installations. Expect identity-challenging coolness, cultural collisions, stellar sounds – and champagne. Obvs.

15-17 Nov; £22 including a glass of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut

Veuve Clicquot The Widow Series: Rebels, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, SE1

For snazzy scenery and even snazzier sushi, the first restaurant at Heron Tower has long been the place. But there's a new Sushisamba in town, and it's just as bling, bold and beautiful as you'd hope. Set in Covent Garden's Grade-II listed Market Building, the view might not be as towering as the original – but then, who's looking out the window when you have a bar with a lush living ceiling and a cocktail list including punchy Sambatinis and sake spritz? Let alone when you're served melt-in-the-mouth wagyu gyoza, fresh and fabulous samba rolls and the best miso black cod in the capital... Sushisamba v2.0: we salute you.

Now open

Sushisamba Covent Garden, 35 The Market, WC2E 8RF

You know those people who, when you ask them where they got their dress/bag/furniture from, go ‘Oh this? It’s a flea-market find…’? Well, this weekend is your chance to BECOME ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. Because the Big London Flea is landing at the newly refurbished EartH in Shoreditch, bringing with it more than 50 vintage stalls, countless treasures and, sure, plenty of entertaining kitsch tat. Go, rummage and practise your best ‘Oh this…?’ humblebrag.

18 Nov; free

The Big London Flea, EartH, 13 Stoke Newington Road, N16 8BH

Forget New Orleans, for the next 10 days, London is where jazz lives. Oh yeah: we’re talking 350 performers swinging, jamming and scatting around 60 venues in town. From the bluesy and soulful to the wild and experimental, pull on your best turtleneck and get involved. Don’t miss Empirical’s free pop-up jazz lounge at Old Street tube station, super-cool Portugese fado singer Marizia rocking Royal Festival Hall, or – and this is real – Jurassic Park star Jeff Goldblum playing Ronnie Scott’s. Smokin’.

16-25 Nov

EFG London Jazz Festival, various venues and prices

If you often find yourself torn between going to Gaucho, Barbecoa and Farang for your Christmas do, then: a) we want to be you, because you know how to live; and b) your dilemma has just been solved. Because this weekend you can eat festive dishes from all of the above – plus many more top London restaurants including Tom’s Kitchen, Hoppers and Bar Douro – in one place: Tobacco Dock. That’s right, foodie fest Taste of London is helping us eat, drink and be VERY merry with demos, masterclasses, cocktail mixing session – and, importantly, a Laurent-Perrier Clubhouse. Two words of advice. Elasticated. Waistband.

15-18 Nov; from £15

Taste of London Festive, Tobacco Dock, Wapping Lane, London E1W 2SF

Cocktails with a cause – that gets our vote. Premium vodka maker, Ketel One, restaurateurs Drake and Morgan, eco-friendly specialists KeepCup and wild food expert James Wood, have come up with the ingenious idea of creating cocktails with ingredients designed for landfill. Held at Drake & Morgan’s The Refinery in north London, think drinks made with misshapen fruit and veg, opened-too-long champagne, and syrups created from citrus waste and coffee grounds. Expect an immersive swing, masterclasses in urban foraging and sustainable cocktail making from leftovers, while knocking back concoctions like Veg Patch Mary (Ketel One Vodka, mixed vegetable juice made from the Refinery's kitchen leftovers, lemon , World of Zing pineapple and habanero pepper sauce), and Afternoon Delight: Ketel One Oranje Vodka, spent coffee syrup and tonic water. Cheers to that.

The Refinery, 5 Brock Street, London, NW1 3 FG

Until 24 November

Anyone buying a lifelong KeepCup (at a reduced cost of £10) from The Refinery, gets a free Espresso Martini

We’ve said it before, but Canada Water mega-venue Printworks is, well, mega. A vast, fully soundproofed industrial playground, it’s the capital’s answer to Berlin clubs; all atmospheric metal grating and steel girders, with a huge sound system, the best lighting rig we’ve seen and one hell of a let’s-go atmosphere. There’s nowhere better for a heads-down session – and that’s just what’s in store on Saturday, as genre-bending alt-electro heroes Mount Kimbie curate a huge daytime rave, assisted by the likes of Nina Kraviz, Ben UFO, Bjarki and Kelly Lee Owens. The most fun you can have at two in the afternoon, guaranteed.

17 Nov, midday-10.30pm; from £30

Printworks, 1 Surrey Quays Road, London, SE16 7PJ