Secret London
From supper clubs to debating societies, we bring you the latest hip hangouts in the capital
WANT THE INSIDE TRACK ON WHERE TO MINGLE WITH THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS IN LONDON? VOYAGER PUTS ITS EAR TO THE GROUND AND DISCOVERS WHERE THE CAPITAL’S NEW DEMOCRATIC ELITE LIKE TO MEET
report: richard bence
THE CHOSEN FEW and those who are prepared to part with sizeable chunks from their wallets can join the mighty members’ establishments of London. But for most of us, the gates of media haunts such as Soho House and The Groucho Club or the more old-school gentlemen’s establishments of St James’s remainfirmly closed. There is, however, a whole world of unusual clubs and underground events in the capital that are magnets for the clued-up visitor or London resident. You just need to know where to find them. Read on for our strictly non-members but discerning insider’s guide to the capital. For an almost out-of-this-world (literally) foodie event, try an astrological dinner with speakers including the internationally acclaimed astrologer Shelley von Strunckel and one of the world’s leading perfume ‘noses’ Roja Dove, held monthly at Terence Conran’s Plateau restaurant in Canary Wharf. The concept behind it is that each star sign leans towards certain foods, tastes, scents and wines. So at the event, the amusing (and very camp) duo Shelley and Roja (who play off each other rather like Sonny and Cher) draw on ancient lore to describe the aromas and tastes unique to each sign. It’s a bit like crashing a secret seance, with the added bonus of Bollinger champagne and a range of wines hand-picked by head sommelier Michael Simms, plus afive-course tasting menu reflecting the astrological signs. Everyone’s speech is slightly slurred by the end of this mystic marathon, but you can guarantee that you will be sitting next to a fascinating new friend.
Shelley von Strunckel says: “These evenings offer a rare chance for diners to experience the powerful links between the star signs – their own and others’ – and our subtle but intense reaction to various tastes and aromas.” Taking place in a private room at Plateau (where the latest Batman movie was filmed), with flowers by Ercole from McQueens (the capital’s A-list florist), places at each tasting are limited to 20 people and cost £70. For reservations, call Plateau on +44 (0)20 7715 7100. Upcoming dinners are on 7 June and 5 July. Many of London’s most glamorous restaurants have ludicrously long waiting lists. But you can try to bypass this if you book into a hotel with a hotspot on site. At the vanguard of the restaurant scene is Gordon Ramsay’s award-winning Maze, where the focus is on small grazing plates. It’s notoriously difficult to get a table, but if you stay at the Marriott Hotel on Grosvenor Square (www.marriott.co.uk) where it’s based, the concierge can try to push ahead your booking (subject to availability).
The chef du jour on everyone’s lips, though, is Chris Galvin, whose eponymous restaurant on Baker Street has been wowing the critics. Now his name is over the door at the iconic Windows restaurant on the 28th floor of London’s Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, with its stupendous views (www.hilton.co.uk).
When Brown’s Hotel on Albemarle Street in Mayfair re-opened after its refurb, Lady Thatcher attended the launch party of this new addition to Rocco Forte’s RF group. The hotel’s Donovan Bar is open to all and has fabulous cocktails and live music every evening (except Sunday), 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
Currently, they have jazz guitar, but they plan to introduce Brazilian and bossa nova jazz nights. Visit www.brownshotel.com or call 020 7493 6020.
Hotels are diversifying what’s on offer. London’s private gardens are closed to most punters, but there is a way to get the key to these secret oases in the middle of the big smoke.
Check into the charming Cadogan Hotel on Sloane Street (020 7235 7141; www.cadogan.com;), which has private tennis courts at your disposal in the beautiful Cadogan Place gardens, which would usually only be open to local residents. Meanwhile, the rooftop pool at The Berkeley Hotel (020 7235 6000; www.the-berkeley.co.uk) is a chic chill-out zone with panoramic views over Knightsbridge and Hyde Park. In summer, the roof zooms back to reveal the sky.
One-day memberships for the spa and pool are £65, open to non-residents. Late-night London has never had it so good for luxurious drinking and dining, as supper clubs offering cabaret have made a comeback. This major revival is being spearheaded by Medium Rare, a cabaret night with dinner. The emphasis is on originality and unique performances viewed from round tables, with a three course dinner in funky venues. Running to packed houses in Bush Hall, where guests have included Paul Weller, Sting, Bryan Ferry and Gillian Anderson, this is definitely worth a visit. (www.mediumrare.tv).
On the other side of town, Bistrotheque (23-27 Wadeson Street, E2; 020 8983 7900; www.bistrotheque.com) offers avant-garde performances with evenings of louche covers, gay ditties and comedy, courtesy of Spanky and Xavior among the performers firing up the giddy nights at this restaurant and club. Housed in a converted clothing factory down a back alley in deepest Hackney (take a taxi), this is the project of Pablo Flak, one of the designers behind the fashion label House of Jazz, and his partner, David Waddington who used to run the trendy Shoreditch pub, Bricklayers Arms. A firm fashionista favourite (London Fashion Week parties and post-gig bashes are held here), you’ll spot at least one dishevelled-looking star roughing it in this decadent den. In the upstairs dining room, chef Tom Collins does dishes like lobster and chips.
Another supper club joining this renaissance is the recently opened Pigalle. This 1940s-inspired supper club in the heart of the West End (020 7734 8142; www.thepigalleclub.com) offers diners a mezzanine level to overlook the stage. The glamorous and sophisticated interior was created by flamboyant interior designer Shaun Clarkson, whose other bars and clubs include Pop, The 10 Room and Tokyo Joe’s.
Across town, another burlesque supper club has just opened: Volupté (9 Norwich Street, EC4; www.volupte-lounge.com; 020 7831 1622). Focusing on cocktails and cabaret, anything goes in this place, with a masculine-edged cocktail bar upstairs where you can smoke cigars and watch old movie clips; downstairs you eat while being entertained.
Perhaps the most hip hangouts in London right now, though, are centred around not booze or bad behaviour but a cognoscenti of intellectual and literary types eager to inject some debate back into their lives. Intelligence Squared, held at the Royal Geographical Society, is spearheading the revival of the public debate. It’s the hottest thing to hit town at the moment, but still unknown by the masses – Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan are among its fans. See www.intelligencesquared.com.
If you are partial to the beauty of art and the art of beauty, try the B Club (www.thebclub.co.uk), which is a bimonthly bonding for brains and beautiful people over books, bands and bellinis. Sound too good (or too hideous) to be true? Founder Ruby Warrington got the idea from joining a book club, and enjoyed it so much that she decided to expand it to a wider group of people “with the focus more on edgy, cult, rock ’n’ roll books”. Held at the Great Eastern Hotel, where city slickers meet East End fashionistas, could this signal the beginning of a new phenomenon mixing clubbing and reading?
Appreciation for architecture is becoming a similarly hot choice for young hipsters w anting a little Le Corbusier with their cocktail. The Architecture Foundation has Summer Nights talks and events in Clerkenwell (020 7253 3334; www.architecturefoundation.org.uk; ), starting in August. And Architecture Week (16-25 June; 020 7973 5246; www.architectureweek.org.uk) hosts events for the building-bothered. Haven’t we become intellectual?
Movie buffs will love One Aldwych’s Give Me Movies package. Every weekend, visitors can enjoy a three-course dinner and glass of champagne in their restaurants (Axis and Indigo), then watch a greatfilm in the hotel’s luxury private screening room (everything from classics such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s to recent hits), all for £38.50 (020 7300 1000).
The Charlotte Street, Covent Garden and Soho Hotels – all part of the glamorous Firmdale Hotel Group – do something similar at their Weekend Film Club (www.firmdale.com; 020 7559 3007). Even if you live in London, checking in with a friend or lover at one of these boutique boltholes offers a different perspective on your home town for a weekend.
Some members’ clubs also offer a back-door to slip into the secret societies of celebrities and captains of industry that flutter through their hallowed portals. Continuing the movie mood, Soho House’s Notting Hill outpost, Electric House, is a watering hole for the hip west London celebrity set. But it’s the Electric Cinema that has held the Grand Classics series where prominent actors, directors and fashion designers (including Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Minghella and Vivienne Westwood) have taken over the space to show extraordinaryfilms and speak about the effect cinema has had on them (www.grandclassics.com). Sounds fabulous, but sadly these events are invitation only. Otherwise the cinema is open to the public.
However, there is another type of demanding customer who has recently started arriving through the doors of this secret members’ spot – in their buggies. Electric Scream! is a screening slot set up exclusively for parents/carers and their babies (aged one year and under), where you can ‘enjoy’ full-length features with your baby bouncing on your lap without worrying about disturbing others. Local mother Katie Haydn Slater looks forwar d to her weekly movie sessions: “It’s hysterical,” she says. “All you can see is these cute little heads in sha dow bouncing up and down in front of you. And the huge leather seats, with footstools and tables – u sually used for a sophisticated glass of wine – get hijacked for our baby kit.” Run on Mondays (except bank holidays) and Tuesdays at 3pm, tickets cost from £5; for all other seats call 020 7908 9696 or visit www.the-electric.co.uk
Other clubs are also courting custom from the savvy non-member set. Hedges & Butler is a new members’ club and bar (3 New Burlington Mews, W1; 020 7434 2232; www.hb1667.com) that has only been open a few weeks but already attracted famous faces from London’s art scene, including Damon Albarn, and Jamie Hewlett, the cartoonist who sketches The Gorillaz. But this is a truly bohemian arts club – you don’t have to fork out hundreds of pounds to become a member, as non-members who book in advance are able to eat in the restaurant (Le Passage) and drink in the main room (L’Atelier). The venue is also available for hire by non-members.
Similarly at The Hospital (www.thehospital.co.uk), London’s epicentre for the creative crowd (president of Jimmy Choo Tamara Mellon recently had a very A-list bash there), is a private members’ club that’s not completely impregnable – its gorgeous
Origin Bar and Dining Room is open to all and serves some of the best nosh in the coolest surroundings in London; it’s just that not many people know about it, being rather off the beaten track (24 Endell Street, Covent Garden, WC2; 020 7170 9200; www.origin-restaurant.com).
