Sista Blog

I caught up with Rofel this evening at the very funky, extremely busy and popular Mango Tree. Even though we changed our booking time a number of times we were pleased that when we arrived at the restaurant, despite the obvious number of people sitting around waiting for tables, that we were immediately seated.

It was very clear that the waiters were under a lot of pressure to clear the tables as quickly as possible if the fact we were asked about 3 times in the first 10 minutes whether we were ready to order was any indication. Finally those around us got the hint and left us alone until we signalled the waiter for attention. The menu at Mango Tree is extensive (both drinks and food) and, aside from the fact we were busy chatting and catching up, just working out way through the menu took us quite some time (food came very quickly once we did order though.)

Rofel, despite being a skinny little thing (heh heh), had quite an appetite and decided we should have three starters to share before both selecting a main. She’s a pescatorian so we were a little more limited in our options (a good thing in light of the extensive selections I think!) - we ended up trying the mixed seafood skewers, grilled tofu skewers and prawn spring rolls. All were decent selections though I think with the skewers the peanut sauce won it for me and the prawn spring rolls were especially delicous.

For mains I had no idea what to go for but I decided to go for the duck curry purely because it was served in a pineapple boat! Trust me to go for the gimmicky thing. Rofel went with the king prawn pad thai. Both were equally delicious and presented beautifully.

Once they’d cleared our main dishes (thankfully they didn’t try to hurry us to finish our meals) the maitre’d, Tat, brought over the dessert menus. Literally 30 seconds later he came back very apologetic and asked if we’d mind going to the bar for some complimentary tea/coffee whilst we decided on a dessert and to have our dessert there. He said there’d been a mix up with tables and he really needed our table. We had already decided by then that we were way too full for any dessert and told him we were happy just to take the bill. He was quite insistent though and before we knew it we were standing at the very crowded bar. Unbelievably at 9.30 the restaurant was still heaving.

We really were full though and decided to try and sneak our way into paying the bill. The maitre’d caught us though and after giving us free Mango Tree branded chopsticks somehow managed to shuffle us back to the bar with a complimentary glass of wine in our hands without us even realising! Quite funny.

Mango Tree was a very pleasant experience. Service, apart from the sort of rushed start, was fantastic, friendly and from Tat quite over the top (personally I think he had a crush on Rofel!). Food was top notch and cocktails, including a nice array of non-alcoholic ones, were very tasty. The only drawback was the price -the £15.50 a curry without rice gives you an indication - quite highly-priced for Thai food. You can capitalise on deals though top table though which tive you 50% which brings the price back to something a bit more value for money.

Phew. Where to start with this movie? Well, to put it in perspective the last Indian Jones movie came out in 1989, nearly 20 years ago and that movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, was set in 1938. Time in the Indy world apparently runs in real time because the latest movie is set in 1957, maybe to reflect the realism of Harrison Ford also getting older.

Nevertheless though it has been nearly 20 years gone the formula for the movie remains the same - as always the world is on the edge of coming under the control of some great evil so Indy must seek out and prevent a great mysterious object from falling into evil’s hands. The object apparently the key to all knowledge and power on earth.

For the most part the movie is enjoyable … if you want to park your mind at the door. Things are too easy for Indy and at any time he is confronted by a challenge it is solved mere seconds later leaving you with a lack of any sort of suspense or cliff-hanger or even a desire to find out what happens next. Unfortunately it ends up being a little predictable and corny and what’s up with the bizzare conclusion. Seriously. What were the writers/producers thinking? I was looking for something a little cleverer, a little more creative, a little .. well more!

Caro’s Hen Do today was probably one of the more sedate and civilised ones I’ve been to .. no crazy drunken antics, no men in their underwear (ha ha) and definitely no inappropriate accessories for the bride to wear!

We, Caro, Maud, Emma, Anne-Claire and I, started off with a bit of pampering at one of Caro’s and Maud’s local hairdressers with a very nice shampoo and head massage (nearly went into some sort of trance it was so nice!) followed by, for me, a haircut and the others a blow dry. It was actually quite nice to be in the salon - we had some champers .. well the other girls did … and we had some good music … it really was quite a pleasant way to start the festivities.

We followed this with a wine-tasting. Maud had originally organised for the wine-tasting to happen at one of her local wineries but at the last minute he pulled out! Some quick thinking by Maud and a very flexible pub, Mel’s, and we were sorted for another wine-tasting. I was actually impressed by the Mel, the owner of Mel’s, who quickly arranged something for us. She offered all her wines for tasting (except those sold by the bottle) and even supplied us one of her staff to go through the wines with us. No charge except for our olives and bread!

Our guide to the wine-tasting was really impressive - taking us through what wine-tasting was about, what to look for in a wine (the smell, the taste, the legs etc), and explaining each of the wines and how they differed from the last. He was also quite generous with the wine portions (… I think we were all a little tipsy after the end of about the twelve wines we tasted) and that he was kinda cute and charming and had a nice mild Welsh accent didn’t hurt at all. For some reason the girls were actually trying to set the two of us up!

After all that wine we were all more than ready to get into some food so we headed over to Kazan’s, one Caro’s and Maud’s favourite restaurants in Earlsfield. This Turkish Meze & Grill seemed quite popular. Admittedly it was a Saturday night but there was a constant stream of people coming in and out. I could see why it was popular though after we finished with our meal. It was delish. And even though I didn’t think we’d have room for dessert we sat there for long enough that our meals settled and we did indulge. I had to try their baklava which according to Time Out Cheap Eats 2004 is “… one of the best [they’ve] tried.” Happy to report that four years on this claim is probably still quite valid. Mmmmm …

Last time I went to Rainforest Cafe it was in Paris at EuroDisney and I came away with this flashing cocktail glass which could make you sick just from looking at it (its pretty cool really.) For something a little different Mirela, Sabrina and I decided to check out the London venue tucked away just behind Piccadilly Cirucs for a meal.

Honestly I was expecting to walk in and find the place filled with kids but strangely enough it was pretty balanced between the kids and the adults (and not in the same party either!) The Rainforest Cafes are pretty similar it seems across the chain - animatronic animals which are fairly realistic and come to life every 15 minutes or so, giant wicked lightening and thunder which also crackles every now and then, rain effects (sound only) and the waterfall type display thing. The only drawback to this atmospheric restaurant is that where we were sitting it was a little noisy and difficult to hear each other.

There is a wide range of options on the menu from pasta to grilled dishes to barbecue dishes to salads and sandwiches and burgers. Prices are a little on the expensive side though. I think where the restaurant shines is in their cocktails and desserts (actually, the mojo bones are pretty darn good too!) For something a little different check out Rainforest Cafe. I’m also looking forward to checking out the restaurant on a Friday and Saturday evening when apparently it turns into an R&B club!

This is the third time I’ve been to the Big Easy .. the first time I pigged out with my brother, the second time with Sandra and my brother with a Monday evening all you can eat ribs and bbq chicken and tonight it was with the girls to take advantage of the Lobster Festival. For £14.95 you get half a 1kg Maine Lobster, Fries, Salad and the biggest Frozen Margarita I’ve ever seen! Even though I’m allergic to alcohol I just had to have the margarita and boy it was really good. (Slightest regret with the after-effects of downing the alcohol though!)

Pauline wasn’t really feeling the lobster so she went with fajitas instead. The portion of fajitas was gigantic and looked very tasty. It came with a fair chunk of chicken plus lots of sides including guac which is always a good sign.

As for the lobsters - they come either grilled, steamed or bar-b-q’d and respective sauces on the side. Both Jenny and I went for the grilled version and Catherine the bar-b-q’d version though to be honest I couldn’t tell the difference except we got different sauces. I absolutely adore shellfish and lobster has to be up there at the top as one of my favourites. It is a little hard work though so its definitely not a date meal! ha ha. I think Pauline was definitely having a good time laughing at Jenny, Catherine and I as we tackled the little monsters on our plates!

Here are the lobster girls:

The lobster was surprisingly filling, or it could be all the delicious fries that came with it. Typical me I barely left anything on my plate - I reckon my lobster was very well cleaned out!

The Lobster Festival seems to be avaiable during Spring and Summer (makes sense I guess) so you’ve got about a month to go to take advantage. The Lobster deal at Big Easy is a pretty good one. You’ll have a good time at the Big Easy … even if it is to enjoy the kitch decoration and the surprisingly down-to-earth restaurant in the posh surrounds.

So salsa was interesting tonight - for once at The Gate the girls outnumbered the guys … and by a WHOLE lot! Rather than have girls dancing without a partner or dancing with other girls Julio decided to mix things up and have two girls dance with one guy! This did cause some confusion at first with the less co-ordinated guys but in the end it worked out pretty well!

I’ve never really been to the British Museum except to go see its special exhibitions such as Michaelangelo Drawings and more recently The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army. Mirela was pretty keen to go see some of the Greek artefacts so of we went this afternoon.

The collection of Greek artefacts is actually surprisingly vast and in fact, strangely enough 60% of the artefacts are in the British Museum and only 40% in Athens! I think there are 13 rooms in total dedicated to Ancient Greece and Rome. The room covering the Parthenon is one of the bigger rooms and quite interesting exhibits sculptures from those that used to decorate the outside of the building. It was disturbing to see all of these sculptures with their heads cut off but you could appreciate the skill that went into creating the amazing pieces. The move to bring the sculptures may have been controversial at the time (back in the 1800s) but I think in the end it was a good move as it probably resulted in the preservation of these historically significant items.

We also visited some of the other rooms dedicated to Asia and Africa but to be honest I think all up we were only in there for about an hour and a half! The museum was very busy which I guess at this time of year is to be expected but it wasn’t too crowded thankfully.

And our reward for this bit of culture. Chinese! Mirela has this thing for hoisin sauce at the moment … I don’t blame her - goes very well with duck pancakes. Yum!

Mirela’s time in London is quickly drawing to a close so we are trying to cram in a few things into her schedule in the middle of her packing up her flat and researching for her dissertation due in a couple of month’s time. She was asking me where we could go for dinner that was something a little bit different (for some reason people think I know all about food in London … ha ha) but I couldn’t really think of anywhere off the top of my head which wasn’t ridiculously expensive and/or busy on a Saturday night. We tried Rainforest Cafe but as we got there for just before 9pm they had already closed the restaurant for the evening in preparation for turning it into a club for the night! So, instead we headed over to Sugar Reef.

I’ve been to Sugar Reef once before for a work Christmas do and I was pretty impressed with the food then. Tonight the restaurant was fairly busy but mainly with hen do’s. I felt a little left out!

Our waitress was very nice and quite patient with us despite the many questions we had and indecision we had over our menu choices … especially when we found out that two of the things we wanted had run out for the evening! The only problem we had was that Sugar Reef seemed a little under-staffed so getting the attention of our waitress at the end of the meal proved a little difficult.

Sugar Reef have a set menu option which is actually priced differently depending on which evening you have it - Mon-Wed I think its something like £15 for 2 courses, then £17 for the same thing on Thus-Fri and then £20 on a Saturday night (I can’t remember the exact pricings)! What a premium! At least the food is of high quality - I really liked the salmon I had on a bed of pesto mash and bell pepper salsa. Our starters of tempura prawns and duck spring rolls were delish too.

I love taking the bus home late in the evening and for once we managed to score the front seats of the bus. Our bus driver was a bit of a maniac though cause he cruised through Oxford Street just barely stopping on time on most occasions and really taking the amber lights aggressively. Definitely made for an adventurous ride home.

Perhaps its that I don’t really know what Cuban dance is all about but Mirela and I were certainly surprised about the show we got. We were expecting a lot of Latin dancing - a lot of salsa, a lot of rumba, and basically a lot of sizzling, sexy, hot dancing. Even now we’re not entirely sure what we got.

The first half of the show was strangely indigineous with a lot of African style music and African style dancing. No doubt about it the dancers were very skilled but the rhythm of the show was disrupted by the unusual and odd pattern to the performance. It got a little bit better in the second half, but not much. I did enjoy the Latin dancing very much (when it arrived) and the urban flavour was also good additon. Unfortunately for most of the show though there was supposed to be a journey … I’m not sure we were on the same path cause I don’t think I ended up at the same destination! I was also disappointed to find that spoken bits were in Spanish - I respect that it is a Cuban show and all and fair enough for the songs to be in Spanish but I don’t think it helped me understand what was going on. Mirela did her best to translate for me - didn’t help!

Though the show as a little disappointing (I certainly couldn’t get into it as much as I did Into the Hoods) there is no doubt that the performers - the dancers, the singers and the band were extremely talented and highly energetic. Very quick with the costume changes too!

There were also free salsa classes after the show which seemed quite popular - as expected though it was mostly ladies sticking around for the class!

Ever since SATC aired its final episode on tele over four years ago there had been talk of a movie but it wasn’t until September last year that filming started on the movie. 8 months later, its May 28 and I’m at one of the first official public screenings of the movie in a cinema absolutely filled to the rafters with chattering and extremely excitable women (and surprisingly even a few non-gay men!) Pauline was so excited to see the movie that she could hardly contain herself but first, before the movie started, Odeon decided to hold a mini-quiz to, I guess, get everyone energised for the movie. It wasn’t exactly a professional effort but I guess it did the job of whipping everyone into a frenzy as women fought to win a prize. Interestingly we didn’t get any trailers. I guess Odeon figured the movie spoke for itself.

Just like the four ladies in the movie seeing the opening scene of SATC was like reuniting with a long lost friend - you just couldn’t help but smile and be happy. The girls and the story haven’t changed much at all, except now, four years on and reflecting the passage of real time, there is a better acknowledgement of how old the ladies ar as they continue their search for love in the City. Oh throw in Jennifer Hudson the token coloured/young woman to widen the appeal of the movie.

How do you review a movie without giving away the story? Well, to be fair the story won’t be a surprise to fans of the show - it revolves around Carrie and Mr Big and you have the usual little dramas on the side with the other girls. That’s it really. What more could be asked for.

The fashion and styling is as stunning as ever. I can’t even begin to imagine just how many outfits they feature in the film - 100s I imagine. The movie was also a visual feast for the eyes - so many colours (costume-wise and scene-wise). Kinda makes me miss New York!

I laughed, I cried, I smiled, and I ooh’d and ah’d with the rest of the women in the cinema. It was a nice evening of entertainment. Fans of the show will adore it.