Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Cinderella on Ice at the Royal Albert Hall
Out of the normal confines of Notting Hill, but worth the trip a little further south, this definitely deserves a mention! Tonight sees the opening performance of the fabulous Cinderella on Ice at the Royal Albert Hall - an occasion for which the main arena floor is being frozen with ice for only the second time in its history!
The world-renowned Imperial Ice Stars provide a new interpretation of the classic Cinderella tale, told through unique skating routines. Choreography is by Tony Mercer, one of the leading creators of contemporary theatre on ice, and two times Olympic gold medallist Evgeny Platov. The score has been composed by highly-regarded Tim A Duncan and Edward Barnwell, and recorded by the 72-piece Moscow State Cinematic Orchestra, plus 10 soloists from the Manchester Symphony Orchestra. The score will also be complemented at each performance by a live 20-piece orchestra.
The 25-strong skating cast of Cinderella on Ice includes World, European and National Championship skaters and with stunning special effects - including fire, rain and flying - and extravagant costumes and sets, this is sure to be a very magical experience!
Cinderella on Ice runs from 24th - 28th February, with performances at 7.30pm each evening. Matinee shows at 2.30pm are also on Thursday 25th, Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th February. Tickets can be bought from the Royal Albert Hall's website at http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/cinderella/default.aspx.
Labels: Events
Monday, February 22, 2010
New itsu restaurant coming to Notting Hill
Anyone that's passed by Notting Hill Gate recently, near the intersection with Pembridge Road, may have been excited by a big poster display in one of the shops there announcing the arrival of the latest addition of the London-based itsu chain of sushi restaurants.
Due to open in the second week of March, itsu's new Notting Hill location will be its fourth restaurant and its largest, with some rather special additions such as its first-floor Butterfly Bar.
The downstairs area will accommodate 92 diners, who will be served tasty Asian dishes from three conveyor belts. Dishes will include the spicy tuna X-ray roll - line caught yellow fina tuna, and soft shell crab maki rolls - a whole soft shelled crab, cooked tempura style, avocado, cucumber and tobiko, wrapped in steamed rice & nori with a fresh chive jacket.
There will also be a shop area downstairs for customers to choose from a takeaway menu, with a local delivery service arriving in the Spring.
Upstairs will be the sumptuous Butterfly Bar which will serve a variety of cocktails, sake, beers, wines and champagnes, including the bar's signature cocktail - the Bell'itsu, a combination of champagne, lychee puree and creme de cassis.
Be sure to stop by at the new itsu restaurant when in opens in March - it's certainly a very welcome addition to the area!
itsu
100 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3QA
100 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3QA
Tel: 020 7229 4016
Opening hours:
11am - 11pm (shop)
6pm - 11pm Monday to Friday, 12pm - 11pm Saturday & Sunday (restaurant & bar)
Labels: Drinking, Eating, News
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
New book by Notting Hill's Cookie Girl
Those of you who live and work in Notting Hill may have been lucky enough to come across Cookie Girl and her delicious cookies and cupcakes in real life. And now here's your opportunity to further enjoy her wonderful creations!
Australian actress-turned-baking entrepreneur Xanthe Milton came up with the idea of baking cookies and selling them locally as a way of making extra income (not to mention using her baking skills, well-honed since childhood). Her first experience saw her prepare a batch of 100 Belgian chocolate cookies and hit the streets of Notting Hill, selling them door to door to homes and businesses. With all of the cookies snapped up within a few hours, Cookie Girl was born to become an instant success with a legion of fans - including names such as Belinda Carlisle, Will Young and Take That - following.
As Cookie's Girl popularity grew, a regular column in Notting Hill's Grove magazine followed, before TV appearances on Masterchef and Market Kitchen - as well as having her cookies stocked in Selfridges. Today, Cookie Girl - Xanthe - also runs cupcake decorating classes; see her website www.cookiegirl.co.uk for further details, on which you can also order her cookies!
Xanthe's success has now seen her publish her first book - Eat Me: The Stupendous, Self-Raising World of Cupcakes & Bakes According to Cookie Girl. This wonderful book includes 80 amazing recipes of cupcakes and cookies organised according to season and occasion (Halloween, Valentine's Day), interspersed with a some beautiful photographs. This is the kind of book you'll curl up on the sofa with and read - before even trying any of the recipes - which is not something that can be said for many cookbooks!
I'll be giving some of the recipes a go very soon, so do stay tuned for a proper review of the book - personally, I can't wait to try recipes such as "margarita cupcakes", "blueberry clouds" and the absolutely amazing-looking "Bollywood cupcakes".
Eat Me is out on 4th March 2010, priced at £15, and is published by Ebury Press.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Valentine's Day in Notting Hill
The bar at The Gate
On both Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th February, The Gate will be offering a special Valentine's menu of two courses for £24 or three courses for £29. A glass of champagne is also offered in The Gate's lounge bar on arrival as part of the menu, and post-dinner you can party the night away in The Gate's club and bar until 2am.
The Valentine's menu has several options to choose from, including oysters for a starter, and lamb or salmon fillet as a main course, plus a number of sumptuous desserts.
The restaurant is also offering a special deal for any ticket holders of The Gate cinema on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th February - three courses for the price of two. Make sure you reserve quoting the promotion "the Gate cinema Valentine's offer", and that you bring along your ticket stub when you come to the restaurant.
To reserve a table, contact Madeleine at The Gate on 020 7727 9007 or Madeleine@gaterestaurant.co.uk.
The Gate Restaurant, 87 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JZ
Website: www.gaterestaurant.co.uk
The Gate Restaurant, 87 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JZ
Website: www.gaterestaurant.co.uk
Labels: Drinking, Eating, Events
Monday, February 1, 2010
New reality TV show set in Notting Hill
According to today's Independent, Channel 4 have commissioned a new reality TV show that will be based in Notting Hill - and used to fill the void in the station's TV schedules left by the cancellation of Big Brother.
For starters, the mention of Big Brother doesn't really bode well. Nor does the fact that the Independent article starts off with the sentence, "David Cameron's London neighbourhood of Notting Hill". (Is that all it's known for?) To add to the this-is-a-programme-that-sounds-horrifying vibe, this show will attempt to have the "real-time drama of big reality shows such as Big Brother and ITV's I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!"
Sweeping all these nightmares aside, it doesn't sound all bad. The programme, with an amazingly inventive provisional title of "Notting Hill", is supposed to have more of a documentary rather than a reality-show feel (though the words "soap opera" have also been mentioned), with the central characters - ten locals who have yet to be chosen - followed by cameras as they go about their day-to-day lives. One-hour episodes will be screened each week, and the show will have an indefinite run following its start in the autumn. Channel 4 execs are promising a revolutionary show, suggesting it will be a documentary on a vast scale that's never been done before.
The show could, I imagine, be very watchable and interesting - if it's something on a similar format to Channel 4's highly-entertaining The Family. However, I can't help thinking that it's been done before. Does anyone remember the BBC programme, Paddington Green, that aired in the late 1990s? Actually set around the Paddington area (of course), that was a rather engrossing docu-soap following the lives of a number of local residents and business owners. So I guess it's going to be just like that...but bigger?
Channel 4 had better be very be vary careful - and clever - in choosing the main characters. Let's not go for too many stereotypes, please.
Article: C4 sends the cameras in to Notting Hill to explore unknown reality show territory (1st February, The Independent)
Labels: News, Television
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