By Amira Hashish
Seeking a glamorous spot for a special occasion? There are the more obvious choices but there is something particularly fabulous about discovering an under the radar hideaway. From intimate restaurant takeovers to spaces that are as big on personality as size, here are some of London’s most exquisite settings you may never have heard of…
Peggy Jean
Master boat builder Mark Edwards MBE has lovingly restored the former Jesus College Oxford barge which has happily pitched up on Richmond Riverside with views of the Thames and Richmond Bridge. The historical features have been given a new lease of life with pops of pastel-coloured interior decor. Part of Australian restaurant group Daisy Green, the Peggy Jean seats 120 and makes for a pretty, quirky party space.
Book: daisygreenfood.com
The Pelican
Perched above Notting Hill’s most popular new pub and dining room is this low-key grand events space with vast ceilings and sash windows peering onto Tavistock Gardens. Ideal for a family feast by the open fire, or canapés and cocktails if you are seeking something more formal, The Pelican Room is brimming with character. A hand-crafted, private bar will keep everyone well-watered and there is integrated AV equipment. Capacity is 30 seated or 45 standing.
Book: thepelicanw11.com
KOL
Nobu trained Chef Patron Santiago Lastra quickly made his mark on the London restaurant scene by opening the first Mexican restaurant in the UK to scoop a Michelin star. For an even more special way to experience what all the fuss is about, you can book the KOL Chef’s Table and Mezcaleria for private dining and events. The culture and theatre of the restaurant is celebrated in the lower ground space with its own kitchen. Inspired by a traditional Oaxacan home, it makes for a wonderfully intimate dining moment.
Book: kolrestaurant.com
Brunswick House
The Grade II listed Georgian mansion in Vauxhall is an antique-filled haven that makes for the most exquisite events backdrop. A collaboration between architectural antiques company Lassco alongside brothers Jackson Boxer (Orasay, Notting Hill) and Frank Boxer (Frank’s Café, Peckham), there is a wealth of substance behind the style. Dining rooms of varying sizes are available to book for lunch or dinner. For an altogether bigger gathering you can hire the entire house.
Book: brunswickhouse.london
Curious Kudu
Peckham’s finest private dining room and events space accommodates up to 14 guests seated, and 25 for drinks and snacks. The food is provided by the neighbouring Kudu kitchen and is served feasting style. There is no room hire charge, but there is a minimum overall spend of £400. During the day the space doubles as a gallery so it is splendidly kitted out.
Book: kuducollective.com
Henry’s Townhouse
Named after Jane Austen’s brother, who once called this elegant Marylebone townhouse home, Henry’s is a boutique hotel that doubles as a private hire venue. Russell Stage Studio are behind the sumptuous interiors which blend Georgian glamour with curated artworks, antiques and contemporary amenities. As well as six intricately designed bedrooms, there is Monsieur Halavant’s Pantry which acts as a multifunctional dining space with discreet AV equipment. Events can be catered for up to 24 guests for standing receptions with formal dining in the pantry for up to 14 guests. The ideal central London party venue if you would like to include a sleepover.
Book: henrystownhouse.co.uk
104 Restaurant
The smallest fine dining restaurant in London, 104 is a sweetly exquisite affair tucked away next to a cobbled mews in Notting Hill. The whole restaurant can be hired for a bespoke private dining experience between Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner with a maximum party size of 18 for a sit down meal, canapes and drinks. Prices start from £100 per head for three courses. This feels like stepping into your favourite new chef’s home with a stellar wine list to boot.
Book: 104restaurant.com
Pantechnicon
With six floors and eight spaces, Belgravia hotspot Pantechnicon has beautifully set tables, hidden nooks and private rooms that can be hired for different occasions. Whether you are seeking a smart setting for an important lunch or keen to host a party in the leafy, glass-covered roof garden and terrace, there are options for up to 160 people.
Book: pantechnicon.com
Luca
Overlooking the open kitchen, The Garden Room is a lovely indoor space which retains the stunning exterior features of the Grade II listed building in the style of a southern Italian garden. It is available for lunch or dinner bookings and can seat up to eight guests. Alternatively, The Pasta Room is where the chefs make pasta each day. Designed to look and feel like a traditional Italian home kitchen, it can seat up to 10. Then there is the bright and airy conservatory with floor to ceiling windows that overlook the Tuscan terrace and walled garden. This room is suitable for a party of up to 48 guests.
Book: luca.restaurant
Lisboeta
The Adega is the private dining room at Lisboeta; on the lower ground floor of acclaimed chef Nuno Mendes’ Fitzrovia restaurant, adjoining the wine cellar. Underpinned by a passion for Portuguese food and drink, the space hosts up to ten guests who are served an ever-evolving, sharing-style menu crafted by Mendes and head chef Rodrigo Alves. It opens up for group dining on Thursday and Friday evenings, with alternative dates available upon request.
Book: lisboeta.co.uk
Bocca Di Lupo
The Remus Room is a warm setting for any party. It can accommodate up to 32 people seated or 45 standing, and is always served by its own chef in a dedicated, adjacent kitchen. A reclaimed teak table by Martino Gamper is at the heart of each gathering whilst feasting menus are changed monthly. Individual menus can be created on special request.
Book: boccadilupo.com
Spring
This elegant events space is set in the New Wing of the iconic Somerset House. A dedicated event coordinator is at hand to take care of all the details. The Salon, a garden dining room, sits up to 36 guests in an enclosed interior atrium, allowing for dining throughout the year. Alternatively, the entire stylishly relaxed restaurant is available for hire and can accommodate 116 for a sit down dinner or up to 150 for a standing reception.
Book: springrestaurant.co.uk
The Best Winter Sun Cocktails
By Anya Cooklin-Lofting
‘Tis the season to book your flights for a Christmas break under a golden sun, basking in the rays, paddling in the sea and enjoying a cocktail (or two) in a fabulous hotel bar. The pacing of a ‘winter sun’ holiday spent in one of the world’s finest winter sun destinations is one of life’s greatest balms; rising with the sun, enjoying a long, lazy morning with fresh fruit and coffee for breakfast, and wiling by the pool or the sea with a page-turner without even a glance at your inbox, and venturing to the spa or a local restaurant for lunch. As evening approaches, perhaps you don something special, silky or colourful, and wander down to the bar for a cocktail in the warm breeze before your dinner reservation. In fact, it is this very cocktail that will set the tone for the evening – the bite of the spirit, the twist of the citrus and the unexpected yet welcome sweetness from mango or passionfruit, characteristic of your chosen winter sun holiday destination.
This month, we have rallied the troops of some of the very best hotels and restaurants in top winter sun holiday destinations to share their favourite cocktail recipes for summoning the splendour of the sunshine over your forthcoming Christmas break. So, here’s a snapshot of what to look out for, and look forward to, as you saunter down to the hotel bar or the beachside restaurant…
The Gagaito
Tall and refreshing, the Gagaito cocktail has been developed by Dalibor Mujovic, the Mixologist and Bar Manager at Parrot Bay by COMO in Turks and Caicos. Mujovic has managed exquisite bars all over the world, and before joining the West Indies COMO outpost, he worked in Montenegro and Phuket, Thailand with the AMAN group. His recipe for the Gagaito combines the fresh, light flavours of basil and cucumber with the clean astringency of Sake, and the spicy kick of Bombay Saphire gun. For length and mellowness, the ingredients are topped up with club soda and garnished with cucumber and basil, a nod to the flavours the Majovic shakes over ice.
Gagaito
2 oz Bombay Saphire gin
1 oz Dassai 45 Sake
½ oz Agave Syrup
Basil & Cucumber
Club Soda (top up)
Method: Build all ingredients in a shaker with ice & shake vigorously. Strain cocktail into high ball glass with ice.
Garnish: Cucumber slice & Basil leaf
The Amazonia
Visitors to the luxurious, exclusive and decadent island of Ibiza will find the Amazonia cocktail amongst the self-proclaimed laid-back, barefoot-chic ambience of Aiyanna, a restaurant on the fashionable east coast of the island. Last year, Aiyanna was listed and recommended by Conde Nast Traveller as one of the best beach clubs in the world, and it’s not a stretch to see why. This year, its cocktail menu is inspired by the fifth centenary of global travel, drawing on the flavours we associate with different cities and countries to inform the palette of each delectable drink. For example, Aiyanna’s Hanami cocktail is named for the Japanese word meaning, ‘the pleasure of looking at a flower.’ The Amazonia represents Africa in the sprawling list of geographical influences with flavours including mango, coconut, and amaretto.
The Amazonia
Add ice to a blender and then add the following ingredients:
5 cl. of cahaça
3 cl. coconut milk
2 cl. lemon juice
3 cl. amaretto liqueur
10 cl. mango juice
Blend well and serve in a glass with fruit to decorate and finish with cocoa powder on top
The Parrot Cay Smoker
Back to Mujovic at Parrot Bay with an eponymous cocktail that combines some of the most archetypal Caribbean flavours to bring hotel guests a punchy, indulgent, spiced beverage that will forever remind them of their stay. The Parrot Cay Smoker is a vanilla-infused rum cocktail with ginger wine, lime juice and homemade island coconut syrup served with a dried orange wheel and smoked with a smoke gun. The adventurous, theatrical cocktail is a feast for the eyes, unforgettably fragrant and light but substantial on the tongue.
Parrot Cay Smoker
1 ½ oz Bambarra reserve rum infused with Vanilla sticks
¾ oz Ginger wine
¾ oz Lime juice
¼ oz Homemade island coconut syrup
Build all ingredients in a shaker with ice & shake vigorously. Strain cocktail into rock glass with ice
Garnish with dried orange wheel and vanilla stick
Use a smoke gun to smoke the cocktail
Ibiza Affair
Amante Ibiza is perched, rather idyllically, on a dramatic cliff overlooking the stunning Sol D’en Serra Bay on Ibiza’s untouched north-eastern coast. Arrive for sunset and browse the extensive cocktail menu, keeping a special eye out for the Ibiza Affair, which comes recommended by the bar team for its nuanced palette. The tongue-tingling tartness of passionfruit is fused with the innocent sweetness of strawberry, which is then cut through with pungent ginger juice and a kick of Bombay Sapphire gin.
Ibiza Affair
Add ice to a blender and then add the following ingredients:
50ml Bombay sapphire
20ml passion fruit
70 ml fresh strawberry
20 ml ginger juice
Blend well and serve in a glass with fruit to decorate
Must-Visit Temples in Indonesia
By Anya Cooklin-Lofting
Built between the 4th and 15th centuries, there are over 10,000 ‘candi’ or temples, in Indonesia. The ancient andesite stone structures, sculptures and pagodas are ethereal, imposing and majestic, representing the various ethnic groups that have called this lush archipelago home throughout its long cultural history. Most notable are the Buddhist and Hindu temples that appear to have been born from ancient roots knotted deeply in the very landscapes they have come to define. The intricate carvings, relentless arteries of steps and figurative expressions of gods, animals and symbols tell stories, evoke inherited customs and have compelled many authors, poets and artists.
Today, such treasures of Indonesia’s rich cultural and religious heritage are some of its prime tourist attractions. Across over 17,000 islands that comprise the country, visitors can find these architectural gems curled into islets or piercing the hazy sunsets with spires of tiered stone. Each temple is a relic of an age built on unknowable devotion and fantastical determination, and I can think of no sites more exciting to visit on your next, or perhaps your first, Indonesian getaway. This month, we’re rounding up some of the most impressive temples in Indonesia, from their architectural ingenuity to their sheer awe-inspiring presence.
Borobudur Temple
Widely considered one of the world’s seven wonders, the lotus-shaped Borobudur temple is located on the island of Java and was built around the 8th century. It is the largest Buddhist temple in the world, containing an impressive 72 statues of Buddha that can be found amongst its five concentric square terraces and three tiers. In fact, each of these tiers represents distinct ‘spheres’ of the universe, as understood in Buddhist cosmology, kamadhatu, rupadhatu, and arupadhatu. According to Unesco, the universal spheres, “[represent] respectively the sphere of desires where we are bound to our desires, the sphere of forms where we abandon our desires but are still bound to name and form, and the sphere of formlessness where there is no longer either name or form,” to the end of attaining Nirvana, a significant concept in Buddhism.
On the world stage, Borobudur Temple has become an icon of resilience in the face of earthquakes, bombings and event the volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010 when it was covered in acidic volcanic ash that experts warned might damage the site. A swift clean-up job helped to preserve the temple, though, and the site was reopened to tourists again after just 5 days.
Pura Besakih
The Besakih Temple is the single most important temple in Balinese Hinduism. The sprawling temple is the largest of its kind, sitting almost a kilometre up the side of Mount Agung in Bali and comprising 23 separate temples across beautifully planted terraces. Although the temple itself has roots in the 13th century and later in the Gelgel dynasty of the 15th century, experts believe that the site’s religious importance dates from prehistoric times.
Of course, Bali is one of Indonesia’s most popular tourist destinations and the island is famed for its beautiful hotels, water sports and its nightlife, making Pura Besakih a must-see for cultural travellers. It is likely that there will be some sort of celebration at the time of your visit, too; there are at least 70 festivals annually that take place at the Besakih, each connected to a specific shrine on the site.
Tanah Lot Temple
This Balinese temple is one of the most visually arresting ancient architectural feats in Indonesia. Directly translated as ‘land in the sea’ Tanah Lot is situated on its own beautiful island, accessible only on foot during low tide. The Hindu temple is heavy with the weight of historical myths and legends, including the presence of venomous sea snakes that are believed to guard the temple from intruders and sinister evil spirits. The land on which the temple sits has been shaped by the sea over the centuries and in the 1980s, the Japanese and Indonesian governments worked together to help conserve the site with artificial rocks.