The Secret Larder is hosted by chef/artist siblings James and Mary Ramsden, offering enticing dishes like cider-braised pork knuckle. And as an added bonus, they’ve got the girls behind the fleeting Hart and Fuggle pop-up to host/cook at the end of April, hopefully beginning a series of guest-chefs and curators.

Which brings us neatly to the trend for ‘chefs for hire’. With guaranteed covers (and thus income), no set-up fee, and the freedom to conjure a unique and fabulous menu for the occasion – it’s strange that the practice isn’t more common.

At East London’s local Hackney Pearl, its forthcoming last-Thursday-of-the-month dinners invite hot, up-and-coming chefs (first up is Blake Bowden, formerly of St. John) to put together a fun, inspired three-course menu that won’t break the bank. It’s limited edition cuisine certainly – but in a proper venue, with a real kitchen, and an actual bar. Which saves him on regular menus; the venue on empty mid-week nights; and us on the choice between same-old-same-old or BYO Oddbins screw-tops for the unpredictable pop-up. So everyone’s a winner.

INFO
The Secret Larder
Launches March 25, future events April 8, 22 & 29
£25 per head

The Hackney Pearl’s Guest Chefs
Launches March 18, every third Thursday of the month thereafter
£24 per head
The Hackney Pearl, 11 Prince Edward Road, E9 5LX

NIKE - Victory Starts Now!!

Ladies, there’s still time for you to be in with a chance of winning Nike’s amazing Training Prize Package which includes a brand new training kit, an hour with a master trainer, a meet and greet with one of London’s own Olympic hopefuls, Perri Shakes-Drayton, a Nike ID session to personalise your gear, and a chauffeur –driven trip to a premium spa. And as today is the last day to enter – make the time and get those entries in now!

Click here to Enter.

Cocktail World Cup

Here at UJ we know the life-affirming quality of a truly spectacular cocktail – and for award winning concoctions, you can’t do better than something from LAB’s entries into The Cocktail World Cup. They’re off to the finals in New Zealand and whilst they’re away, are offering UJ subscribers a taste of the gold-medal hopeful for a fiver. So go on, take one for the team!

Click here to read the full feature ….

The Blues Kitchen Photos

We came, we saw, we conquered. Swathed in stars and stripes, dandled in plaid, wrapped in rock 'n' roll slithers of the good ol' US of A, here's how last Wednesday's party at The Blues Kitchen in Camden looked. To everyone who came down and shared in the copious Lynchburg Lemonades and (to quote an honest to goodness pond-hopper who was there on the night) 'possibly the most American Buffalo Wings in town': a big thank you. Special mention has to go to the Top Gun boys, the more-spangly-than-usual Star-Spangled cap and tie combo, and of course the cracking rock 'n' roll on stage.

Click here to see the photos….

SHOP – Get yourself a bubble dress like Gaga at the final day of Hussein Chalayan's Sample Sale. 12pm-7pm, Block H, 109 - 123 Clifton House, EC2A 4LD, Free.

FILM – Be part of the Alien experience with Videopia at this screening/re-enactment. 7pm-2am, Notting Hill Arts Club, 19 - 21 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3JQ. £5.

ART – Wonder what the future holds? Let other artists show you what they see for 2060. 11am-7pm, Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, SW7 2EU. Free.

MUSIC – Mellow out your evening with the acoustic jazz stylings of Antonio Forcione. 8:30pm, Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillet Street, N16 8JH. £12.