After our first five day week back, we’re ready for the weekend. So we’re letting off steam with rounds of martinis, beer topped slurpies, and a Brixton bash. If you’re looking for something a little bit more chilled: exhibitions, a new pintxos bar, and a Hemsley + Hemsley café will keep you busy. Want more? We’ve rounded up our top things to do this April. Diaries out! This Weekend’s Picks • FRI Cafe Monico • SAT Counter Culture • SUN RCA Secret 2016 Top 5: things to do this April 1. For some Hackney-by-the-sea vibes complete with kombucha cocktails on a boat, head to CRATE Brewery’s floating bar 2. Seth Troxler has once again donned his apron for some now-permanent barbecue action via Smokey Tails 3. A black tie masquerave party is hitting London later this month with a stellar line up, which includes Seth Troxler, Jamie XX, Jillionaire and Patrick Topping 4. It’s wine, but done the Chetiyawardana way, so it’s “sort of wine”… 5. Iggy Pop has landed his first feature role in Blood Orange, playing an aging rock star, Bill (Pop), living in the hills of Ibiza. Sold! Friday EAT: PARTY: Cafe Monico Brodinski at Phonox If, like us, you enjoy a visit to Dean Street Townhouse once in awhile, good news, Soho House have opened another decadent spot, Cafe Monico. Think traditional bistro style – white linen, suited waiters, and an elegant marble bar – with a French-Italian menu of shellfish, pastas, salumi, grilled meats and fish, washed down with rounds of martinis. The French electro spinner has crossed to our side of the Channel for a mega six hour set at Phonox. Expect nothing less than his signature beats of electro, techno and hip hop mash ups until 4am. And being Phonox – with its one DJ per night policy – all eyes will be on the French DJ. Book now. 8am-1am Prices vary 39-45 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6LA 6pm-4am £5 adv tickets | £10 on the door 18 Brixton Road, SW9 7AY HAND TO GOD Featuring 'THE MOST RAUNCHY PUPPET SEX SCENE THE WEST END HAS EVER WITNESSED' Sponsored Listing A laugh out loud comedy about a frustrated teenager growing up in a religious family whose Sunday school mother decides the best way to express your feelings is through a glove puppet… only his glove puppet is possessed by the devil. Starring Janie Dee, Neil Pearson, Jemima Rooper, Kevin Mains and Harry Melling whose characters include a sports jock with a Mrs Robinson fixation, an overly amorous vicar and two lovesick teenagers. Hand to God, 404 Strand, WC2R 0NH Tickets from £25. Book tickets here Old Spitalfields Night Market Sponsored Listing Old Spitalfields Night Market is back! As with last year, visitors can expect a range of after hours retailers, restaurants and street food vendors, art and design stalls and a pop up boilermaker bar by DrinkUp.London. Plus, there’ll be live music from bands and DJs by Hoxton Radio, as well as one-off events and perks. Old Spitalfields Night Market kicks off this Friday from 5.30pm until 9pm and will run on the second Friday of every month. See you there! Old Spitalfields Night Market, 109 Commercial Street, Spitalfields, E1 6BG. 5.30pm until 9pm. Twitter | Instagram | #NightMarket Saturday EAT: Drink: Counter Culture Kojawan We love counter dining, so we’re happy Counter Culture, the new pintxos bar from the guys behind The Dairy, has opened. And staying true to form, there’ll only be 15 seats, but of course, with standing room à la San Sebastián style. The menu sounds good (think smoked lamb ribs with miso aubergine and spiced fennel ferment, and mackerel with sweet celery and sour rhubarb) but the relaxed BYOB policy sounds even better. If beer topped slurpies and cocktails served from bespoke airline trollies sounds like your kind of thing, head up to Kojawan, the new futuristic/space-age sky-high ‘pub’ up on the 23rd floor of the Hilton Metropole. Expect a fun, bastardised mash up of Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese cuisine such as glazed lobster-dogs, popcorn prawns and rice sandwiches. 6pm-10pm Prices vary 15 The Pavement, Clapham Old Town, SW4 0HY 12pm-2am Prices vary London Metropole Hotel 23rd Floor, 225 Edgware Rd, W2 1JU Follow Us! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See what we’ve been snapping this week on Instagram! BLINDFOLDED BECKETT All That Fall: Transferring to the Arts Theatre from 13 April for just five weeks Sponsored Listing Max Stafford-Clark’s “ingenious, evocative staging” (FT) of Beckett’s famous radio play transfers to the West End following sell-out performances at Wilton’s Music Hall. Theatre-goers wear blindfolds as actors roam, enhanced by a 360º sound design. Funny, chilling and moving, All That Fall is one of Beckett’s most naturalistic plays, inspired by boyhood memories of rural Ireland. Don’t miss Tony Award-winner Bríd Brennan’s performance as Maddy Rooney, whose small act of love on her husband’s birthday takes an unsettling turn. All That Fall, Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JB. April 13 – May 14 Sunday Do: EAT: RCA Secret 2016 Hemsley + Hemsley café RCA Secret is back. Get there early to hopefully snap up a piece of original postcard-sized artworks by new and internationally acclaimed ‘creatives’ from artists to architects (Zaha Hadid is in the mix). As with previous years, the identities will be kept hush until the no-returns purchase is made. Don’t forget to register online. Good luck. For those who have yet to try their hand at a Hemsley + Hemsley recipe (guilty), take a seat at their new café in Selfridges. Yes, it’s (sigh!) ‘clean eating’ (food free of gluten, grains, refined sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oils), but it’s good food, done well. Simple. RCA Secret 2016 8am – 6pm Postcards are £55 Kensington Gore, SW7 2EU 12pm-6pm Prices vary 400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB Calendar pick: Exhibitionism Just in case you haven’t heard, The Rolling Stones exhibition has landed at the Saatchi Gallery – and, it’s a big ‘un: two floors with 9 thematic galleries. Read more WEEKEND GUIDE BY CS LIKE SHARE FORWARD PREVIOUS EDITION (c) 2016 Urban Junkies. All rights reserved. Reproductions of any portion of this website only with our express permission. Urban Junkies is a free weekly mailer. All listings and features are editorial: We do not receive any payment from venues, artists or promoters. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of information listed but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions.