Originally published on Monday, 1st August 2011

The Culturist: August

Food, sun, books on food, more sun, maybe some fine wine on the side… What more could you want from a balmy London August like this? Well, just to keep things nicely spiced this month, we’ve got everything from Japanese pop-ups to artistically crash-and-burned relationships, the latest East London menswear offering, a festival feast, and even a play about a love-smitten prostitute in Middle America. Well-fed, well-watered and highly-cultured. Just the way we like it.

THEATRE: Blue Surge

Aug 2-27
Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, SW10 9ED, £11

"He's a 38 year old cop. She's an 18 year old prostitute. They're in love. What could possibly go wrong?" It might sound like a new Hollywood blockbuster coming to a cinema near you this summer – but this is in fact Blue Surge, the latest play from the multi award-winning (and if we do say so ourselves, rather talented) playwright Rebecca Gilman, with an excellent cast that includes Kelly Burke and Samantha (The Children's Hour) Coughlan and is expertly led by director Ché Walker. Go. See it. It definitely gets our thumbs up.

 

FOOD: Kirin Ichiban Yatai Pop-Up

Aug 3-8
Dray Walk Gallery, Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL 

Kirin Ichiban, purveyors of premium Japanese beer and chaps behind the Kirin Short Films comp, are pairing up with Yasuhiro Mineno (ex Nobu head chef) and Shinya Ikeda, co-owners of Yashin, to bring you this week-long Yatai pop-up in Brick Lane. With three market-style Kushiage (deep-fried, bamboo-skewered tasties) and a bottle of beer for a fiver (ish), what’s not to love? Dishes on offer include Pork with Japanese Worcester Sauce, Marinated Lamb with Saikyo Miso, and Asparagus with Sea Salt and Lemon. Book in advance and you’ll also get a free bottle of beer with your meal.

 

READ: Moro East

Published Aug 4
£17.50

If it’s not just enough to eat at the charming Sam and Sam Clark’s Moro and Morito restaurants on Exmouth Market, this their third cookbook charts their unique Morish-infused culinary style as seen through a very personal year on their East End Manor Garden allotment. With 150 delicious recipes (Pigeon Salad with Figs, Chickpea and Pomegranate Molasses), a wealth of anecdotes and their typically elegant and appetite-stirring photography, this is a must-have for any Mediterranean-loving kitchen.

 

ART: Museum of Broken Relationships

Aug 15 – Sept 14
Tristan Bates Theatre, 1A Tower Street, WC2H 9NP

What do the following have in common: pink fluffy handcuffs, a battered garden gnome, a prosthetic leg, a heart-hugging teddy bear and a wedding dress? Answer: they are all the treasures of a failed relationship. Stopping in at the Tristan Bates in Seven Dials, the award-winning Museum of Broken Relationships will be bringing its occasionally perverse, sometimes poignant, often amusing international insight into love, showcasing donations from all over the world. Each piece tells the story of a past romance or passionate affair. So drop by. See if anything of yours is in there…

 

LAUNCH: Anthem

Opening Aug 15, 12pm
10-12 Calvert Avenue, E2 7JN.

Despite having a YMC, Albam and Hostem, Shoreditch clearly has space in its heart (and wallets) for at least one more well-conceived menswear store. But then, if you’re going to do one more, it might as well be this one. Created by Simon Spiteri (the man who launched Liberty’s leading menswear department), Anthem promises to stock a firmly hand-picked selection of products from brands like Comme Des Garcons Homme Plus, Folk and Save Khaki. With its focus on craft and originality, Anthem should fit right in. And with Spiteri’s hand guiding it, it has the potential to be an icon in the making. So get in there pronto.

 

FOOD: Banquets at Wilderness Festival

Aug 12-14
£27 + festival tickets

We don’t get too involved with festival season here at UJ. Mostly because because, well, can you see us in a tent? Exactly. But this – three days of feasting at the Wilderness Festival while gorging on chow from some of our favourite chefs including Petersham Nurseries’ Skye Gyngell, River Café alumni Thomas Hunt, and Moro’s Sam and Sam Clarke (they of this month’s fave book) – sounds much more like it. Live performances by the likes of Anthony and the Johnsons, Laura Marling and Daniel Johnston certainly don’t hurt the offering either.

 

DRINK: The 1 Lombard Street Cellar Greats

Aug 8
1 Lombard Street, EC3V 9AA.
£85 (limited to 25 people so be quick)

Rooftop cinemas and terrace bars are all well and good on weeks like this – but sometimes nothing can compete with an evening in the company of a cool wine cellar. Offering an opportunity to dive into one of the city’s largest and most prestigious cellars, 1 Lombard Street sommelier Matthew Mawtus showcases some of his favourite vintages (including the Chateau Leoville Barton 2004 which, we’re reliably informed, is something special in the Bordeaux world) at this dinner, all paired to a menu from chef Herbert Berger. How does that over-barbecued burger and a cold beer sound now?

 

INTERNATIONAL: Dîner en Blanc

Aug 25
A Secret Location in New York. 

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It sounds like something out of a movie (or at the very least, a larger than life ad campaign). But on Thursday August 25, thousands of New Yorkers – half invited, half on the website’s (long) waiting list which are being drawn today – will descend on a secret spot in Manhattan to join the US’s first Dîner en Blanc. Part flash mob, part pop-up supperclub, part highly organised stealth chaos, these ‘White Dinners’ have been running in Paris for more than two decades… And now they’re ready to share they’re love with Manhattanites. If you’re going to be in the ‘hood this month, it’s time to get your blag on.

 

by AC