Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Cultured Pearls

I've just discovered this American reality show called Playing it Straight. One girl has to find the straight men among the gay guys.

She's down to 3 right now. The cute guy is suspect today because he is talking about the architecture of the San Francisco hotel, and knows which cutlery to use for what, and can interpret the painting in the dining room.

EXCUSE ME, but this is called CULTURE. No wonder Americans guys think some English gentlemen are gay.
They had better never hear the things Delightful talks about!

**********
So he gave me the idea of blogging bar reviews. I did sort of last time, but now I might get a bit more serious.
Soda water and lime cordial = puckeringly refreshing. Try it sometime.

We went to the Sir John Soane museum (TEST: to open in new window: Sir John Soane Museum - *here all the Christie's alumni sit up straight* - did you know they hold late candelight viewings of the house on the first Tuesday of the month?
This house is the quirkiest little space you will ever enter, and Sir John lived in there. Delightful and I agreed we'd go bonkers.

It's full of amazing little rooms with nooks and crannies, skylights of all sizes, and is crammed to the corners with antiquities, statues, pieces of ancient marble, cameos, medals, even the sarcophagus of Pharaoh Seti I, etc etc etc.

Then to the bar. It's called Pearl - despite being on the ground floor of the Chancery Lane Hotel (on High Holborn), it is a proper destination. The pearl motif is carried throughout and it has a relaxing atmosphere. There are comfortable seating areas separated from each other by pearly lighting features - and you'd have to check out the chandeliers.
However, we chose the cozy little candlelit booth with the couches and cushions.
Only 4 pages of cocktails, but there were also choices of wines, spirits, vintage, and cigars. Let me tell you, these £9.75 cocktails pack a punch! I could only manage half of my Bumblebee.
(Is this why I have a headache today...and why am I so sneezy?)

The Bumblebee contains: honey liqueur, vanilla stoli, Amaretto (3 alco!), mango juice, mint...probably more that I don't recall. It was not that exciting.

Delightful had a Lemongrass (well, whatever of it he didn't pour down his leg): Absolut Citron & Bombay Sapphire Gin shaken with fresh pineapple and lemon juice with a touch of lemongrass & Ginger Cordial. It was alright, a bit fresh.
And a Cool Forest: wild berries and lemon muddled with Stoli Raspberry, Stoli Strawberry and Creme De Mure. It tastes like an alcoholic berry sweetie.
With all this you get frequently-refreshed plates of olives and sweet and savoury nuts.

The service at Pearl is a bit patchy and half-hearted for such an expensive venue, so D asked for a service charge refund and might use it for dry cleaning those trousers.
Being a rather new place, it's possible they haven't perfected their purpose yet.

I re-recommend The Townhouse on Beauchamp Place instead. We are sooo going back there!!!

**********

Overheard outside number 33. As I was waking up on Saturday morning I heard the little girl's voice outside:
--Daddy, where do you get money from?
-What do you mean?
--Do you find it on the street?
-No love, I make my money buying and selling lots of buildings and hotels.

Ooookay...See, the streets in London are not paved with gold after all.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Danganbbit! I've bene pick-axing away at these streets for years - no wonder I never found anything.

I certainly recommend Floridita, on Wardour Street. The downstairs area, with live Cuban music, good dancers, yummy drinks and generally a good atmosphere. It's pricey, as many things are, but the clientele was generally nice and the music great!

Olivia said...

Rebecca -
Dagnabbit? Have you seen Madagascar?

Yes, I recommend you cease vandalising the London pavements.

Wardour Street...that's Soho :o

The Closet Grandmaster said...

this blog is great. I read it everyday. Say, could you add the target=_blank thingie to your links so I don't have to leave your page when I click.

Thanks.

Olivia said...

Thank you Closet G!

I do not know how to do this target=_blank thingie...

I will ask someone...

Olivia said...

OK it works. That was too time consuming...

Couldn't you just right-click on the link and say Open in New Window or New Tab?

Anonymous said...

...these are the bars you were talking about!!!!
vanessa