Turkish Delight: a culinary journey through one of the world’s most diverse nations November 13, 2015 When most people think of Turkish food, they imagine kebabs and Turkish delight. In reality the food of this vast nation is among the most vibrant and diverse in the world, drawing influences from the olive-scented villages on the Aegean coast to the dusty towns near its border with Syria. The epic landscape – the [...]
Films to see this weekend: Tangerine, The Hallow, Fathers and Daughters, The Lady in the Van November 13, 2015 The Lady in the Van (12A) ★★★★☆ This adaptation of Alan Bennett’s play about his 15 year friendship with an eccentric old lady (Maggie Smith) who lives in his driveway is a cosy film with a van-load (sorry) of charm. After an hour of ‘odd couple’ shenanigans between the two leads, the final act delivers [...]
Steve Jobs review: Fassbender carries a poignant biopic of Apple’s dysfunctional tech messiah November 13, 2015 12A | ★★★★☆ You can’t code, you’re not a designer, you’re not a programmer,” says exasperated Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogan). “But every day I read that Steve Jobs is a genius. What do you actually do?” This is the billion-dollar question asked by Danny Boyle in his follow-up to the London 2012 Opening [...]
Sexy Fish restaurant review: Richard Caring’s seafood menu is all about that bass November 10, 2015 Berkeley Square House, W1J 6BR FOOD ★★★★☆ VALUE ★★★☆☆ ATMOSPHERE ★★☆☆☆ Cost for two with booze: £180 Sexy Fish. Sexy Fish. Sexy Fish. Wherever you put the emphasis on Richard Caring’s new Mayfair restaurant it sounds terrible. I suspect this might be the point: it’s wilfully crass, intentionally boorish, purposefully provocative. It’s flippant but [...]
Game of Drones: remote controlled, hovering robot minions are cheaper than ever November 10, 2015 Drones! They’re not just for extrajudicial killings any more. On the contrary, the latest flock of these floating, flying hoverbots has recently hit the affordable mainstream, allowing pretty much anybody to flood the sky with their own personal army of whirring plastic tyrants. To give them their proper – and slightly less terrifying – name, [...]
Smith & Wollensky is the latest of the upmarket American steakhouses to cross the Atlantic November 4, 2015 WHAT? Renowned for its USDA Prime slabs of cow, Smith & Wollensky is the latest of the upmarket steakhouses to find its way across the Atlantic. WHERE? A ground floor and basement inside the historic Adelphi building, this spot looks for all the world as if a small chunk of 1930s New York has been [...]
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate review: a stunning vision of Victorian London can’t save this series from feeling tired October 29, 2015 There have been nine Assassin’s Creed games since the original launched in 2007, which fans of maths will know works out to one and a bit games every year. That wearisome annual churn has reduced a once proud series to something familiar and formulaic, and Syndicate makes only a small attempt to buck this downward [...]
The Yoga Tab 3 is a stand-out tablet, packing a powerful built-in projector October 29, 2015 ★★★★☆ At first glance the Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro is a clunky looking thing, all swollen down one side like it’s been stung by an electric bee. Pick it up and hold it portrait-wise however and that beefy edge suddenly makes sense. The tablet sits comfortably in your palm with a grippy heft that [...]
Guitar Hero Live aims for realism but lacks the party appeal of its bitter rival October 29, 2015 ★★★☆☆ In Guitar Hero Live, you perform in front of images of an actual, living crowd of real humans, who cheer and sing and dance along to the music as you strum away. It’s as if you’re actually there, living the rockstar dream through the eyes of a live-action guitar hero, and not sitting in [...]
The Last Witch Hunter movie review: Vin Diesel plays a sword-swinging sorcery slayer in this fantasy adventure October 22, 2015 Cert 12A | ★★☆☆☆ There’s a fun bit in The Last Witch Hunter, when the last witch hunter, having just hunted another witch, is surprised to learn that there’s an entire prison full of witches out there somewhere, just waiting to be hunted, by him, the hunter of witches. But what is this place called? [...]
