Since its world-premiere at the International Exhibition of Modern and Industrial Decorative Arts in France in 1925, Art Deco has permeated countless creative spheres: from fashion, jewellery, art, and especially architecture. During the late twenties to the early thirties, London quickly became a hotspot for Art Deco architecture. From the impressive news buildings on Fleet…
Category: Secrets from Behind the Scenes
Dukes' White Truffle Martini
Let the choirs of archangels, angels, seraphim and cherubim (and all the others) cry forth “Hallelujah!”, for it is once again white truffle season, that time of year when we spend vast fortunes on an underground fungus that looks like a mummified testicle but, when thinly shaved, releases a transcendent and heavenly smell that takes…
The Professional Kitchen - Behind the Scenes
Thanks to the recently departed Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, we’re all pretty familiar with the idea of the dark and dirty side of a professional kitchen, the rampant sex, drug taking and alcohol abuse. Stories of Marco Pierre White making Gordon Ramsey cry and of Tom Aikens branding the hand of a trainee employee are…
Things Humping in the Night
Welcome to the first of a series of articles looking at the behind-the-scenes comings and goings that people in the arts and hospitality have had to experience. If you’ve had some strange or funny experiences from behind the scenes at work, and you think it should be shared, contact us and we’ll do…
Behind the Scenes at Glyndebourne
Since it’s inception in 1934 under John Christie, the Glyndebourne Opera festival has been a highlight of the British summer social season and a favourite among opera lovers and performers worldwide. Known for producing some of the best operas out there and pushing the bounds of what’s possible, it’s not often that you get to…
We Speak to Virgilio Martinez
Arriving at 31 Rathbone Place, the home of Lima in Fitzrovia, I’m told, after some confusion as to who I was and why I was there, to make my way downstairs, where I should find Virgilio Martinez . Descending from the long white, naturally lit restaurant to the dark blue basement area with its own…