TODAY
NOMAD CINEMA: E.T.
Sponsored listing

It’s going to be a Spielberg Christmas this year, with the director’s movies Adventures of Tintin and War Horse both coming out at the end of December, but in the meantime we can remember why his earlier films became classics. Watch a young Drew Barrymore make friends with an mini, sickly alien, and try your hardest not to shed a tear at the end. It’s the kind of movie that deserves to be watched under the stars.

Tonight, 8pm (doors 6.30pm),
Bushy Park, Surrey, TW11 0EQ. £12.50

JETSETTER
Vegas Baby
Sponsored listing

Some say that Vegas is shaping up to be the new Ibiza alternative, with its all-night party atmosphere, top tier restaurants and luxury hotels. Now we’re not entirely buying that, but the music has gotten much better, and The Box is en route, so we think it's definitely worth a trip. Jetsetter has four opulent Sin City hotels on their books, including The Venetian – featuring a canal with gondolas and Tao nightclub, with discount courtesy of Jetsetter – as well as the Palms, Trump and newly launched Cosmopolitan. Give yourself another Bank Holiday and go for Labor Day; we recommend a poolside cabana, a steak dinner (and table dance?) at STK, and an all-night party at Marquee. And one thing’s for sure- the weather there is sure to be better than it is here, which is worth the trip alone.

Click here to join Jetsetter and access their exclusive offers of up to 50% off.

COMPETITION
Dinner Party

As Londoners, it’s tough to find the space for a 20-person dinner party at home – and who wants to do all that washing up anyway? Much better to hire out the elegant private room at Paradise By Way of Kensal Green; think antique mirrors, mismatched furniture, and artfully scuffed blue walls. One lucky UJ reader will get to invite 19 friends to a three-course dinner at the Paradise, with use of a private karaoke room after – Email us to be in with a chance of winning.

Paradise By Way of Kensal Green, 19 Kilburn Lane, W10 4AE

PARADE
Sponsored listing

Don’t mistake this musical for Wizard Of Oz-style family fun: Parade may have songs (with a score influenced by blues and gospel) but its subject matter is a Jewish factory worker tried for rape in Woodrow Wilson-era Atlanta. Everyone’s been raving about this production in Southwark Playhouse’s underground vaults, which explores racial divisions, love, and the justice system. Schedule time for a glass of wine and a chat to unpick it all afterwards.

Parade, Southwark Playhouse, Shipwright Yard,
SE1 2TF, 7.30pm, £10-22.50

SWATCH
Sponsored listing

Swatch has teamed up with Kidrobot, an art-driven toy and lifestyle brand, to create the KIDROBOT FOR SWATCH COLLECTION, a collection of eight watches, each accompanied by a collectable Dunny. A Dunny is Kidrobot’s iconic bunny-like vinyl toy, a customizable canvas for artists from widely varying backgrounds. Eight artists have contributed to the new collection, each with a characteristic design.

On sale from today

AGENDA PICK
Clements Ribeiro’s Project 6 at Selfridges

As part of the Museum of Everything’s Exhibition #4 at Selfridges, this Friday sees the launch of the Shop of Everything. Not literally, thank goodness. Instead, Central St. Martin’s husband and wife duo Clements Ribeiro showcase their new capsule collection ‘Project 6’, inspired by the contributing artists of the exhibition. You can expect colourfully bold prints – sketched lips on tops, smudged blue spotted skirts and asymmetrical stripy shift dresses. The translation of artwork onto garments works seamlessly (pun intended).

Museum of Everything, From Fri, Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB.

HEADS UP
Gourmet Odyssey

If you book for just one event at the upcoming London Restaurant Festival make it this one: each course at a different top restaurant, transport via red double decker bus, and a champagne reception at The Savoy or The Metropolitan. Depending on the area of London you choose to dine in, you could be starting the evening with soft shell crab at Benares, tucking into shoulder of venison at Wild Honey or going for panna cotta at The Intercontinental. Suits our philosophy: why choose one, when you can have them all?

Gourmet Odyssey, £150

BOOK NOW
The French Launderette

In case you’ve forgotten, it’s nearly one month till the much-anticipated opening of the The French Launderette, Sabrina Ghayour’s cheeky take on Thomas Keller’s famous Californian restaurant The French Laundry. Both will open in London in October (booking lines for the The French Laundry open today, very exciting), but if you're not feeling flush (French Laundry is £250 for nine courses), then the Launderette, with it's charming take on Kellar's signature dishes, could be a great alternative. Booking lines open today for the French Laundrette. 

The French Laundrette
Sun Oct 2, £2.50, The Chancery, 9 Cursitor Street, EC4A 1LL. Lines open today: 10am 020 7854 9369

RESERVED
This week’s hottest foodie destination

Elliot’s Café
Another reason to move to SE1

12 Stoney Street, SE1 9AD.
0207 403 7436

www.elliotscafe.com

Location
A few doors down from Monmouth Coffee in Borough Market, where that deli Fusebox used to be. Owners Rob Green and Brett Redman have a track record in creating great places to eat: previous ventures are breakfast favourite Elliot’s in Bethnal Green and the constantly mobbed Pavilion Café in Victoria Park.

Vibe
Both laid-back and buzzy, if that isn’t a contradiction in terms. Staff are as impeccably sourced as the menu: wearing Paul Smith aprons over their own clothes, they glide around to an unobtrusive electro soundtrack, replenish your tap water without you having to ask and could probably tell you the names of each of your pan-fried sprats. As for your co-eaters, Elliot’s location and no-reservation policy means a mixed bag of walk-ins, from clued-up foodies who’ve been eagerly awaiting its opening to pink-shirted FT workers and lucked-out tourists clutching guidebooks.

Flavours
A short, daily changing menu concentrates on easy to understand dishes, skillfully prepared. We were hooked at the divinely sweet and crunchy soda bread, one of four different types baked on the premises. Squid with aioli was bursting with flavour and beautifully tender; likewise the 50-day aged beef rump from the Ginger Pig, accompanied by beets and horseradish. Our fresh Discovery apple sorbet arrived pink and we thought we’d been given strawberry by mistake, but no: the colour came from the apples’ blushed skins.

Décor
Designed by architect Asif Khan, it’s spare, airy and stylish. Think exposed, distressed bricks, a polished concrete floor, a cast iron communal table and strings of light bulbs strewn like paperchains across the ceiling. The pavement tables are convivial on a warm day.

Upshot
Elliot’s may be only just opened but, that pesky no-reservation policy aside, it’s already difficult to find fault. You could call it a kind of British Polpo: we’ll just call it our new favourite place.