NYE: HOME
The Curiouser & Curiouser World of Henry Conway

AGENDA PICK
Once Upon a Wintertime  

A Christmas Festival with a twist – right up our street. Hackney Downs Studio have had this one in the pipeline for a while – roller disco, a 5m high medieval street scene, an 80ft long banqueting table serving wild boar, food from the eat.st collective and stalls full of trinkets, cards and collectables. Get your skates on.

SHOP
Last minute Christmas buys

NYE: AWAY
New Year’s Eve at Puro, Mallorca

Feel like getting out of town? Then skip inner city New Year’s Eve overload altogether and head for the Balearics. Puro is offering a sophisticated dinner and cocktails followed by an energetic set from Mallorca-based maestro DJ Isaac Indar. For New Year’s Day, there’ll be a special brunch at Purobeach Palma, or if you get up too late, while the day away on the terrace being waited on hand and foot. They say the way you spend New Year’s is the way you’ll spend the rest of the year, so make it a good one!

Puro Hotel, Montenegro, 12, 07012 Palma de Mallorca
New Year’s Eve dinner and drinks from 8am, €120 per person. New Year’s Day brunch from 12pm, from €25 per person

PODCAST
Mix of the Year by Audio Sushi

It’s no easy feat summing up the music of 2011 into a single podcast, but Audio Sushi’s Jeffrey has rounded up some of his favourites from the past year. Get nostalgic with some Balearic house from the likes of Tom de Neef, the bass-heavy beats from house music’s boy du jour Julio Bashmore, and wind down with Kavinsky’s Nightcall and the honeyed tones of Lana del Rey’s Video Games. Christmas party music sorted.

Play

HEADS UP
Christmas Sales Tips

We know, we’ve just finished sample sales and haven’t started present buying yet - and now we’re already onto Boxing Day sales… keep up! If you’re planning on hitting the sales this year, here are some top tips: Bicester Village’s  pre-Christmas reductions started this week with discounts of up to 60% at boutiques like Missoni, Marni and DVF (and don’t forget to check out the new Cowshed store and pick up hearty grab-and-go food from Jamie Oliver’s Fabulous Feast); Liberty’s sale starts Dec 26, but snap up the best bits online from Christmas Eve; Dover Street Market's sale (in-store only) starts on Dec 27 so you can spend Boxing Day doing what you should (eating turkey sandwiches and watching films); and last but not least Colette have scheduled their online and in-store sale post-NYE from Jan 2.

LAST CHANCE
On-the-day tickets still available for Jerusalem

If you’ve ignored our advice for the past few months about Jez Butterworth’s critically acclaimed hit Jerusalem, then this is a last call to catch it before it’s gone. Although tickets are sold out through to its end date, you can buy £10 on-the-day tickets. Word on the street is get there a few hours before the box office officially opens (at 10am), and you could be in luck. Thermoses, earmuffs and items to barter are recommended. No, we don’t queue either, but this time it’s worth it.

Jerusalem, until Jan 14
Apollo Theatre, 31 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7ES

NYE: DINNER
Nobu Berkeley

AGENDA
While we’re gone…   

We may be away on our Christmas hols but our agenda is stacked to the brim full of winter festivals, NYE alternatives at Momo and St Martins Lane, a one-night special at Texture with Raymond Blanc, exhibitions, pop-ups and parties. See you next year!

RESERVED
This week’s hottest food destination

Pizarro
Jose goes large

194 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3TQ

T: 020 7378 9455
(but no reservations, except for private dining)
www.josepizarro.com

Location
On Bermondsey Street, just a short skip – or stagger, depending on sherry consumption – from ex-Brindisa chef Jose Pizarro’s first solo venture, the tapas bar Jose. You can’t blame Pizarro for not straying far with his new joint; after all, there’s no cooler place to be at the moment than Bermondsey Street and, judging from the ever-packed Jose, SE1 loves his stylish Spanish ways.

Vibe
Absolutely kicking on the Friday night we were there. In fact, so New York-esque and buzzy was the atmosphere and well-dressed the crowd, it seemed a waste that someone wasn’t shooting GVs for a spirits commercial. Like Jose, Pizarro doesn’t take reservations, but when a two hour wait for a table was announced, no one seemed put off. Instead they flocked around the bar, merrily knocking back the Cava and grazing on manchego and jamon. The staff confessed to being caught off-guard by the demand, but kept the show on the road with charm. (Oh, and another commonality with Jose - all the staff are gorgeous.)

Flavours
Dishes here are bigger than the tapas at Jose but not quite regular restaurant portions, and are designed for sharing. The concept is the same: quality ingredients, simply prepared, in well-considered combinations. Alongside favourites from Jose such as garlic prawns and to-die-for croquetas, we tried anchovies on toast with egg, squid and potatoes laced with aioli, a moist hake steak with clams, and pan-fried bream with chard. We tried not to let our greed get in the way of our discrimination, but felt pretty much everything was fabulous: the only criticism we could muster was that the hake was a touch too salty. Whilst Jose is a sherry joint, Cava is the house drink here; there’s also a very decent selection of wine by the carafe.

Décor
Like Jose, Pizarro is very stylish in the contemporary, multi-material fashion – exposed brickwork, tiles, wood, metal and marble are all judiciously employed, as well as excellent low lighting and vast flower arrangements. The forty seats are divided between those at the bar, which overlooks the open kitchen, booths, tables and, at the back, a private dining area. A salsa soundtrack plays at just the right volume to not intrude but still keep things lively – not that Pizarro needs much help in that department.

Upshot
Another roaring SE1 success from Jose Pizarro. Let’s hope he won’t stop just because he’s run out of names.