Arts & Culture
Originally published on Tuesday, 1st December 2015
The Culturist: December
Eat, drink, be merry… you know the December drill. And this month, we’ve got tons to help you on your way. From merry movies to Christmas installations and trees, we’re feeling the Yuletide pinch. Aside from festive fun, we’ve got our usual roundup of new openings and must-dos, which, this month includes everything from a rollerdisco and crazy golf to a secret rave and a new yakitori joint. Enjoy!
EAT: JIDORI
Soft launches December 4 & 5 Officially opens December 8 89 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB
Brett Redman is on a roll. Having already given East London its first raw bar this year (The Richmond), the Australian chef is set to open Hackney’s first Yakitori bar. Inspired by the izakayas of Memory Lane in Shinjuku, Jidori focuses on yakitori skewers – using all parts of the chicken – served alongside Japanese small plates and rice dishes. As for the desserts, we can’t look past the soft serves: think matcha and white chocolate and ginger miso caramel with sweet potato crisps and black sesame praline.
DO: BUMP ROLLERDISCO
November 20 – January 17 £7.50 - £10 Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
Give the ice a rest and instead don the skates at BUMP Rollerdisco on the Southbank. Choose from one of the special club nights taking place in the evenings on Fridays and Saturdays and take advantage of The Mirror-Ball Bar and their winter cocktails and mulled cider. If we had to pick one date, the Dalston Superstore Takeover on December 5 has our name all over it.
RAUCOUS DINNER AT STK LONDON NYE 2015
SPONSORED LISTING
Forget nightclubs and overcrowded venues – this year, we think a NYE dinner, but with DJs and live entertainment, is just the ticket. And this year, STK London is doing just that. From 9pm the lights will dim, the music will turn up and the entertainment will begin. For £300 per head, guests will enjoy a welcome Grey Goose ocktail on arrival and a five course set menu with a glass of Dom Perignon Champagne at midnight. DJs will be on the decks until 3am and live entertainment is from London’s premiere dance act The Girly Show.
INTERNATIONAL: ART BASEL MIAMI
September 23 - November 24 Various locations
December 3 – 6 Miami, Florida
Or, if you would prefer to escape the winter festivities all together, all roads lead to Miami for Art Basel for art by day, parties by night. But, the most exciting news is for our friends in New York. Blade, the on-demand helicopter service known for flying those who summer in the Hamptons and Nantucket at the flick of an app, is launching their by-the-seat, ultra luxe jet service, BLADEone (think Del Toro slippers, La Mer skin products and Todd English catering) from Manhattan to Miami on December 3, in time for the openings.
PARTY: RBMA SECRET RAVE
December 4 From 11pm Location TBC
Sticking in London? Tweet #0800R1NG2RAV3. Harking back to the bygone era of illegal raves, Red Bull Music Academy is throwing a secret (not so secret) rave on December 4. But pay attention: the event will only be released that day, to those who tweet the hashtag #0800R1NG2RAV3. The lineup will be revealed that day, and those who tweet will receive a reply with location details. Understood?
PARTY AT RADIO LONDON, NYE
Escape the mayhem of ground level this NYE and ring in the new year from up high at ME London’s Radio Rooftop Bar. Opening its doors this NYE for a luxe rooftop party, for the first time in Radio’s two year history, guests will be able to experience complimentary Dom Perignon and Grey Goose all night long as well as canapés, an open bar, live DJ and one of the best rooftop views of London.
WATCH: MERRY MOVIES
December 4 – 27 £10 The Hoxton, Shoreditch The Hoxton, Holborn
It wouldn’t be December without a festive screening. This year, we’re donning our Chrimbo jumpers and heading to the Hoxton Hotel’s inaugural ‘Merry Movies’. Held in the Apartment spaces in both hotels (Shoreditch and Holborn), tickets are a bargain £10, which includes a Christmas cocktail and a bag of popcorn (brandy butter or mince pie flavour!). As for the films – it’s all the classics – Home Alone, Love Actually, The Nightmare Before Christmas…
DO: BIRDIES CRAZY GOLF
Now open £9 The Vaults, Launcelot Street, Waterloo, SE1 7AD
Bermuda’s on! Rooftop Film Club have gone underground with their latest venture – Birdies Crazy Golf. And it’s no small feat: the nine hole course, in Waterloo’s subterranean vaults, serves up loops and half-pipes, with food by Hawksmoor Knightsbridge’s head chef Richard Sandiford, drinks by Spirited Mixers and live tunes by a host of resident DJs.
SEE MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE
West Piazza, Covent Garden, WC2E
Covent Garden has fast become our go-to for outdoor installations (Donald Drawbertson shop fronts, 100,000 balloons) and now their latest installation ‘Meet Me Under the Mistletoe’ by film art director and production designer Michael Howells has us making tracks to the Market Building. And if the 40 mistletoe chandeliers, 320 metres of garlands and around 100,000 pea lights get you in the festive spirit, the Christmas tree – London’s biggest – will.
