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This weekend serves as a reminder of the joy of diversity in London. Ever at the forefront of culture, the city is again serving up a glut of global inspiration, with events centred on everything from Korean dining to Bollywood dance.
There are newcomers to theatre and music, too, including a love letter to the stage opening for a short run at Sandler’s Wells. Here’s everything you should have on your radar for the weekend ahead.
The hot table: Miga Hackney
1 Mare Street might be best-known for its pop-ups, but the hottest opening right now is a permanent Korean restaurant with a solid familial reputation for food. Coming from third-generation Korean restaurateurs out of New Malden, Miga looks like exactly the sort of restaurant we want to see more of: independent, thoughtful and delicious. The menu has just been “leaked” online, revealing dishes such as ox bone broth, beef tartare, prawns in gochujang, and sliced brisket with perilla seed aioli. While not on the printed menu, snaps of Korean fried chicken and sushi rolls are circulating too, indicating that there may be changing menus or at least a handful of daily specials. Be ahead of the curve, book this. We will be.
1 Mare Street, E8 4RP, @miga.restaurant
The old favourite: Jikoni
Jikoni launched in 2016 and Ravinder Bhogal’s carefree restaurant has steadily plugged away, ever concentrating on serving good food and delivering warm vibes. The food remains fun, appealing and contemporary, moving from excellent prawn scotch eggs to beetroot with whipped tofu. Elsewhere, broad strokes from across Asia manifest as dishes such as kale chaat, labneh with saffron sheermal (a type of flatbread) and Cornish lamb with ras el hanout and burnt aubergine.
19-21 Blandford Street, W1U 3DH, jikonilondon.com
The drinking den: The Watergate
In less cheery news, Stockton, the pleasing Deptford High Street wine bar, closed at the end of June. However, the owners have transplanted the best of their more recent bar into the Watergate, a long-time drinking den not far away. There is a beautiful roster of natural wines, fabulous small plates (with most things under £12) and a brunch menu featuring eggs Benedict in various forms, baked eggs, chilli beans, and fry ups.
7 Watergate Street, London SE8 3HR, thewatergate.co.uk
The night out: Desi Summer Rave
Each club night Scala puts on is billed as the “craziest night out ever”, but this weekend the venue is really going all out for this massive summertime Desi rave. Bollywood London and music collective Veera Presents are organising something special, with the likes of DJ Arvee and DJ Cassey serving up Bollywood, Indo house, Afrobeats and much more besides. Crazy? We’ll let you be the judge.
Tickets £8, August 9, 11pm until 4am, 275 Pentonville Road, N1 9NL, scala.co.uk
The theatre fix: Chorus Line at Sadler’s Wells
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In a love letter to the stage, to live musical performance and to the untold ambition of actors, singers and dancers who never quite made it, Chorus Line opens at the Sadler’s Wells theatre this week. Written and originally produced in the Seventies and based on direct testimony from dancers and actors on the hit show Broadway by writer Jospeh Papp, Chorus Line is not to be missed. Still need convincing? The Standard’s chief theatre critic Nick Curtis wrote: “Laced with bittersweetness: the sheer physical joy of dancing ranked against the brutality of auditions, injuries and unemployment.” A short run, so get in early.
Tickets from £15, until August 25, Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN, sadlerswells.com
The gig: Chris Isaak at the London Palladium
We all know that one Chris Isaak track, but his music spans far wider. After all, the musician recorded the soundtrack to the film Eyes Wide Shut, featured on the film The Silence of the Lambs, and has 13 studio albums to his name, not to mention 40 years worth of touring and multiple Grammy nominations. Safe to say Isaak’s career is more than just a Wicked Game. This Sunday, he plays the Palladium, before a handful of other UK dates on his latest global tour.
Tickets from £58, August 11, London Palladium, Argyll Street, W1F 7TF, ticketing.lwtheatres.co.uk
The art fix: Francis Alÿs: Ricochets
Francis Alÿs has spent a career documenting the global nature of child’s play. His acclaimed film Children’s Games captures musical chairs in Mexico, leapfrog in Iraq, and jump rope in Hong Kong, and Ricochets, the latest Alÿs installation at the Barbican, shows extracts of the footage. The gallery space has also been transformed into an immersive, cinematic playground, creating a moving and deeply sensitive show.
Until September 1, Barbican, EC2Y 8DS, barbican.org.uk
The ticket to book now (for later): Battersea Park in Concert
Returning this summer is Battersea Park in Concert, a dedicated weekend of classical, jazz, and show tune performances, bringing the best of these genres to south London. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra is set to lend a grand, orchestral hand to a number of musical favourites (expect everything from the Lion King to the Greatest Showman) while elsewhere, Paul Simon’s Graceland is to be given a modern twist by the London African Gospel Choir as part of a Ronnie Scott’s special.
Tickets from £43, August 24-26, Battersea Park, SW11 4NJ, batterseaparkinconcert.seetickets.com
The (other) ticket to book now (for later): Sussex Grouse Dinner
Grouse season is about to begin. To celebrarte, head to Sussex in Soho, a Gladwin Brothers restaurant putting on a seasonal six-course dinner supported by wines from the French wine group Famille Perrin, which specialises in Rhone vintages. Start with scallops and oyster Rockefeller before grouse with a 15-year-old Chateauneuf du Pape. At £150-a-pop, it’s a punchy ticket, but the price covers everything.
