January is the longest month, but February has arrived with all the promise of soon-to-be springtime, and there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful.
There's lots new this weekend: Sarah Jessica Parker on the West End, a "red sauce" restaurant promising interesting things in Soho and one of the RA's most ambitious new shows in recent years.
Elsewhere is a new bar opening, continuing London's long obsession with speakeasies, a new Italian-leaning pop-up and a relativity recent art show that promises fresh new talent. Here's what to get up to.
The hot table: Grasso
Grasso is London’s latest Italian-American crossover, offering a relaxed atmosphere and top-notch pasta and pizza. The design is approachable and playful, mirrored by the conviviality in the room, and doubtless helped on by the many cocktail and wine offerings. Happily, there’s no service charge on the bill: instead, it’s included in the dish and drinks pricing, a practice that ensures a little more stability for often beleaguered hospitality staff.
81 Dean Street, W1D 3SW, grassosoho.com
The old favourite: Tiella at the Compton Arms
The Compton Arms has hosted Tiella for quite some time now but a recent revisit solidified it as one of London’s most consistently-appealing little Italian offerings. Recent dish specials alongside the hearty à la carte included pasta e fagioli with borlotti, rosemary and porcini and pork and fennel sausages with cime di rapa, chilli and peperone crusco. The E5 Bakehouse sourdough is a must to kick off any meal, and a meal here should come in at under about £40-a-head, even with a generous order.
Compton Arms, 4 Compton Avenue, N1 2XD, comptonarms.co.uk
The drinking den: Scales
London remains in love with the speakeasy. The secluded, the subterranean, the slightly sexy. It’s an ever-alluring thing and Scales is the latest to open, tucked underneath Drinks with Sasha, the bottle shop and importer in Marylebone. Opened just before the new year by master mixologists Din Jusufi and Engji Shala, expect creations like the Fig, which combines cognac with figs, citrus, pandan, and almond, or the more wintry Gingerbread, a drink of rum, gingerbread, coconut milk and citrus.
25 Duke Street, W1U 1DJ, scalesbar.com
The culture fix: Plaza Suite
Sex in the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker makes her West End debut in Plaza Suite, showing at the Savoy Theatre. Starring alongside husband Michael Broderick, Parker puts in a performance described by the Standard’s Nick Curtis as “dazzling”. The story chart three couples in the same New York luxury hotel suite, with comedy that’s both physical and tender as the various relationships unravel during the performance. Curtis notes the high ticket costs in his four-star review, but concludes: “If you can afford it, Sarah Jessica Parker – with Broderick as Ken to her Barbie – is worth it.”
Until April 13, The Savoy Theatre,WC2R 0ET, thesavoytheatre.com
The art fix: Entangled Pasts, 1768–now
Lubaina Himid describes the new major RA exhibition which opens this weekend as “filling in the gaps in this huge story of how people from the black diaspora have contributed in many different ways to the political and cultural landscape of this country.” Himid herself is exhibiting alongside a plethora of contemporary and classic artists, including J.M.W. Turner, Ellen Gallagher, Joshua Reynolds and Yinka Shonibare. In one of the RA’s most ambitious shows of the past few years, the stage is set for a grand opening this weekend.
February 3 - April 28, The Royal Academy,W1J 0BD, royalacademy.org.uk
The other art fix: Five by Five
Five by Five is a new project by Incubator that sees five established artists select five up-and-coming talents for a symbiotic showcase. The artists include Maggi Hambling and Jelly Green, Mona Hatoum and Tamara Al-Mashouk, Georgie Hopton and Alice McCabe among many others. The show explores a range of methods, including sculpture, photography, painting and video installation. Don’t miss this one.
Until March 10, Incubator, 2 Chiltern Street, W1U 7PR, incubatorart.com
The ticket to book now (for later): Paisan at Giacco’s
The Paisan supper clubs, pop-ups and events are run by ex-Rita’s and Fallow chef Tiberio Simonelli and, as they don’t happen often, when they do, we pay attention. The dinner, hosted at wine bar Giacco’s, will be the first Paisan has run in 2024, with a four-course menu set to include oysters with parmesan and scotch bonnet, casoncela di zucca (similar to a tortelli with pumpkin), and the much-loved budino al ricotta with rum. Tickets £45, February 6, 176 Blackstock Road London N5 1HA, eventbrite.com
