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Slideshow
The week in pictures
db was delighted to be greeted by this stunning horse and carriage outside Bank tube station on Tuesday, which picked up lucky guests and whisked them off in vintage style to the launch of new gastropub The Trading House on Gresham Street. We’re sorry to report that the horse and carriage service was only available for the launch.
Housed in the former Bank of New Zealand, interiors at The Trading House are inspired by the days of the East India Company and tip their hat to vintage travel. Among our favourite touches were the white peacock and absinthe green Art Nouveau-inspired lights.
Capitalising on the current trend for exotic cocktails in the capital, drinks at The Trading House were a twist on the classics with the incorporation of spices. Among our favourites were the lemon and anise sour (right), the cardamom old fashioned and lavender sazarac.
db made the most of the bank holiday weekend by floating down the Grand Union canal on a narrow boat. Amid fears that we might be heading towards a global Prosecco shortage, we celebrated instead with the 2010 vintage of homegrown fizz Nyetimber.
Shrinking violet Jimmy Smith, owner of the West London Wine School and the recently opened North London Wine School seems unsure whether or not he’ll like the Malbec by Colorado-based urban winery The Infinite Monkey Theorem he’s about to open.
Sergio Canalejas and James Fowler
This is the eccentric bar tending team that represented the UK in the annual cocktail and food pairing Mamont Mission II competition in Moscow this week, where nine teams battled it out to take part in a polar expedition. “Taste of the Tundra”, from The Larder House in Bournemouth, dressed in wetsuits and brought spear-fishing equipment (along with a huge block of ice!) to bring to life the story of their cocktail pairings at the competition’s semi-final.
However it was Botty and Ariaan from Josephine’s In Belgium and Sliyaniye from MH Bar Consulting and Plantxa in Paris who were victorious, and who will now take part in a circumpolar expedition in search of a Great Mammoth led by a professional mammoth hunter”.
This is the stunning vista that will greet guests to Symington Family Estates’ new visitor centre in the Douro, which opened this month to capitalise on the “booming” tourist industry in Porto. The new facility is housed in the Quinta do Bomfim winery in Pinhão and follows a complete overhaul of the site, which is used to process grapes from the surrounding grade A vineyards that provide the “structure” for Dow’s vintage Ports.
Campari officially launched its Campari Red Night District campaign taking over 10 bars in London’s Shoreditch to help raise the profile of classic bitter cocktail, The Negroni. Each of the bars will be offering a twist on a Negroni until 10 June. For a look at some of the cocktails on offer, check out our round up of top 10 Negroni twists.
Grammy-award winning producer Mark Ronson popped the world’s first “digitally connected” Champagne Mumm magnum at a lavish party ahead of the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix last week. The VIP launch took place on-board Mumm’s private yacht in Monte Carlo, a setting chosen as a celebration of Mumm’s long-standing partnership with Formula One.
Clos Rocailleux, a 13 hectare vineyard founded by British couple Jack and Margaret Reckitt, hosted a vertical tasting of its wines made from the Mauzac grape at the wine-focused restaurant 28:50 this week.
One course saw Jack Reckitt’s Clos Rocailleux Mauzac Vieilles Vignes 2012 paired with 28:50’s Wye Valley asparagus, baby gem, truffle and pecorino.
Chilean wine producer Santa Rita for the first time brought a show garden to ‘Bloom-in-the-Park’, Ireland’s largest gardening, food and family event, held in Dublin from 28 May to 1 June. Garden designer Ingrid Swan, who last year launched her own garden design business, was behind the garden which won a commendable Silver-Gilt award.
Terry Pennington, commercial director of Santa Rita Estates Europe (left) with Irish president Michael D Higgins
“As the leading Chilean wine producer in Ireland, Santa Rita is delighted to be involved with Ireland’s number one gardening, food and family event: Bord Bia’s Bloom-in-the-Park 2015. Ingrid Swan has designed an exceptional garden creating a compact series of spaces perfect for enjoying that special Santa Rita ‘moment’.”, said Terry Pennington, commercial director of Santa Rita Estates Europe.
Mr Trotter’s pork scratchings powered a UK team of four wounded soldiers from the Royal Dragoon Guards to the North Pole. Led by explorer and industrialist, David Hempleman-Adams, the UK team was first to reach the North Pole, arriving on 16 April as part of the Mamont Polar Cup 2015.
Jenny Erpenbeck and Susan Bernofsky win the Independent foreign fiction prize at the RIBA in London, for Erpenbeck’s book, “The End of days”. Photo Tom Pilston.
Champagne Taittinger supported the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for a 14th year this week, presenting the 2015 winner of the prize with a bottle of Taittinger at a Champagne reception at the Royal Institute of British Architects in central London. The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck was named the winner of the 2015 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize – the only living German to have won the prize in its 25-year history.