Thursday 20th November  16:23 pm Good Afternoon

on today on tomorrow other dates...

Nelson's Column September The London Restaurant Awards 16th September 2008 Where’s best to eat? Sometimes the sheer choice of things to do in London is overwhelming. Restaurants are an excellent case in point. Even if you had Michael Winner’s appetite and the enthusiasm of Jamie Oliver you’d still struggle to try a fraction of the eating out options in the city. On top of this there’s the prohibitive cost of a posh meal. At an average of £80 a head the top notch places aren’t easy to afford – especially in these credit crunch times. Which is where the restaurant reviewer comes in handy – that elite bunch of well-fed journalists who get paid to eat Michelin-starred food. They fork out on the lobster so you don’t have to and write with acerbic wit about the experience. A good review can make or break a new dining venture in this sprawling city. In fact, I’d guess that most Londoners spend more time reading where they should be eating than actually eating there. Earlier this month the London Restaurant Awards gave the restaurant critics – Giles Coren and his cronies – the chance to put on a swish suit (with the obligatory expanding waistband) and listen to Jack Dee while some celebs told the assembled nominees who’d won. Like a fly on the wall (better than one in the soup anyway) I observed the evening’s proceedings from the sidelines and even got some one-on-one time with the winners when they were brought backstage. There were some curious non-foodie celebs there… as well as Jack Dee (no filming, no photos, please), Suggs from Madness gave out an award and some D-lister from Celebrity Apprentice (I’ve no idea who he was either) threw a hissy fit for not being recognised. I also spotted a Dragons’ Den millionaire, a Spice Girl and Jimmy from Jimmy’s Farm rubbing shoulders with a rugby player. Le Café Anglais scooped a few awards but the real winners, for me, were the ones who remained civil despite their success. I was delighted to see the Great Queen Street gang getting an award, I’ve been there and can confirm that it is excellent and not just for the food – which is hearty, English and meaty – but also with the staff. When a friend who used to watch football in the place (before it went gastro) loudly lamented the loss of the TV screens the guy showing us to our table didn’t flinch but politely agreed. That’s manners. It was also a delight to meet The Greenhouse maitre d’ Jean-Marie who, despite the madness of the press room, made me feel he had all the time in the world. No wonder the restaurant won the Outstanding Service Award and the Award of Excellence. Appropriately, they were given the award by Silvano Giraldin, the outgoing and much-respected face of Le Gavroche, whose 37 years at the two-Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant have made him a legend within the industry. Asked what makes a good restaurant and they both agreed: the staff. With bosses like this you wouldn’t mind putting in an extra shift. One repeated theme of the night was the credit crunch (and this was before the Lehman Brothers bombshell) but most seemed unconcerned, convinced that if you offer quality food at the right price people will still happily pay for it. All this said with an award tucked under their arm, you can sort of see their point. Scoring a Pointe From prima donna to Maradona, or is that the other way round? The English National Ballet is mixing it up with some fancy footwork, a surge out of the wings or perhaps down the left wing and a bit of the old 'one-two' in a new show about our beautiful game - called ‘The Beautiful Game – A Football Ballet’ lest we’re in any doubt. This is an historic timeline of great footballing moments, which could bring in a flood of new ballet fans as grown men are reduced to bitter and patriotic tears in the stalls over Gazza in the dentist’s chair, Maradona’s infamous ‘hand of God’ or Geoff Hurst’s 1966 World Cup ‘They think it’s all over’ goal. Can you please switch off your mobile phones and keep the ‘who-are-ya?’ chants to a minimum? The Time Lord does Prince of Denmark The hottest ticket in town this winter is David Tennant’s ‘Hamlet’. Well, it’s technically the Royal Shakespeare Company ‘Hamlet’, arriving in London town from ol’ Wills’ birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon, but no one really cares if it’s done by the RSC or the wannabes from X Factor; we all just want to see Dr Who Alas-ing poor Yorick! All 6,000 tickets sold out on the day booking opened with determined fans queuing round the block in the West End. It might help if David could replay the opening night a few times by jumping in a phone box… Put your money where your mouth is! This is decidedly not rock ‘n’ roll in the slightest. The famous tongue and lip symbol for The Rolling Stones has been sold to the V & A, that bastion of old relics (and no, we’re not talking about the people who curate the collections). As if it’s not enough that John Pasche’s original drawing (which for nearly four decades has acted as a motif for rebellious teenagers, who want to cock a snook at the System) is now incarcerated in a museum, the £50,000 price tag is going to pay for school fees. Presumably - for fifty grand - at an institution where pupils join the choir, not a rock band… October 2008 24th October Boris v Jingjing 17th October Soaps in Pole Position September 2008 23rd September Chips too Chavvy for Chelsea 16th September The London Restaurant Awards August 2008 26th August No Smoking, No Ducks, No Barbecues 20th August The Olympics July 2008 24th July Sandwiched Out 17th July The Show Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady's on Page 3 June 2008 26th June Love All at Wimbledon 16th June Miller Puts the Heat on Tennant May 2008 27th May Booze Banned on Buses 20th May Same Again? April 2008 23rd April By George 11th April Back to the 80s March 2008 28th March How do You Solve A Problem Like Medea? 20th March Flight Fantastic February 2008 20th February Dark, Satanic Turnmills 6th February A Diamond in the Drink January 2008 21st January People Wanted for Plinth 14th January Boo! Hiss! December 2007 28th December Tate That - A Hirst for Art 20th December Christmas Shopping November 2007 27th November Mind the Gap 26th November London On A Tray October 2007 26th October Leaving the Station 14th October The Sky's the Limit September 2007 26th September The Play Within A Play 19th September Fashion, Frocks and Celeb Shocks 12th September Saying Tanks for the Mammaries August 2007 24th August Heathrow under Siege 17th August Gormless 10th August Losing Face July 2007 24th July Are We Reaching Boiling Point Yet This Summer? 13th July Red Ken versus Blonde Boris June 2007 22nd June Last Orders at the Fag Machine 11th June London the Musical May 2007 21st May What Lurks Beneath 10th May The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of April 2007 27th April London’s Walk on the Wild Side 20th April Stand Behind the Yellow Line 13th April Like Water for Chocolate March 2007 23rd March So, Another Magazine 16th March Avoiding iContact February 2007 23rd February Sex and Art... 16th February C-Charge Protest Fails to Bring Down Government 9th February Live Earth London January 2007 26th January A Vote for Shilpa is a Vote for Britain 18th January Carriage on up the West End December 2006 29th December Food for Thought 22nd December A Poisonous Marketing Campaign 15th December In for a Penny, In for Five Pounds November 2006 17th November Big Department Stores Leave Santa Out in the Cold 10th November Failing to Save the World October 2006 27th October Frozen Prawns and Melting Icecaps 20th October Predatory Pelicans and Happy Woodland Folk 13th October Hope at last for east end of Oxford Street September 2006 16th September Lite the Blue Paper and Stand Well Back 9th September Of Poles and Twiglets August 2006 25th August Free Fares For the Fat and the Fashionable 11th August London Friendly 4th August Archway To Organic Heaven July 2006 21st July London - Celebrity Frat House 7th July Out of the Galleries into the Streets June 2006 23rd June Mayors, Nightmares and Marias 16th June Downright Rude in Paris and London 9th June Enter the Inferno May 2006 26th May Curvaceous Border 12th May Vegging Out April 2006 21st April The Camden Crawl 17th April Down the Pan 13th April I Want to Break Free 9th April Big Brother seems to have been left in a bar somewhere 7th April Don't Box Me In March 2006 24th March Political Correctness Reaches New Heights February 2006 24th February A Stadium's Tale: Cup Final Goes West 17th February Modern Musicals are Rubbish 10th February The City-Side Alliance January 2006 20th January February Sales 20th January Moby Sick 13th January Glass Half Full 3rd January Three Cheers for the Tube Station Workers December 2005 22nd December January Bites 16th December A Remarkable Year November 2005 25th November And a Partridge in a JCB 11th November Driving Miss Sadie 4th November Spam, Spam, Spammity-Spam, Shakespeare, Zorro, Chico and Rasputin October 2005 28th October Trick or Treat? 21st October We Don't Mind a Little Delay... 14th October Final Resting Place for Young British Artists September 2005 16th September Just a small urn for me, please barman 9th September DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! 2nd September The Free Tenor August 2005 30th August Samba Rhythms Breaking Out All Over The Stadium 20th August Getting Behind the Iron Farce