Asakusa - byword for how to create demand

 If it were possible to bottle "being in demand" - Asakusa would be the distillers. 

I have a tough role at the moment, helping to communicate a new restaurant. I wasn't schooled in the catering or hospitality business, but I love a new challenge and I am foolhardy to the extreme if the project enthuses me and my belief is there.  At times, the task appears overwhelming and so a friend told me about a little local place in North London, that has people turning up at its door night on night, knowing full well that they would be turned away; self-consoling and self-flagellating on their way out, for not having booked in advance.  It isn't that they are fully booked well into the year, as some places do which have a machine to perpetuate their own image.  Usually you only need to call a week in advance for a Saturday dinner.  The owners, not at all phased, were extremely polite and graceful, to me that speaks volumes.

After our meal, as we shielded from the cold drizzle on this North London street, I commented on the truth that people had ritually, been turned away.  My friend had said, "I suppose, it gives the place an air of exclusivity*".  I said "No, it gives the place an air of being in demand, which is different to being "exclusive" altogether".  Because, I would never pride myself on being anywhere that considers itself exclusive......

"I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members."

                                                  Groucho Marx

*Subtitle - My friend had earlier that day lunched at Novikov in Mayfair. 

Butley at the Duchess Theatre

The curtain falls.

Dominic West as Ben Butley © Harpers Bazaar

I don't often go to the theatre and this was a challenging play to keep-with sometimes.  The protagonist Ben Butley is an intellectual, quick at drawing his tongue and Dominic West (US show The Wire) delivers this performance at an unforgiving verbal pace with apparent relish and a few tempo hiccups as a result; the audience is left to catch up. 

The play is based on a day on which Butley, a Literary Professor, makes several discoveries that effectively leaves him behind in the lives of those around him.  He jostles (on occasion physically) with the joy of a solitary man at needling and interrogating the neatness and "in point of fact"ness of others.  In particular, toying with timorous Joey his once "protege" and now colleague.  They are co-habitees at home as well as at work - is this proximity they maintain a clue to their real attraction?  Butley gleefully goes on to ridicule a series of earnest young students, and mock the affected masculinity of Joeys gay lover from "up north" and his estranged wife, on her would-be suitor, who all come through his door.  This is really a one-man act, and the other actors are a rotation of knock-outs with only slight dialogue.

But I also blame myself for missing some of the finer dialogue and points of the play.  Veteran theatre-goers would love this play.  It was well worth seeing for Dominic West's dynamic performance, he does some comical turns in regional accents and he pitches perfectly the physical idiosyncrasies of a college professor; the slouchy shoulders, knock kneedness and gait of locked-adolescence in man. 

There is alot of honesty and sharp wit in the writing which makes me want to reach for the script by Simon Gray, for a second chance with some of the dialogue which loses clarity due to speed.  It is interesting and entertaining to witness Butley's disregard and self-destruction - an Englishman, middle class, middle aged and repressed, who will only end up alone.

www.duchesstheatre.co.uk/
wiki/Dominic West

Giveaway:  marrakech-ooak-giveaway

For French Lovers

Terriors
5 William IV Street
London

  © The London Foodie

There are few places, you can dine a five hour stretch in London without the maître d' applying polite pressure and without heaving through crowds on a Friday evening.  But this is a small subterranean corner of gallic charm in our old city, where devouring delicacies and lightly unwrapping over their indigenous wines, while time is forgotten is the calling.

Everybody is relaxed and laughing, and fully absorbed within their own company. Just as good for a gathering on one of the large tables, or two seaters for daters, and drop-in winers and diners sat at their zinc bar, within view of their busy kitchen and back and forth exchanges between bar staff, full of knowledge and recommendations with their guests.  A group of 30's professionals with coiffed hair and sparkling smiles, standing around a barrel perusing the wine list and enjoying an extended tasting session, having fun with vintage and maker; as most can be ordered by the glass - making it perfect for trying a range from their cellar.

As soon as your fingers melt into the aged leather bound 50 pages of wine selected - mostly from French winemakers and the staff have muttered from the menu and teased you with tasters at their suggestion - you could be in any corner of France.  Your eyes widen over the small but choice food menu, with small plates like pork & pistachio terrine, duck rillette, snails garlic and parsley on toasted bread, perfect portions while drinking.  Or perhaps select  from their 5 or so seasonal Plats du jour.  All their wines and foods are sourced with careful consideration for provenance - simple and effective principle you really appreciate as a diner.

© The London Foodie

I went there on a fantastic recommendation by The London Foodie - a trusted guide for London Dining!  www.thelondonfoodie.co.uk