Image taken by idrewuk on Flickr
Halfway down a very unassuming Wadeson Street in the middle of Tower Hamlets/Hackney hides an almost secret venue for arty folks, the cream of the design crowd and food lovers alike. Bistrotheque is a brilliant place to surprise friends with – the industrial surroundings raises some eyebrows from new visitors, and the entrance is easy to miss. But this restaurant/bistro (as the name suggests) remains firm in my heart, and from experience, the best things in East London come in hidden packages!
It’s the design of …

Recently, a few friends and myself headed down to the Shoreditch Diner on Curtain Road which, as the name gives away, is in Shoreditch.
There’s a few of these diners dotted around London, which are mocked up in traditional Americana style complete with booth seats, malt shakes and chilli cheese fries.
Be warned though! Don’t head down the Angel diner hungover looking for a substantially greasy breakfast, as you will be horrifically disappointed. When I recently ventured down there with a head like a bear I ended up with a substantially lighter …

Although this exhibition has been and gone I still feel it’s worthwhile reviewing in an attempt to highlight how good the Somerset House events can be. It’s definitely worthwhile keeping up to date with what’s on, as shows can easily pass you by. Somerset House is also particularly appropriate for fashion lovers as it often features exhibitions along the fashion lines including past events like ‘Skin and Bones’, which studied the relationship between fashion and architecture. It is also of course the new venue for London Fashion week.
Norma Parkinson was …

Another nice little blog along the lines of Londonshopfronts.com this one isn’t solely devoted to shop fronts though and features all sorts of photos of interesting sites from around London.
The site is updated regularly and the photographs featured often vary in style in terms of colours and composition. Every now and again some black and white photographs will pop up which have a completely different feel to the normal observational shots.
The style of the photography on the site is very much observational and documentary and often features pictures of people …

On a dowdy mid-week evening we headed down to Volupte Lounge, tucked away in the middle of central London, just off Fleet Street. As soon as you step into the place you can smell decadence, glamour and general fanciness.
Originally burlesque started out as a form of entertainment for the working classes and as a way to ridicule the upper classes. It originates from the US and usually involves lingerie, tassels, striptease and a good ounce of comedy. Volupte Lounge has the perfect amount of all of these things!
Watching a burlesque …

The London Twirls Project is one of those cool semi-obsessive projects, that I stumbled upon through the quirkiest corners of the internet. The project and idea is simple and rather amusing. To map out the availability of Cadbury’s Twirls in London, their storage conditions and fluctuations in price.
The website also shows some funny comments about each chocolate outlet which I have to admit are the best part of the project. If the site makes you smile check out their twitter profile and you will soon discover how many people are …

The capital is the best place in the UK by far for delivering some top notch quality art/design festivals and events. Where else can you be surrounded by the best in new british talent? You definitely won’t be bored here.
With something to suit everyone, keep your eye out for some of my alternative annual london highlights:
London Design Festival
www.londondesignfestival.com/
The Design Festival is an annual event which celebrates London as the creative capital of the world. Set up as a programme of over 200 exhibitions, events and exciting design happenings, this …

A while ago we wrote a review of one of London’s top shopping gems, a little shop called Cyber Candy, which seemed to go down pretty well. So we contacted Cyber Candy and recently met up with Margaret, one of the two founders:
So how did Cyber Candy get started, and where did you come up with the idea?
Well, it all started when my husband Alan was trying to buy some sweets that you couldn’t get in shops online anymore, and was really struggling to find somewhere to get them. He …