THINGS TO DO IN LONDON THIS WEEKEND: 17 – 23 FEBRUARY 2020
It’s February, and the end of winter is in sight. In the capital, head to a fashion pop-up with an eco-friendly difference, the city’s biggest pizza party or the must-visit exhibitions that kick off this week.
Gymkhana, one of London’s top Indian restaurants, closed its doors last summer following a huge fire. Now, more than six months later, this Michelin-starred Mayfair haunt is reopening. Its owners took the opportunity to give the restaurant’s interior a facelift while it was closed, brightening up the basement dining room and adding plenty of fresh art to the walls. Settle in and order all the old favourites – we like the venison keema naan and the pig cheek vindaloo.
Address: Gymkhana, 42 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4JH
Website: gymkhanalondon.com
When: Tuesday 18 February 2020
We all know the impact of fast fashion on the environment, and refraining from buying a new wardrobe for your next escape is a brilliant way to reduce your environmental footprint when you travel. For anyone who still has the itch to wear something shiny and new, the latest pop-up at Selfridge’s is a brilliant place to start. It’s being run by HURR, an online clothes rental space that offers items from the UK’s best-dressed women to rent for a week or more. At its new Oxford Street pop-up, try on items you like the look of and bag that dress you’ve had your eye on for a fraction of the price – and without the shopper’s guilt afterwards.
Address: Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, Marylebone, London W1A 1AB
Website: hurrcollective.com
When: Ongoing
James Turrell’s ninth solo presentation with Pace is something to head to central London for. While there are only three metamorphic elliptical light installations in this show, each one has its own aura of hazy changing colours and an extraterrestrial vibe. The artist definitely added to his cred with his funky lightbox in Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ video in 2017, but the stripped-back gallery puts the focus on the artist’s technical skills here, not on Drake’s dance moves. Presented in site-specific chambers, a frosted glass surface animated bytechnically advanced LED lights, which are mounted to a wall and generated by computer programming, leaves you feeling calm for the rest of the day. By Katharine Sohn
Address: Pace Gallery, 6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET
Website: pacegallery.com
When: Until Friday 27 March 2020
Tickets: Free
Karan Gokani was first inspired to open his Sri Lankan restaurant Hoppers in Soho five years ago, following a visit to the country’s toddy plantations. A second outpost in St Christopher’s Place followed, and now he and his team have opened a third spot, in King’s Cross. Still inspired by his journeys to Sri Lanka – he visits every year – he takes design cues for the new space from the Jetwing Lighthouse Hotel in Galle and the railway station in Bentota, both designed by Geoffrey Bawa. The bar menus emulate train station signage, while the bar area has terracotta touches and lots of tiles. There’s even a beer inspired by the toddy that local tappers make from fermented coconut sap.
Address: Hoppers, Unit 3, 4 Pancras Square, King’s Cross, London N1C 4AG
Website: hopperslondon.com
When: Ongoing
First seen in London 20 years ago, Caryl Churchill’s Far Away is back at the intimate Donmar Warehouse. It’s a dystopian play about a planet that’s going to war –even the weather and the elephants and the pigs have picked sides in this fantastical phantasmagoria.
Address: Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
Website: donmarwarehouse.com
When: Until Saturday 4 April 2020
Tickets: From £10
Masculinities: Liberation through Photography, the latest exhibition at the Barbican, unpicks 60 years’ worth of masculinity with works by more than 50 artists. It’s a pertinent display in the #MeToo era, and photographs and film unravel lots of the themes associated with how masculinity is presented in modern-day society, from queer identity to hypermasculinity.
Address: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
Website: barbican.org.uk
When: Opens Thursday 20 February 2020
Tickets: From £15
Nationwide festival Insiders/Outsiders has been running for the past 12 months all across the country, paying tribute to artists – from painters to composers – who fled Nazi rule in World War II, moved to Britain and contributed to this country’s culture. The festival is drawing to a close next month, so make the most of it while it’s still happening – this week, visit Art Aiding Politics: Hampstead in the 1930s and 40s to see local artists’ responses.
Address: Burgh House, New End Square, London NW3 1LT
Website: insidersoutsidersfestival.org
When: Ongoing
Tickets: Free
Based on the book by Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend had a sell-out run at Rose Theatre Kingston before moving to the National Theatre. It’s run there ends this weekend, so grab tickets now to see the story of Lenu Greco, whose friend of 60 years goes missing. The play traverses six decades, from the streets of post-war Naples to the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
Address: National Theatre, Upper Ground, Bishop’s, London SE1 9PX
Website: nationaltheatre.org.uk
When: Until Saturday 22 February 2020
Tickets: From £15
East London’s Passo serves some of our favourite Italian food – chewy pizzas, huge boards layered with ribbons of cured meats and cheeses, fresh pasta with ox cheek and ’nduja ragu or wild mushrooms and buffalo camembert. Now it’s dishing up breakfast on the weekends too, with the help of PUFF, a pop-up run by Ravneet Gill (formerly of St John and Black Axe Mangal) and Nicola Lamb (an Ottolenghi and Dominique Ansel alumna). It’s on Sundays only, and is open from 10am until they sell out – order a coffee choux, a chocolate and hazelnut millefeuille or an apple butter and cinnamon bun.
Address: Passo, 80 City Road, Old Street, London EC1Y 2AS
Website: puffthebakery.co.uk
When: Sunday 22 February 2020
Master of street food Street Feast return to Hawker House this weekend for its annual Slice World pizza party, bringing together 14 pizza makers from all over the UK. Neapolitan-style pizzeria Fundi will be representing London, while Pizza Poli, maestros of woodfired pizza, and Ciaooo, famed for its sourdough treats, are travelling to London from Birmingham and Manchester respectively.
Address: Street Feast Hawker House, Canada Street, Rotherhithe, London SE16 7PJ
Website: eventbrite.co.uk
When: Saturday 21–Sunday 22 February 2020
Tickets: From £
Source: cntraveller.com