We had probably the best weekend in London to date and believe me we like our weekends in London.
The brief was clear from the onset:
1) We have to go to The Lahore Kabab House – E1
A) Lahore is BYOB. You get to drink Cobra on the cheap.
B) Lahore has a massive upstairs dining area so long waits are not too much of an issue.
C) Lahore shows sport on the TV while you eat.
D) Lahore has about 13 different vegetarian options on the menu
E) Lahore’s food tastes VERY good.
One of my favourite parts of the evening were the dishes the food was served in. They are the actual little metal pots and tins that the food was cooked in on the stove- meaning, they did not transfer the food to a “pretty” serving plate. It is added to the authenticity of it all, and probably kept the food warmer longer. Another favourite of mine was watching the locals eat. It was obvious that this restaurant was a favourite among them too, and that we were doing something right- since we had just as many plates on our table as they did theirs.
This restaurant is essentially like getting stall food at an open market, just inside four actual walls. It’s quick, inexpensive and somehow more gratifying than a fine dining experience with the same food would ever be – oooh excluding the Sat Bains. The curries were great but the kebabs are incredible! I’ve never seen anyone pay such intimate attention to a tandoor, and the effort pays off.
If I lived down the street from this place, I think life might be complete!
2) The Damien Hurst Exhibition, Why not…Shark, Skull and lots of tablets………
As one critic said….’Was Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull a work of genius from one of Britain’s most talented artists ? Or a tacky symbol of excess and an art market “drunk with money”? I would say it was the best thing about the exhibition and guess what, we paid £45 to see the entire display and the skull was free. Titled ‘For the Love of God’ it was hypnotic, and apparently
housed in a special viewing room amid tight security. Cast in platinum – but retaining the original teeth of the 18th century skull’s owner – and covered in 8,601 diamonds, it has a 52.4 carat pink diamond on its forehead.
I was not convinced the security looked poor and me and Ollie hatched a plan to ram-raid the place in the Prius given the price tag of £50 Million.
The ‘cut in half’ cow and sheep were novel, the row upon row of medical equiptment, pills and diamonds were, arguable, not so good.
One section consisting of two rooms, which initially I was not a big fan of was ‘In and Out of Love’
This two-room installation, has live butterflies hatching from pupae on canvases in one room, and dead ones stuck to brightly coloured paintings in the other. Visitors are invited to stand in the hatching room and watch as hundreds of woozy, newly hatched butterflies drift around landing on heads and coats and bags. It is beautiful and disturbing in equal measure.
in the second, equally as fantastic in their scale are his butterfly collages – huge kaleidoscopic pieces made up of thousands of butterfly wings, which resemble stained-glass windows.
3) Accommodation – Docklands
As always we stayed in the Docklands region, this time at the Novotel, nice room, perfect venue to recce the Triathlon route and generally practical and easy to get too. However Heather did navigate me through central London on the way back which didn’t amuse me as the driver. To add to that we were in a 2hour jam on them M1 due to a ‘unusually wide load’ or at least that’s what teh sign said!!!!!
4) London Triathlon Recce – See Ironman blog – link at top of page
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