Junky Styling Launch Party, - The Future Gallery and Soho House, London

Events don't get much cooler then a fashion book launch party, and so it proved when the Northerner invited me as her 'Plus One' to the designer's behind Junky Styling's bash to celebrate Wardrobe Surgery at the Future Gallery in the West End. I shan't talk to the fashion side of the evening, as the Northerner does it much better then I ever could in her wonderful blog ReDesign for Life but instead will focus on what I know - the drinks and eating part.

The Future Gallery sits in that odd corner of London near Leicester Square between Charing Cross Road and Long Acre - tourist central with dodgy kebab houses, cheap and awful 'cocktail' bars and minicabs aplenty. However the Future Gallery with its cool white interiors supplemented by a high fashion crowd, a bar serving free Courvoisier ‘mule’ cocktails and Japanese beers, topped off by towering models wearing the wonderful Junky Styling creations is the antithesis of tacky. With a pumping UK hip hop soundtrack, and beers and cocktails flowing the atmosphere was festive in the extreme and all of the guests were glamour personified. Well nearly all, as it seemed yours truly was the ONLY person not to get his picture taken by the two floating photographers. Philistines.
Later in the evening and still game for more we headed on to the legendary London haunt Soho House with our two new friends of the evening, the Canadian and her partner the Architect for drinks and late night dinner. Those of you who have never been there may not realise that there are actually 'two' Soho House's in London. The real Soho House, is the original members club on Frith Street above Cafe Boheme, complete with cool bars, roof terrace and celebrities. Lots of them. However there is another part of Soho House that sits above the Boheme Bar and Kitchen on Old Compton Street which seems to be strictly for corporate gigs and private (non-members) parties. Having been to both venues over the years I can tell you that they are a world apart, despite the denials of the Soho House ownership. Fortunately for us it was the former, original version that we went to, and on a steaming Thursday night in Soho, the place was buzzing. At one stage I went to comment to the Northerner that the celebrity count wasn't what it used to be only to note that she was talking to a Spice Girl. Maybe its just me. We took a drink in the bar before sitting down in the restaurant to do the wine and dinner thing. The details of that stage of the evening are a little hazy but the wine that the Architect chose, as recommended by the sommelier was superb ( a variation of a French Pinot Noir) while the pork that the him and I had (served 'pink') was tender and perfectly seasoned. The Northerner and the Canadian opted for the fish which was obviously great as sharing didn't seem to be an option. Oh and it was very reasonably priced too. In fact the whole place left you nothing to complain about, which no doubt explains why it is so incredibly successful. The perfect end to the perfect evening in London. I think that says it all.

Bohemian Rhapsody - Cafe Boheme, John Snow

There are several drawbacks to writing a blog like this. First, you often are writing with a hangover which can affect the quality of your output. Second by writing with a hangover you demonstrate the poor quality of your output by resorting to naff songs as your article title. Third, in the course of producing a blog dedicated to going out , you inevitably are subject to hangovers.
Hangovers aside, one soldiers on, and on a balmy Wednesday evening the Northerner and I met in sunny Soho where the streets were paved with West End girls and boys celebrating the short working week and the upcoming long Easter weekend. We started off at the John Snow pub in Broadwick Street, which is not named after the newsreader, but instead the doctor who discovered the cure for cholera. Well that's if you believe the twenty-somethings stood next to us. Whatever its history, the John Snow is one of many pubs of choice for Soho's creative set (with nearby the Endurance and the Sun and 13 Cantons also top contenders), and a cracking little venue at that. We stood outside where a hearty supply of organic beers, loads of fashionable (and pretty) young things, and yours truly and the Northerner talking wholeheartedly about ourselves, got the night off to a great start.
The sun set and food beckoned, so we made our way down Old Compton Street and headed one off to one of our favourite old stomping grounds Cafe Boheme .
Boheme was one of the first bars / restaurants I ever went to in London and at the time I thought it the height of sophistication. Well I am from New Zealand. Needless to say, 14 years on, the place still holds up rather well, and is a great late night venue for good French brasserie style food. The crowd is a mix of slightly confused European tourists, tipsy Londoners looking for a good steak. The music is hit and miss - last night was French dance music. Okay in Paris I guess. But service is slick, the food good, and the wines superb. A Provencal Rose more then hitting the spot for this fella.
By 11.30 as we stumbled out to hail one of the now infinite supply of black taxis, and Old Compton Street was in full swing, with queues of lads outside GAY and Bar Soho eying each other suspiciously but both with the same intentions if not targets.
Gotta love Soho. Now to work on that hangover.