What's in My Mini MAC?

I've always been a big-bag kind of girl, which is why I love my Mulberry Mitzy so much: it allows me to tote all of my worldly goods around with me. Earlier in the year, though, I fell for Rebecca Minkoff's Mini MAC and I bought it in black with gold hardware when I was in New York. I've had to make a few adjustments as to the things I carry around with me when I'm using it, especially if I'm wearing it to work, but to my surprise, I can fit most of the essentials inside.

Rebecca Minkoff Mini MAC

My standard contents are: my iPhone and earphones, a hairband, umbrella (swapped with my sunglasses on the rare occasions when the English weather behaves), a Fizbag fold-up tote, Soap & Glory hand cream, Longchamp purse, ibuprofen, chewing gum, keys, a pen and my Maybelline Baby Lips lip balm. I can also fit either my camera or a 250 ml squeezy bottle of water (not pictured). The fold-up tote is essential because the rest of these items leave no room for a cardigan, scarf or shopping, and I have to use the Longchamp purse because my usual Mulberry wallet and Oyster card holder won't fit. Another sacrifice I've had to make is carrying around a book. If I'm going into the office, I will either carry a book or make sure I have an e-book on my iPhone. Now that the Olympics have started in London, I've been walking to and from work a lot more often, which means less time for reading on the go, anyway.

Getting full

I've really got used to convenience of the hands-free Mini MAC. I love the versatility of the bag: it hits me at a good length wearing it either cross-body or on my shoulder and you can also double up the straps if you want a more traditional shoulder bag. I may struggle to fit everything in once winter starts drawing near and I will need to bring a scarf, gloves and a hat with me, but it's a great bag for spring and summer.

I can fit all of this (and a little more)

On a related note, walking through Selfridges yesterday, I spotted a series of "urban survival kits" they have put together for the summer season. My favourite, of course, was Emma Hill's Mulberry bag. For a mere £1,500, you get an Alexa-style backpack, card holder, coin purse, scarf, brolly, sweeties, keyring and Wallpaper London guide. The Kiehl's and Anya Hindmarch bags are slightly more reasonably priced.

Selfridges' Mulberry urban survival kit

The Caffeine Chronicles: Brewhouse on York Review

**Update (July 2013): Boo; it seems King's Cross wasn't ready for an independent coffee shop, and the Brewhouse has now been replaced by a bland-looking café/sandwich shop called Caffè Piro.**

I've been working in King's Cross for two-and-a-half years and I commuted from King's Cross to Nowheresville for eighteen months before that. That means I've been waiting for a proper independent coffee house to open in the area for about four years. When Brewhouse on York opened its doors earlier this week, I began to think my wish had finally been granted. I stopped by on what was probably their second or third day and while they were still having a few teething problems, my macchiato was still very good.

Of course, it's easy to produce the best macchiato in King's Cross when you are competing with Nero, Pret, Costa and Starbucks. If I've run out of coffee at work, I tend to default to Pret for proximity, Nero for consistency and the little coffee cart at the St Pancras end of eat.st for the best attempt at a decent macchiato. The Brewhouse is, unsurprisingly, located on York Way, just opposite the station, which means they should get a decent footfall. I hope it doesn't mean they start catering to the masses; we caffeine connoisseurs of King's Cross have a greater need for places like the Brewhouse.

Brewhouse on York: handy for King's Cross station

The interiors are identikit indie espresso bar, if that isn't an oxymoron: wooden floors and bar, neutral walls, industrial lighting, La Marzocco machine. I visited on one of the few recent sunny days and they had opened up the shop front so that you could perch on a stool on the pavement, which would be nice if York Way were a nicer street. There are more stools and places to perch at the back for those days when the weather is less clement. Oh, and unless I've miscalculated based on old Google StreetView images, the Brewhouse used to be an adult bookshop, but in King's Cross, this is hardly unusual.

Inside the Brewhouse

The coffee was, as I mentioned, good. They use the Brighton-based Small Batch Coffee Company, and my macchiato was rich and flavoursome. It was the barista's first day and she was struggling a little with the milk frother--I used to work in a coffee shop so I can sympathise--but her supervisor helped her get it right, chucking away a couple of inappropriately frothed jugfuls before an acceptable batch was produced. I appreciated the perfectionism and I'll definitely be back when they've had a bit more practice. In the meantime, you can also buy sandwiches, pastries and, if you're that way inclined, non-coffee beverages. To be honest, though, this place has been so long coming that it seems silly to order a different drink.

Macchiato at the Brewhouse

Brewhouse on York. 4 York Way, London, N1 (Tube: King's Cross). Twitter.

Glossybox July 2012: Glossy...Bex?

The July Glossybox arrived fairly late in the month, once again, and for the first time ever, I didn't get my box the day after it shipped. My boss received hers yesterday and I did wanted to go home and try out my products last night, but technically, it isn't late so I shouldn't complain too much. It feels like an even longer time since the last box than usual but I think that is just because last month's box was so mediocre. I like the HD Brows tweezers, but I wasn't a fan of the Glossybox brush or the BM Beauty bronzer and I thought the Vichy Dermablend foundation samples were too thick and cakey, and most were far too light for my yellow-toned, medium complexion.

But is this month's Glossybox, which contains a selection of essentials for the festival season, any better? Actually, yes! Here's what I got:

July 2012 Glossybox. Top: HD Brows palette, Elizabeth Arden samples.
 Bottom: Jelly Pong Pong lip frosting, Clynol shampoo, Monu
bronzing cream, Elizabeth Arden skin-balancing lotion.

1. HD Brows Eye & Brow Palette (full size). I think this was included in earlier Glossyboxes and as someone with very fair, faint eyebrows, I was sorry I had missed out. At the moment I use a Bobbi Brown eyebrow pencil in 'ash' but I'm looking forward to testing this out. £19.95

2. Clynol Salon Exclusive Enrich Colour Shampoo (50 ml). I don't have colour-treated hair but my hair is very fine and the ends become damaged very quickly, so this could work well, although the scent isn't that great. Shampoo and conditioner are two of the products I can never build up much of a backlog so I will definitely use this. £9.35 for the 300 ml full size.

3. Monu Golden Glow (30 ml). Apparently this is a moisturizing tanning treatment for the body and for the face. It comes in a scary yellow colour, not dissimilar to Clinique’s Dramatically Different moisturizer, and I’m a little fake-tan timid so I may have to test this out on my legs before I brave a facial application. £23 for the 200 ml full size.

My Glossybox products (and the Bexy bonus)

4. Jelly Pong Pong Lip Frosting (full size). This is a lip and cheek cream gloss. I got the Irish cream pavlova scent, which is a really pretty rosy, coral pink colour and the smell is gorgeous. I already have far too many lip products but I’m pleased with this. £10.

5. Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Skin Balancing Lotion SPF 15 (5 ml). I’m very excited to receive a moisturizer in my Glossybox that is oil free, suitable for combination skin and includes SPF—my top three most important traits of a moisturizer. £32 for the 50 ml full size (you can find it cheaper online).

Bonus product: Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference samples. There are tiny (2 ml) samples of the SPF moisturizer, an exfoliating cleanser and a skin serum, which I am looking forward to testing out.

This Bex W1X perfume came in my colleague's box, not mine.

Bonus product #2: Technically, this doesn't count because it came in my colleague's Glossybox not mine (she owed me for the false lashes I gifted her a few months ago), but I now have a sample of the W1X perfume by a brand called Bex Londoner. I don't really care what it smells like, but as a Londoner called Bex, I was very excited by the product. Incidentally, I do like the smell: it's musky and very slightly sweet, and probably my favourite of the perfume samples I've received in my Glossybox.

Total value of the products in this month's Glossybox: about £38.15. A lot of the samples were quite small this month, balanced out by the expensive full-size brow palette.

Overall rating: 4/5. This was the best box I've had for several months now. I like all of the products I received and am particularly excited to try out the HD Brows palette, the lip gloss and the moisturizer, but will use the other two products too.

As I mentioned previously, this will be my penultimate Glossybox; I have finally been able to redeem my GlossyDots and my free box will be coming next month. I have enjoyed receiving the boxes, but my bathroom shelves runneth over with beauty products and I need a time out. I will keep my eye on Glossybox and its US predecessor Birchbox, because I do think they are a clever, innovative service, and having watched a few videos with the Birchbox founders (this one on TechCrunch is informative), I am interested to see how the business plan will develop and the ways these types of monthly subscription services will continue to grow.

"You Don't Wanna Know What I Have To Do for Twenties"

I had hoped that going to see Steven Soderbergh's new film Magic Mike at the relatively refined Everyman cinema on Baker Street, rather than my local Odeon, would minimise the gaggles of giggling girls, especially on the sunniest Sunday afternoon in months. Sadly not. I guess movies where Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey spend a lot of time getting their kit off and shaking their thang are pretty equalizing in that way.

Tatum is the eponymous Mike, a 30-something stripper/entrepreneur who has been saving his tips for years so that he can start his own custom furniture design business. He dreams of a better life, you see. In the meantime, though, he can make several hundred bucks in the course of an hour and he kind of likes it working for Dallas (McConaughey), the owner and kingpin of their strip club. Then, working one of his day jobs, he meets Adam (Stevenage's finest, Alex Pettyfer), a 19-year-old college drop-out who is living with his sister (Cody Horn) and who doesn't want a job where he has to where a tie or really work very hard for more than a few hours a day. Adam is quite buff though so Mike recruits him on behalf of Dallas, and before long The Kid becomes one of the most popular acts in the club, much to the disapproval of Brooke, his sister. Naturally, Adam finds that stripping isn't all glamour and greenbacks, and Mike worries he is starting to lose his magic and, worse, starting to lose his taste for putting himself out there every weekend. But is there life after stripping? And if so, is it even worth living?

Don't worry. Magic Mike doesn't get all philosophical, not even in its final act. In fact, I often forgot I was watching a Steven Soderbergh film. I quite liked the movie and McConaughey, as everyone says, really steals the show as the vain, money-obsessed king of his seedy, underworld kingdom. And Tatum is OK, batting his eyelashes at Brooke, all, "hey, I might be a strippper, but I'm a good person." When he's not insulting her taste in furniture that is. Oh, the banter!

And that's part of my problem with the film: if it wasn't going to be making any deep and meaningful point, it could have done with a cleverer, sharper script. As it was, there were only a few chuckles from the audience and, let's face it, mainly during the stripping scenes. I like Soderbergh a lot and maybe I'm missing the point, but I felt Magic Mike either needed to be darker or funnier. Maybe hiring someone charismatic to play Mike--Mark Wahlberg, for example, although he's too old for the role now--would have worked better, because Tatum and his Mike just seemed to lack a lot of the magic we were told to expect.

Party Animals

These days there are very few tourist attractions that don't occasionally open their doors of an evening to a more adult crowd than they might get during the day. From sex at the Science Museum (learning about the science of sex, of course) to games at the V&A, London's museums have realised they can supplement their incomes by opening late a few nights a month or so. The same is true for London Zoo, which a couple of years ago started to hold Zoo Lates on Friday nights in the summer. From 6-10 pm you can check out the animals, get your face painted, enjoy a silent disco or a comedy set, or just chill out with a glass of Pimm's while the penguins devour their fishy supper.

I haven't been to London Zoo since I was about ten when I went to visit my adoptive tiger, which I was disappointed to discover was not my own personal tiger. Last night, I went to Lates for the first time with a group of friends and I would heartily recommend it, although now that I know the system a little more, I would quite like to go back again and do things a little differently.

Top: otters! Bottom: golden lion tamarin (l), happy turtle (r)

1. Get there early. The doors open at 6 pm and it's best to get there as soon as you can because the animals start going to bed and arriving early means you have more chance to see all of the creatures you want to see. Normally, most of the animals are "up" until 9.30, but for some reason, we couldn't go to see any of them after 9 pm. Everything else (i.e. the bars, the food stalls and the silent disco) remains open until 10 pm. Being in a big group slowed us down too, although I suppose we could have broken off into smaller groups.

2. Review the map and prioritise. London Zoo is really big and you probably won't have time to see everything. I missed out on the big cats and some of the apes, but we did get to see the penguins, meerkats, otters, the rainforest experience, the Africa section and the Komodo dragons. The others in my group wanted to spend a long time in the reptile house but although I quite like lizards and turtles, I won't even look at snakes, so I would much rather have gone to see the monkeys.

3. If you want to see the penguins being fed go to the 7.30 show and go early if you want to get a seat. The second show at 8.30 is more of an educational show, with all sorts of penguin trivia, which was a little disappointing (the show could have been better tailored for an adult audience) but we still got a good view of the penguins, and who doesn't love penguins?

4. Bring plenty of cash. I don't think there are cash points inside the zoo and the drinks are really expensive. £5 for a pint or £7.50 for a glass of Pimm's. There was a street food market inside (with many of my eat.st favourites), so you can get a meal for about £6. If the weather had been better, we would have brought a picnic, but we didn't want to risk it.

5. Get involved. I would have liked to have my face painted or to try out the silent disco but the queues were always long and it felt like we had so little time, I didn't want to miss out on any of the animals. Another time, I might focus on a few key animal groups and then enjoy the "festival" side of Lates a little more. Another time, hopefully, the weather will be better too; it wasn't too bad last night and only rained for 30 minutes or so, but it was a little chilly and not what you want for an evening in the open air.

The zoo crew

A Two-Trick Pony: Burger & Lobster Review

I've been wanting to check Burger & Lobster, W1's surf 'n' turf two-trick pony, since it opened in Mayfair last year. Somehow, though, I never made it, in part because I'm not in Mayfair very often. This week, a second branch opened on Dean Street in Soho (a third will open in Clerkenwell later in the year), and as it was BB's birthday yesterday, she, my NoMaRo buddy MM and I decided to go for dinner.

Some of the reviews of the original branch suggested we might be in for a long wait--naturally, B&L is one of the growing body of no-bookings eateries in central London--but we crossed our fingers and hoped that the Soho branch wouldn't be too busy early on a rainy Wednesday evening during its opening week. At 6.30, there were plenty of tables available but BB and I had to wait for MM at the bar because the staff won't seat you until your whole party has arrived (fair dos). It was only from about 7 pm that the restaurant really started filling up, and by the time we left at about 8.45, a lot of people were waiting by the bar. Despite some initial hurrying, the wait staff were pretty good at not rushing us, waiting a good 20 minutes after we had finished eating before politely asking us if we would mind moving on.

The bar (top) and booths (bottom) at Burger & Lobster 

As for the food, well, the options are almost as simple as at Le Relais de Venise. For £20, you can have a burger, a one-pound lobster or a lobster roll, all of which come with a generous portion of fries and a salad. The burger comes with cheese and bacon if you want it (I should think so too at £20) and the lobster comes either steamed or steamed-then-grilled and with a choice of butters. Larger, pricier lobsters are also available. Clearly, the lobster is the better-value dish, but regular readers will know that I'm a bit of a burger buff and as I was already fairly certain that I would be back, I decided to order the burger (medium rare with the cheese and bacon). My friends both went for the lobster.

B (top) and L (bottom)

The burger was really good. It was close to medium rare and very juicy and tasty; it was also really big and even though I left the bun, I was still very full when I had finished. The bacon was also crispy and flavoursome; the cheese tasted a little pre-packaged, and some good-quality cheddar would have been much better. The fries were nice, but nothing special, and the salad, complete with croutons was a nice touch. I only tried a small morsel of the lobster but my taste suggested it was worth a return visit to sample B&L's crustacean offering.

Dean Street Breeze (L) and a birthday cheesecake (R)

The cocktails are labelled either B or L (guess why), but I ordered an L cocktail, the Dean Street Breeze, to go with my B main course. Made from gin, mango, cucumber, lemon and soda, my cocktail was very fruity but not particularly strong. As it was a school night, I didn't really mind this, but I might object more for a £9.50 fruit-juice-with-a-slight-kick at the weekend. BB told the waiter it was her birthday and we were rewarded with a pudding with a candle in. They gave us an unbaked cheesecake, which was delicious, even though I was far too full even for one-third of a dessert by this point.

B&L feels like an American restaurant. With its oak tables, chic red leather booths, and sleek silver bar, it wouldn't be too out of place in the other SoHo or TriBeCa. Maybe as the word gets out, the wait time at B&L will get longer and longer, but to be honest, it was the best burger I've had in Soho--not in the whole of London--and where else in the city are you going to nab a pound of Canadian lobster with sides for £20?

Burger & Lobster. 36 Dean Street, London, W1D 4PS (Tube: Tottenham Court Road). Website. Twitter.

Grin and Bear It

It goes without saying that Seth MacFarlane's new film Ted is absurd. Where else are you going to see Sam Jones--in Flash Gordon gear--getting stoned at a talking teddy's party, Marky Mark duetting with Norah Jones in an attempt to win back his girlfriend having been too enamoured with said teddy, and Giovanni Ribisi as a bear-napper who likes to shake his booty to I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany? The cameos are well-placed and funny but none of these things would make MacFarlane's first live-action movie work without Mark Wahlberg's sweet but self-effacing performance as John the schlubby 35-year-old loser whose best friend is a talking teddy bear and who realises he has to get his act together before he loses his girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) for good.

As Ted opens, Patrick Stewart narrates the tale of a boy who has no friends and who makes a wish on Christmas Day that his teddy were real. Sure enough, Ted comes to life, to the pleasure of John and the shock of his parents. Ted (voiced and motion captured by MacFarlane) becomes famous and thanks to their shared love of Star Wars and Flash Gordon and shared fear of thunder, he and John remain firm friends. 25 years later and they are still living together in the apartment they share with Lori. John is in a dead-end job and Ted mainly sits around getting stoned all day, but after an incident with some hookers gets out of hand, Lori insists that they kick Ted out and force him to find a job and a place to live. They need some alone time, and Lori gives him one last chance to be a good boyfriend: he has to go with her to a party at the house of her rich, sleazy and comically arrogant boss (Joel McHale). Except Ted is having a house-warming party and a friend of his just happens to know Sam Jones (AKA Flash Gordon) and he's dying to meet John, so how can John possibly resist?

I haven't even got to the part about the evangelical Christian / childhood fan of Ted (Ribisi) and his even creepier son (Aedin Mincks) "and possibly lover," who have designs on Ted and want to take him back to their scary house full of rocking horses and TVs playing bad music videos from the 1980s on repeat. Or the part where Norah Jones (playing herself) talks about her previous one-night stand with Ted. I could go on...

I'm not the target audience of Ted and I wasn't sure I would like it; I went to see a free preview screening, and it's probably not something I would have paid to see. I haven't seen any of MacFarlane's other works and I was worried that the bulk of the jokes would be the ones in the trailer. It's probably true that most of the funniest jokes were in the trailer but there was a lot of LOLing from the audience throughout the movie, and not just from those audience members with a Y chromosome. Yes, there's a lot of guy humour, but I found myself laughing despite myself. Wahlberg is very likable and his interactions with MacFarlane's Ted are funny and endearing. Kunis, I thought, was a little weak; she usually seemed to wear an expression that suggested she had walked onto the wrong set. The plot, such as it is, was stretched a little thin over 1h45, but the quips do keep on coming, keeping the movie moving. Great art it ain't, but if you want something inane, insane and funny, you could do a lot worse than Ted.

Boutiques and Burritos: Saturday Afternoon in Dublin

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of independent boutiques in Dublin. I didn't have a huge amount of time to explore, but I did spend a few hours wandering around the central Grafton Street area and Temple Bar on Saturday afternoon. I made a beeline for Brown Thomas, Dublin's answer to Harvey Nicks, which I remembered from my days of Mulberry-lust on the Purse Forum. Brown Thomas is a chic, airy department store, with a good range of designer brands (including handbags), mid-range clothing brands and accessories, and make-up. Further down Grafton Street, on the corner of St Stephen's Green, is a big branch of TopShop. It felt a lot less frenetic than my local Oxford Circus branch and had a more carefully curated selection of products. I almost bought a dress but it was cheaper in the UK so I decided to wait until I got home.

Siopaella, Temple Bar

On the way to find good coffee, I happened upon a shop called Siopaella ("Ella's shop") on Temple Lane, which does "recycling and restyling." It's a tiny swap boutique/consignment store, with some really good high-end and upper-mid-range clothes and accessories. I've already mentioned the cool clothes and jewellery in Tamp & Stitch, and just over the road is a shop named Industry, which sells vintage, upcycled and new furniture and homewares. If I had had more room in my suitcase, I may well have spent more time there. Also on Essex Street East is Public Beware, which sells edgy, reasonably priced clothes in bold colours. If you're in the mood for something crafty, check out Exchange Dublin on the corner Exchange Street Upper and Essex Street West. They are there on the second Saturday of every month and you can find a range of local designers selling jewellery, accessories, cards and other gifts. There was another craft market on one of the pedestrianised streets in Temple Bar--either Cows Lane or Upper Exchange Street--with some lovely stalls. My favourite was Chupi, which sells gorgeous handmade jewellery, including necklaces with colourful stones and/or initial discs (38 Euros; you can find similar designs cheaper on Etsy, but it's nice to support a local designer).

Industry, Temple Bar

I've highlighted a few of my favourite espresso bars in Dublin, and at this point I would normally pick out a few dining choices, but I went to quite a few catered events during my trip, so I don't have many restaurants to review. I did enjoy Jo'Burger and I did discover that most of the interesting restaurants are located on Great Georges Street and Aungier Street. I also had pudding and a cocktail at 37 Dawson Street (I had already eaten dinner)--the cheesecake was pretty good, but the strawberry mojito was fairly average. The restaurant itself is very whimsical and quirky, but the service was a bit spotty. I would have liked to try the sliders as they looked tasty. Almost every local I spoke to recommended the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill and Fire, both on Dawson Street and both pretty pricey.

Street food, Dublin-style, at the farmers' market

On Saturday, I ate lunch at the farmers' market in Meeting House Square. eat.st it ain't but they had a few interesting stalls, including the Temple Oyster Bar. I kept things simple and had a chicken burrito. The burritos were pre-prepared and then just heated through (tut tut) but mine tasted good and was just spicy enough for my wussy tongue.

The (Dublin) Caffeine Chronicles

A good test of whether I will like a city is the presence of good independent espresso bars. My initial Google search for something along the lines of "Dublin + macchiato + coffee + bar + independent" turned up a New York-based blog post of my own, which was a little worrying.

But I did eventually happen across 3FE, which has two locations, one fairly near my hotel in the O'Connell Street area and one south of the Liffey on Lower Grand Canal Street. As the opening hours of the former didn't really fit well with my long conference days, I paid a visit to the latter at the end of my run on the first day. The cafe itself ticks all of my espresso bar boxes: cool, industrial vibe, good machine, and an interesting coffee menu (including various tasting menus). I was initially dubious when my double macchiato arrived with a lot of milk in it--I prefer mine with just a dash--but actually, it tasted great. I guess the coffee was just really good. 3FE also hosts the Irish Barista Champion from 2009, 2010 and 2012, so that probably helped.

3FE (top) and Cup (bottom)

Handily, 3FE had a little map on the back of its menu showing various other places in Dublin where you could drink Hasbean coffee. Adding these to the two or three other coffee bars I had found of my own accord meant I had an embarrassment of coffee purveyors to test out during my stay. Thanks to the conference, though, and a lot of the places not opening until 11 or 12 at the weekend, I only got the chance to visit two others.

The Dublin macchiato map, with some annotations from me

I went to Cup on Leinster Street South (near Trinity College) on Saturday morning before a meeting. I didn't have time to drink in, which was a shame because it looked like a cool place to hang out. The cakes also looked delicious. I ordered my usual double mac and the barista asked if I'd like to try their single-origin coffee; she didn't like it, she told me, but if I liked smooth, chocolatey coffees, I would probably enjoy it. Indeed, it was really tasty. Possibly the best macchiato of my stay.

Macchiato at 3FE (left) and Cup (right)

Finally, I paid a visit to Tamp & Stitch on Essex Street West (in Temple Bar) on Saturday afternoon. I had already had far too much caffeine by this point, but needed another hit to get me through to the evening. Tamp & Stitch is definitely the most innovative of the coffee bars I visited and basically, it has all of my favourite things: as well as serving good coffee, they also sell pretty clothes and jewellery. I sat talking to the owner and his friend for about an hour--they were really friendly (and it was the guy who recommended Jo'Burger to me) and told me how two years ago, it was really hard to find good espresso in Dublin but that it's finally started to take off. The owner trained at 3FE before starting his own place. It really is a lovely coffee shop and my macchiato was strong, rich and tasty, so I highly recommend it.

Tamp & Stitch. The clue's in the name, really.

I had hoped to go to The Art of Coffee this morning before heading to the airport, but the timings didn't work out; they apparently came first and second in the Irish Latte Art championships this year! Other places that will be on my list for next time are: Brother Hubbard (on Capel Street in Smithfield), Roasted Brown (upstairs in Filmbase, a resource centre for filmmakers in Temple Bar), and two coffee bars on Aungier Street (The Humble Bean and The Bald Barista).

3FE. 32-34 Lower Grand Canal Street, and 54 Middle Abbey Street. Website. Twitter.
Cup. 15 Leinster Street South. Website. Twitter.
Tamp & Stitch. Unit 3 Scarlet Row, Essex Street West, Temple Bar. Website. Twitter.

The Burger Bulletin: Jo'Burger

I've eaten fairly well in Dublin this week but I haven't really had much in the way of choice, dining-wise, so this evening I decided to find my own place to eat. Luckily, the owner of one of the independent coffee shops I visited earlier in the day (of which more to follow) recommended a place that sounded right up my street. It was a bit of a hike from the convention centre--well, three miles or so--and I thought I was about to reach the countryside when eventually I spotted Jo'Burger across the road.

Menu/reading matter at Jo'Burger

It was fairly busy but there was enough room for a little one at the long, cafeteria-style tables, and before long I was consulting my menu, which came inside a Tiger 1975 annual. As for the food, unsurprisingly, burgers feature prominently, although there are also salads. The choices are similar to Gourmet Burger Kitchen in many ways: you pick your meat first (I went for Irish beef) and then what, if anything you want on top. Extras like cheese and bacon cost either 1.50 or 2.50 Euros. I would have liked to have had a bacon and/or cheddar burger, but somehow, this did not feature in the long list of choices. Instead I went for the "pure" burger--just the burger, Jo'Burger relish and the bun (I had my salad on the side and my burger, as ever, medium rare). I also ordered some sweet potato chips, which were expensive at 4.95 Euros, but the portion was large enough for me to take half home for later.

Ginger lemonade, sweet potato fries & pure burger

The burger itself was very good--juicy, flavoursome and perfectly medium rare. I also ordered a ginger lemonade, which was great--ginger can often overpower other flavours but at Jo'Burger, you just get huge chunks of ginger in your lemonade, adding just enough of a gingery kick. At about 9 Euros even for the boring pure burger, fries not included, Jo'Burger isn't particularly cheap but the quality justifies the cost. 

Jo'Burger: worth the trek

The music was cool and the crowd was young and hip. No one seemed to be playing any of the board games that were available (then again, they may just have been boxes holding cutlery if the menus are anything to go by). The staff weren't especially friendly, but that's only compared to pretty much everyone else I've met in Dublin, all of whom have been helpful, chatty and interested. The location, on Lower Rathmines Road, is a bit of walk from the centre of town--20 minutes from Temple Bar, perhaps. But a bonus of this was that on the way back to my hotel, I discovered a whole load of interesting-looking restaurants and bars on Aungier Street and Great Georges Street. Now at least I'll know where to head next time I come to Dublin.

Jo'Burger. 137 Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin. Website. Twitter.

The Proverbial Piss-Up

I've been in Dublin for several days now but I still haven't seen much of the city, spending most of my time in sessions, press briefings and searching for wifi. Last night, though, there was a networking event organized for the meedja attending the conference and because this is Dublin, naturally the location was the Guinness brewery. I have been to Dublin a couple of times before but not since about 1996 and the only things I can remember are a) going to see The Woman in Black at the theatre and b) the tour of the Guinness factory. I didn't drink more than a sip of Guinness then and I wasn't tempted this time either.

Brewing the black stuff

First, we had a quick coach tour of the city, where the driver pointed out various science-related sites--St Patrick's Cathedral, for example, which is associated with Robert Boyle (he of the law) and his family. Then we had a quick wander through the museum section of the brewery before ending up in the Gravity Bar, which has an impressive 360 panorama over the city. Dublin is a small city and it's also quite low-rise, but the view was still pretty cool, especially as the sun went down and the lights came on; I was clearly concentrating so hard on the networking part that I forgot to take many photos. Luckily, wine was on offer for those of us who don't do Guinness, although the beef stew I had for dinner did have Guinness in, so I don't feel too bad. 

Dublin by night

My schedule eases off a little today and I'm hoping to visit some of the more interesting areas of town and to take in a few more independent espresso bars and maybe even a shop or two.

It's All Greek to Me: 10 Greek Street Review

At any given time, there are at least ten restaurants on the to-try section of my London Moleskine. Sometimes, a great new burger place will open and will have queue-jump the others, which have all been waiting patiently. 10 Greek Street in Soho is one such place. I spotted it a few months ago and thought it looked like an interesting place: low-key and casual but with a creative and thoughtful menu. I was finally able to try it out with The Ex last night and we had a great meal.

10 Greek Street on a Monday evening

I'm glad we looked at the menu outside before we came in because there are no food menus on the tables; instead the options are inscribed on the blackboards on the walls, but because 10 Greek Street is a fairly small restaurant, it isn't always possible to get a particularly good view of the menu. I had already narrowed my main course down to two choices: the whole lemon sole, samphire and shrimps, or if I could persuade The Ex to share it with me, the Welsh Black bavette, new potatoes and spring greens. We went for the latter, in the end, although the former was a popular choice and it did look very good. I was initially concerned that the waiter didn't ask how we would like the steak cooked, but he assured us it would come served medium-rare to rare, which was perfect. The potatoes and greens were tasty but it was the beef that was the centrepiece, of course. It was cooked perfectly and was really juicy and tender. A little hardcore, perhaps, for a Monday night in July, but then the weather was definitely more like October.

The bavette (for two) was really good

I wasn't quite tempted by any of the puddings--the panna cotta with summer berries probably would have been good--so we went to Gelupo in Archer street for a gelato instead. We did enjoy a couple of seasonally-inappropriate cocktails with our meal: The Ex had the Pimm's-like Sipsmith Summer Cup, and I had a bramble. Mine wasn't quite sweet enough for my taste and I preferred the other drink, but both were strong and well mixed.

Summer cocktails. Sunshine optional.

There was a lovely ambiance at 10 Greek Street, even on a rainy Monday evening. We arrived at about 6.30 and there were still a number of free tables, but by the time we left, the place was rammed. Naturally, they don't take bookings in the evenings, but you would probably be safe on a Monday or Tuesday evening, and if not, there are so many other great places on Greek, Frith and Dean Streets. Next on my list: Burger & Lobster's new Soho branch and then Duck Soup.

10 Greek Street. Er, 10 Greek Street, London, W1D 4DH (Tube: Tottenham Court Road). Website. Twitter.

The Parkour Knight Rises

I'm not exactly a comic book aficionada and I think the only previous Spider-Man adaptation I have seen previously is Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. It probably wasn't my choice of movie and I don't remember much about it other than it seemed like an entertaining enough summer blockbuster. However, I do rather like Andrew Garfield and so I have been looking forward to the release of The Amazing Spider-Man (not as much as The Dark Knight Rises, mind you).

I thought Andy Murray's doomed Wimbledon final would be a good time to visit my local Odeon, but there were just as many cinema-goers breaking Kermode and Mayo's code of conduct as usual, not helped by the fact that a long film (probably about 20 minutes too long, IMHO) means more bathroom and refreshment breaks. Nonetheless, I did really enjoy the appropriately named Marc Webb's new movie, which reveals the relatively ordinary, if sometimes sad, origins of Peter Parker (Garfield). His parents disappear when he is young, he isn't very popular at school and he keeps getting beaten up for daring to stick up for even less popular kids. Plus his would-be-girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) is dating one of the jock bullies. But he is very intelligent, he likes living with his aunt and uncle, and enjoys his photography and skateboarding, and life isn't completely awful.

Then one day, on a reccy to find out some more about his father's one-time partner and his biotech company, which is investigating the possibility of transplanting animal DNA into humans to cure all sorts of medical conditions, Peter gets bitten by a spider in the super-secret part of the lab and suddenly, he has super-spider-powers. Basically, he becomes really good at parkour, although his strength is also enhanced, complicating even simple tasks like squeezing toothpaste out of the tube and opening doors without breaking them. As for the silk shooting, a little bit of research on the web (tee hee) gives Peter the idea of creating a mechanism for firing extremely strong spider-inspired threads from a pouch on the gloves of his costume (which we also see evolving until he is happy with the signature red-and-blue lycra attire). Emboldened by his powers and his new costume, he goes into vigilante mode, putting both school bullies and would-be criminals in their place.

He doesn't count on his father's former partner Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) having less than ulterior motives. In particular, the lengths the latter will go to regrow his missing left arm. Nor does he realise that not everyone in  the city sees Spider-Man as a hero. The police chief, for example, who also happens to be Gwen's father, doesn't like the idea of being shown up by some amateur in a costume.

A lot of time is dedicated to Peter's past and his attempts to find out more about his parents' disappearance, which means there is less time for the tussles with the baddy(ies). This suits me fine, because I prefer my action movies to have enough plot and character development to convince me to sit through the action sequences. I am slightly biased but I thought Garfield was really good--he made a likable, funny and charismatic Peter Parker. I also liked the way Garfield played parts of his performance for laughs: Spidey is pretty slapstick as he discovers and gets used to his new powers. It made him a very human super-hero. As for Stone, she made a good heroine--she doesn't get anywhere near as much screentime as Garfield, but it's nice to see a 17-year-old girl who is presented as being pretty, popular, smart and good at science, and the chemistry between the two actors was great.

The most unrealistic thing in the movie, though, was the fact that Peter was using Bing to search online for costumes and his silk-shooting kit. Come on. Spider-Man would *never* use Bing. At least he didn't say, "hmm, super-strong spider silk? I'll just Bing it!" Oh, and could someone please cast Andrew Garfield in a film where he gets to be happy? Because after this, The Social Network, Never Let Me Go and Red Riding, having to watch his adorable sad face is making me sad.

Gone with the Wind

When I was in New York, everyone seemed to be reading Gillian Flynn's new novel Gone Girl. A quick skim of the back cover blurb was enough to tell me it was my kind of book, but I decided to wait until it became available in my local library. It turned out to be a real page-turner and I read it in a few short sessions.

On the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne's wife Amy disappears from their small Missouri town. The book examines what happens in the days that follow, as narrated by Nick, but we also get Amy's perspective--in the form of past diary entries, for example. It's hard to say too much more without spoiling the book, so if you plan to read it, look away now. I won't give away the ending or reveal too many of the plot points, but the book's structure and set-up is interesting and I plan to discuss it. Knowing this in advance could affect the way you read the book and your enjoyment of it.

OK. As I mentioned before, we get chapters from both Nick's and Amy's point of view. Nick seems shocked at his wife's disappearance but he never seems to act quite right--he does things that look guilty--and slowly we learn that the two people who seemed to be the perfect couple may not be as happy together as we initially thought. A beautiful, privileged New Yorker, Amy had trouble with men before meeting Nick, but then for a few years they lived the good life in Brooklyn; he was a journalist and she, the daughter of two psychologists, wrote personality quizzes for magazines. Then the recession hit and they both lost their jobs and their house and were forced to relocate to Nick's hometown, where he opens a bar with his twin sister Go. And Amy's diary entries, which start from around the time when she and Nick first met, paint a less than perfect picture of their new lives and their new relationship.

As the novel progresses, then, we like Nick less and less, while poor, sad Amy emerges as a tragic heroine. But around the halfway mark, there is a volte-face and suddenly we realise that everything we thought we knew about Amy and Nick is, at best, skewed, and at worst, an outright lie. If you like unreliable narrators--and I do--you will really enjoy Gone Girl. Nick's deceptions are perhaps less surprising, because he's trying to seem like a good guy. Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about this whole, incriminating part of my life, he mentions some 100 pages in. Somehow, though, diaries--especially the diaries of beautiful, sympathetic missing women--hold certain expectations of authenticity. After all, if you are the only person reading your diary, why wouldn't you be honest? It is a nice touch that the reader begins to discover how nothing is as it seems at the same moment as Nick does. Naturally, it makes him more likable.

There's a touch of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, a dash of Fatal Attraction and a hefty dose of Southern Noir to Gone Girl. It's a compelling, well-written manifesto of secrets, lies, love, hatred, and the difficulty of truly knowing another person. In some ways, it has the classic crime thriller structure--and maybe, to some extent, even the same structure of a romance, although not necessarily a happy one--but it is so much more interesting than the likes of Harlan Coben and Michael Connelly (which I also enjoy). Amy and Nick aren't always likable but they are engaging and I enjoyed the constant editing of their relationship, or what we thought we knew about their relationship. Read Gone Girl: it's really good and I think it will appeal to both men and women; just don't expect a very light-hearted read.