My Top Leaps of the Leap Year

When reviewing the thousands of photos I have taken in 2012, I was a little surprised by how few contenders there were for the top five leaps of the year. I managed not to appear in a single leap shot in my first trip to New York (too hot), my trip to Paris (too cold) or my trip to Istanbul (leap ennui, I think). Nonetheless, I did pick out my five favourite leaping photos of the year and they are as follows:

1. The Olympic leap. London, UK. The letters R, U and N in the Olympic Park were just too tempting for me to ignore, although it would have been better if they had used L, E, A and P, of course. If the triple-leap montage is cheating, the U shot is definitely the best.

The Olympic Park, London

2. The family leap (part I). The Shire, UK. I seem to do more leaping shots with my family than with anyone else these days, partly since I gave them the leaping bug. This was taken at a barbecue in The Shire this summer--and it didn't take that many shots to get all six of us airborne.

Keeping it in the family

3. The mise-en-abyme leap. Bristol, UK. You might think that Bristol wouldn't offer as many leaping opportunities as Paris or Istanbul, but the Mirror Ball in Millennium Square was perfect for a spot of meta-leaping.

Millennium Square, Bristol

4. The auto-leap. London, UK. On one of the three or so sunny weekends we had this summer, I went for coffee in Shoreditch and then walked down to Tower Bridge and back along the Thames to Westminster, via the roof at One New Change. As the rooftop was unexpectedly quiet, I got out my GorillaPod, set my self-timer and captured a few shots of myself in leap mode.

On the rooftop at One New Change

5. The family leap (part II). New York City, USA. We were going to do a group leap on Brooklyn Bridge on our Christmas Day walk, but the bridge was too crowded so we waited for The Mall in Central Park instead. We took quite a few photos and generated almost as many odd looks, but the results were pretty good. I did wish I had insisted that we used my camera, the settings of which I now know well how to adapt for leaping photos.

Christmas Day leap in Central Park

My Top Books of 2012

Although my commute, and therefore reading time, has doubled since I moved South of the River, I've read slightly fewer books this year than previous years, for much the same reasons I saw fewer films: moving house takes up a lot of time and so does being busy. I did, however, have some Evernote issues a few months ago, and I had to reconstruct my June, July and August books from memory; I think I remembered most of them, but I probably missed two or three. And one final disclaimer: two of the books on my list are from the Game of Thrones series and are so long they should count for at least two entries each.

And so to the top five; where I've reviewed the book previously on this blog, I've linked to my review.

1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This seems like an obvious choice and I'm slightly surprised to be picking it as my favourite book of the year, but it definitely belongs in my top five and I just enjoyed it more than the other four. Compelling and disarming, this is a great thriller, especially for anyone interested in unreliable narrators.

2. The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne. As I noted in my original review of this book, it combines the best bits of the better of Jodi Picoult's courtroom dramas and much darker works, such as We Need To Talk About Kevin. The protagonist, Daniel, is also a solicitor, which helps to satisfy my maybe-I-should-have-been-a-lawyer tendencies.

3. Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott. Another thriller set in the legal world, Every Contact Leaves a Trace is similar in some ways to The Guilty One, but it differs too. Alex is a thirty-something lawyer whose beloved wife Rachel is murdered brutally when they return to their old Oxford college. While trying to deal with his grief, Alex is soon drawn in to the mystery surrounding Rachel's death--and indeed her life. As Sean Bateman in Bret Easton Ellis's The Rules of Attraction puts it, "No one ever ever knows anyone." The truth in this story definitely has the potential to hurt.

4. You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik. A charismatic young teacher at an international school for privileged students in Paris finds himself falling for one of his female students. It's one of the oldest stories in the book, but Maksik's sharp and keenly observed prose, with the narration alternating among several key characters, made this book stand out for me.

5. A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks. It's unusual for me to rate short stories or even novellas so highly, but I've always been a sucker for Faulks and even though I didn't enjoy all five of these musings on the nature of being and existence--not in a Sartresque way, don't worry--I did like most of them and I also enjoyed them as a set piece. If you enjoy Faulks, and even if you don't, give A Possible Life a try--and don't be put off if you don't enjoy the first story.

Token non-fiction: John Lanchester's Whoops! Many books have claimed to be able to explain the recent financial crisis in a straightforward and even entertaining way, but this is the only one I've read that succeeds. Plus it's really short, which is always a bonus.

And here's the full list of books I read this year:

• The End of Everything — Megan Abbott
• The Family Fang — Kevin Wilson
• How To Lose Friends and Alienate People — Toby Young
• Anthropology of an American Girl — Hilary Thayer Hamann
• PopCo — Scarlett Thomas
• The City and the City — China Mieville
• How To Be an American Housewife — Margaret Dilloway
• American Tabloid — James Ellroy
• We Had It So Good — Linda Grant
• The Moment — Douglas Kennedy
• You Deserve Nothing — Alexander Maksik
• The Uncoupling — Meg Wolitzer
• Before I Go To Sleep — SJ Watson
• The Pleasures of Men — Kate Williams
• The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins
• The Paris Wife — Paula McLain
• The Reversal — Michael Connelly
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen — Paul Torday
• The Woman in Black — Susan Hill
• Catching Fire — Suzanne Collins
• Blue Monday — Nikki French
• Mockingjay — Suzanne Collins
• The Brass Verdict — Michael Connelly
• Lone Wolf — Jodi Picoult
• This Is Life — Dan Rhodes
• One Good Turn — Kate Atkinson
• The Scarecrow — Michael Connelly
• Phantom — Jo Nesbo
• Maine — J. Courtney Sullivan
• Hanging Hill — Mo Hayder
• Capital — John Lanchester
• Every Contact Leaves a Trace — Elanor Dymott
• The Dud Avocado — Elaine Dundy
• Whoops! — John Lanchester
• Mystic River — Dennis Lehane
• Academy X — Andrew Trees
• The Sins of the Father — Jeffrey Archer
• Waiting for Sunrise — William Boyd
• Never Mind — Edward St Aubyn
• The Final Judgment — Richard North Patterson
• Ape House — Sara Gruen
• Stranger Than Fiction — Michael Crick
• A Visit from the Goon Squad — Jennifer Egan
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close — Jonathan Foer
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks — Rebecca Skloot
• Empire Falls — Richard Russo
• Word Freak — Stefan Fatsis
• A Game of Thrones — George RR Martin
• Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn
• The Spire — Richard North Patterson
• Dare Me — Megan Abbott
• Eclipse — Richard North Patterson
• Fall From Grace — Richard North Patterson
• Bad News — Edward St Aubyn
• Next to Love — Ellen Feldman
• Battle Royale (manga) — Koushun Takami
• A Clash of Kings — George RR Martin
• My Last Duchess — Daisy Goodwin
• The Kingmaker's Daughter — Philippa Gregory
• A Son of the Circus — John Irving
• Landfall — Helen Gordon
• The Silence of the Lambs — Thomas Harris 
• A Clear and Present Danger — Tom Clancy
• Sweet Tooth — Ian McEwan
• The Leftovers — Tom Perrotta
• A Possible Life — Sebastian Faulks
• Tigers in Red Weather — Liza Klaussmann
• Telegraph Avenue — Michael Chabon
• Winter of the World - Ken Follett
• We Need To Talk about Kelvin — Marcus Chown
• Yes, You Cannes — Marie-Laurence de Rochefort
• Into the Abyss — Carol Shaben
• A History of Modern Britain — Andrew Marr
• Berlin Game — Len Deighton
• Mexico Set — Len Deighton
• London Match — Len Deighton
• The Life and Loves of a She-Devil — Fay Weldon
• Battle Royale — Koushun Takami
• The Tiger's Wife —  Téa Obreht
• The Language of Flowers — Vanessa Diffenbaugh
• The Lake of Dreams — Kim Edwards
• Ordinary Thunderstorms — William Boyd
• The Night Train to Lisbon — Pascal Mercier
• Miracle Cure — Harlan Coben
• Alex's Adventures in Numberland — Alex Bellos
• My Beautiful Genome — Lone Frank
• The Dinner — Herman Koch
• The Guilty One — Lisa Ballantyne
• Sacrilege — SJ Parris
• Bad Pharma — Ben Goldacre
• The Poisonwood Bible — Barbara Kingsolver
• Crash — JG Ballard
• The Hydrogen Sonata — Iain M. Banks
• Solar — Ian McEwan
• Perlmann's Silence — Pascal Mercier
• Perfect Match — Jodi Picoult
• Degree of Guilt — Richard North Patterson
• Protect and Defend — Richard North Patterson
• Paranormality — Richard Wiseman
• The Historian — Elizabeth Kostova

My Top Movies of 2012

I started off well on the movie-watching front this year--I think I'd already seen 12 films by the end of January, but in the past few months, a combination of moving house, getting settled and just being so damn busy, as well as the fact that there haven't been that many great films on, meant I tailed off towards the end and only ended up watching 73 new films in 2012. I've picked my top five, but unlike last year, it doesn't feel like a very good summary of this year in film, and even adding the runners up (Rust and Bone, The Hunger Games, Shadow Dancer, Killing Them Softly and Your Sister's Sister) doesn't make it much more satisfying. In any case, here are the five:

1. Café de Flore. Given that I almost didn't bother to take up my free ticket to see a preview of this film, it is perhaps surprising that it made my top five, but of all the movies I saw this year, Café de Flore is the one that stayed with me the longest. It is sad, beautiful, lyrical and compelling, with a very strong performance from Vanessa Paradis and a great soundtrack.

2. Argo. I was disappointed that there were so few "big" films on offer at this year's London Film Festival and that I pretty much had to choose Argo by default as my token gala screening, but I loved the film. It's clever and funny when it needs to be, but also poignant and utterly gripping. It doesn't even matter that Ben Affleck's acting is only fine when the rest of the cast is so talented and when he did a great job directing.

3. The Dark Knight Rises. OK, so I had to put one Tom Hardy film in this list and it clearly wasn't going to be This Means War and nor was I a big fan of Lawless. I'm still not convinced that this film was the best in Christopher Nolan's excellent trilogy, but it made a satisfying conclusion and even though I'm glad they won't be dragging out the franchise, part of me wants to see more of Nolan's Gotham. The DKR isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn good.

4. Martha Marcy May Marlene. Like Café de Flore, this film haunted me for a long time after it finished. Elizabeth Olsen is excellent as a troubled young woman who tries to return to "normal" after escaping a dangerous cult and its charismatic leader. Martha Marcy May Marlene is tense, terse, well-paced and chilling, and well worth a watch.

5. Looper. I enjoyed this movie a lot, but I didn't think it would make my top five. It doesn't really feel like a top-five kind of film, but after picking my five runners up, I realised that I enjoyed Rian Johnson's thought-provoking, mind-bending, time-travel caper more than any of the others. If you can handle the prosthetics needed to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like a younger Bruce Willis, you'll be rewarded with a sharp, observant human drama, which isn't without its plot holes, but which makes for hella entertaining viewing.

Other films I watched for the first time this year:

• A Tale of Two Cities (1958) (TV)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
• Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
• The Iron Lady
• The Client (TV)
• Margin Call
• Coriolanus
• J. Edgar
• Carnage
• Haywire
• Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Young Adult
• Chronicle
• This Means War
• Perfect Sense (DVD)
• The Woman in Black (2012)
• The Woman in the Fifth
• Man on a Ledge
• Safe House
• Laura
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
• When Harry Met Sally (DVD)
• Trishna
• We Bought a Zoo
• Fracture (DVD)
• Contraband
• The Hunger Games
• Dead Calm (DVD)
• Headhunters
• The Kid with a Bike
• Into the Abyss
• Cabin in the Woods
• Café de Flore
• Fever Pitch (DVD)
• The Dictator
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Two Days in New York
• Alien (DVD)
• Prometheus
• The Hoax (TV)
• A Royal Affair
• Your Sister's Sister
• Ordinary People (plane)
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• Ted
• Magic Mike
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Bourne Legacy
• Take This Waltz
• Shadow Dancer
• Lawless
• The Imposter
• The Bourne Supremacy (DVD)
• Anna Karenina
• Now Is Good
• On the Road
• Killing Them Softly
• Liberal Arts
• Looper
• Rust and Bone (De rouille et d'os)
• Argo
• Seven Psychopaths
• Battle Royale (DVD)
• Skyfall
• Peter's Friends (DVD)
• The Master
• The Life of Pi
• Christmas Vacation (DVD)
• A Christmas Story (DVD)
• Nativity! (DVD)
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Game Change (TV)
• Ruby Sparks (plane)

The NYC Caffeine Chronicles: Lucid Cafe & Birch Coffee

I'm back in rainy old England now after an enjoyable last day in New York, which involved more shopping, a manicure at Bloomie Nails, a final burger and a last-minute cocktail at Ning, the rooftop bar at the Penninsula Hotel, where we didn't have time to go the night before.

When I'm staying in Midtown, I don't usually get as much chance to check out new independent espresso bars as when I'm staying further south, but I did manage to visit two new places this trip. The first was Lucid Cafe in Midtown South (Lexington & East 38th St). My standards for coffee bars in Midtown tend to be less strict than in SoHo, NoHo or NoLIta, mainly because they still aren't that common and it's always useful to have a list of good places in your repertoire to avoid a trip to Starbucks or Au Bon Pain.

Lucid Cafe, Lexington Ave.

Lucid is a lovely, tiny coffee shop, with room for about six or seven people to drink in, plus a couple of seats on the pavement for warmer climes. While I was waiting for my coffee, a couple of Aussies told the baristas it was the best coffee they had ever had in New York. Six or seven years ago, that might have true for me, but there is so much competition now that I wouldn't go that far. My double macchiato was good though, and the cafe is a nice place to hang out; it will be a useful stop-off on one of my many walks from Midtown to the Flatiron District or SoHo.

Birch Coffee in the Flatiron District

The second coffee bar was Birch Coffee, tucked away inside the eccentric Gershwin Hotel on East 27th St, between Fifth and Madison. The macchiato I had here was excellent and Birch has more room to drink / eat in than Lucid, and a bigger food menu. The sandwiches and salads all looked good, but I only had room for a pumpkin, apple and walnut muffin. On the counter, there is a trivia question and I think you were supposed to put your tip in whichever of the two jars you thought answered the question, but I'd already but my buck in the 'Missouri' jar before reading the question. Regardless, it's a nice little touch, and again, the location, just north of Madison Square Park, is a useful one to know in an area that is only just starting to attract independent espresso bars.

Tisserie in Midtown

Finally, a bonus entry. Tisserie isn't really in the same class of coffee bar as the other two--it's more of a bakery with coffee--but the coffee is pretty good too. They use Stumptown coffee and while the macchiato was only fine-to-good, I enjoyed their cappuccino and mocha more. As their NYC branch was near our hotel, we went quite a few times, not least to pick up a delicious pastry for breakfast.

Lucid Cafe. 311 Lexington Ave @ 38 St (Midtown South).
Birch Coffee. 5 East 27 St bet. Fifth & Madison (Flatiron). Website. Twitter.
Tisserie. 870 Seventh Ave bet. 55 & 56 St (Midtown). Website. Twitter.

NYC: White Christmas (Almost)

Well, the forecasters have been predicting snow in New York on Boxing Day for over a week and they were right. We have had epic snow this afternoon. Luckily, we had already decided to do our Brooklyn Bridge walk yesterday when it was cold but gloriously sunny, with clear views over to the Statue of Liberty and far uptown.

This afternoon, we couldn't even see the tops of the buildings on Central Park South when standing by the Wollman Rink. We had planned to go ice skating but, given the blizzard, they were closing the rink down and, in any case, it wouldn't have been very pleasant. Stoically, we posed for a few photos instead and then headed back to the hotel, via a few shops.

This evening, we are going for a pre-dinner cocktail at Ning, the rooftop bar at the Peninsula (weather permitting), followed by Mexican food. A fun, if untraditional Boxing Day. A bit like yesterday, really, which wasn't your typical Christmas Day. When that means a delicious pizza for dinner at Trattoria dell'Arte, another family favourite, I'm hardly going to be complaining.

Although Central Park did look very pretty in the snow, I'm hoping normal weather service will resume for our last day in the city tomorrow, so that I can do some last-minute shopping without too much interruption.

NYC: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

After all these years of Cannes-style Christmas, involving a lot of chilling and a tiny bit of shopping, it's taking a little while to adjust to Manhattan's usual warp speed. I woke up early this morning and decided to walk down to Macy's—which had been open all night—via the Rockefeller Center for some brief photo-bombing of the Today Show and for a very good macchiato at Blue Bottle, which is a useful purveyor of fine coffee to know in the macchiato mediocrity of Midtown.

I didn't buy anything at Macy's but I did buy a couple of pairs of skinny jeans at American Eagle for $30 a pop, which meant a frog march back to the hotel to drop off my purchases before joining the family for our 10.30 date with the Top of the Rock. It was a good day for skyline views and we only conned a couple of people into taking a photo of us (with seven cameras).

We then zipped down to SoHo for lunch at Fanelli's, another Quisite family favourite. Instead of a burger I had a grilled chicken sandwich with pesto and roasted red peppers, which was delicious and helped to energise me for a final bout of gift shopping in SoHo. It wasn't too busy downtown—no more so than a normal Saturday, anyway—but I was still grateful for a caffeine break at Everyman Espresso's newish branch on West Broadway.

Then it was time to walk back to the hotel to finish wrapping presents. I stopped to take a few photos of the Empire State Building with its festive red and green lights, and made the mistake of thinking it would be fun to see the Times Square crowds and chaos. It wasn't; it was crazy. But I have now visited all of the shops of my list—and more—so I can focus on sight-seeing and culcha for a day or two. Until the shops call me again...

NYC: Christmas Eve Eve

Too tired for jet lag, I woke up at 7.30 this morning and promptly went for a brisk run in Central Park, followed by a much-needed coffee and bagel.

As we were all meeting back at the hotel at 1.30, there wasn't time to go to SoHo, so I went to Bloomingdales and then down Lexington Avenue, via a lovely coffee shop called Lucid (full review to follow), to Madison Square Park, where I enjoyed a delicious Shake Shack cheese burger. Yes, I can haz.

There was just time to do a brief bit of accessory shopping in Kate Spade and some more gift buying, before I met the others at our hotel, ready for our 2 pm date with Carnegie Hall. More specifically, to see a performance of Handel's Messiah (unabridged). I actually sang this in the Oxford town hall as part of my school's 125th birthday celebrations, some 17 years ago, but I only remember the Hallelujah Chorus. Today's performance was good, if a bit long for a philistine like me. I was a little disappointed that they didn't bring out Jeff Buckley or even Leonard Cohen during the aforementioned Chorus. The venue was very impressive, anyway.

There was a little time for some pre-prandial shopping, so I went to Lululemon to pick up some new running togs, and then to the Christmas market near Columbus Circle. Dinner at Bar Americain, a Quisite family favourite, was also lovely. This trip was the first meeting of my family and the Bro's in-laws, and the purpose of dinner this evening was to celebrate the wedding of The Bro and The SIL, almost ten months ago. I had a delicious pumpkin soup with cinnamon and pomegranate seeds to start, followed by a spicy smoked chicken. I was far too full for pudding, especially as my first choice would have been the pumpkin bread pudding with maple and pecan ice cream—a little too similar to my starter.

So, with a run in the park, a good macchiato, a great burger, a little shopping, some culcha and a lovely celebratory dinner, today was pretty darn good. It's a shame I'm so tired or I could now head to one of the many stores that are staying open until 6 pm tomorrow. They take their Christmas shopping seriously here, you see...

NYC: Christmanhattan

It's been a very long day and I'm pretty beat but I don't care because I'm in New York City with my family for Christmas. Our flight was mostly uneventful (apart from the stomach-churning descent) but due to the pilot parking 12 inches away from the jetty (or something), we had to sit on the plane at the terminal for an hour. Nonetheless, I was shopping by 4.30 pm local time, so not a bad run.

It's been nine years since my last New York Noël and I'd forgotten how insanely busy the Rockefeller Center gets at this time of year. The tree was so pretty, though, and it didn't hurt that J. Crew is right next door. They were also doing 30% off everything, including sale items, which meant I got a pretty pink alpaca cardigan with jewelled buttons for about $35 instead of the $72 full price. I also picked up a turquoise v-neck and a pink bangle, and I'm sure I'll be back before this trip is over.

I then battled the crowds of Fifth Avenue to pay a quick visit to Henri Bendel. I really started to get into the mood with the bells of St Thomas's ringing, the smell of roasting chestnuts and that refreshing chill in the air. I didn't have much time to unpack before we met up with The Bro's in-laws and then went for a quick dinner at The Burger Joint, tucked away behind the red curtain in the lobby of the Parker Meridien, one of my favourite burgers in the city. There wasn't much of a queue and it suited us very well tonight.

Now it's time to get some sleep so I'm ready for my first full day in the city.

Bex's 2012 London Food and Drink Awards

I've just spent the past few days updating my New York Moleskine city guide for my upcoming trip and as such, my head is full of old and new Manhattan rather than London eateries. Nonetheless, I've managed to put together my list of London food and drink favourites for 2012. Like last year, these places didn't all open in 2012, but I did visit them for the first time this year.

1. Best new macchiato: Prufrock (Farringdon).
2012 has been a good year for meritable macchiatos in London and it was quite difficult to pick my favourite new discovery of the year. In the end, though, I went with the place I put at the top of my updated map of my favourite independent espresso bars in the city: Prufrock. Although it's a bit of push to get there and back on a lunch break and fit in lunch too, I make the effort fairly often, sometimes just to get some ground coffee for my Aeropress. Knowledgeable baristas, a great macchiato, a cool place to hang out, and cute bunny stickers. What more does a girl need?
Runner up: Shoreditch Grind

Prufrock's macchiato + brownie bite

2. Best new brunch: Village East (Bermondsey)
I haven't had much time for brunch this year, what with the flat hunt and subsequent move. It isn't by default, however, that Village East, one of my new locals, takes the prize in this category. From pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, to eggs numerous ways and sweetcorn fritters, Village East has more than just the usual brunch suspects. If it's more -unch o'clock than br- o'clock, you can also order a burger, chicken sandwich or fish and chips. Oh, and the juices and coffee are good too. Booking is advised.
Runner up: The Table Cafe

3. Best new street food: Maltby Street Market (Bermondsey)
Even though, it has since had a rebrand, changing its name and some of its vendors, I would have liked to have chosen the street-food market formerly known as eat.st (now Kerb Food) as the winner again, but I thought that was probably cheating. Instead, I've picked Borough Market's cooler, quieter little sister, which is, happily, even closer to chez moi than Borough. The little corner of Bermondsey underneath the railway tracks is home to the warehouses/wholesale units of a whole host of small food and drink producers and on Saturdays--and, increasingly, Sundays--they open up to retail customers. A lot of the produce is to be taken home to prepare, but you can definitely enjoy a good street-food meal on the go, from sandwiches and pastries to cakes and ice creams.
Runner up: Leather Lane Market (especially Daddy Donkey burrito truck)

Classy cocktails at Nightjar

4. Best new cocktail: Nightjar (Shoreditch)
Nightjar had been on my cocktail wishlist for a long time before I finally had the chance to visit a few months ago. Being of the secret speakeasy genre of cocktail bars, it is hardly surprising that it is tucked underground only stumbling distance from the glamour vacuum that is the Old Street roundabout. With a cocktail menu that takes a good ten minutes to read from cover to cover, full of creative cocktails, which come expertly mixed and beautifully presented. A marvellous place to get merry.
Runner up: Callooh Callay

5. Best new burger: Tommi's Burger Joint (Marylebone)
2012 was the year when London finally got into the whole proper burger trend. Just when Marylebone finally got a cool but chilled-out place to grab an excellent burger, I only had to go and move south of the river... Tommi's opened just in time to raise my spirits after a lengthy Paralympics ticket queuing experience and I've been back several times. 'Best burger' is usually one of the most closely fought contests in my food and drink awards, and Tommi and his Icelandic chums beat out competition from maybe five or six other great new burger purveyors, including the runner up.
Runner up: Burger and Lobster

Tommi's: no fuss, just a great burger

6. Best new restaurant: Hawksmoor (Spitalfields, and others)
Hawksmoor was another example of a place I'd been meaning to check out for a long time before I enjoyed their delicious fillet steak at the Spitalfields branch. Within two months, I'd already been back to the newly opened Air Street branch, just off Regent Street. The food was great at both, but the former is probably better for a more traditional, Mad Men vibe, whereas the latter (which has more fish on the menu) is a more elegant venue. The cocktail menu is excellent, and what gave Hawksmoor the edge was the peanut butter shortbread pudding. Apparently I can't resist a peanut butter pudding even after 300g of beef!
Runner up: Pitt Cue Co

The Caffeine Chronicles: The CoffeeWorks Project (CLOSED)

UPDATE: Sadly, Coffee Works Project has now closed permanently.

I read about a new independent coffee shop in Islington in Time Out a few months ago, but although Islington is easily within lunchtime-reach of my office, somehow, I only got round to checking it out this week. As the Time Out review mentions, Islington has a lot of nice cafes, bakeries and restaurants but there is a surprising dearth of purveyors of fine coffee.

The CoffeeWorks Project, Islington

Tucked away, just off Upper Street, on Islington High Street, The CoffeeWorks Project seeks to fill this void, offering a range of coffee drinks (including a couple of different filter coffee blends), and a small selection of sandwiches, salads and even custom cheese-boards from their deli. It's always a good sign when the barista asks how you like your macchiato, and mine came with a dash of milk and a splash of foam, as requested.

Too many of the sandwiches du jour contained courgettes, so I ordered the sun-dried tomato pasta salad, which was really tasty and about the right size for lunch. When supplemented with a brownie or a cookie, of course! The coffee was very good too, although I made the mistake of eating the salad first, leaving the coffee section of my taste buds feeling slightly overwhelmed.

The CoffeeWorks Project macchiato

With its simple wood-heavy decor, CoffeeWorks is also a lovely place to hang out. The window seats are good for watching the denizens of Islington go about their lunchtime lives, but there are proper tables inside too. It makes a calm, chilled-out respite from the hurly-burly of Upper Street, and I'll definitely back for more macchiatos and to check out the non-courgette sandwiches.

The Coffee Works Project. 96-98 Islington High Street, London, N1 8EG (Tube: Angel). Website. Twitter.

Chasing Rainbows: Rainbo Review

Eating my way around London, with all of the new restaurants, street-food markets and pop-ups that keep popping up, may be a task that is just a tiny bit too Sisyphean. Eating my way around Kerb, on the other hand, is somewhat more achievable. The only trouble is that I enjoy the food from some of the vendors--Bleecker Street Burger, The Bowler and The Ribman in particular--so much that I don't end up trying new things.

The Rainbo Tour @ Kerb

Yesterday, though, the King's Cross market was on the petite size, and with a choice of only Horn OK Please and Rainbo, I went for the purveyors of homemade Japanese gyoza dumplings. That would be Rainbo. The menu today was quite simple; it was: how many chicken and coriander gyoza do you want? Actually, I went for the Rainbo Combo, which included six gyoza, crunchy Asian salad with caramelized chilli peanuts and edamame beans with Maldon salt. All of this filled up a standard street food cardbox takeaway box. Not bad for £6, and I could at least fool myself that I was being healthy.

The colourful Rainbo menu

The gyoza were pretty tasty. It might have been nice to be able to try a second flavour, but then again, I don't like the other two options listed on their website. I can take or leave edamame; I like the beans, but I feel the enjoyment-effort ratio is a little off. These tasted good with the Maldon salt, though. I really liked the salad--there's nothing like some caramelized chilli peanuts to make a grated carrot and red cabbage salad a whole lot more interesting! Although the combo didn't feature every colour of the rainbow, it came pretty close. And because you have to eat everything with chopsticks, it means you eat more slowly and get full more quickly.

The Rainbo Combo

If you want a proper lunch, the Rainbo Combo is the way to go, but splitting eight gyoza between two people as a starter could also work. And on those days where I feel I need to eat something a little less meat-heavy, Rainbo could be a good alternative to Bleecker Street Burger et al.

Rainbo @ Kerb Food (Tube: King's Cross) and elsewhere
. Website. Twitter.

Striking While the Iron's Hot: Flat Iron Review

What do you get if you cross the menu of Le Relais de Venise and the ambiance and attitude of the Polpo empire? Probably something rather like Flat Iron, which just opened, down the road from Polpo in Soho. Flat Iron popped up at the Owl & Pussycat pub in Shoreditch over the summer, and I thought I'd missed my chance, but fortunately, they found a place to call their own in Beak Street and I was able to check it out earlier in the week. I forgot to take my camera with me, so please excuse the dark photos; Flat Iron is too cool for iPhone-friendly lighting.

Flat Iron's unassuming Beak Street façade

Flat Iron is no-reservations, of course, and we arrived at about six-thirty, concerned about potential queues (although not too concerned as the downstairs cocktail bar is supposed to be a lovely place to wait), but we got a table for two right away. The staff were friendly and efficient, if a little first month-y. A water glass exploded over our feet, for example. "All part of the theatre," one of the waiters said. The decor is reminiscent of Polpo and its ilk, all exposed brick walls and carefully distressed, oversized lamps that hang from the ceiling.

Flat Iron's minimalist chic

We were given a mug of--tasty--popcorn to nibble on while we perused the menu, but this didn't take long, because as at the Relais de Venise, the menu is essentially, "how would you like your steak cooked?" Actually, it's slightly more complicated because only a small side salad is included and if you want chips or a sauce, you pay a little extra. When the no-frills steak costs only £10, you don't really mind paying £2.50 for chips or £1 for sauce. And when I say no-frills, the steak was delicious. It came perfectly medium rare, as ordered, and was as juicy and flavoursome as at the RdV, despite being half the price. The side salad was quite petite and came in a cute little glass, and the chips were tasty, although perhaps slightly too salty. But the steak is the reason you go to Flat Iron. Well, and because it's cool.

Medium-rare steak, Béarnaise sauce, chips and mini-salad

Given the downstairs cocktail bar, I thought I might be able to order a cocktail to go with my meal, as I didn't feel like wine, but at these early stages of Flat Iron's reincarnation, this sounded like it was going to be too complicated, so I ordered a pink lemonade instead. A few craft beers, including Shoreditch Blonde, are also available. We were too full for pudding, which was probably lucky as I don't think they are doing any yet.

Flat Iron. 17 Beak Street, London, W1F 9RW (Tube: Oxford Circus). Website. Twitter.

Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

Years ago, a band called The Supernaturals had a hit with a song called Smile, whose lyrics suited my pessimistic realistic teenage self perfectly. The Ex, more cynical perhaps even than me, adopted, "sarcasm in my smile," as his MSN Messenger moniker for most of our time at university. The song opens with the line, "Every silver lining has a cloud," and this is somewhat appropriate for the new David O. Russell movie, Silver Linings Playbook, which I finally saw today. But there are more clouds than silver linings in the film and the silver linings we do get are so predictable, you can't help but wonder why you needed to sit in the cinema for two hours to reach that point.

That isn't to say I didn't like Silver Linings Playbook; I just don't think that of all the films that have been released this year and those that will be released in time for next year's Oscars this one would come close to making my shortlist. Despite having been too busy to go to the cinema very often of late, I did think I would see Silver Linings Playbook and so I tried to avoid reading or listening to any reviews of the film. I did see the trailer, though, and I found it somewhat misleading, because it included pretty much all of the film's witty/funny lines. It's not an especially funny film, though, and it's certainly not a banter-tastic rom-com.

Pat (Bradley Cooper) has just been released from a mental institution where he was sent, we learn, for beating the crap out of his wife Nikki's lover after catching them in flagrante delicto in the shower. He tells his mother Dolores (Jacki Weaver) and his father Pat Sr (Robert De Niro), to whose care he is entrusted, that he's much better and doesn't need to take his meds or go to therapy. Instead, he wants to get into shape and to read all of the books on Nikki's teaching syllabus so that he can persuade her he is ready to be together with her again. Pat Sr has some mental health issues of his own and his obsessive-compulsive behaviour and his relationship with football and with gambling often parallels Pat Jr's relationship with Nikki (Pat Sr isn't allowed within 500 yards of the football stadium; Pat Jr can't go within 500 yards of Nikki).

Through friends, Pat Jr meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a young widow and self-defined "former slut." After the death of her husband, she lost her job for "sleeping with everyone" at her office and, like Pat, she is lonely, sad and probably in need of therapy. There is chemistry between the two of them, but Pat insists that he is still married and that he won't rest until he has won Nikki back. The will-they-won't-they bits are, again, highlighted heavily in the trailer, but we don't meet Tiffany until a good 25 minutes into the film and the movie is very much about Pat and his life, of which Tiffany happens to have a part.

Tiffany occasionally sees Nikki, however, and offers to give her a letter from Pat, but in return, she wants him to be her partner at a big dance contest a few weeks' later. Again, the trailer makes you think this is the main point of the movie, but it's just one small part of it, albeit a fairly integral one. And it does all come to a head at the contest when, thanks to parlay made by Pat Sr, the performance of Pat Jr and Tiffany becomes crucial for the financial security of Pat and his family. Oh, and just complicate matters, Nikki shows up too, just in case there wasn't enough pressure on our heroes. But will Pat ever manage to find one of those elusive silver linings discussed during his therapy sessions or is he doomed to destroy all of the relationships he builds? Well, you'll just have to watch the film to find out.

I thought the topic matter of Silver Linings Playbook was interesting and the mental health issues were handled sensitively. I thought Jennifer Lawrence was good--although not exactly Winter's Bone standard. DeNiro and Weaver made a good pair as the troubled father and his long-suffering wife, and Cooper was fine as Pat Jr. Apparently, Mark Wahlberg was originally cast in the lead role, and I can't help but wonder if I would have enjoyed it more with that casting choice; then again, Pat Jr is hardly supposed to be a particularly likable character, although I think by the end he is supposed to grow on you. It's just a shame that Silver Linings Playbook didn't grow on me a little more...