Antico Antics

Update (January 2018): Antico has now closed, but in its place is lovely pasta-and-wine restaurant Flour & Grape. 214, the downstairs gin bar, is still open and remains one of my favourite bars in London.

Well, I've been back in the UK for over a week now, so it's probably time for me to start blogging about London again. Last night, I went for dinner with my family to Antico, which hugs the southern corner of Bermondsey Street at the junction with Long Lane. I've enjoyed numerous cocktails at Antico's basement gin joint, 214, but hadn't eaten at the restaurant before. To be fair, it takes a while to work through all of Bermondsey Street's good restaurants, even if you're a local like me.

We booked through OpenTable, which was offering 25% off if you have at least two courses and sit down to eat between 6 and 7 pm, which sounded like a good deal. Although the restaurant was relatively quiet when we arrived at 6.30, by the time we left, the place was bustling and with only a few spare tables. It's always a good idea to book a table if you're eating on Bermondsey Street on a week night.

I was pleased to discover that I could order from the cocktail menu at 214. Unfortunately, they didn't have a crucial ingredient in the SE1 Sour I wanted, so I had a Bramble instead — not really much of a sacrifice, especially when it looked so pretty in pink in its highball glass. If you get the chance, do go downstairs for a drink or two in the bar. They have the most amazing gin collection and the gin flights are particularly good.

Antico's menu is modern Italian, mainly simple but well thought out pasta and meat dishes. Starters aren't usually my favourite course, but here I was torn between three. In the end, the prawn fritti with chilli won out and they were really tasty. Not quite as good as the numerous prawn tempura I consumed in Japan, but with fresh, succulent fish and a nice crispy batter. I could just as easily have had the burrata salad, though, or even the carpaccio of beef.

Although I was tempted by the slow-roasted pork shoulder tortelloni (I tried one of my mum's and it was delicious), my brother and I shared the forerib of beef, a great hunk of meat that was juicy and flavoursome and perfectly medium rare. It came with a very small rocket salad, some hunks of parmesan and a salsa verde but no carbs. With hindsight, we might have ordered some potatoes, although we certainly weren't short of food.

When pudding o'clock (my favourite time) rolled around, we were all pretty full but somehow found room for a third course. I couldn't resist the chocolate, hazelnut and almond cake, which was moist and rich. Best of all, it was served with chocolate popping candy on top, which gave it an unexpected and delightful sensation. The others had lemon tarts and a berry panna cotta, all of which looked great.

Antico might get less attention than some of its newer neighbours, but the food is great, the service friendly and the vibe somehow bustling but laid-back. In other words, a great little neighbourhood Italian restaurant. And did I mention the gin speakeasy in the basement?!

Antico. 214 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3TQ (Tube: Borough or London Bridge). Website. Twitter.

How To Spend 10 Days in Japan: Itinerary & Travel Guide

I started planning my trip to Japan almost a year ago and booked my flights during BA's Christmas sale, but I only really got down to fleshing out the details a couple of months before I left. I booked only a ten-day trip because I was worried it was going to be very expensive, but it was a lot more affordable than I expected, especially outside Tokyo. 

My Japan Shopping Tips

Part of the reason I took a slightly bigger than cabin-approved suitcase to Japan was so that I could indulge in a little retail therapy if the mood took me. I was particularly looking forward to a) the stationery and b) the weird and wonderful 'only in Japan' type items. Here are a few of my favourite places.

The Japan Caffeine Chronicles: Tokyo, Kyoto & Miyajima

Make no mistake: Japan is a tea country, and when coffee is available, it's often served iced. However, coffee fans shouldn't despair because it is possible to find places that serve good specialty coffee coffee, even in the unlikeliest of locations. It's all about the research, and I did a fair amount so you don't have to!

Miyajima & Tokyo: Ittekimasu, Nihon!

It was a lovely experience to spend Saturday night in a traditional Japanese ryokan, Ryoso Kawaguchi, although the noisy Spanish group in the next room seemed to be ignorant of how well sound travels through such thin walls. Yesterday morning, I rose early and went out in search of coffee, this time visiting Cafe Sarasvati, just down the road from my ryokan. 

Hiroshima & Miyajima: Miyajima, Mon Amour

It was another early start this morning so that I could spend half the day in Hiroshima — just two hours from Kyoto by bullet train — before taking the ferry to Miyajima, where I am spending the night. My biggest concern of the day — of the trip, in fact — was that there weren't going to be any big lockers available at Hiroshima station and that I would have to drag my suitcase around the city and onto the ferry. I shouldn't have worried; there were plenty on platform 1, from which the train to Miyajimaguchi leaves.

Kyoto: Golden Pavilions and Red-Bottomed Monkeys

Last night, I decided to go for a stroll around Gion and was surprised to find that the Chion-in temple I visited on Wednesday was all lit up, giving the black, white and red exteriors a glowing, golden effect. It was very pretty, especially given that the moon was full (or almost) and that the heaving daytime crowds had long since departed.

The Kyoto Protocol

No, this post isn't about climate change (I get enough of that in my day job). The real Kyoto protocol is simple: always carry an umbrella. It rains a lot here, especially at this time of year, and today the heavens opened for the first time of my trip.

Kyoto: What's the Story, Vermillion Torii?

This morning I caught the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and it was quite the experience. With a JR Pass, you get free seat reservations so I booked a seat last night just in case the train was busy. There weren't any window seats left in the reserved cars, so I arrived early and nabbed my window seat in an unreserved car instead. I was paranoid they would find out and tell me off (this being the land of rules), but it was fine and there were great views of the countryside, although the views of Mount Fuji were distinctly mediocre after yesterday.

Hakone High Jinks and Fujisan Fun

As I was about to leave my hotel room this morning, there was a huge — to my British mind — wobbling. For a split second, I thought I had some rowdy upstairs neighbours but when I got back to the wifi this evening, I confirmed that it was a brief 5.0 earthquake. Just what you want when you're heading off to explore a volcanic region!

Tokyo A-fish-onada

I wanted a proper 10k run this morning and by the time I was back, changed and caffeinated (thank you, V60!) it was almost 10.30. Before my trip, I was dead set on queuing up at the Tsukiji fish market at 5 am to try to get a place to watch the daily fish auction, but I think the early start is better suited to people with jetlag. But you can go down to the wholesalers' market between 9 and 11 am (or 11.15, in my case) to watch the hard-won fish being prepared. Although you would probably see more action earlier on, going late didn't work out too badly. It was less busy, for one thing, and I still enjoyed the experience.

Tokyo Part II: Culture, Coffee and Shopping

This morning, I woke up early and ran two laps of the lovely Imperial Palace gardens, 10k in total. I might have been faster had I not had to carry my empty coffee cup most of the way due to the lack of bins. In any case, the long list of running path rules, included "do not run too fast," so it was probably for the best. I was also pleased to discover, near my hotel the Hanzomon runners' satellite, which offers coffee, snacks, running kit, showers and lockers. A very nice idea. The coffee was mediocre but at least it wasn't tea.

Hello, Tokyo

After a long flight, where I managed to sleep reasonably well, I made it to Tokyo's Narita airport this morning. Immigration was a little lengthy, and when they take your photo for security reasons, the little monitor gives yo the impression that you will be superimposed over a manga background. I was picked up at the airport by a family friend, so I didn't have to get to grips with public transport. In fact, I arrived at my hotel too early to check in, so I changed, reorganised my daybag and headed out into the sunshine.

Kyō watashi wa Nihon ni ikimasu

Yes, that's right: I'm going to Japan today. Although I have a few other travel plans in the pipeline, this trip will be my main adventure for the year and I can't wait. Japan has been on my travel to-do list for a while, and I'm looking forward to the food, the shopping and, of course, the culture that is Japan. I'll be spending a few days in Tokyo before exploring other parts of the country and wifi-permitting, I'll be blogging about some of my experiences along the way.

Although I could probably pack everything I need in my cabin-size Samsonite case, I was worried about the amount of retail therapy I would do (hello, Mr 12-storey Uniqlo; hello, amazing stationery stores), so I'm taking my slightly bigger but super-light Antler Revelation case, which worked out very well for my trip to Costa Rica last year. I'm also bringing my go-to holiday handbag — my medium Longchamp Le Pliage in slate grey — and a crossbody brushed leather bag I picked up on sale in Madewell in New York earlier this year, which functions as either a smaller handbag or as a carry case for my DLSR and spare lens.

I haven't flown this far west in over a decade and the east-bound jetlag will probably feel weird. But I'm hoping that the sights and sounds of Tokyo will be enough to tire me out and get me acclimatised pretty quickly. And of course, my inner linguist insisted that I learn some basic spoken Japanese. I feel like I have a fair grasp of the basic grammar, but am sorely lacking in vocabulary. With its three scripts, I didn't even bother with the written language, but I'm sure I'll manage.

Frankly Speaking

Lenny Abrahamson's new film Frank, based on Jon Ronson's memoir of the same name about the life of musician Frank Sidebottom, is one of those movies I probably wouldn't have got round to seeing if I hadn't gone to a free preview screening. I'm glad I did, though, because its brand of quirky tragicomedy made for some interesting and entertaining viewing. I didn't realise the film, which was co-written by Ronson, was loosely based by Ronson's own experiences as a keyboardist in Sidebottom's band in the late 1980s. In fact, I went into the film knowing almost nothing about it, but that didn't really detract from my enjoyment.

The action is transposed to the present-day, as evidenced by the occasional tweets and Tumblr posts that pop up on the screen, and as the film opens, we meet Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), who works a boring office job but dreams of being a musician. On the beach in his sleepy seaside town, he sees an intriguing band, who are playing a gig there that evening and whose keyboardist is trying to drown himself. Jon offers his keyboard playing services and joins the band for what he thinks will be one gig, but ends up being a year in a cabin in a remote corner of Ireland, as they set out to record an album.

All of the band members seem to have various issues. Don (Scoot McNairy), the manager, is often pensive and talks of the time he spent in a mental hospital. Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal) the theremin player, is a real firecracker and constantly lays into Jon ("stay away from my f*cking theremin!"). François Civil and Carla Azar play two further band members, dark-haired and sullen, and with a tendency to grumble in French and to maintain a stony silence, respectively. Finally, there is the mysterious lead singer Frank (Michael Fassbender), who never takes off the giant, cartoonish papier-mâché head he wears.

Jon takes a shine to Frank and envies the latter's musical talent, but he also wants to see the band — and himself — succeed, and this soon starts to worsen the tensions within the band. The rest of them just want to make what they deem to be great music and to say that their music is experimental is seriously underselling it. They make their own instruments and record various sounds of nature. Yet nine months later and they still haven't recorded any music. Jon, whose nest egg is paying the rent on the cabin, has built up a strong Twitter and YouTube following of the band, attracting the interest of SXSW and bringing the band to a critical turning point: should they continue to make the music they want to make, or should they pursue commercial success?

The movie is really about the characters in the band, though, especially Frank, his history, his issues, and his relationship with the other band members. Fassbender's performance is quite subtle, which may be a product of the fact that we can hardly hear his muffled voice and his face remains hidden for most of the film. Gleeson, meanwhile, is really building up a name for himself in the slightly awkward and geeky leading man stakes (cf About Time). His Jon doesn't always behave likably, but we root for him anyway. The other main cast members, particularly Gyllenhaal, get to be suitably grumpy and wacky, bringing their best artiste A-game. Frank is an interesting character study, and for a film that features a lot of mental illness, there are plenty of funny moments and clever dialogue. If it had been any longer, I might have liked it less, but at a tightly edited 1h35, I thought it worked rather well.

Meat and Maps: Foxlow Review

At Foxlow, the six-month-old restaurant from the team behind the Hawksmoor group, it's actually possible to have bacon for all three courses. I didn't think I'd have room for a starter, but two out of three ain't bad. Although Clerkenwell can be a little quieter out of office hours, a sunny bank holiday Monday lunchtime was the perfect time to enjoy Foxlow's laid-back but still buzzy atmosphere.

Foxlow is a shrine to two of my favourite things: bacon and maps. The decor is beautiful: as well as the cartography- and typography-themed art, there is plenty of stylish mid-century Scandi furniture and a gorgeous colour scheme of deep teal with red and cream accents.

At Hawksmoor, the cow is king, whereas at Foxlow the focus is on pork and bacon. While I perused the brief but enticing menu, I sipped on a Rockefeller Fizz (£5) — a refreshing cocktail with ginger ale, bourbon and vermouth. I skipped the first course to save room for a pudding, but I did try some of my dad's Brixham crab with sriracha sauce (£9), which were served like tacos inside perfectly curved lettuce leaves.

Although I was tempted by the deckle steak recommended by our waiter, I couldn't not order the eight-hour bacon rib with maple and chilli (£16). The waiter warned me that it was quite a fatty cut, and normally this would have put me off as I prefer my meat to be on the leaner side, I figured that after eight hours of slow cooking, the fat would probably be very flavoursome and indeed it was. The meat was tender, juicy and flavoursome, and the maple and chilli sauce was rich and spicy. The rib even came with a big slice of grilled pineapple, but it was a far cry from the gammon 'n' chips you often see on the menu of non-gastropubs.

We also shared a few side dishes between us: the beef-dripping potatoes and rapini with butter beans were pretty good, but of course my favourite was the skin-on fries with — you guessed it — more meat, in the form of chicken salt.

Most of the puddings involved at least one of my favourite ingredients: salted caramel, chocolate, popcorn, and so on. I was intrigued by the Elvis Presley sandwich with (or without) candied bacon (£5.25). The waitress explained that it was an ice cream sandwich on toasted brioche with peanut butter, salted caramel, 'Mr Whippy style' ice cream and bananas. Given that it involved both peanut butter and salted caramel, I was glad I could order it without the bananas, and it proved to be delicious: the perfect mix of sweet and salty. And I'm not sure there would have been room in the sandwich for anything else! Très beau, n'est-ce pas?

Overall, my first experience of Foxlow was as good as I was expecting. It definitely has more of a neighbourhood restaurant feel than the dark, sleek steakhouses of the Hawksmoor group, but would be as lovely a place for a hearty weeknight dinner as sunny bank-holiday lunch.

After lunch, in a somewhat vain effort to work off our lunch, we wandered down to the British Museum. We had tickets for the Vikings exhibition, which proved to be both incredibly busy and quite dull, but we had a look around some of the free galleries too and took some silly photos. A very pleasant way to spend the rest of the afternoon.

Foxlow. 69–73 St John Street, London, EC1M 4AN (Tube: Farringdon). Website. Twitter.