World of Pop-Up Dining and Ronnie Saunders’s charity dinners

A few weekends ago in London a friend of mine had the idea to go to a pop-up dinner in East London. I hadn’t heard of Ronnie Saunders Diners Union (http://dinersunion.co.uk/) before, but it was a really fun dining experience and really delicious food. Everyone pays £15 and it’s b.y.o.b. The venture is also supporting St. Mungo’s Trust where proceeds go towards helping the homeless and give them actual kitchen training and experience.

The restaurant is open on Rivington Street on Fridays and Saturdays and serves a 5 course menu which changes every week with different thematic cuisines from around the world. I went on the week of Danish cuisine called ‘Denmark: The Union of Kalmar, 1397 A.D.’ and even though I was quite unsure of the food it turned out to be amazing!

 Head chef Rolan Dack has brought this initiative forward under the name of his grandfather who was a ‘champion of equality and a proper London character’ and the ethos of the restaurant is that everyone pays the same and eats the same.

There is also quite a party atmosphere in the heated tent off Rivington Street, with a live band playing and long shared bench style seating. The courses of the night were ‘smørrebrød’, herring with pickles (which I also had on the street in Amsterdam), ox bavette with artichokes and roasted garlic (amazing!) and a side dish of Rødkål, which was pickled grapefruit flavoured cabbage. The dessert was really my favourite dish despite all of the dishes being really unforgettable. It was a simple apple and almond sponge cake, but it was the perfect amount of sweet and light wonderfulness.

Pop-ups restaurants in London are on the rise, such as Anna Barnett’s previous supper club now gone pop-up restaurant Get in My Gob. Get In my Pop-Up is another East London event happening on the weekend of October 24^th, and promises to be a way to bring fun back to dinner while reminding people how to connect over the love of food http://www.getinmygob.co.uk/pop-up.

CAG in London: Kristin Scott Thomas and the Barber of Seville

This past week, I had to go back to London to work at the British Museum, and while I was there I took in every bit of culture that I possibly could. I went to Lichtenstein at the Tate Modern. It was a very interesting retrospective, which the Tate usually does well.

Outside of The Harold Pinter Theatre

I went to Harold Pinter’s Old Times, starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Rufus Sewell and Lia Williams. I was told before going that the two starring actresses switch roles depending on the night, and that will define the kind of show you see. The night I went, Kristin Scott Thomas was playing Kate, and Lia Williams was Anna. I thought the play was dramatic and had a few good laughs to break it up, but overall it was pretty confusing.

Somewhere towards the end I just didn't understand what was happening anymore. And in the future I’ll also learn not to have multiple drinks before a play that has no intermission!

Ceiling of theatre 

Stage before the show

I also went to the English National Opera house to see The Barber of Seville. I hadn't realized it is the prequel to The Marriage of Figaro, which I went to last year and I was really pleased to see it. Any comedic opera about falling in love, wooing someone, and pretending to be drunk gets my vote.

Inside the ENO

Something strange did happen though...as the lights dimmed to begin the opera, the Casting Manager for ENO came on the stage to announce that the actor playing the role of Count Almaviva was very ill, and so was his understudy. He then explained that they could only find one actor who knew the staging and another who knew the specific song translation ENO was using. So while one actor was playing Almaviva onstage, another was singing his part to the right of the stage.

Announcement of change to actors

Scene onstage

Overall I really loved the opera, but there was certainly a weird Milli Vanilli vibe for the night.

Milli Vanilli (in black) taking a bow