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Bermondsey Larder London +

Dairy Air

Despite living a Cacklebean egg’s throw from The Dairy in Clapham for all eight years of its existence, we never quite made it to that renowned restaurant. Fortunately, sometimes you can repeat the past or at least extend a presence, for The Dairy has reopened as Bermondsey Larder, a shortish south London drive away. Dublin born co owner Chef Robin Gill trained in classical cooking at The Oak Room (once in the Hyde Park Hotel London) run by Marco Pierre White. He met his wife Sarah, who’s also now a co owner Chef, when they were both working at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons (still going strong in Great Milton Oxfordshire) run by Raymond Blanc.

The Gills’ other enterprises include Darby’s, a New York style restaurant close to the American Embassy in Nine Elms, and Sorella, a neighbourhood bistro in Clapham. Fashion designer Zandra Rhodes trailblazed the rejuvenation of Bermondsey when she opened her Fashion and Textile Museum on Bermondsey Street in 2003. Its shocking pink exterior matches her shocking pink hair. The surrounding warehouses have all been converted now to apartments and workspaces. Bermondsey Larder is on the ground floor of a new mixed use development next to Newhams Yard off Tower Bridge Road. Meanwhile uses like nearby Vinegar Yard, a collection of prefab style eateries and bars, keep the area vibrant and constantly changing.

The restaurant’s airy interior is eclectic industrial with white painted exposed ceilings and polished concrete columns. It’s several times larger than the petite Dairy. A variety of tables, banquettes and bar seating is complemented by mismatched crockery. There’s a central tiled bar and metal framed kitchen hatch. The industrial chic reaches a zenith in the unisex bathroom with trough basins and factory taps.

Robin and Sarah’s aim is “to create memories” or sometimes “to create memory loss”, the latter presumably depending on the volume of Pebble Dew sauv blanc consumed. Their goal for The Dairy was “to create an experience as close as possible to dining by a farm or coastline a in central London with direct relationships to our beloved purveyors from the land and sea”. The same goal applies to their new establishment. The word “larder” has a comforting old fashioned feel to it, but while the duo’s is clearly well stocked, this is cutting edge cuisine.

The brief menu is divided into starters, small plates, large plates and puddings. Going vegetarian, we share potato and rosemary sourdough with smoked butter followed by broad bean dip, onion chutney and heritage radishes. The sharing continues with tartlet of grezzina courgette and Westcombe ricotta, then grilled English asparagus, Cacklebean egg and furikake. Cauliflower is the vegetable of the moment in London so we opt for a roasted one with coco beans, almond and sorrel. Whey poached loquats, natural yoghurt and seeded honey tuiles complete the gastronomic journey. SW4’s loss proves to be SE1’s gain.

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Art Design Luxury

Masterpiece London Arts + Antiques Show 2013

Art Attack

Donald Judd @ David Zwirner Gallery copyright Stuart Blakley

Donald Judd. Art for architecture’s sake. A private view at the chic David Zwirner Gallery in Mayfair. Three floors of white galleries behind a cream façade. Cool as. Next the RCA end of year show at the Dyson Building in Battersea. The gallery with a shop in residence. Unresolved duality. Is it just us or does art exist in a vacuum these days? Charles Saatchi put in an appearance, no doubt hunting for the next Damien or Tracey. Back over Battersea Bridge, a wedding cake cast in iron, walk down Cheyne and check into hospital. Royal Hospital Chelsea. We’ve saved the best till last. It’s Masterpiece, the highest end arts and antiques fair in London reserved for the nought-point-one-per-centers. Boutique Maastricht.

Masterpiece Antiques Show copyright lvbmag.com

A red carpet over green grass leads to a white pop up portico framing the entrance to a vast marquee, a primitive structure lifted to the sublime by a printed cloak resembling the hospital building: Henry James’ “principle of indefinite horizontal extensions” in canvas. Masterpiece attracts the famous and infamous. Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice walk on by. Anna Wintour’s sharp bob and Zandra Rhodes’ fuschia bob make them both recognisable from behind, surely the key definition of fame. We are joined by leading architect and avatar of heritage today John O’Connell, first director of the Irish Architectural Archive Nick Sheaff, and reductivist artist Suresh Dutt. What’s the collective noun for design luminaries? Coterie?

Now in its fourth year, Masterpiece is a variegated container of uses, architecture, history and technologies, challenging our thinking on design, strategies and the relevance of art – and on the urban importance of aesthetics. It questions artistic predilections and speculates on ideas of time and context. A temporary setting for the permanently magical. First – pit – stop the Ruinart stand, the oldest champagne house, purveyor to the likes of Browns Hotel. Next stop, The Mount Street Deli for beetroot and avocado salad.

The new Maserati Quattroporte on display provides a beautiful distraction. “The design of the Quattroporte is inspired by Maserati’s core stylistic principles: harmony of proportions, dynamic lines and Italian elegance,” explains Marco Tencone, head of the Maserati Design Centre. “It’s been kept simple and clear with a character line flowing alongthe side to define the strong volume of the rear wing, creating a very muscular look. The cabin is sleek with a three window treatment and frameless doors.” Even the engine is a work of art. Next, we call in on Philip Mould who has just sold The Cholmendeley Hilliard miniature, a rare portrait of an unknown lady of the Tudor court, for a not-so-miniature £200,000.

A pair of George III marquetry semi elliptical commodes with Irish provenance is the star attraction at Mallett, that stalwart of Dover Street antiques hub. “All this is very emphatic,” notes John, pointing to the lashings of evidently bespoke detail. Mallett attributes the commodes to the London cabinetmakers Ince & Mayhew. They were supplied to Robert and Catherine Birch in the 1770s for their home near Dublin, Turvey House. Duality resolved. John reminisces, “I picked up fragments of historic wallpaper from the derelict Turvey House, just before it was demolished in 1987.”

Onwards to the Milanese gallery Carlo Orsi which is celebrating winning object of the year, a 1920s bronze cast by Adolfus Wildt. But we are there to see Interior of Palazzo Lucchesi Palli di Campofranco in Palermo, an exquisite oil on canvas. Elegant Roman gallerist Alessandra di Castro remarks, “Oil is much more sought after than watercolour. This important aristocratic residence was the townhouse of the Duchess of Berry.” She understands the painting to be by the early 19th century Neapolitan artist Vincenzo Abbati. “It’s a wow picture!”

Maserati Quattroporte lvbmag.com

“The layered curtains filter the light through the open windows, imparting a soft indirect radiance to the room,” observes John. “The red banquette type seating, white chimney board and green painted frieze combine to form a most stylish Sicilian neoclassical interior. It forms the setting for a beautifully hung significant collection of paintings.” Guercino, Stomer, Titan: all the greats are represented. “My life is crowded with incident. I’m off to a bidet party in Dresden.” In between, he’s restoring Marino Casino, Ireland’s finest neoclassical building.

Masterpiece art & Antiques Fair 2013 lvbmag.com