5 x 15, 19th January

5 x 15 is basically Salon for older, posher people. Five speakers talk on a subject in which they are knowledgeable for 15 minutes each. When we went, all those topics seemed to tie in with their latest book they wanted to plug but I suppose that may not always be the case.

Tickets are a very expensive £27 with booking fee for only an hour and a quarter’s worth of entertainment, and they mostly take place in the leafy ‘burbs of Westbourne Park at The Tabernacle.

The event said it started at 7pm but, with things like Book Slam and Salon in mind, we figured that would be a rough approximation, so when we got a bit lost and were ten minutes late, we weren’t too worried. We were completely wrong though – the entire place was full and Johann Hari was nearing the end of his talk. We hastily grabbed the last couple of seats available.

Must admit, even though Johann Hari had been one of the reasons I wanted to go to this particular event, of several coming up, having caught only the last of his talk, I wasn’t too bothered we didn’t hear the rest of it. He came across as rather too earnest in his speech about drug addicts and how we all need to remember that they’re people too. Perhaps simply because I already know this, it was a little cheesy and I can imagine sitting through 15 minutes of that might have been rather wearing. Plus he’s been all over the internet lately saying the same thing so I didn’t feel I missed much.

The others on the bill were Theodore Zeldin, Anita Anand, Alex Bellos and Germaine Greer. Most of the talks were pretty lighthearted and entertaining as well as educating. Theodore Zeldin spoke amusingly of how our civilization isn’t working, yet we stubbornly stick to what we’ve always done. That we need to start thinking about things from an individualistic point of view rather than ‘the masses’ and how he spends his time listening to people and learning about people.

Anitathen told us all about a fascinating character in history – Sophia Duleep Singh. A Punjabi princess who was born and raised in England, she seemed to live several lives in her one lifetime, including being a major player in the suffragette movement. Anand told us just enough to pique our interest and leave me wanting to know more about this headstrong woman.

We then had a ten minute break for people to get a drink, or go to the loo. We noticed then quite how posh everyone seemed to be compared to us, and that there must be quite a few regulars as they’d all come prepared with a bit of a picnic!

After the break we had my favourite talk of the night – on numbers! How can numbers be so entertaining? Well, when presented by Alex Bellos they are. He had a very comedic way about him, especially as his manner reminded me of Eddie Izzard, but what he was talking about was funny anyway. As a mathematician he is often asked what his favourite number is, and he always thought it a very silly question, until he realized lots of people DO have a favourite number. So he did a little research on it via the interwebs. Over 40,000 people took part, giving their A/S/L, their favourite number, and why. He presented us with the Top Ten fave numbers (7 was at number 1) along with some theorizing as to why, and then also shared with us some of the reasons people had given.

And finally we had Germaine Greer, by far the biggest name on the list. You might think she were there to speak on a feminist tract or give her views on social media and feminisim or similar but actually, she wanted to share with us this project she has been working on. She has bought a patch of land in Australia and is helping to regenerate its native ecosystem and replenish the natural wildlife. Her message – we can all do this. Lay claim to somewhere and take care of it.

I found all the talks interesting and there was no question that each speaker did a good job (incidentally, all the talks are online here). But the night was wrapped up by 8:30, sharp! I had expected them to eke it out a bit longer, maybe have some more interaction with the speakers and make an evening of it, but no – it was literally, introduction, talk, introduction, talk, break and repeat until we were done and we were all leaving!

The speakers were all indeed quite eminent if not superstars but considering you do get some pretty big names at, say, Damian Barr’s Literary Salon, I’m not really sure this event deserves its price tag. For my money, if I want educating and entertaining talks, I’m sticking with Salon London.

Panorama, 25th August

My family and my parents have been going to Notting Hill Carnival for years, but for some reason my parents never took it upon themselves to tell me about Panorama. No, I had to discover it for myself via Time Out’s 1000 Things to Do book.

But what a discovery. I can’t believe this feel-good night is so little known. I hadn’t been to Carnival for a few years now, and although we were going on Monday, I was worried it wouldn’t be as good as I had remembered it (this turned out to be a needless fear – if you stuck to following the parade and ignored the static sound systems, it was as if nothing had changed since I was 18). But after I went to Panorama, I realised it didn’t matter how good or bad Carnival was – everything I liked about it was to be found right here.

Every year,since 1978,  before Carnival (the exact date changes) the National Steel Pan Competition takes place. There are six finalists who are judged on a variety of factors on their ten minute interpretation of a steel pan classic. It has been held in Hyde Park a couple of times, but its ‘home’ is Horniman Pleasance Park in Westbourne Grove and that’s where it was this year. This year, it was taking place between 7 and 10 pm but it is sometimes held in the daytime.

We got to Westbourne Grove and made our way to the tiny Horniman’s Pleasance Park. There were people going in the same direction as us, but not enough to make it obvious that they too were going to Panorama, and not just residents going back to their flats, as the park is in the middle of quite a built up area. But soon we heard music and knew we were heading in the right direction.

In my head, I envisioned a little park, with a little bandstand, on which the bands would set up and play for a few people dotted around it. When we got there we were surprised by the charged, party atmosphere. We walked into the park and there was a huge screen showing photographs and music blaring. But we couldn’t see any sign of a live band. I noticed a little kiosk in one corner of the park and we went over there but they weren’t selling anything that took our fancy. We had arrived at 8:30 pm and were nonplussed to say the least that we couldn’t tell where the bands were. Surely they should have been in full swing by now – we were an hour and a half late!

After 10 minutes or so of the same song being played, the screen changed and a live video feed came on, with an MC welcoming you to Panorama. But where was he? He was gone almost as soon as he was on and the same song was looped again. Puzzled and slightly frustrated, we decided to leave the park and go for a walk around it to pass some time. And that’s when we discovered the food stalls! One one side of the park, several stalls selling just the kind of food you’d expect from Carnival were set up, their wares including curry goat, jerk chicken, patties and dumplings. We weren’t actually hungry but we made a mental note to be sure to buy something before we left. 

The food stalls

We carried on walking up around the park and discovered – the ‘stage’! The competition wasn’t taking place inside the park at all – it was happening behind it! Unfortunately, we had realised this quite late and there were plenty of people in front of us with better views. The public were only allowed to observe from the sides (or the big screen in the park). The best, front-on views were reserved for the judges. We watched one band, and when they were done the MC apologised for the late running and said that they were the second band on! God knows what we would have done had we actually turned up on time. (Gone to the pub.)

One band's finale from the first side

Knowing how long it seemed to have taken them to get even two bands on, we decided to investigate the other side of the park. And this is when it all became clear. When we went to the other side, we saw the next band ‘waiting in the wings’. Each band was set up on a truck as they would be for the Carnival, and after the previous band was done, would then drive their float through into position before the judges. Any extra pans needed were then set up in front and to the side of the float. What seemed to be hindering the whole night was that the road that the floats were using to get into place, was also where people were congregating to watch. Every time a band finished, the audience to the side had to be persuaded to move to the side to let the next band on. It was taking a while.

A band moving their drums in

Naturally we joined this crowd and when the next band were through managed to get quite a good spot to enjoy the music. Down this side was yet another set of stalls selling Caribbean food. We bought a selection to take with us – some curry goat, a couple of patties (Me: what’s in these patties? Stallholder: Meat. Me: I’ll take two.) and a dumpling. Didn’t think much of the dumpling which was a bit dry and chewy after having been reheated in the microwave, but the beef patty was deliciously savoury with just a bit of spiciness to it and a crisp pastry shell.

Better view from the other side

But before we went, we went back in the park to get a front view of one of the bands. People were constantly going back and forth between the big screen in the park and the live action at the back. Unfortunately, neither places provided a completely satisfactory experience. If you were at the back watching it live, it sounded great but you couldn’t see much. If you were in the park, you got a great view, but the sound was very poor. It sounded like they were playing miles away, not mere metres. Panorama has been going for years so perhaps this really is the best solution they can come up with, but it feels like there is room for improvement.

This aside, we were there for a couple of hours in the end, watched about four bands and got some great food. The atmosphere is really relaxed yet lively. Everyone is there to hear some good music and have some fun. It’s not widely publicised so it’s not crowded. People there seemed to be mostly residents of the area or people who knew a band. It had a local festival feel to it, and people had brought along something to drink and sometimes chairs as well to settle in for the evening. It basically combined two of my favourite things about Carnival – steel pans, and food, but without the crowds, litter, queues for toilets, and minor threat of violence. Even if I go to Carnival but once a decade from now on, I will head to this more regularly.

Mulberry Street, 7th October

We were supposed to eat at Mulberry Street the night before, a pizza place I’d heard of from Yelp because it was close to the pub we were going to. But we skipped food in favour of more drink. However, we ended up there the next day. Alison’s hotel was in Lancaster Gate and when we were finally able to get up and get out (we’d ‘retired’ to bed at about 7 am) we were in the mood for brunch. And we knew just the place that was close by – Harlem. We’ve been there several times before when Alison lived in that area and we absolutely loved it. Much to our dismay, we got to the end of the street it was on and realised it wasn’t there. It seems to be Tiny Robot now, which I think also does brunches but it was shut when we got there. As we’d searched for Harlem, we passed Mulberry Street and we decided to try it instead. Why not stick with the New York theme?

This place boasts about serving NY style pizza. They even go so far as to match the water they use for the dough to NY samples. And I love American pizza. So thin, so big, it’s hard to describe what’s so good about it and I don’t know why it tastes different to English ‘pies’. Maybe it’s just because they use the word ‘pie’ and we don’t. They had a lunch deal on – 2 courses and a soft drink for £10 which seemed silly not to do. You get a choice of two things in each course – bruschetta or salad to start, then a veggie Mediterranean pizza or a pepperoni pizza. The choice of pizzas on the a la carte was fairly standard, but you could also customise them. Anyway, we didn’t have those, we had the deal. The starters were average. Stephen got the salad and that was impressively large. Alison and I got the bruschetta which was definitely nice and fresh but the bread wasn’t at all toasted. It was much better once we’d poured the chilli oil provided all over it. Alison had the Mediterranean pizza, I ordered the pepperoni pizza and Stephen also had the pepperoni pizza even though he’d ordered the vegetarian one. (I don’t know why he did this, he loves meat). The waiter had not written our order down and had inevitably messed it up.

I don’t think I can say that these pizzas were genuine NY pizzas. I think the whole problem is the size. A real NY pizza is so big, you only eat two slices of it, and you’d buy one for everyone to share (which you would probably be able to get half of one kind, half of another). As soon as you scale it down to something one person can eat (or at least make a good stab at), you lose something. The bendiness, the foldability. Taste wise, it was good, and it was the right thickness (meaning it was very thin). And being able to add your own chilli flakes and parmesan also helped. I’d definitely go back there, but I can’t say it was the real deal. Just a damn good pizza.

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato