‘Makes you forget the lack of legs’ Life is hard, disappointing and grinding, but unbridled puppet-based silliness might be the answer. Will overworked NHS doctors start prescribing Avenue Q tickets instead of forest bathing? Historically, it makes perfect sense for the 20th (UK) anniversary of the Robert Lopez (music & lyrics), Jeff Marx (music & lyrics), and Jeff Whitty’s (book) ...

‘Here you’ll find east London’s foodies, elbowing each other on bar stools and smiling politely through the fog’ You’ve wandered around Broadway Market, paid £6 for a turmeric oat flat white and traipsed around London Fields — but now, where to munch? Take a left down Martello Terrace and then a right onto Mentmore Terrace and, hopefully, avoid the queue ...

“How Charlie Josephine fell in love with boxing and shone a light on Olympic history” As they file into the subterranean Studio Two of Dalston’s Arcola, theatre-goers may almost fall into a literal boxing ring. What follows is the fight of main character Chloe Jackson’s life: a theatrical tussle laying bare gender, race, sexuality and personhood. Charlie Josephine’s play received ...

‘A slice of northern Italy on Columbia Road, the restaurant expertly combines high-quality ingredients with true Italian know-how’ Tucked away on Columbia Road’s easternmost corner is Tiella Trattoria, the area’s latest Italian offering. Its exterior is unassuming – save for the stained-glass window on the door – and conceals myriad treasures within. The restaurant was formerly the zippy Anther, with ...

‘The team behind some of London’s favourite Sri Lankan and South Indian flavours has opened a fourth branch in the heart of East London’ “I’m pathetic with heat”, my date pouts at our handsome waiter, AJ, puncturing the stylish gloom of Hoppers’ latest Shoreditch outpost. Fortunately, the team knows exactly what they’re doing. Started by Karan Gokani in 2015, the brand ...

‘Joyful ritualistic salutation’ The nighttime economy, not just sounding like something straight from a Terry Pratchett novel, is a vital vein in what makes the UK unique. We lament the loss of pubs and the communities they provided, but the more than 800 late‑night venues that have closed since 2020 seem to have inspired far fewer tears. Somebody had to ...

“Talented, if slightly drunk seeming dancers” I braved torrential rain, compounded by a particularly violent and semi-hallucinogenic cold, plus a last-minute venue change, all to eventually arrive at Sadler’s Wells East for a thoroughly perplexing evening. Hours before, the owner of The Peacock’s building, LSE, informed the renters (Sadler’s Wells) that “unavoidable building works” (we wonder weather-related?) required the theatre ...

‘A meat feast like you’ve never had before. Vegetarians may want to look away now, as the brains behind Peck Peck and Sutton and Sons are going all-in on roast chicken’ Remember Chicken Run? A plucky group of hens escape from a farmer’s clutches and move to a paradisical island (in the second film). Well… this is the opposite of that. ...

‘What better way to honour the recent 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death than by exploring her potential queerness in an infamous 17th‑century church?’ he rain hammers down as in a Dickensian novel, and we wind our way to the stark portico of the 1633 Inigo Jones-designed place of worship/bar/theatre – described by the architect himself as the “handsomest barn ...

“Two performers at the very pinnacle of their game” “Encore” is the better-bred version of screeching “one more song” while drunk at a concert. Yet to be treated by the “greatest living string player” Maxim Vengerov and the piano spectacular Polina Osetinskaya to four of them seems to be sheer gluttony. It’s a chance to throw a curveball, a break ...