An evening on the South Bank

On Thursday evening, I met Adrian at the Oxo Tower on the South Bank.





The building is in a great position and there are 2 restaurants on the 8th floor (run by Harvey Nichols)  with great views over the river.



We had a booked a table at the brasserie



for their 3-course set menu with a welcome cocktail for £30 each





The food was really good.

I have to confess that I'm not a great fan of fancy food (maybe it's because I'm Italian but I like my food to be rather straight-forward) but I really enjoyed it as it wasn't too pretentious (said that, I had to look up a couple of words!)


Soutzouki sausage, sesame hazelnut labne, cumin pickled cabbage, glazed fig, fried artisan flat bread


Chilled gazpacho, Manchego albahaca, sourdough crisp




Goat’s cheese tomato tatin, grilled asparagus, mustard seed dressing


Coconut Thai yellow curry duck leg, lemongrass jasmine rice, shrimp sambal


Dark chocolate orange pave, tonka bean ice cream


Vanilla brûlée, strawberries, melting moments

After the meal, we had to rush back to the London Wonderground at the Southbank Centre "a playground for the people, leave your real life at the door and step inside..."



Among the attractions there is the 1920 Paradiso Spiegeltent - Wikipedia informs me that a Spiegeltent is "(Dutch for "Mirror Tent", from spiegel+tent) a large travelling tent, constructed in wood and canvas and decorated with mirrors and stained glass, intended as an entertainment venue".
It is used as a performance venue for a number of acts.







The one we went to see is 'Briefs' an Australian group of acrobats and drag artists, burlesque with balls as the website says!





The website warns that it "Contains adult content and some nudity. For the fun-hearted, not the faint-hearted!" and it was certainly right! LOL!

I enjoyed the show



especially the acrobats and the contortionist who were rather easy on the eye too. A couple of the acts were a bit too crude for me but then I guess I am a bourgeois these days!

I'm always quite fascinated by performers who go out on a stage and really expose themselves (in this case, on more than one level LOL!)
I guess part of me would love to do that, if I had any talent and the personality.

And talking of performances, our panto is now only 5 months away and I'm busy writing it (at times, it's a bit of struggle).
The postman yesterday delivered part of Adrian's costume and of course we had to try it on and take a couple of pictures!