Masters Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall

Fellow tennis fans will commiserate with the long wait for January; rejoice, then, in the Masters Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall. Not only can you get to see real legends of the game such as John McEnroe, Mats Wilander and Pat Cash but more recent retirees Henman, Ivanisevic, Moya and Enquist will also be holding court. Tickets vary dramatically in price but start from a measly £17.50 so even if you're feeling mugged by the festive season, you can beg an early Christmas pressie and get yourself down to one of the most stunning tennis venues ever. Speaking of which, I feel a slight historical diversion coming on . . .

The Royal Albert Hall is a Grade 1 listed building, a distinctive London landmark, truly gorgeous inside and out, and literally majestic. Opened in 1871 as a place for the public to discover and appreciate art and science, it was championed by Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, and paid for by the profits of The Great Exhibition of 1851. Albert was passionate about social reform as well as art and science and saw promoting their understanding as a way of both celebrating and continuing England's industrial success (are you listening, Prime Minister?).

Londoners have much to thank him for (Albert, not the Prime Minister); the entire complex of South Kensington museums - and the ethos that museums are places of self-education and should be free to the public - are down to his influence. Albert was also responsible for bringing the traditional Christmas tree to England; he had a tree brought to Windsor Castle in 1841 and decorated it with glass ornaments, candles, fruits and sweets. A published engraving picturing the Royal family around the tree soon made it a popular yuletide tradition. Albert died suddenly of typhoid in 1861, at the age of just 42. Queen Victoria never recovered and remained in mourning for the next forty years, until her own death. At the official opening of the Royal Albert Hall she was so overcome with emotion that her son had to speak for her. The Hall was named in his memory and has been in continuous use since that day; one of London's grandest music venues, it has hosted performances from Wagner to Sinatra and Hendrix to Jay-Z.
http://www.royalalberthall.com/

Transformed from concert hall to tennis arena, the Hall retains its grandeur but makes for an intimate setting. This is a very relaxed event where players have fun and interact with the audience, but there is steel beneath the showboating; these guys can still really play, and the sight of Ivanisevic thundering down a trademark serve at 128mph is pretty impressive. We saw Moya vs. Santoro and Britain's Jeremy Bates against Guy Forget (standing in for an injured Ivan Lendl) but for me the highlight was seeing self-styled court jester and indisputable genius Mansour Bahrami.

If you're not familiar with Bahrami's exhibition doubles play, get on YouTube now; it's not a patch on seeing him live, but it will give you an idea of his natural comic talent and his ridiculously skilful tennis. Amongst his many skills he can serve holding six tennis balls in one hand, rally with an opponent on the opposite side of the net whilst facing his own doubles partner and teach Federer a thing or two about the hot-dog. Make a note in your new diary for the first week of December 2013; I'll see you there.

Yours, realising that to tennis players love means nothing,

Girl About Town xx

The V&A Café

The V&A Café looks like any other museum or gallery café at first glance; brightly lit, bustling staff clearing trays, signposted stations for hot or cold food, coffee or cakes - and all heavingly busy. A modern, functional place to take the weight off and fortify yourself with tea and cake before venturing back out into the world's greatest museum of art and design (their words, but does any other venue even come close?). Now take a look at the suite of three interlinked rooms off to the side and it's like stepping back in time; together these rooms make up the world's very first museum restaurant and it is a seriously impressive setting.

The Refreshment Rooms at the Victoria and Albert Museum were intended as a showcase for contemporary design and craftsmanship and are a wonderfully Victorian mix of the ornate and the practical. The main central section is the Gamble Room, designed by James Gamble, Godfrey Sykes and Reuben Townroe. Originally the main doors to this room were directly opposite the museum entrance so this would have been the first room visitors saw; even by Victorian standards this must have seemed imposingly grand. Look more closely; the ceiling is enamelled iron and both the walls and the huge columns are completely covered with ceramic tiles, making this most majestic and opulent of dining rooms completely washable and practically fireproof.

Mottoes espousing the joys of food and drink adorn the beautiful stained glass windows and the frieze is a quotation from Ecclesiastes II:24: 'There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy the good of his labour.' Hard to argue with that.

The Morris Room (the Green Dining Room) was the first major commission for William Morris's company Morris Marshall and Faulkner. The dado panels based on signs of the zodiac were painted by Edward Burne-Jones, who also designed the stained glass windows. The influence of William Morris and his pattern-making is most recognisable in the plasterwork leaves and flowers on the walls (although if you are a Morris fan, the rest of the museum has plenty to offer). This room, although beautiful, has a more restrained, quiet feel.

The Poynter room (the Grill Room) designed by Edward Poynter has a homely cosiness to it, with blue Dutch tiles and wooden panelling. The large tiled panels of the months and seasons were actually painted by students from the ladies' tile-painting class at the Schools of Design; this was very much in keeping with V&A Founding Director Henry Cole's  radical idea of involving students and the public in creating this public space. Giving such an important commission to female students would have caused quite a stir in Victorian times.

The beautiful iron stove where a chef in whites would have grilled steaks and chops to order is still in place; the V&A website has sample menus from 1867 - both first and second class - which include options such as jugged hare for 1/6 (i.e. one shilling and sixpence, or 18p) or, from the second class menu, stewed rabbit for 10d (ten pence). That may sound like a bargain until you consider that an unskilled labourer's wage was about a pound a week.
http://www.vam.ac.uk

Nowadays the catering side is handled by Benugo, so expect freshly-prepared basics and great cakes (although as everything is made fresh on the day, quality and availability can inevitably dip if you arrive too near closing time). I hear the cream tea is good, so that's my next visit sorted.

Yours, scratching the surface of London history just for you,

Girl About Town xx

Casa Brindisa

Casa Brindisa (the name comes from the Spanish 'brindis' meaning a toast, i.e. to drink someone's health) is the middle sister in a growing family of Tapas Kitchens: first came Tapas Brindisa London Bridge (opened in 2004), then Casa Brindisa in South Kensington and twin sister Tapas Brindisa Soho (also 2008) and most recently new baby Tramontana Brindisa in Shoreditch (2012). Brindisa founder Monika Linton was established in the import and wholesale side of the business at Borough Market for many years before opening her first restaurant - with encouragement from regular customer Mark Hix.

By the way, if you haven't been to the Brindisa Borough Market shop, what on earth are you waiting for? It's a glorious Spanish Aladdin's cave of gastronomic treats, from Marcona almonds to freshly-sliced ham and boquerones to Manchego. Even the tins and packages look like they belong in Nigella's walk-in larder. It's a dream destination for foodie browsing but if you can't get there - or can't carry all your swag home on the bus - you can order online. If it's not too early for Santa to be listening, I covet the beautifully packaged La Paella gift box at a jolly reasonable £30 - and if you order before 30th November they throw in a seasonings box free! http://www.brindisa.com/store/

Casa Brindisa is literally just around the corner from the museums, on the new-look semi-pedestrianised Exhibition Road; I will manfully (girlfully?) resist my usual tendency to head off at tangents this time, but the design concepts behind this new open streetscape are intriguing. If you would like to take the scenic route, check out the story of the Exhibition Road transformation here: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/exhibitionroad.aspx
I had just spent a joyous couple of hours ambling around the V&A with two of my girlfriends and this was very conveniently located for a non-touristy, laid-back quality lunch.

We started with a little bowl of Habas Fritas (toasted broad beans) and a plate of deliciously moreish Padrón Peppers - generously salted little green Galician peppers with just enough kick to go perfectly with our Fino sherry. There is a good selection of wines and sherries by the glass so we had decided to defy the blustery showers outside and recreate a particularly memorable summer trip to Barcelona, which consisted largely of the odd gallery, endless tapas-bar hopping, quite unreasonable amounts of icy bone-dry Fino and long semi-comatose siestas in a hammock.

Next up was a wedge of the Traditional Potato and Onion Tortilla, a dish that makes me marvel at how the most basic of ingredients can be combined to make something so tasty and comforting. Served with a generous swirl of aioli, this was just right - the perfect texture. We had also ordered the Fresh Squid to come with, but it only appeared after gently reminding our waitress; this looked lovely but was perhaps just a little on the chewy side.

The Charcuteria Selection was great value at £12.50 - a selection of chorizo, salchichón, lomo and Teruel ham served with bread and a gutsy green olive oil. The outstanding quality of their produce is most evident here where it stands alone; the ham just melted in the mouth and the freshness and flavours were totally authentic. More Fino was clearly required.

One of my companions is unable to countenance a visit to a tapas restaurant without ordering her favourite Patatas Brava; sadly this was the only dish that really fell below expectations. The potatoes were suitably crisp but lacked the freshness of flavour that had been the hallmark of the meal so far, and although the sauce was good, there was not nearly enough of it.

Fortunately my other friend is a particular fan of spinach in all its incarnations and so we had ordered the Catalan Spinach with pine nuts and raisins. This was the stand-out dish of the day; a really skilful blend of flavours and textures, unusual, perfectly balanced and delicious. My vote had been for the Croquetas de Jamón y Pollo, cured ham and chicken croquetas, which were excellent - crisp outside, with a yielding centre and good meaty flavour, again testament to the quality of their basic ingredients.

As a devoted fan of sharing plates, Brindisa is a definite addition to my hit list and I will be trying the other restaurants - all of which have slightly different menus and specialities - at the next chance I get. The restaurant was full and buzzy on our Friday lunchtime visit and the service, whilst a little patchy, was warm and genuine; our waitress was particularly helpful with a food allergy issue, going off to quiz the chefs about the precise ingredients of the salad dressings. Overall a very welcome way to escape to Spain for a few hours without the torture of Ryanair.

Yours, spiritually still in Barcelona,
Girl About Town xx