Long before visiting Kappabashi street in Tokyo a few years ago, I’d been fascinated by the replica food displays outside Japanese restaurants. They are immensly helpful and proved so again during our visit in 2018 when my granddaughter was able to select her lunch from a display case and was surprised at how similar the actual dish was when it arrived. So when the Japan House announced Looks Delicious! I was determined to go. I booked tickets for the 14 February so that my friend Rosa who was also keen to go would be back from a work visit to Spain. However events conspired to make her unavailable. I had also booked to go to the Royal Opera House to see Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen that evening. Maybe not the most romantic choice for Valentine’s Day but hey, Dee and I had seen the stage version on a New Year’s Eve in 2004 followed by a stroll down to the Embankment for the fireworks and night buses home!
Then two things happened. My son suggested we do a Valentine’s dinner and Festen evening together as his wife was away on business in Singapore. Sounds great. I had also emailed my friend Susie Stranders who works at the ROH to see if she was around that evening. She wasn’t but invited me to a Live at Lunch recital she was giving in the Paul Hamlyn Hall at one o’ clock. Also great. Hasty reworking of plans to move Japan House tickets from 16:00 to 10:30 and set off early on Friday morning for High Street Kensington.
I swear I nearly cried as I could smell these onions as I walked into the exhibition. There was in fact no smellivision, just my reflex imagination. There were a number of well curated displays of food laid out on plinths that cleverly echoed Japan’s islands and each contained specialities of the various prefectures. Below are a few images that show the educational as well as the fun side of food replica making in Japan. I had only seen their use in restaurants but quickly saw how they were valuable in education and nutrition advice too.
So after this delightful and slightly surprisingly educational visit – I hadn’t expected displays showing suitable foodstuffs for diabetics, for example, nor displays showing ideal meals throughout the day for healthy living. But although there were “do not touch” symbols on the main exhibits there was a corner where you could build your own Bento Box. Such fun! It’s now time to head for the number 9 bus and Covent Garden.
I walked up through the busy market – lots of tourists for February, but it was sunny I guess – and arrived to seek out Nikki who had the Live at Lunch token Susie had kindly set aside for me. It was just as well as the beautiful Floral – now Paul Hamlyn – Hall was absolutely packed. Nikki conducted me to a reserved seat with a good sightline to the piano. Susie introduced her colleague mezzo-soprano Carrie and promised us a suitably romantic programme for St Valentine’s Day. They started with Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder which were an exquisite series of Valentine’s cards to his lover Mathilde Wesendonck whose poems he set. He marked two of them ‘In the greenhouse’ and ‘Dreams’ as studies for Tistan and Isolde the opera he was compsing at the time and there were familiar themes. This was followed by a series of Richard Strauss songs and then giving the audience respite from instatranslating German we had a final selection of English songs. It was a lovely way to spend the best part of an hour and I’m very grateful to Susie for inviting me. I’ll be looking out for more. The recitals are free but on a first come first served basis. I then had the pleasure of a brief lunch with Susie before she rushed off to other repetiteur duties and audition accompaniments.
With a couple of hours to spare I thought I’d see if I could blag my way into the Courtauld gallery’s new exhibition From Goya to Impressionism. Despite my pleading that it was just me and there must be a no-show or two, my entreaties fell on deaf ears. This month is all sold out but it looks like there’s availability in March so I will get to see it. However the permanent collection is always worth a visit, so I did that and then walked back through a suddenly sunny London to meet my son Tom for tapas at Barrafina in Drury Lane. On the way I popped into the Drury Lane Gardens which is mostly a children’s play area but had its borders all replanted last year by plantsman Peter Korn and local primary school children with sustanable plants that were good for wildlife. I’ll be sure to go back and see how the planting progresses.
After delicious Barrafina fare including scallops, sweetbreads and their superb squidgy tortilla we made our way to the Opera House for a relaxing drink and catch up before the curtain went up on this magnificent work. Having seen both the Dogme film and the stage adaptataion how would this work as opera? Mark-Anthony Turnage has had a few other excursions into opera with Anna Nicole which was a hit in 2011 and was also directed by Richard Jones who was at the helm of Festen this time.
Susie who had been on opening night asked me to share my thoughts. Here’s what I sent her: The score was incredibly inventive with powerful passages that blew you away contrasted with exquisite writing in the quieter moments. The staging was wonderful with that vast expanse filled with action at times and still, like a watching Greek chorus, at others. I couldn’t fault the singers either who were clear and expressive to a person. And both Tom and I really enjoyed and were moved by it and the two guys I was sitting next to thought it was among the best nights they spent at the opera – ever. We had a couple of glasses to mull over it all in the Marquess of Anglesey across the road before making our way to Charing Cross to catch train and tube to our homes. What a wonderful Valentine’s Day.
And it continued into Saturday as I was invited to a members’ tour of the newly opened Sadler’s Wells East in Stratford. It’s part of the East Bank complex which includes BBC Music Studios, the London College of Fashion and a new V&A museum as well as an outpost of University College London. We were treated to introductory videos about the building and its potential uses and a short dance film with local community involvement. There were also two performances in the dance space in the main foyer with recent graduates from the National Youth Dance Company.
The building is impressive with some wonderful brickwork throughout and auditorium detailing and sightlines that promise visits being a real treat with rows and seats easy to find. It has a very steep rake and the front three rows can be removed to extend the stage for immersive production. A similar sort of flexibility in the space that we’ve experienced in Bridge Theatre productions. We were also allowed to visit the studios above where works can be developed – in the biggest on the scale of the main stage which mirrors that at the Angel.
It was a privilege to explore this excellent new venue and after a coffee in its canal side Park Bar and Kitchen it was time for a stroll along the rest of East Bank. The whole Olympic Park is now so differnt from the days a while back of trekking from the stations to the stdium for the Olympics, baseball or away games at West Ham. When all the new buildings are fully operational like Sadler’s Wells East it should be a lively place to visit. The V&A East is due to open in May 2025
And as it started to drizzle on the arriving Hammers fans, I made my way to the DLR and back home in time to listen to an excellent performance by Watford to gain an unexpected three points at Middlesbrough. A fine and funny weekend.
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