An interesting night in the West End last night to end the entertainment year for me – I’m not venturing near town tonight – when I took my friend Barb Jungr to see Will Tuckett’s production of Pinocchio at the Linbury Studio, then we went to dinner at a nearby restaurant afterwards. Both were notable, for very different reasons.
Pinocchio, which I had begun the week by seeing in panto version at Stratford East, was vibrantly animated as a highly inventive visual, verbal and musical dance experience: it has arrived at the tiny Linbury with far less fanfare (and much less budget) that the Matthew Bourne Edward Scissorhands at Sadler’s Wells, but smaller is definitely better here.
But the dinner that followed was more remarkable yet. The last time Barb and I had dinner a few months ago, she led me to her favourite Chinese restaurant in Lisle Street. When we got there, it was shut, though there were staff inside. We summonsed one to the door to ask what was happening. He simply pointed to a sign on the window that we’d not noticed: it had been shut owing to food hygiene problems by the Environmental Health Department.
Last night, I led to her a place I frequent a bit – a cheap ‘n’ cheerful pizza and pasta restaurant, Ikys Bistro Italiano in Catherine Street, just to the right of the Duchess Theatre. We were merrily tucking into our starters when we spotted a little black mouse scuttling between the glasses on the drinks counter. As if this was surprise enough to us, it was even more surprising how unsurprised the staff were. It was icky indeed!
Mice aside I think that while the dining conditions of some of the West End's restaurants sometimes leave a little to be desired, (London's Aberdeen Steakhouse's being the obviously most least desired Blackdeath and Salmonela Surprise culinary hot spots), I would however like to point out that despite the fact that our capital city is desperately trying to overtake New York as the city with the biggest rat infestation problem thanks to the regular dousing of our streets by our own citizens it has however managed to prevent the kind of health and hygiene problems that the BIG APPLE now faces.
Having been a resident of New York for just a mere fourteen months I have already lost count of the amount of times that I have sat in a restaurant and spotted a heavy set mouse wander out of the kitchen only to be lazily followed by an even heavier set cat that can't make its mind up as to whether it should pounce on the damn rodent or climb onto your lap for a cuddle. BIG IS BETTER as they like to think in America and unfortunately that goes for both the cats and the mice too.
I thoroughly recommend the PIG AND WHISTLE pub and restaurant on West 47th Street in Manhattan.