When rumours started flying round last year that "everyday lad" (read: multimillionaire entrepreneur) Jamie Oliver, was starting a new venture, Brit foodies were abuzz over what would be served up. Organic pies? Healthy fish'n'chips? Nope. English pizza of all things!
The lover of all things British is a self-professed Italian food junkie and so has decided to combine his two favourite cuisines at Union Jacks. Just off Oxford Street, Union Jacks serves up "wood-fired flatbreads", (which we just call ‘pizzas') topped with ingredients such as Cheddar, Stilton, apples, crackling, sardines, fennel and more. The flavour combinations are all distinctly Brit-centric - apple and pork, Cheddar and pickled onion - but the pizzas come in part from famous American pizza chef, Chris Bianco (who's known to make the finest "flatbreads" on his side of the Atlantic).
The décor is distinctly retro-chic; old-school music videos from post-war British stars play on loop, the colour scheme is a friendly muted pastel and the vintage leather booths and mismatched chairs give the whole place an, "Oh, this old thing?" vibe.
We already have a Jamie's Italian here - which, oddly, doesn't serve pizza - so we can only hope that Union Jack decides to fly its flatbread flag all the way to Dubai.
Details 4 Central Street, St. Giles Piazza
+44 203 597 7888
www.unionjacksrestaurants.com
Wanderlust Hotel, Little India
This experimental hotel is housed in a 1920s building, with the 29 rooms spread across four floors, each featuring a conceptual look from Singapore's hottest designers. Lobby level is "industrial glam" by Asylum; level two is "Eccentricity" by Phunk Studio (pictured); level three is "Is it just black and white?" by DP architects, where you walk from a black corridor into white rooms, and level four is "Creature comforts" by Ffurious - a fantasy forest. Plus, the restaurant serves up rustic French food for when you've had enough Singaporean crab.
+65 6396 3322 | www.wanderlusthotel.com
Spin NYC, New York
Kim Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson are fans of this New York spot - is it the hottest new bar or restaurant? No, we're talking a ping pong club. That's right, 17,000 square feet of the stuff, with a total of 15 tables - one that's made entirely of mirrors - as well as a huge bar and plenty of celebrity parties (just check out the pic above of supermodels Julie Henderson and Hilary Rhoda battling it out). In fact, Susan Sarandon, 65, is co-owner, along with ping pong entrepreneur, Jonathan Bricklin, 33 (who's rumoured to be her boyfriend - they work on their hand-eye coordination together).
+1 212 982 8802 | www.newyork.spingalactic.com
