Get festive in ‘urban style’ this Christmas, located on Curtain Road right in the heart of Shoreditch Hackney House is offering a cool urban & versatile space to do Christmas your way!
Full of Christmas cheer and spirit, our packages can be adapted to suit your style & number of guests, from intimate parties of up to 30 people to a full house of 450 people, the 3 floors of flexible space has a Christmas grotto just right for all.
These inclusive packages start from £48 per person and if you’re up for a Monday – Wednesday night party we’ll treat you to a glass of welcome prosecco on us!
Includes:
Venue hire (6.30pm – midnight)
Drinks package for up to 5 hours with unlimited beer, wine (mulled too) & softs
Christmas menu – from one of the following menu styles:
Bowl Food (based on 3 savoury & 1 sweet bowl per person)*
Hot Buffet (based on 2 mains, 2 sides & 1 dessert)*
Canapes (based on up to 10 bites per person savoury & sweet canapes) *served from eco friendly disposables & street food boxes
In house AV Equipment: projector, screen, 2 x corded mics, sound system for playlists
All staff & security required
You can also add some extra little touches like Photo booths, live entertainers, comperes or even a nitrogen ice-cream bar….
Taken to Basque: A waiter prepares some of the excellent steak at new Shoreditch restaurant Sagardi
Some restaurant groups grow organically, opening branches that preserve the intimacy and quirkiness of their flagship and by extension the signature of the chef who made it famous. Ottolenghi or the international Momofuku spring to mind.
Sagardi on Curtain Road is not one of those restaurants. It is the first UK outpost of a global chain of which Basque restaurants are only one of many well-oiled components.
When we walk up, a smartly-dressed woman is by the front door, handing out Sagardi cards to passersby, reminiscent of the curry house frontmen on Brick Lane.
She ushers us in, past the long pintxos bar to our right and white-tiled butchery counter to our left, to the 100 plus cover restaurant where we are seated under a huge decorative boat suspended from the ceiling. The waiters all wear wireless headsets, like they are gamers, or in the secret service.
Sagardi makes a big deal of its steak, which is fair, because the steak is very good.
It also makes a point of its produce, flown in daily from Spain, presumably to emphasise the authenticity of its regional cuisine. The paradox of the much-vaunted ‘seasonal menu’ is that if you are not concerned with geography, it is always summer somewhere.
The heirloom tomatoes, which come drizzled in olive oil and a few slices of chilli, certainly taste of sunshine, but personally I would prefer something from Kent.
Our favourite small dish is the morcilla, rich Spanish black pudding served with roasted peppers that provide a sweet punch that cuts through the earthy sausage.
The steamed clams in green sauce come with its sauce thickened with starch, and I find it too heavy. But the tuna tartare is fine. To reiterate, the steak really is excellent: buttery and tender, grilled on a wood fire, sliced up and served rare.
The side of lettuce with spring onions, however, is priced at eight quid. There’s a lot you can do with a simple green salad, but this was just iceberg lettuce topped with spring onions – we could find nothing obvious to justify the hefty price tag.
While the earpieces remind me of the time I went to the Las Vegas Rainforest Café, Sagardi shares none of the former’s ruthless efficiency. Service is friendly but a little confused and drops off as the evening wears on.
I ask our server for a wine recommendation and she tells us a sommelier is on his way. The sommelier never appears but we are at least brought some pleasant, average white wine. Judging by the extensive wine list, and wine cellar that runs the length of the restaurant, this is not all Sagardi has to offer, but it is bustling and hard to get anyone’s attention. We have some non-descript desserts and head home.
I ask my dining companion what he thought of the place. “Very Shoreditch,” he responds. What that means is open to interpretation, but if you are looking for somewhere spacious, impersonal and expensive to dine then Sagardi is the perfect fit.
Artist Noëmi Lakmaier lies in front of the altar of St Leonard’s whilst balloons are attached to her. Photograph: Grace Gelder
A disabled artist has been lifted off the ground by the force of 20,000 helium balloons in St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch.
Noëmi Lakmaier, a Vienna-born artist, attempted the feat for a performance art piece called Cherophobia.
The 48-hour long performance is taking place in St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch, as part of Unlimited, a festival celebrating the work of disabled artists.
Assistants ready the balloons for the lifting attempt. Photograph: Grace Gelder
Audiences are welcome to go along and view the performance, which is also being broadcasted live to arts venues and streamed on the internet.
At St Leonard’s the audience will see a team of assistants inflating party balloons and attaching them to Lakmaier as she becomes suspended in the air.
Suspension of disbelief: Noëmi Lakmaier takes off as the balloons lift her off the ground. Photograph: Grace GelderLift off! Noëmi Lakmaier is suspended in mid-air. Photograph: Grace Gelder
“I can fairly easily imagine how it will start,” the artist told Unlimited prior to the performance. “I think once we go further than that towards a middle and an end, it becomes far less predictable.
“I think it’s the whole bunch of balloons pulling upwards and the contrast to my body pulling downwards that’s the metaphor.
“I suppose it’s also got a lot to do with who’s in control, because in a lot of my work, and including in Cherophobia, I put myself in a position where I’m completely out of control and at the hands of others – both my team and audience members.
“But essentially I’m in control of everything because I’m the one orchestrating it… I like that play of push and pull with control.”
Cherophobia takes its name from a psychiatric condition which is defined as “an exaggerated or irrational fear of gaiety or happiness”.
“I think it’s going to be quite an all-encompassing experience for the viewers”, said Lakmaier in the same interview.
“The more the room fills up with balloons, the less space there is for anything else – the more it will be a physical challenge to negotiate space.”
Cherophobia will be running at St Leonard’s until 12 noon tomorrow (9 September).
Up-lifting: A balloon’s eye view of the project. Photograph: Grace GelderTied up: Assistants make sure the balloons don’t get tangled. Photograph: Grace Gelder
Part of a piece by Shoreditch-based 14-year-old, Ananda. Photograph: Royal Drawing School
Drawing, said David Hockney, helps you put your thoughts in order and can make you think in different ways.
If that is true then drawing should be an attractive proposition for young people trying to make sense of their impending adulthood and the world around them.
Next month the Royal Drawing School will be displaying 250 drawings by members of its Young Associates Programme.
These budding artists are all aged 10–18 and for many it will be their first chance to show work in a professionally-curated public exhibition in Shoreditch.
Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo, one of the most popular children’s book of recent times, was impressed with the work on display at last year’s exhibition, but warned the artists that becoming a professional takes dedication.
“It took me a long time to become an illustrator. I had work constantly after leaving college but it took 13 years as an illustrator before The Gruffalo came along,” he said.
However, Scheffler describes drawing as a “brilliant human activity” and says children should start drawing “as soon as they can hold a pencil”.
“The younger you start the better you will become,” he says. “Drawing is just a great activity to establish a relationship with the world. You observe what’s outside but you can also express what’s inside you and try lots of different techniques.
“For a young person hoping to become an illustrator I would recommend they draw as much as possible and another thing is to be curious about how other people draw.”
Judging by some of the works set for inclusion in the show, the standard looks to be high, with portraits and observational drawings in a range of styles.
The Royal Drawing School was set up in 2000 as the Prince’s Drawing School to address concerns that drawing was falling off the map as an essential skill for art students.
Supported by the Prince of Wales, it received its ‘royal’ title in 2014. At the time Grayson Perry said: “In the 21st century – with all our amazing digital technology – drawing remains a skill that is as important and relevant as ever.
“We don’t have a USB port in our head and drawing is the most direct way we have of expressing our visual imagination to the outside world.”
Royal Drawing School Young Artists Exhibition Until 29 September Royal Drawing School 19–22 Charlotte Road EC2A 3SG royaldrawingschool.org
Tucked in at the end of Commercial Street – just before it opens out onto Aldgate East station and the surrounding chaos – you’ll find Chuck Burger, plainly fronted with a black sign and solitary neon light.
The place is outfitted with no-nonsense tables, industrial metal fittings and paper menus, a bugbear for some but one that’s never really concerned me at laid-back fast-food restaurants. If you’ve ever visited a Meat Liquor restaurant, think that kind of mess-hall layout, but more laid back and without quite so much nightclub lighting.
Add a smidgen of Yankification as well, which stretches to its drink selection – resplendent with American and American-inspired beer offerings including the white-collar hipster’s choice Pabst Blue Ribbon, along with cocktails and ‘hard’ milkshakes with added rum.
Aiming to get into the American spirit, I decided to start with the diner staple that is the Oreo milkshake. However my sense of place was swiftly rerouted back to East London once I noted that said shake came in a jam-jar, as most things do when you’re that close to Shoreditch. Nonetheless it totally hit the straw-clogging spot, and I was ready for real food.
I was surprised, when I asked my ultra-friendly waiter for a recommendation, that the first thing that came out of his mouth was “the wings”, rather than anything beefy. He explained that they are first smoked, and then fried to finish, with a faraway bliss in his eye that suggested this was a Very Good Thing. Obediently, I ordered the buffalo wings, which come in sets of six or 12 for £5.50/£9 (as do the the Korean hot wings.)
They arrive slathered in sauce that delivers an unexpectedly huge piquancy (and almost lung-searing acridity if you breathe it in too closely.)
However the effectiveness of the cooking techniques, and therefore the moistness of the meat hidden away under the sauce and skin, ensures that the flavour of the chicken is not lost – a minor miracle.
It’s a similar story with the burger. The meat, at the centre of it all, speaks for itself – it tastes clean, fresh and with a perfect medium-rare texture. As Chuck prepare their own patties, they can even legally take it down all the way to rare – a treat for punters still gnashing their teeth about the pernicious effects of ‘elf and safety on the redness of their beef.
The additions, which consist of red onion, pickle, American cheese and Chuck relish (which includes Sriracha, seemingly a house favourite) in the cheeseburger, are nice but nothing out of the ordinary – think Burger King if they upped their patty game. I find myself wishing I’d plumped for a more adventurous item: perhaps the halloumi stack, or the Thai inspired pork ‘Same Same’ burger. The burgers range from £6.50 to £8.
If I were to pinpoint a disappointment, it would be that the onion rings, listed on the menu as “pickled onion rings”, had no discernable difference in taste from the usual, and in fact were a little too thin and overwhelmed with batter. The fries, McDonalds-esque in their slimline saltiness, or the sweet potato fries, are potentially better options side-wise.
However, for those hoping to knock back a few beers and some meat in a comfortable setting, Chuck Burger can barely be quibbled with – they certainly get the ‘meat’ bit 100% right.
Aida Silvestri, Type II B: Distance. From Unsterile Clinic, 2016
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the focus of Aida Silvestri’s new photography exhibition in Shoreditch.
The practice, in which parts of a girl’s genitalia are cut off for non-medical reasons, often in the belief that it will control their sexuality, is still taboo in many parts of the world and frequently ignored by the media.
“I had another project about migration that had lots of coverage in the arts world. But when it comes to this [FGM], they don’t want to know.
“People are not comfortable looking at FGM images. Some say they are a little bit too harsh, but that is just an excuse. We need to be bold if we want to raise awareness,” said Ms Silvestri.
In the midst of Shoreditch’s Friday evening revellers, six women from the fields of art, health and advocacy met at Autograph ABP gallery to discuss ongoing efforts to eradicate FGM.
The panel, which attracted a 50-strong audience, was part of Silvestri’s Unsterile Clinicexhibition, a collection of photographs inspired by the artist’s personal experience.
Her silhouettes of FGM survivors feature layers of hand-stitched leather showing the type of mutilation they suffered.
Each portrait is accompanied by a poem, with the words edited from the subject’s own, moving story.
Aida Silvestri, Type II F. From Unsterile Clinic, 2015
In an interview prior to the panel, Silvestri, who was born in Eritrea but now lives and works in London, said that knowledge of FGM has improved in the UK.
She said: “I had my first child in 2011 and nobody knew about FGM. Even though some [health workers] should have been aware, nobody said anything to me.
“And then, with my second pregnancy, I was asked if I had undergone FGM. I said I had, and was then sent to be checked.
“So the awareness has greatly changed, and health centres and specialist clinics dealing with FGM are doing a lot of work to raise that awareness.”
However, Silvestri still encounters a lot of “ignorance” from people regarding her work.
She recalled a lady at a summer festival last year, who, when confronted with her art, said: “This isn’t our problem, this is the migrant’s problem. This is a Muslim problem. We Christians wouldn’t do that.”
The experience showed Silvestri, who is Christian herself, that people still don’t understand how widespread FGM is.
It is practised around the world, including in Africa, South America, the Middle East and the Far East, by communities of various races, religions and traditions.
“It is everybody’s problem,” Silvestri explained.
But she admitted that the subject matter had made it difficult to attract attention from mainstream media.
Education, the artist argues, is the way forward.
“I think we need to educate more people, and it has to start in school. The government has now included FGM as part of its safeguarding, so everyone has to know about it.
“During an Equality and Diversity workshop that I have attended recently, it was discussed that Ofsted apparently downgraded one school because the dinner lady didn’t know what FGM meant, which is really good, but we need to do more.
“More than prosecutions, we need education and support.”
Silvestri is planning more events to get people talking about FGM: “I’ve started a fight and I won’t stop.” And she is calling on councils to engage with locals and do more to teach youngsters about the practice.
It was a view echoed by her fellow panellists later in the evening.
Many issues surrounding FGM were raised during the three-hour debate: the patriarchal society within practising communities. The fact that FGM is an economically lucrative crime. The lack of clear guidelines for treating victims. The dearth of follow-up services, both psychological and physical, in the NHS.
But one message in particular rang out loud and clear: that the key to ending FGM is educating children and practising communities about its effects, as well as providing better training for teachers and health workers.
Deqa Dirie, health advocate and anti-FGM campaigner, said: “I’m not bashing anyone, but I know women who have been severely damaged by health professionals in the UK.”
She called for more follow-up services for survivors in the NHS and said nurses and midwives need to be better equipped to deal with survivors.
Emma Boyd, a senior producer at Animage Films, explained how the company works with UK charity FORWARD to produce short films for its FGM campaign.
Boyd said they were focused on getting their message into primary schools. She introduced an animation called The True Story of Ghati and Rhobi, which is played to children across Tanzania to raise awareness of FGM. FORWARD is hoping to adapt the film into a variety of languages.
IKWRO has launched theRight to Know campaign, which aims to get honour-based violence, including FGM, on the national curriculum in the UK.
Hoda Ali, a nurse and trustee of the 28toomany charity, spoke passionately about the merits of education.
Ali survived Type 3 FGM, which involves sealing the vagina until only a very small opening remains, and said it “took away her chances of being a mother.”
She was constantly in hospital from the age of 11 because her injuries meant her periods accumulated in her uterus. She was 17 years old when she had her first period.
She said: “My nieces are eight and eleven, and they’re at the back tonight because they’re not too young to listen. And they will go into school and educate their teachers.”
Ali also called for Silvestri’s work to be used at clinics, so women who have difficulty communicating with health workers can point out what type of FGM they have.
There was controversy when a teacher in the audience asked whether compulsory medical examinations at schools should be reintroduced so cases of FGM are caught early.
Hilary Burrage, author and chair of the debate, initially agreed, but her fellow panellists rejected the argument out of hand, saying it would do nothing to prevent FGM.
A suggestion was raised that midwives should be trained to explain to mothers, before they leave the hospital after giving birth, the law regarding FGM and its impact on victims. Again, the emphasis was on training and education.
The experts agreed that no amount of prosecutions or early diagnoses will end FGM: only when people are taught about the consequences of the practice will it stop.
Aissa Edon, a specialist midwife at The Hope Clinic and a survivor of FGM, described the moment she confronted her family: “I sat my father down, and I didn’t accuse him of child abuse. I explained to him the consequences that I have to live with every day,” she said.
“My father cried and simply said, ‘I didn’t know.’ And then he promised that no more of the girls in our family would ever be forced to suffer as I did.”
Unsterile Clinic 8 July – 17 September 2016 Autograph ABP Rivington Place (off Rivington Street) London EC2A 3BA
Generation sex – The Wardrobe Company on stage. Photograph: Jack Offord
Sex began in 1963, said Philip Larkin. But in a play at Shoreditch Town Hall it’s the seventies providing fertile ground for sexual awakening.
In 1972: The Future of Sex by The Wardrobe Ensemble three couples embark on having sex for the first time during one evening.
This is the year when Ziggy Stardust first appeared on Top of the Pops, when Lady Chatterley’s Lover was finally published unabridged, and when the notorious pornographic film Deepthroat was released.
“Our research led us to that moment because it seemed quite significant time in British public consciousness in terms of the changing of attitudes about gender and sexuality,” says the play’s director Tom Brennan.
“We were looking to make a show about sex and sexual anxiety and our discussions led us to that moment in time between the AIDS epidemic and the sexual revolution.”
In this era of glam rock and space-hoppers, Christine is steeling herself for the loss of her virginity with the nerdy lead singer of a local band, whilst other storylines involve a student who is inspired by her university professor in more ways than one, and Brian in his bedroom, exploring his sexual identity by himself.
“The storylines are kind of woven together – we’ve structured it so we have a lot of narration in the show which allows us to jump between the storylines and kind of explore them simultaneously in some cases,” Brennan explains.
The show features original music from Bristol-based songwriter Tom Crosley-Thorne, a school friend of Brennan.
“I was in a band with him and when I was first talking to him about doing this show, the next day he sent me these amazing tracks, which are perfect homages to Bowie and The Who and Chaka Khan.”
After a preview last year at Shoreditch Town Hall, Brennan and fellow members of The Wardrobe Ensemble took the play up to Edinburgh where it earned rave reviews.
Now back in Shoreditch for a longer run, the play will be aiming to humorously highlight the challenges and pitfalls of growing up as a member of the class of ’72.
“You had the first gay pride march in London and Lady Chatterley’s Lover was around,” Brennan says. “But then you had Mary Whitehouse and the National Festival of Light trying to ‘restore Christian morals’. So it was quite an interesting time.”
1972: The Future of Sex 12–23 April Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1V 9LT shoreditchtownhall.com
If you want to prove you’re no commitment phobe, or demonstrate how much you love your mum, then getting a tattoo is a surefire method. But for American artist and vegan Shannon Idzikowska, regular tattoos are problematic, not because of the pain or social stigma, but because the tattooing inks, razors and aftercare products are usually manufactured using animal products. In 2012, she and her partner set up Fifth Dimension Tattoo & Piercing, London’s only vegan tattooing and piercing studio, in Shoreditch.
Shannon, what exactly is a vegan tattoo?
It means the entire process of our tattooing is vegan. So you can have vegan inks, and many tattooists supply those on request but we do the whole process, so the stencil creams, the petroleum jelly, green soap, cleaning products and aftercare.
A quick Google image search for ‘vegan tattoo’ reveals lots of images of vegetables and animal rights. Is veganism often reflected in the designs?
It can be. I’d say about 50 per cent of our clients are vegan, but they choose to have whatever they want really. Actually we haven’t had a massive influx of these animal rights tattoos.
Astronaut by Sooz
What designs are trending in the vegan tattoo world?
Right now? Watercolour tattoos definitely. It’s a style that looks like watercolour painted on the skin. Some people have abstract splashes and some have animals or buildings. Whatever they want can be turned into a watercolour tattoo.
Butterfly by Sooz
What’s the most bizarre design someone’s had done?
One guy the other day got a cartoon cat from a comic he read when he was a child, but he got it on his ass. I have no idea why. He was just a normal guy but it was pretty funny. And he was kind of serious about it too, which was strange.
Who are your customers generally?
I would say from the low 20s to the late 30s. But the other day we had a huge guy from South Africa who was 65 years old, and he wanted a watercolour tattoo and said ‘I’ve got to have this experience before life passes me by’. You know you’re never too old to do something like that.
Can people just arrive at the studio and then just get a tattoo – what’s the process?
You’ll need a consultation first, which is a face-to-face chat. If you have any medical problems then we won’t tattoo you without consent forms.
Mother Teresa by Alex
Do you find that there’s still a social stigma surrounding tattooing?
Yes, I do think there’s a stigma. Many employers believe tattoos will somehow scare clients away and have policies in place to make employees cover up. Katie Piper’s show on Channel 4 [Bodyshockers: Nips, Tucks and Tattoos] perpetuates the belief that body modifications are somehow irresponsible and will be regretted once finished – which is mostly untrue, since tattooists take their careers very seriously. For example, they spend countless hours of unpaid time designing and consulting with people about their designs, and will not tattoo while their clients are under the influence as studio policy in the UK.
A former carpet factory turned workspace off Brick Lane describes itself as “the world’s most iconic space for entrepreneurs and creative businesses”. A heady claim, but this is Shoreditch. Inside, it’s like being in an episode of The Jetsons, with several airy floors of rolling curves, potted plants, and Perspex ‘meeting pods’. When following directions to the toilets, I promptly walk into a broom cupboard. The building is home to Jago, a recently-opened restaurant that seats diners in a long bright orange tube; a ‘conservatory’ overlooking the graffiti of Hanbury Street. From our warm table we watch the February rain fall all around us, ensconced in cosy orange light.
Jago bills itself as serving “southern European, Middle Eastern and Ashkenazi cuisine”. This rather perplexing mix translates to an assortment of small plates with the occasional nod to Jewish cuisine, or at least traditional Jewish ingredients. Two such dishes were saltfish with smoked aubergine, and pulled brisket with beetroot slaw. Both dishes were a delight, carefully balancing contrasting flavours. The roast cauliflower that followed, however, was a disappointment: the cauliflower was undercooked and the velvety sauce it was served with hit the tone texturally but was far too salty, with a strange taste of curry powder. The scallops were served two a plate on an onion purée and topped with thick shavings of black truffle – another success.
Jago restaurant
The larger plates followed. The pressed pork belly was a luscious, melting pile of fat served with braised heads of cabbage, but the real standout was the veal cheek goulash, a spicy stew topped with crème fraiche and a salsa verde.
Our shared pudding was unfortunately a disappointing coda to an otherwise excellent meal: frozen cheesecake with pistachio shortbread that was too frozen to eat. As for the drinks, there were some surprising selections, including an orange wine and artisanal vermouth. The server guided us through our choices in a knowledgeable but approachable way.
Starting at £6 per small plate, with expensive wine, dinner here isn’t a budget meal, and unfortunately feels directed at a corporate clientele. Given the history of the area, I wish such creative cuisine were less costly and featured more Jewish food. That said, the food at Jago is inventive and painstakingly prepared, and I’ve not seen chervil on a plate anywhere else in East London, so a restaurant of this calibre is a welcome and innovative addition to the Brick Lane area.
Film firebrands: Sergio Delgado, Ben Charles Edwards and James Hatt
“I get such a thrill from thinking about devastation. Sometimes I like to think that one day this will all be gone,” says Hackney-based filmmaker Ben Charles Edwards.
His latest film, Set The Thames on Fire, is the darkly comic story of Art and Sal, who live in a dream-like London of huge sparkling stars and shifting alleyways, full of danger and adventure. It stars Noel Fielding, Sally Phillips, and Michael Winder and Max Bennett as Art and Sal, respectively. The film is not just about the city but about friendship too, says Edwards.
“Cities come and go and walls fall. And do you know what? The first thing you’re going to think of is not your belongings – it’s the person that’s closest to you.”
The script, written with his friend Al Joshua, was partly based on their time living together in Shoreditch.
“The film is true to East London. They’re all familiar places – they’re just set in another world. A lot of the locations are in Hackney and Shoreditch,” says Edwards.
Living in a tall townhouse in Shoreditch, Edwards and Joshua used to sit on their flat roof overlooking the city. They would hold parties, have friends over and chat every night.
From this emerged the idea for the film of two boys living in East London, surrounded by friends and lurid East London characters.
“These characters never change,” says Edwards. “There is a blessing with never feeling comfortable or secure in a particular environment because you’re always going to be forced to move on or find something else to get some enjoyment from.”
It is this idea of feeling uncomfortable that is the key to understanding the film. “It’s a story of not fitting in in a dark world,” Edwards says.
The world of the film appears at once familiar and unfamiliar; Edwards took inspiration from the slums of the East End and fictional slums such as the Jago. It is in this world that Art and Sal find themselves, encountering characters such as the deranged Dickie – played by Fielding.
Edwards adds: ‘They’re just two guys who moved in together and discovered each other and how to live in a dark environment and a dark world – as London and any city can appear at times when you’re trying to live and make a living. Al and I never had any money at all, could never eat properly – they were dark times, and looking back it was friendship that got us through it. Set the Thames On Fire is a story about friendship and hope in a dark environment.’
Set The Thames On Fire is being produced by Sadie Frost’s production company Blonde to Black Pictures and will be released later this year.
