Sunday Times magazine Gets Street
Monday, January 25th, 2010
I will always remember Marco Pierre White in the lobby of the Soho Grand, signing for breakfast. He put it on Room 320 – the only problem was that he was in Room 322. He was the worse for wear after a night on the sambuca – ‘the house cocktail’, as he called it. The aniseed spirit was lit, extinguished (with the palm of the hand) and shot – in one. Sure, it was against New York fire regulations, and everything that was good and decent. But it was very Marco Pierre White. And the burns from last night didn’t appear to be bothering him…
2009 was truly memorable – for many reasons. It was the year I discovered that 1) all Mexican food is the same – it’s just folded in different ways – and 2) ‘naked sushi’ really does exist. I saw it with my own eyes in a Japanese bar in New York. It’s only a matter of time before naked women, covered in cling film, come to a town near you and try and pass themselves off as serving platters for raw fish. Careful with your chopsticks.
