What to Do in London This Weekend (and Beyond)
Christmas provides plenty of opportunities for Nice Long Walks. But these walks will become much longer, and much less nice, once you realise that every vaguely interesting cultural event taking place in London – every exhibition, every hyped pop-up, you’d take a ball-pit bar if it meant you could finally have a breather – has been booked up until 2025. Because having a good time in London really is a matter of military-grade preparation, and you should start the process as soon as possible. To help you out on your mission, we've rounded up the most exciting dates on the capital's cultural calendar, as well as things you could do this very weekend.
See All of the Lights at Glow Wild
There are a lot of festive lantern trails around at this time of year, but they are not all the same (looking at you, lantern trail in my local park with the light-up Disney knock-offs). By far the most magical we've experienced is the one at Wakehurst, Kew Gardens’ sister site in Sussex (though easily accessible from London by car or free shuttle-bus from Crawley and Three Bridges stations). It helps that Wakehurst, 535 acres of botanical gardens spread around an Elizabethan mansion and also home to the Millennium Seed Bank, is quite a magical place to start with; add in tasteful and inventive sound and light installations, designed by community and charity groups, and you get pure wintery delight.
Now until 1 January, Wakehurst, Selsfield Rd, Haywards Heath RH17 6TN
See out the year in style at The Savoy Grill
Christmas is a time for decadent treat-yourself lunches that send you back to the office in a useless daze, and there’s no better place for that than The Savoy. Specifically, Gordon Ramsay’s opulent, 1920s-style Savoy Grill, which has introduced a festive set lunch – offering up delicious braised rabbit croquettes, steamed seabream and a Christmas pudding, amongst other options – at three-courses for £65, which really is reasonable for The Savoy. But you could build up an appetite (and save up some money) for the New Year’s Eve set menu, starting at £375 per person. That one features five courses, ranging from poached Scottish Canner lobster, to duck liver terrine and fallow venison ravioli.
The Savoy, 100 Strand, London WC2R 0EZ
Savour the strokes at 'Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers'
The National Gallery’s new blockbuster exhibition, Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, focuses on an incredibly productive period in the Dutch artist’s life – the two years from 1888, which were also his last (he shot himself in the chest in July 1890). Despite this being a period of extreme mental turbulence – and yes, he lost an ear – this exhibition, which draws works from across the world in an incredible feat of curation, focuses on the artist’s immense sensitivity to the natural world, such as the parks of Arles and the gardens of the hospital in which he was committed at various times. There’s even a glimmer of optimism – one room is dedicated to his ambitious plans to turn his beloved “yellow house” (seen here, as he painted it in 1888) into a display space for his work. It wasn’t to be, but we can, for a suspended moment, share his hopefulness.
Until 19 January, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square,London WC2N 5DN
Taste top-tier panettone at Birley Bakery
In November, some of the world’s very best pastry chefs descended on Palazzo Castiglioni in Milan to take part in the fourth edition of the Coppa del Mondo del Panettone, AKA the panettone World Cup. Among them: the team heading up Birley Bakery in Chelsea, which has been winning plaudits since opening its doors in early 2023. You can get a taste of what a championship-standard panettone tastes like right now by heading to Chelsea Green and picking up executive pastry chef Vincent Zanarditake's on the classic Italian dessert, flavoured with candied orange from Sicily, almonds from Valencia and Tahitian vanilla. And while you’re there, fill your boots with other delicious pastries and take a few long strides over to the chocolate shop next door for a delicious crepe. Christmas starts now.
Get your skates on at Somerset House
London isn’t short of seasonal ice-rinks in winter anymore, but that’s not to say all seasonal ice-rinks hit the same. Skate at Somerset House is still one of the most impressive, not only because, unlike some we could mention, the rink is bigger than a frozen-over hot tub, but also because its setting – the Edmond J Safra Fountain Court – gives “Christmas in London” like no other. Also, it makes plenty of provision for those who find their coccyx can’t take much more, or don’t want to skate at all, including the Whispering Angel lounge, a Shelter pop-up shop and an chalet-style restaurant from Jimmy Garcia, serving hearty dishes including restorative raclette.
Until 12 January, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
Immerse yourself in 'The World of Tim Burton'
It may surprise you that the Design Museum’s new show, a celebration of the singular film director Tim Burton, is not a whizz-bang immersive affair. There are some fun installations (a big fish, a wonky tunnel, a neon carousel) and lots of iconic costumes (Catwoman’s stitched-together onesie, Edward Scissorhands’ hazardous mitts), but though there are plenty of clips and artefacts from his many beloved films, from Beetlejuice to The Nightmare Before Christmas, the emphasis is on Burton’s skill as a craftsman, and as a draftsman. The exhibition is stuffed with examples of Burton’s hand-made creations, be they large paintings or napkin scribbles. There are aliens with multiple heads, big-eyed goth girls, and all manner of monsters and ghouls, that are testament to his delightful – and unrelenting weird – imagination.
25 October until 21 April 2025, The Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG
Dig in at The Great Christmas Feast
“You there boy, what’s today?” Ever thought that a performance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol could be improved by actually sitting down to feast on what Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and Scrooge et al. enjoyed on 25 December all those years ago? Well, in a truly immersive theatrical experience, The Lost Estate have dreamed up exactly that for London’s festive period with The Great Christmas Feast.
Guests are transported back to the Victorian era, where amid a production of Dickens’ classic – directed by the acclaimed Simon Pittman (RSC, The National Theatre) – a three-course banquet will be cooked up by former SmokeShak chef, Ashley Clarke. Expect pressed chicken with samphire relish; Gressingham roast duck, traditional Twelfth Night cake, and for further jolliment, finish with a Smoking Bishop; the OG mulled wine. Live performances and music surrounding the festivities means you will be getting anything but (bah) humbugs for the Christmas party season this year.
Tickets from £105, runs until January 12; christmasfeast.thelostestate.com
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Get graphic at Michael Craig-Martin
British artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin, who reflected on his long and eventful career for our Autumn 2024 issue, has a style that is recognisable as it is iconic: bold, bright paintings of objects that are instantly familiar yet transformed by colour and scale into something wonderful and strange. The Royal Academy’s retrospective of the London-based artist’s work is vibrant and lively, featuring over 120 works, with brightly hued walls and inventive installations (the giant headphones over the doorway to the Octagon room are a hoot). It’s also a treat to see his early work, such as his breakthrough piece, ‘An Oak Tree’, from 1973, and his newest work, a trippy installation of his images that prove that his days of experimentation are far from done.
Until 10 December, Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD
Michael Craig-Martin, Common History: Conference, 1999. Acrylic on aluminium, 274.3 x 508 cm. Gagosian, London © Michael Craig-Martin. Image courtesy of Gagosian
Order a slice (or more) at Ria’s
The overlap between Notting Hill and Detroit (an unlikely Venn diagram) is now occupied thanks to Ria’s, a Motor City-inspired pizza restaurant on All Saints Road. You can order by the slice but may I suggest ordering a full pie? I do not think you will regret it because the pizza, made with dough that has been fermenting for 72 hours, is light and fluffy with a satisfyingly crisp bottom. We tried the prawn, which was good, and the pepperoni, which was great. But the star of the show, as it should be, is the humble house pizza which shows off Ria’s marinara sauce. It is rich and thick and joyously messy. We asked for more napkins – there is a pro just-use your-hands policy here – and then headed back for more. Is this idyllic street a surprising place to find a restaurant dedicated to Detroit cuisine? Yes, but I’ve never been to Detroit: maybe it’s the West London of America. And more importantly, this corner of the world is tastier (and sloppier) for Ria’s.
29 All Saints Road, London W11 1HE
Tackle the tasks at Taskmaster: The Live Experience
Given that Taskmaster – the cult TV show devised by comedian Alex Horne, in which he and fellow comic Greg Davies invite yet more comedians to compete against each other in a series of ludicrous assignments – has a decidedly homespun aesthetic, you might be intrigued to know what the “live experience” in Canada Water tots up to. Will you be locked up in a replica shed with Bob Mortimer? Nursing a cup of tea in a caravan with Lolly Adefope? Toe to toe in a tub with Rob Beckett? The interactive show may be light on actual celebs – bar some clever pre-recorded messages from Horne and Davies – but it still goes big on the inventive fun (stopping mercifully short of actual humiliation). And yes, if you win you will get to sit in the Taskmaster throne, and though you won’t get a trophy shaped like Greg's head, miniature head-likeness keyrings are available in the extensive gift shop.
Dock X, Retail Park, Unit 1, Canada Water, Surrey Quays Rd, London SE16 2XU
Try out Japanese-Mexican Omakase at Juno
Make your way through the bustling dining room of Los Mochis in Notting Hill, walk up the stairs and towards the light, and you’ll find one of the most inventive Omakase counters that London has to offer. Juno is an intimate six-seater experience in small wood-panelled room led by executive chef Leonard Tanyag (formerly of OKKU and Zuma), showcasing a gluten-free, two-hour sushi menu featuring 15 courses of Japanese-Mexican fusion. It opened in January and has been receiving rave reviews since then – as it should: each dish is delicately flavoured and, particularly in the case of the street taco made of sesame-seed rice paper, inventively put together. Our favourite? If only for the spectacle, it had to be the wagyu beef with bone marrow drippings, which were induced with a blow torch across the counter.
If the wine, sake, and agave pairing menu isn't enough for you, then have no fear: Viajante87, an underground bar specialising in Latin American cocktails with a twist, is just down the road, with a menu of increasingly experimental drinks split between three different sections: 'Be Comfortable', 'Be Curious', and 'Be Courageous'.
2-4 Farmer St, W8 7SN
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Hear voices at ‘Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit’ at Tate Modern
Mike Kelley died in 2012, but at this new show at Tate Modern, astonishingly his first UK survey, his presence looms large. The extensive and lively exhibition showcases all the ideas with which he obsessively dabbled: youth culture, comics, kitsch, conspiracy theories, the macabre. Oh, and the nature of existence. It’s a surprisingly noisy show that clatters and jabbers with recordings of Kelley’s voice from films and performance pieces, as well as drawings and sculptural works — soft toy assemblages [see lead image]; Superman’s hometown recreated in bell jars — that are playful and menacing in equal measure. Kelley’s legacy might be most recognisable from Sonic Youth’s 1992 album Dirty, which featured one of his plushie mugshots on the cover, but viewing it again today shows just how modern – and long-lasting – his art has proved to be.
Until 9 March 2025, Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG
See photography's greatest hits (courtesy of Sir Elton) at ‘Fragile Beauty’
If there’s a theme to the V&A South Kensington’s latest show, Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection, other than its ownership, it would arguably be: Most Famous Photographs of the Mid-to-Late-20th Century, with a couple of young pups from the 2000s thrown in. Marilyn Monroe in the Nevada Desert? Check. Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat in boxing gloves? Check. The 1968 US Olympians giving the “Black Power” salute? Check. Harvey Weinstein staggering up the court room steps? Erm, sure; whatever works with the wallpaper. The show is huge, and a pretty handy primer to the most celebrated commercial, editorial and art photographers of the past decades. Also, unusually, the captions are excellent – little tales-within-a-tale, each one – so set aside a good couple of hours.
18 May to 5 January 2025 at V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Take in Zanele Muholi’s remarkable self-portraits (at last)
This show of work by South African artist Zanele Muholi was supposed to open at Tate Modern in 2020 – in fact, it briefly did, for five weeks, before Covid put paid to it, and everything else – but now it’s back, and proves worth the wait. A long-time pioneer for LGBTQIA+ rights in post-Apartheid South Africa, where Muholi, who identifies as non-binary, is from, they’ve had extra time to work on the bodies of work for which they gained their reputation. There is the stately room of portraits of Black lesbians; the striking images of transgendered beauty queens, but most captivating is the large room containing what is, so far, Muholi’s masterwork. Somnyama Ngonyama, which means “Hail the Dark Lioness” in isuZulu, is a series of 80+ portraits of the artist, usually looking to camera, and wearing assemblages of found objects that often have some political and social significance (including “Julie I, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2016,” left). Shot in striking monochrome, the graphic shapes the artist makes – not the mention the deeper points – are inventive, clever and deeply memorable.
Until 26 January 2025, Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG
Dine at Bar des Prés
Little known fact: what we know as nouvelle cuisine – the French food movement of the sixties that pulled on international favours, emphasising freshness and lightness – was something of a happy accident. It all stems from a series of publicity trips made by young chefs to Japan, who wanted to spread the word of French gastronomy. Instead, they adopted Japanese cooking principles and changed the face of European dining forever.
Why not celebrate this new nugget of knowledge with a trip to Bar des Prés, celebrity chef Cyril Lignac’s stylish Mayfair restaurant dedicated to Franco-East Asian fusion (emphasis on the latter). There are the post-Nobu staples, like miso black cod and yellowtail carpaccio, but also some inventive inclusions that have racked up even more air miles, like the crunchy crab & avocado galette with Madras curry mayo – LA by way of India, and Lignac’s favourite dish on the menu.
16 Albemarle St, London W1S 4HW
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