Here’s my pick of three things to do this week- some French delights at Balthazar, a Bridget Bardot season at the Institut Francais, or grab a bargain at the Affordable Art Fair!
STOP
What: Balthazar
Where: Covent Garden, London
Head to the newly opened Balthazar in Covent Garden and sample some French pastries (I tried the almond cake with jam and pistachios) or book into the restaurant for traditional French cuisine. Keith McNally’s restaurant has been hotly anticipated and carries with it much hype from its following in New York, but from what I saw and tasted, it’s well worth it.
LOOK
What: The Affordable Art Fair
Where: Battersea, London
When: March 7-10
Grab a bargain! The Affordable Art Fair is back in Battersea Park, with everything for sale between £40 and £4,000. Art from more than 100 galleries is on show under one roof, from paintings and prints to sculpture and photography. The work show is by Mo Tan and is £3,950.
LISTEN
What: Et Dieu.. crea la femme
Where: Institut Francais, London
When: March 14
It’s Bridget Bardot season at Institut Francais in Kensington. To coincide with the launch of Ginette Vincendeau’s new book Brigitte Bardot, this short retrospective of Bardot’s key films explores Bardot’s image and significance. Together with Et Dieu … créa la femme, there are popular comedies (Michel Boisrond’s Cette sacrée gamine and Marc Allégret’s En Effeuillant la marguerite), ‘quality’ melodramas (En cas de malheur directed by Claude Autant-Lara and La Vérité by Henri-Georges Clouzot), and Bardot’s most famous New Wave film, Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris.
What are you doing this weekend?
