It’s officially the summer which means festival season is upon us. This is an occasion when otherwise normal people trudge off to a weekend length… Read More
Vegetarians: What’s the Point? A Review of a Steak Restaurant.
When I grew up in Sri Lanka it was a largely rural, mostly vegetarian country. The peasants were vegetarian out of necessity – meat was… Read More
If You are Brown, You Must Work in IT
The banqueting manager of the five star hotel came rushing out to greet the marketing director of our company. The hotel was on a short… Read More
Martini Mandate’s Top 5 Indian Restaurants in London
Time was when the only decent food one could get in London was Indian. Everything else was overcooked and drowned in gravy. The quality of… Read More
Valentine’s Day Shaken and Stirred in New York, London, Cape Town and Colombo!
Saint Valentine was a third century saint associated with the tradition of courtly love. Courtly love was practised in secret by the high born. It… Read More
The London Transport Strike Forced Me to Visit a Whore House
There is a transport strike on in London which is making it very difficult for me to get to the Savoy for my pre-prandial cocktail…. Read More
Where Dirty Old Men Take Their Nieces to Lunch
There are only two kinds of people who take a late lunch in the City of London; City boys celebrating a deal by getting plastered… Read More
Monkeying Around with the Dog
Menu Dog! Taking a slow summer approach to writing I’ve asked a few friends to contribute pieces on their favourite summer haunts. The first one… Read More
When Alcohol and Sex Don’t Mix
I drank an Oyster Martini. It’s not a drink I ever wanted to have. It sounds slimy and suspect. However, I was in a good… Read More
How I Spent My Summer – Bootleggers, Chinamen and Gangster Molls
Some twenty years ago in the middle of my MBA studies in New York City, I scored a summer marketing internship at the whisky division… Read More
Popping-Up with the Pope and the Perils of Gifting Your Girlfriend a Boob Job
The old pope has moved in with the new pope. I’m not sure they share a bathroom but I expect that Francis will need to… Read More
Margaret Thatcher and the Sewer Ditch
While my preferred martini is made with vodka, I mixed a gin martini and raised a glass in memory of Margaret Thatcher last week. She… Read More