Wagamamas, Mansion House

On Wednesday afternoon I found myself with 45 minutes to spare between my last meeting of the afternoon and the beginning  of a meeting that was bound to go on most of the evening and involve alcohol. My mission, therefore, was to find something to eat that would be reasonably swift, that would also be pretty decent quality and go a long way to fending off my hangover-in-waiting. Once you rule out fast-food places, bars that do food on the side and restaurants that serve at a leisurely pace then the list can be fairly shortin the City, particularly when down near Cannon Street, so I eventually plumped for Wagamamas round the back of Mansion House station as a safe option.

Now unless you’ve been hiding out in an MP’s moat for the last few years you’ll know that Wagamamas started from a single restaurant in Bloomsbury many, many years ago and is now an immensely successful global chain of noodle bars which serve up 12 tons of noodles to the hungry masses each week and have various branches across the City. I’ve been to Wagamamas numerous times in the past and in several different countries but hadn’t set foot in one for a couple of years so I was wondering if things were as I remembered.

The Mansion House branch is tucked away in a little side street just behind Cannon Street and I got there as the clock approached 4.30 which is relevant for only one reason. It was delightfully empty. Having been there once before in the conventional lunchtime scrum this time there was only a tourist couple for me to share the entire place with and the waiter wisely put me some distance from them. After ordering I got down to reading the London Lite while waiting for my food to arrive with the main dish of ebi raisukaree arriving a minute or two before the side order of duck gyoza. Ebi raisukaree is a great rice dish as I’m not a particular fan of rice as such but this has enough sauce and spice to go with the tiger-prawns to keep the whole thing interesting. The duck gyoza looked a little powdery on the pastry side but lacked nothing in flavour, particularly with the gorgeous spicy hoi sin sauce they come with. I was out of there in plenty of time to wander over Southwark Bridge to my meeting came away happy with the whole experience. It’s not the style of food I’d eat every week but I need to remember to go there as a bit of a change from my normal routines. All in all it met all of my expectations for a quick and tasty meal and best of all….. hangover averted!

What I ate:
duck gyoza : five deep-fried duck and leek dumplings, served with a spicy cherry hoi sin sauce

ebi raisukaree: stir-fried black tiger prawns in a coconut and lime curry sauce with ginger, galangal, chillies, coriander, green and red peppers, red and spring onions and mangetout. served on sticky white rice and garnished with sliced red chillies and a wedge of lime

What it cost: Under £15 with no charge for tap water.

Wagamamas
4 Great St Thomas Apostle
off Garlick Hill
London
EC4V 2BH
phone : +44 (0) 207 248 5766
www.wagamamas.com

“Changing Places” event for Cyclists

Cyclists are being invited by City of London Police to “change places” with HGV drivers, and learn more about how they use the road. The event is being held at Finsbury Circus from 7.30am to 11.30am on Wednesday 20th May, and will allow cyclists to take the drivers seat in a heavy good vehicle and get a better understanding of a driver’s experience on the road, including learning about blind spots. It’s hope that the session will improve the safety of cyclists who share road space with HGVs.

‘Changing Places’ is a joint initiative between the City of London Police force’s Road Policing Unit and the Metropolitan Police Traffic Partnership Unit.

Business Policing Team Launched

The City of London Police have launched a new Business Policing Team. The new unit will be based at 4 Broadgate and are intented to “provide business-focused policing to the 60,000 people working within the Broadgate estate”.

Specialists within the team will be able to assist with:

• Economic crime
• Counter-terrorism
• Business continuity
• Physical security
• Crime prevention and personal safety

Find out more about the new Business Policing Team here.

Also, you may like to know that the City of London Police Surgery is held at no 4 Broadgate Circle on the last Tuesday of every month. The next one is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 26 May at 8.30am – 9.30am and gives residents and businesses the chance meet the local police to discuss matters of concern.

City School’s Winterflood Theatre Officially Opened

The Time reports that the official opening of the new Winterflood Theatre at the City of London School has taken place, with a visit from actors actors Kate O’Mara and Kenneth Cranham.

The state of the art theatre was made possible with a £1.3 million gift from City benefactor Brian Winterflood. Work was completed last October on the 170 seat theatre which will be used daily by the the City of London school, as well as being made available to local primaries and amateur dramatic societies from City firms.

Time to stock up on air freshener.

Tomorrow, Thursday 14th May, sees the Lord Mayor’s “Big Curry” in support of the Army Benevolent Fund between 12 noon and 3pm at the Guildhall. Wisely they’ve organised the sittings to suit City lunch times and with each sitting being forty minutes long there’ll be time to get to and from the office in the mandatory hour.

Controller of the Army Benevolent Fund Major General Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter KCVO OBE says: “With the ongoing losses in Afghanistan, we are constantly reminded of the rising casualty rates and the increasing demands on the ABF and our resources in the future. Now more than ever is when we need support from the public to help us look after those soldiers and their families in times of need. Taking part in the Big Curry is something really simple that people can do to show their support.”

If you can get down there then please do and support the men, women and families of the British Army and if you want to book tickets then do visit the website for the event or call The Army Benevolent Fund on 0845 241 4831 and ask about the ways in which you or your company can help.

The Big Curry
www.bigcurry.org

A nasty surprise for Harry Potter

“You seen this Harry?” said Ron
“What?” replied Harry
“The Daily Prophet says that old Dolores Umbridge has been caught out claiming on expenses for three new broomsticks, two extra wands and a massive wardrobe full of cloaks!”
“I heard that the whole Ministry of Magic is under investigation” Hermione chimed in
“and that the entire system’s corrupt.”

Harry sat and thought for a moment. He’d never liked Dolores Umbridge, particularly after having to write lines in his own blood in one of her detentions, but stooping to stretching expenses claims!?!? That was something else entirely. After Gringott’s Bank literally disappeared in a puff of smoke last autumn and took all of his savings with it Harry had relied on the charity of those left in The Order of the Phoenix to scrape by, and with the Ministry of Magic falling apart what did this mean to the future of his beloved Hogwarts?

“Usual response though” said Ron.
“What’s that?” answered the other two.
“If they find who leaked the information they’re going to send them to Azkaban”.

Daily Telegraph coverage of MPs expenses
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/

P.S. Sincere apologies to J K Rowling, who I respect immensely, for taking the name of Harry in vain

Lift Incident at Tower Bridge

DEVELOPING STORY…

An internal lift within Tower Bridge has plummeted causing injuries to its passengers. City of London police report a call being raised with them at 1.15 and paramedics are currently on the scene.

Six people are reported to have been injured. The bridge has been closed whilst emergency services attend the scene.

Sky News has up to date reports

Do you know anything about this incident? Were you an eye witness? Post comments below…

Beat The Banker…. Literally

Those G20 protesters had it all wrong. If they wanted the chance to give a banker the proverbial bunch of fives and get cheered on whilst doing it then they should have forsaken the risk of arrest in the recent demonstrations and considered Square Up In The City, where people from the Square Mile get to beat the life out of their opponents and raise money for charity at the same time. Yes Mr Pedantic, I know technically that they’re Investment Managers and not bankers as such but I’m sure the baying G20 crowds wouldn’t get too caught up in definitions.

This evening at The Brewery in Chiswell Street those carefully selected champions of finance will be going head to head for honour, glory, black eyes and a chance to raise money for their chosen worthy charities. There are 16 fighters in all and some of the evening’s featured pugilists are:
Tony Stenning and Mark Canham, BlackRock
Rob Page, Liontrust Investment Funds
Dan Giddings, AXA Investment Managers
Bruno Macari, Legal & General Investment Management
Matthew Nesbit, Aviva Investors
Will Fletcher-Roberts, AEGON Asset Management
James Henderson, Henderson Global Investors
Rob Sanders, Aberdeen Asset Managers

The event, organised by Investment Week, came into being five years ago as an idea springing from the response to the tsunami disaster of December 2004 and in its first year the proceeds went to supporting charities in Darfur. Last year the event raised over £90,000 for charity and hopefully this year’s figure will be even higher and if you want to support the chosen charities but haven’t got tickets to get in this evening then contact the Square Up In The City organisers through their website.

Square Up In The City
http://www.squareupinthecity.com/

A1GP finale does not disappoint

As mentioned last week I made the most of the Bank Holiday break to escape the City for the green fields and warm tarmac of Kent for the final rounds of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Brands Hatch on Sunday. Going into the sprint race three teams, Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal, had a chance of taking the title but with Ireland on pole position for both races they had the edge. In the sprint race Ireland pulled out a commanding lead with Portugal unable to progress from their fifth place starting position and Switzerland trailing down in eighth. This left the championship position with Portugal needing to come first or second in front of Switzerland and Ireland failing to score in the afternoon’s feature race for Portugal to win the championship.

It was quite a mountain to climb but I caught up with a very relaxed and jovial driver for Team Portugal, Filipe Albuquerque, in the paddock after the sprint race to look back on the first race and look forward to the second one.

Team Portugal couldn’t have had a better start to the feature race going from ninth to fifth on the first corner as an accident claimed the cars of China and India’s former F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan further down the field. That was the end of the good news for Portugal though as Adam Carroll of Team Ireland had a ten second lead in first place and the third placed car of Team Switzerland was having problems with a broken exhaust, which was holding up the cars behind him but not slowing him down enough to enable them to get past. When the chequered flag fell Ireland were both winners and champions with the hard-working and oft-mispronounced (by the commentators) Jeroen Bleekemolen of Team Holland in second with Switzerland in third. That result meant that the championship positions were Ireland first, Switzerland second and Portugal third.

It was a great day with good weather, great racing and lots of national support with hordes of Irish flags and humour, many orange-clad Dutchmen and obviously plenty of home support for team Great Britain driver Dan Clarke, who had a particularly good feature race. If you’re interested in a great day out with a good natured crowd, but at the kind of prices that most people can afford, then I can thoroughly recommend A1GP to you.

Police appeal for information about deaths

Last Friday there was an awful accident in Pudding Lane at lunchtime when an unattended delivery van rolled down the hill and crushed two people, killing them both. The City of London Police would like anybody who witnessed the events, or knows someone who did, to come forward.

City of London Police is appealing for witnesses to the fatal road traffic collision a week ago today that killed two pedestrians. David Smith, 24, from Stoke-on-Trent, and Claudia Kauert, 33, from Germany, were walking on Pudding Lane EC3 at around 1320hrs last Friday 24 April, when they were struck by a white Mercedes delivery van. Both died from multiple injuries.

DCI Steve Chandler said, “We know that several people witnessed this tragic incident – many rushed to try and help the injured pair. It was a sunny afternoon and a lot of City workers and visitors were out on their lunch breaks. Officers have already taken a number of statements, but we still need to hear from other people who were at Pudding Lane at the time.”

Anyone with information about the incident at Pudding Lane, junction with Lower Thames Street is asked to contact the investigating officers by calling 020 7601 2222. Or to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

A 51-year-old man from North London arrested at the scene on suspicion of manslaughter has been released on police bail pending further investigation.

One day I might tell you about the time when I found out that a former colleague was a murderer!

City of London Police
http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/citypolice/

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