London’s alternative delights

By Zuleika Sedgley

London offers some of the quirkiest jaunts for the visitor, writes Zuleika Sedgley

FOR Malaysians visiting London for the Olympics, the days promise to be filled with anticipation, frantic cheering and equal measures of adulation, and disappointment. London has amazing nightlife to distract you when you are not avidly watching the Game but beware, nights out can also be excruciatingly dull. There is always the risk of an evening ending up in a blurry haze typified by nondescript clubs and monotonous beats.

Fret not, there are alternatives, you need not hear the drone of Pitbull rapping or another pop song ruined by a dubstep interlude while sipping watered-down cocktails. For instance, fancy a game of cake golf? How about dinner at a petrol station? What about some Mexican wrestling? These questions may sound more like the gibberish of a curious 2-year-old than a raucous night out in London, but here, we give you a breakdown of some of London’s weirdest nights out.

SHRIMPY’S
The Kings Cross Filling Station is a dramatic new addition to London’s Regent’s Canal. The neon lights bearing the building’s name light up the former petrol station that has been redeveloped into a temporary restaurant and events space.

Carmody Groarke, the architects behind the Filling Station, opted for classic American petrol station typography using the structure’s original canopy, with the addition of a four-metre high fibreglass enclosure that encases the space in a cacophony of curves. Instead of a kiosk for weary travellers desperate for coffee and sugar-glazed pastries, the Filling Station houses a tiny restaurant, Shrimpy’s, that offers diners American fare.

Run by the dynamic duo behind the eternally cool East London haunt Bistroteque, Shrimpy’s is a pop-up with an extended lease. It will stay open for the next two years before the entire site is redeveloped.
www.shrimpys.co.uk

CRAZY GOLD WITH BOMPAS AND PARR
Bompas and Parr are masters of the silly, curators of the whimsical, and ...jelly geniuses! The pair have been offering Londoners surreal food adventures since 2007, including boat rides in the world’s largest cocktail, a walk-in chocolate waterfall and room air-conditioning replaced with a “cloud of breathable gin and tonic cocktail”.

As part of Selfridges’ Big British Bang Season, the duo — Sam Bompas and Harry Parr — have created a golf course on the roof of Selfridges that is made entirely of cake. Participants will wander around baked representations of

London landmarks, competing to complete the nine-hole course in the fewest strokes. Unfortunately, licking of the obstacles is strictly prohibited.
www.jellymongers.co.uk

CRIME SCENE LIVE
CSI’s Lieutenant Horatio Cane has made a career out of artfully sweeping off his sunglasses at dramatic moments. Develop your own case-solving gesture at the Natural History Museum during its Crime Scene Live event on Aug 31.

A team of forensic anthropologists and forensic scientists will take part in an evening that promises to demystify the crime-solving genre that is invading television. This is not an evening for the faint hearted — previous participants have collected maggots and bones from a fictional murder scene and carried out fingerprint analysis on simulated body parts. The evening ends with a simulated court trial where budding detectives present their findings to real-life barristers.
www.nhm.ac.uk/www.nhm.ac.uk

King’s Cross Filling Station

Bring out your inner detective

Fancy a round of rooftop golf?

Head to Shrimpy’s for delicious American fare

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London’s alternative delights

London offers some of the quirkiest jaunts for the visitor, writes Zuleika Sedgley

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