The Double Club

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - Enjoying the effect of black vodka Momos, my friend and his girl, who have been to the Congo, authenticated kitchen aromas. Four pairs of hands efficiently flew across a colourful collage of homely, heart-warming food from the Congolese menu. Sweetly wiry, spinach like aubergine was scattered with UFOs (unidentifiable fishy objects). Part caramelised plantains were as welcomingly biteable and softly perfumed as mini doughnuts. Giant ‘schrimps’ were fleshy, silty and vividly spiced specimens. Goat curry enveloped in yam leaf was slightly moist and rustically leathery like mutton. The highlight was an edible definition of fodder for the credit crunch: white bean casserole with pig trotters, scooped with smoky bread…

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - Situated in a dingy thoroughfare behind Angel Tube, it is – without fear of misusing that most hackneyed of words – quite unique…This is an intriguing, stimulating and challenging place. How often can you say that about a restaurant? Another 'pop-up', its lifespan is supposedly up in May; it will eventually transfer to Prada's home, Milan. Unless, we're told, it proves wildly successful here. Which is where you come in…

Saturday, December 20, 2008 - Dinner at The Double Club is possibly the weirdest meal in London. This pop-up place behind Angel station is the idea of artist Carsten Holler, who installed the slides in Tate Modern. For the next five months, the club is dishing up a mix of Anglo-Congolese food in a space that’s half-African, half- European. On one side you have a Congolese shebeen with plastic chairs, oil drum barbecue, Congolese DJs and dance floor; on the other you have a restaurant with formal service and white cloths.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - Housed in an old warehouse behind Angel Tube station — apparently previously used for paintballing, which will surely soon be identified as art — the double-identity bar is a lofty open space with chic cocktail bar and high stools standing back-to-back with a ramshackle wooden counter under a corrugated tin roof and advertisement-plastered plastic garden furniture dotted around. Arcs of neon, Congolese beer bottle logos, a wall decorated with Portuguese tiles depicting the utopian apartment blocks of 1920s Russian architect Georgi Krutikov and an oil drum barbecue are other elements in the “experience”.