Bulletin

Highlights from this week in London. Read about everything from architecture to food and delve a little deeper into London's culture.

Subscribe

Issue 10

We are dishing out praise for a favourite sushi restaurant, and adulate the iconic Balfron Tower.

Atariya – Serious Sushi – Japanese for Delicious!

Atariya, my local sushi eatery has now become something of a pilgrimage for North Londoners like myself.

Located on Fairfax Road, Swiss Cottage you could be forgiven for passing Atariya’s unassuming white frontage without paying too much attention to the melange of Japanese culinary delights that await you within.

On one occasion when a woman visiting with her parents was told there was no availability we watched helplessly from the window as she began sobbing violently outside. As her salty tears began streaming down her face I was tucking into my beef fillet tataki and I could only wonder what was going on in her parents minds as they tried to comfort her.

What is it about Atariya that makes certain people cry? Atariya is distinguished from other sushi restaurants not for the freshness of ingredients, although when savouring a delectable plate of sashimi one cannot help but feel as though one is taking a bite out of salmon that has just been airlifted from the sea and placed delicately onto your plate. Nor is it the culinary wizardry of the chefs that construct the dishes, although upon further inspection of my omelette sashimi it remains to be seen how one can simply conjure up a stone cold miniature omelette of such angular proportions.

No, it is neither of these two factors. Rather, what sets the food in Atariya apart from the good but not great sushi restaurants is the diligence and the beguiling attention to detail by which the food is prepared. To give an example, the crab meat and avocado salad is decorated with a threads of saffron which not only adds aesthetic appeal with the fiery red saffron by beautifully juxtaposing the avocado but actually adds an enticing and complex sea side flavour to the dish.

At its very best the dishes in Atariya are of an exemplary standard and at the very least they will still make you crave more food. Quite frankly I can’t understand what all the fuss is about with Nobu, I would pick Atariya every time.

Balfron the Bold

Diverse, intelligent discourse about Brutalism seems to be coming thick and fast.
As one of the guardians of Balfron Tower's future (one which was previously very uncertain), we welcome the change of pace.

‘It feels like there’s something in the air,’ says National Trust’s London creative director Joseph Watson, who says the organisation has noticed a sea-change in attitudes, particularly among urban audiences, as it begins to think more seriously about post-war architecture itself. Perhaps one factor for the change in attitudes, he says, is that with the passage of time brutalist architecture can now be viewed more objectively by those who didn’t live through its failures.

Elain Harwood has just published a fine, scholarly but accessible book, Space, Hope, and Brutalism: English Architecture, 1945-1975 (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art).

You may probably have already seen or collected one of our current favourites, "Brutal London".
This is a collection of five paper cut-out models representing London’s brutalist architecture from 1960s and 70s released by design studio Zupagrafika. Scattered around the districts of Camden, Southwark and Tower Hamlet, the “raw concrete (paper) tour begins with iconic tower blocks (Balfron Tower and Space House), leads through council estates doomed to demolition (Robin Hood Gardens and Aylesbury Estate) and concludes with a classic prefab panel block (Ledbury Estate).”

Balfron the Beautiful

Graphic Designer Robert Shaw has created a self-initiated series of posters out of his love for architecture.

‘Magnificent’ and ‘Modern’ show some of his favourite buildings. The Magnificent set features the buildings he was in awe of when visiting the great northern cities, such as Manchester Town Hall by Alfred Waterhouse. The Modern set highlights heroic architecture from post-war Britain including Ernö Goldfinger’s concrete cliff-face in Poplar – Balfron Tower (the younger sister of Trellick Tower).

Born near Huddersfield and raised in Manchester, Robert studied at Lanchester Polytechnic in Coventry (chosen primarily because of The Specials). He then worked in London before founding multi-disciplinary design studio Northbank, along with Maria Bez and Simon Cryer.

Archived Bulletins

Issue 102
Design, Banksy and Gaia
Issue 101
Pasta, Christmas and Cabaret
Issue 100
2020 & King's Cross Spotlight
Issue 99
LFW, Pancakes and Vintage
Issue 98
Selfies, Art and BRAT
Issue 97
Toys, Bars and Soup
Issue 96
Chrom.Art, Ceramics & Balfron
Issue 95
Awards, Scheme and Charity
Issue 94
Invest, Gallery & Midcentury
Issue 93
LDF, Decorex, Maximalism
Issue 92
Launched Projects & Festivals
Issue 91
Podcasts, Pools and LFA
Issue 90
Velvet, Roundhouse and Art
Issue 89
LN Lifestyle and Chapter House
Issue 88
Mental Health and Mobility
Issue 87
Adjaye, Eine and Gingerbread
Issue 86
Idris, Memories and Charity
Issue 85
LN Interiors and Photography
Issue 83
Fur, Brunch and Somerset House
Issue 82
LDF, Bodyscapes & Digital Art
Issue 81
Mr Fogg's, Japan House and Art
Issue 80
Women, Waterloo & World Cup
Issue 79
Architecture & Artisan Gelato
Issue 78
Postmodern, Shoreditch, Race
Issue 77
Allbright, Smoking & The Tube
Issue 76
Film, Surrealism & Millennials
Issue 75
Bloom, Brexit and Candles
Issue 74
Fur, Sleep and the South East
Issue 73
Pie, Goldilocks and Gander
Issue 72
Tings, Colour and Dalston
Issue 71
Design, Love and Running
Issue 70
Food, Festivals & Skyscrapers
Issue 69
IKEA, Art and Covent Garden
Issue 68
Caravan, Murals and Mazes
Issue 67
Pancakes, Art and Robots
Issue 66
Trends, Dates and a New You
Issue 65
Reminisce Over 2017 and Party
Issue 64
Festive Fun and Facebook
Issue 63
Theatre, Peckham and Décor
Issue 62
Secrets, Tapas and Totems
Issue 61
Art, Smartify and Hackney
Issue 60
Underwater, Music and Cake
Issue 59
The Divide and the Great Dane
Issue 58
Kape Barako, Books and Beauty
Issue 57
Prison, Underwater Homes, Food
Issue 56
Epoh Beech and The Antidote
Issue 55
Football, Cocktails and Coffee
Issue 54
Bed Making and Drinks in Soho
Issue 53
Ben Nevis, Art & Gallery 46
Issue 52
Juice and Scotland Air
Issue 51
Jerk Chicken and Fine Culture
Issue 50
Thought-provoking Art
Issue 49
Burgers, Art and More Art!
Issue 48
Coffee, Pizza and Street Art
Issue 47
Selfies, Ramen and The Beast
Issue 46
Grilling, Facebook and Doodles
Issue 45
Watercolours and Gucci Décor
Issue 44
All About the Rosé
Issue 43
Jousting and Baking Mad
Issue 42
Eating Insects and Tech Talk
Issue 41
Gardening and Picnics
Issue 40
Food Chat and Fashion
Issue 39
We're California Dreaming
Issue 38
Food Photos and Hackney Canal
Issue 37
RIP Sir Roger Moore
Issue 36
Arts Fringe and Roger Mayne
Issue 35
David Adjaye and No More TV
Issue 34
Coffee and Fake News
Issue 33
Day of the Dead
Issue 32
Gallery 46 and Roundhouse
Issue 31
Heavy Thinking and Grumpy Goat
Issue 30
Our Death Row Meal
Issue 29
LN Newspaper is Now Available
Issue 28
Brexit is Upon Us
Issue 27
The Festival Season Begins!
Issue 26
Spoiled for Choice with Art!
Issue 25
Our Outlook on Beards and Punk
Issue 24
More Football and Scepta-cism
Issue 23
Catlin Art Prize and Beigels
Issue 22
Population Boom and Jazz Hands
Issue 21
LN's in a Football Frenzy
Issue 20
Food for Thought and Arty Fun
Issue 19
Spring and the London Divide
Issue 18
A Whole Lotta Flavour and Art
Issue 17
US Faves and Nomadic Gardens
Issue 16
Monkey Business and Fantom
Issue 15
The Force Awakens...
Issue 14
All Things Christmas!
Issue 13
Our Top Festive Coffee Picks
Issue 12
La Marseillaise and Otto Dog
Issue 11
Global Values and Dishoom
Issue 09
LN Throwback and Stylist Mag
Issue 08
More Graffiti and UFOs
Issue 07
Graffiti and Top Creativity
Issue 06
T Swift and a Fine Heartbeat
Issue 05
Fro Yo, Coffee Hits and Art
Issue 04
Super DJs and Gelato in Soho
Issue 03
Doughnuts and Coffee
Issue 02
Lovebox, Dirty Talk and Space!
Issue 01
Forest Live and Summer Reading