Good food at Pierre, Mandarin Oriental, ambiance could be better

This new French haute cuisine restaurant by Pierre Gagnaire at the Mandarin Oriental hotel had been opened for a few months when I made my visit on Saturday evening. The foyer has a peculiar look and feel of haute couture meets night club with those big LCD display of fade-in and fade-out images. What happened to just an elegant and dramatic floral arrangement?

The deco is coherent with predominantly dark tones. I took the menu degustation just to check out the breadth and capability of the kitchen. The wine list was OK - main stream catering for the ostentatious clientele. The dishes were all well presented and executed - with the richer seafood dishes better than the lighter variety. The presentation of the dishes was very good - with judicious use of unusually shaped porcelain and arrangements.

What was enjoyable? The generally well prepared and presented dishes, harbour view (if you have a window next to you).

What was not enjoyable? The sound level could be enhanced - it's too easy to listen in on other's conversations.

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Hearing the Berlin Philharmonic at the Philharmonie

Those of us London-centric folks easily forget there are great concert halls in other parts of the world. I remember as a young kid buying DG LPs with von Karajan on the front cover conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. So as my first visit to the city, a visit to the Philharmonie to listen to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was a must. Ivan Fisher started the evening's concert with Haydn Symphony 88. A light and delightful work. As I'd expected, the acoustic of the hall was amazing - probably a good 2.5 second of reverberation - and much more generous than the Royal Festival Hall in London. The strings sounded sweet and the timpani came through clearly with definition. The audience was then treated to Béla Bartók's Seven Pieces for Choir and Chamber Orchestra: the Berlin Phil reduced in size occupying only half of the stage while the Netherlands Youth Choir took the other half. These young performers (all female) sang in Hungarian from memory - not easy at all - and rea...

Will the swish looking Princi become the hottest thing on Wardour St?

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Fidelio at the Royal Opera

Fidelio comes around to the Royal Opera only once in a while. With Lise Davidsen as Leonore, there was much to look forward to. The overture sounded firm at the beginning, but there were minor ensemble issues - the strings just didn't sound tight enough. Lise Davidsen was phenomenal. From the "fake" flirting with Marzelline (sung by Amanda Forsythe), "man to man" talk with Meister Rocco (sung by Georg Zeppenfeld) to the true Leonore in emotional turmoil - whe tackled them all with gusto. Her stature and firm voice also added further conviction to the role, but never too forthright to be forced. We were lured in the a sense of security with the naturalistic stage set reminicent of Figaro in Act I. That was all knocked back with Act II - Florestan was on a stone island surrounded by a non-descript chorus sitting down in front of a doorway - all starkly lit. The stage set bore no relation to the scenerary to Act I. Set and costume designer Rainer Sellmaier ...

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