MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBYgets to spend some quality time with her 16-year-old son in the English capital
WHAT DOES a teenager look for in a weekend city break? A ready supply of cash on demand, regular refuelling stops at “deadly” cafes/restaurants – for deadly read noisy and uncomfortable – and an always-on Wi-Fi connection so they can share minutiae with their Facebook family.
What does a mother setting out to spend some quality time with her teenage son look for? A break from the “Tidy bedroom, do homework, and for God’s sake pull up your trousers before you reveal more than the name of your underwear designer” mantra would be a good start. Shopping, eating, and a bit of face-to-face communication would be good, too.
That’s how Andrew (16) and I found ourselves headed to London last weekend with a reservations at a couple of “happening” restaurants, tickets for a West End musical, a wad of sterling burning holes in our pockets, and . . . an iPod with a flat battery (sorry son, it had to be done).
The first stop on our agenda was Inamo, an Oriental restaurant in Soho where an illustrated menu is projected onto the tables, and you place your order by tapping on whatever appeals. By the time I got to grips with the system, Andrew had already ordered, played a game of Battleships, and was watching his lunch being prepared on the kitchen webcam.
“The interactive ordering system was like being in an episode of The Jetsons,” he said. It was terrific fun, and the food was excellent too, especially the soft shell crab maki rolls, and the meltingly tender Berkshire pork neck with apple confit and spicy chocolate sauce. Four small starters, two main courses, one dessert, and drinks, would have come with a £82 (€98) bill, but having booked through toptable.co.uk, we received a hefty discount on the food, bringing the bill down to £50 (€60).
A wander down Oxford Street, punctuated by a bit of haggling with street vendors over the price of various bits of tat (Andrew) and a stroll around Liberty (me), took us to the Dominion theatre in good time to claim our seats for the musical, We Will Rock You. Any hope I had of a sneaky snooze evaporated the minute the curtain lifted, but Andrew was enthralled throughout. "That was probably the highlight of my year," he said, before asking if we could return the following night.
The following morning, a walk around Covent Garden provided amusement for him, and shopping opportunities for me. “I saw a man in his underwear juggling a ball, a sword and a chainsaw, then throw the chainsaw over his shoulder and catch it,” Andrew said with genuine respect in his voice.
Hunger pangs directed us to Wahaca, the Mexican street food restaurant set up by former Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers. The selection for two (£19.95/€24), which included tacos, quesadillas, tostadas and taquitos, was a good way to get an overview of the menu. Plenty of lime fizz – a mixture of crushed limes, mint and sparkling water – countered the chilli heat.
Later, while I relaxed with a book, Andrew revisited the Science Museum, on his own for the first time. “I’ve been so many times, but every time I go theres more to do and see. This time I designed a planet, Lander, and watched a 3D movie about how they repaired the Hubble Telescope.”
He arrived back from this outing with a large Burger King bag under his arm, less than an hour before we were to eat what are supposedly the best burgers in town at the trendy new Bar Boulud in the Mandarin Oriental hotel.
“I needed to make a comparison,” he said. And, as only lanky 6ft 2in teenage boys can, he followed the fast food snack with a French charcuterie platter, a “Piggie” burger with grilled meat, pulled pork, chilli mayo and red cabbage slaw on a cheddar bun, with just enough room left for dessert. Manhattan chef Daniel Boulud will no doubt be relieved to learn that his burger got the thumbs up over the fast food chain’s.
The food and shopping theme of the weekend continued with a stroll around Brick Lane market the following morning, where the indoor market in the former Truman Brewery yielded interesting new T-shirts for both of us, and an on-the-hoof lunch of Japanese okonomiyaki omelettes.
All too soon it was time to make the dash back to Luton airport, weighed down with shopping bags and slumped in companionable silence – without the tinny buzz of an iPod in the background.