Intercourse for 4?

Champor Champor described on its website as "Creative Malay-Asian food served in a unique and welcoming environment.", has to be the most unusually decorated restaurant I have been too for a while. It reminded me of the Yellow Heaven Soup Kitchen in Kingston upon Thames back in the early 90’s. Every space was filled with some odd sculpture or decoration, even the ceiling. Champor Champor is a great place for romantic dinners as they have a raised private seating box above the other dinners. Lighting is subdued which can mean you might not realize what you are looking at until your eyes become accustomed to the light. So don’t be frightened by the tribal masks or the porno paintings in the toilet. Oh and the Stephen King doll at the bar!

The bread order was a mix of fruit loaf and pitta style bread that looked like toasted peeled skin. That sounds awful but it tasted as bad as it looked. Yes of course I had to try it! We made E order frogs legs to start and stir fried kangaroo which were both very good. An hour to wait for the main course resulted in us being served complimentary plum wine as compensation. Strange though as I could have sworn it tasted of watered down cherry wine. As we wondered where to pour the drink our extremely polite androgynous waiter/ess asked us if we wanted intercourse. Covering our faces with the menu with embarrassment we realized it was a dish between courses – well what else could you call it?

62 Weston Street London SE1 3QJ Tel: 020 7403 4600

November 2006

Darfur at the Angel

Kalabash

Salmon and Compass - Islington London

16 November 2006

Another fantastic live set from Emmanuel Jal and his crew at the Salmon and Compass last night. The venue is quite intimate with performers being on the dance floor rather than a stage. Prior to the gig Kalabash had organised an evening of African awareness focusing in particular on the Darfur region. Freestyle drumming intermingled with the talks and live music. A truly rhythmic evening.

Darfur Diaries: Message From Home
www.darfurdiaries.org

ALL ABOUT DARFUR
a film by Taghreed Elsanhouri
www.allaboutdarfur.com

Kalabash Movement is an organisation that seeks to promote African Awareness.Each event is designed to encourage recognition of the differences between the African Nations and celebrate the rich yet distinct cultural heritage and socio-political situations.We hope to give a platform to Musicians and Independent film makers and encourage a wider audience to appreciate their works.
Pics are of EJ and DJ Silvastone and Roachie