Comfortable and well-connected, the Amsterdam DoubleTree is a solid if anodyne base from which to explore the city.
You're never far from much in Amsterdam, but the city's DoubleTree Hilton is emphatic in its convenience.
A relatively new hotel, already relaunched and rebranded after a spell as a Mint Hotel, the DoubleTree is an imposing, angular and modern structure set amid regeneration on Amsterdam's Oosterdok (East Docklands).
It is a big, ugly building, somewhat out of step with the otherwise preservedly picturesque aspect of Amsterdam and, though tucked off to one side, it is a hugely visible landmark. This is a good and bad thing. Bad because big, new ugly landmarks are rarely a positive thing, and good because it is very easy for visitors to find, either while wandering about during their stay or on initially arriving in Amsterdam.
The location of the hotel is a tremendous luxury for visitors to this wonderfully cosmopolitan European capital, whether they're in town for straight-up business or for more relaxed reasons of pleasure and tourism.
Situated on Oosterdockstraat, this Hilton-affiliated accommodation is only 5 minutes walk from the city's Amsterdam Centraal railway station. This allows convenient, fuss-free links to and from the airport and also puts you right in touch with the whole city due to its proximity to the hub of Amsterdam's tram network.
Within minutes of setting out on a day's sightseeing, you can be set up with a daily/weekly public transport pass, a ticket for a boat tour and armed with a brochure full of discount vouchers. Which leaves more time for you to cram in as much of the city as you possibly can.
If you choose to take a day or so to explore your immediate surroundings, you're also comfortably within walking distance of the bars, canals, restaurants, museums, galleries and coffee shops that fill the city centre, the famous red light district and the city's main drag, Damrak. You're also close enough to the Jordaan, Oud-Zuid (Old Side) and other adjacent areas to stroll merrily from one to other and still be in touching distance of home base.
Convenience of location aside, the hotel is as you'd expect of a Hilton affiliate. The service is friendly and accommodating; too early to check in? The staff will offer to lock your bags and cases up while you explore, and try to turn your room ahead of schedule. Nervous about using your rusty Dutch to book a table somewhere? Head to customer services at the main desk and they will take care of it.
The hotel is fitted out fairly neutrally, clean, tidy and dotted with portaits of Amsterdam to tie you to your location. You could be anywhere though, really.
The rooms are large, spacious and comfortable. A swish, internet enabled Apple TV sits as the lavish crown jewel in the room alongside more usual features like the stocked mini-fridge and a fan of city specific magazines. With a spacious, comfortable bed, and roomy, powerful shower, our room (limited view apart) made a fine camp for a city break, but it was not without unexpected issues.
- A DoubleTree Room (with a view)
The bathroom frequently smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. In these multi-storey hotels the ventilation system often loops around the various rooms before finding its way out. Here, we were obviously plumbed in to the room of someone having a semi-regular crafty fag in the bathroom, or worse, we were hooked up to a vent which came out next to a favourite exterior area for smokers.
The room was also painfully dry. Tinker as we might with the heating and air conditioning, we always seemed to wake up in the morning feeling dried out and chapped about the face. The heating was easy to control, and we could maintain the room at a pleasant temperature, it was just a bit arid and uncomfortable.
Any parched throats were quickly sated at breakfast, where a vast buffet, divided into two areas for ease of access, catered amply for carnivores, cerealists and continental tryers alike. There are locally sourced treats here like spiced Dutch sausages or chocolate sprinkles for your toast (much loved in Holland) which is a nice touch, and we found that a good sitting at the breakfast table, with table-served tea/coffee, and juice on tap would set us up for a day of exploring.
Lacking a little character, which you might better find at a local hostel or B&B, the DoubleTree by Hilton is faultlessly convenient and rigorously professional. A safe, anonymous choice of hotel for a fuss-free stay in a city full of personality and edge.
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Category Travel |
So good they named it once; The Grill on New York Street does the simple things very well indeed.
Opened in March 2011, filling the city-centre space vacated by waning Heathcote's tapas venture Grado, The Grill on New York Street is, like its Manchester sister restaurant The Grill on the Alley, an upmarket steak house with an emphasis on serving up good cuts of meat with a degree of style.
If you ever visited Grado before Paul Heathcote cut and ran then you'll know how The Grill on NYS is set out. There have been no refurbishments; everything is as it was. Which is good, as Grado, its many flaws aside, was a nice place to dine. The open range is still there, contributing to the convivial, informal atmosphere, as is the two tier dining room, with a balcony of booths, made up of smaller tables, overlooking a lower deck of round tables.
These tables were full on our weekday visit, with a combination of besuited business diners, enjoying the man-friendly, meat-heavy menu, and groups of regular punters dining without the luxury of an expense account.
Unfortunately, Grill on NYS has also inherited Grado's teeny tiny bar area, into which one must cram, sweating, until your table opens up. Take advantage of the excellent, diverse and relatively old-school cocktail menu while you're there; ours were craftily concocted before our eyes - killing a few bar-bound minutes - and were deliciously potent.
The food at The Grill on New York Street pushes no boundaries, but it is very good and universally spot-hitting fare.
A Kilner jar of Potted Shrimp, served on a slate with a slice or two of toasted bread, was a highlight among the starters; ample, and wonderfully fresh with a salty, meaty richness.
This trick was repeated to some effect among the mains where twin orders of Posh Surf and Turf were met with rave reviews. A lovely cut of sirloin steak, cooked as specified, comes with fishy cheerleaders of baby scallops, prawns and crayfish, all swathed in an insistent savoury butter.
The expert cooking of the steak was no fluke. The Grill on New York Street excels in this area, as it must given the limited span of its menu, and my thick 310g Rump Steak was a perfect medium-rare, grilled beautifully without and yieldingly pink within. It is worth repeating that this restaurant makes no efforts at invention or pretension, but it delivers thoroughly in this consistent excellence of the plates it puts out. Other Manchester restaurants could take a lesson in this regard.
The waif of a menu has been mentioned. If you aren't a meat eater, and especially if you don't or can't eat beef, then you'll find your options and your enjoyment sorely limited here. There is a bit of pork here and there, or you can choose from a decent fish section, but The Grill's steaks are the stars.
Additional gripery comes in the form of a familiar refrain regarding Manchester's better restaurants. I don't know whether this is a stylistic decision or a simple, tight-fisted effort to squeeze every possible penny out of paying punters, but there is a worrying trend towards selling half a meal at full price and then pimping so-called 'sides' to accompany the dish. To my mind, a steak should come with chips, or onions rings, or a something to spare the cut, however impressive, sitting lonely on its plate like a stood-up blind date.
Having paid nearly £20 for a steak, I expect it to arrive as part of a meal, otherwise I'd just go to ASDA and pick up a bigger cut for a third of the price, give some to the dog and feel good about myself into the bargain.
A small, irritating issue, but not one which which spoiled our evening of fine food, good wine and friendly, caring service.
Hearty, if overpriced, puddings for the the sweet of tooth, and speciality coffees for everyone else, put a satisfying lid on our jolly evening at The Grill on New York Street; the relaxed buzz in the restaurant meant that liquor and conversation had flowed and the food had spoken for itself.
Our Rating:
Let us know what you think of The Grill on New York Street, by leaving a comment or a rating below.
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Category Food and Drink, Manchester |
If you are naturally pale-skinned and have difficulty finding a foundation to suit you, the cosmetics brand NYC (New York Color) may have a solution for you.
Available at Superdrug for the bargain introductory price of £2.99 (normal price about £3.99), NYC’s brand new All Day Long Smooth Skin Foundation promises flawless, matte coverage for at least 14 hours. In reality, it does go on really smoothly, providing great coverage without feeling thick, visible or pore-blocking.
The finish is matte and creamy but not powdery-looking, and you end up with skin that looks and feels quite silky and smooth throughout the day.
However, the best thing about NYC
All Day Long foundation, apart from its bargain price-tag, is that its 737 Classic Ivory shade does actually match up to its name. Being very pale, it is difficult to find a foundation, or any make-up for pale skin, that matches my skin tone, without it looking like Halloween make-up or leaving me with a mismatched face and neck. This foundation is perfect for pale skin, helping to create the perfect porcelain finish and leaving me feeling proud of my paleness.
Our Rating:
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Category Health and Beauty, Shopping |
This Means Bore: half-baked Action-Rom-Com spoils date night for everyone.
Released in the UK on 2nd March 2012, This Means War
is the McG-directed action rom-com (or ‘romaction comedy’, if you like) in which two best friends and CIA colleagues (Star Trek
’s Chris Pine and Inception
’s Tom Hardy) fall for the same girl (Reese Witherspoon) and end up battling it out for her affections using their elite spy skills.
Envisioned as a funny, sexy and entertaining romp this jack-of-all-films ticks none of the right boxes. It isn’t funny enough, the lead actors are miscast and the writing and concept are half-baked.
There is little time amid the explosions and set-pieces for this cluttered film to develop any of the main characters; we never really get a sense of the friendship between Pine’s FDR and Hardy’s Tuck, what kind of girl Witherspoon’s Lauren is or what kind of man she would actually end up with.
A number of tedious action scenes are shoe-horned into the picture, relating to the CIA missions Tuck and FDR are supposed to be concentrating on instead of chasing after Lauren. There is nothing to care about in these flat scenes, which orbit the main romantic plot. Even the male members of the audience, whose money and attention these sections must have been designed to attract, will find little of interest here. Save your pennies and rent Arnie's True Lies
, or Mr & Mrs Smith
, for more successful takes on the difficulties of juggling espionage and romance.
Reese Witherspoon, as always, is a delight to watch. Ever competent and comfortable while romcomming, Witherspoon is luminously pretty, universally likeable and naturally charming. She is the only actor who seems at home in This Means War.
Hardy and Pine, on the other hand, have no chemistry, nor any funny lines to deliver. In a charmless film, a suitably charmless Chris Pine struggle to compete with Hardy’s natural charisma and husky sex appeal; the Englishman did at least seem to have some chemistry with Witherspoon.
There are a few funny moments, but these are few and far between. In the hands of more experienced comedy actors, or with a more unusual combination of leading men (such as Mark Wahlberg/Will Ferrell in 2010’s The Other Guys
), it may have been possible to save This Means War from its lazy writing and horribly implausibly plot, and come out with a halfway entertaining film.
As it is, This Means War isn’t slick or funny enough to make you forgive its implausibility and lack of internal logic, nor is it as emotionally satisfying or sexy as a romantic comedy should be. As for the lucky dip ending, it makes so little sense that it makes a mockery of everything else that is established earlier in this slack, ludicrous film. And why not?
Our Rating:
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Category TV and Film |
Part of Manchester Histories Festival, Infra_MANC is an intriguing sounding exhibition taking a look at the development of Manchester's post-war transport and communications infrastructure.
Hosted by CUBE (Centre for the Urban Built Environment) on Portland Street, the exhibition explores the process of planning and constructing those key projects which have made Manchester the city it is today, including the massive undertaking in planning and delivery which saw our famous Mancunian Way apparently just plonked down on top of an existing road network and the unseen underground work involved in connecting up this huge city's telephone exchange.
An impressive set of black and white pictures of the underground Guardian Exchange tunnels, spanning a whole wall at CUBE, is one of the more interesting exhibits for laymen like us, without a working knowledge, or particular interest in, the finer points of town planning.
- An artist's impression of the proposed Piccadilly to Victoria underground railway
Most fascinating, and worth your visit, is the section of the exhibition dedicated to two unrealised projects which might have changed the way Manchester functioned over the last 20 years.
With conceptual art and models depicting how Manchester would have looked if a project to connect Piccadilly and Victoria stations with a tube-aping underground railway line, this part of Infra_MANC offers a glimpse into an alternate present, albeit one with a nostalgic retro feel, as imagined by artists and conceptualists in the 1970s.
You can interact with the archived promotional materials and read the contemporaneous news stories (which, for context, aren't much unlike the bumf accompanying the ongoing expansion of the Metro lines) and get a sense of the excitement, intrigue, outrage and mystification which the abandoned project must have stirred up.
- Built for promotional purposes, you can interact with the retro Picc-Vic route planner
Unfortunately exhibits depicting this fictive almost-Manchester felt too few in number. We failed to get a sense of why the Picc-Vic project failed and how close it came to being, finding ourselves through the exhibit all too quickly.
We couldn't have stayed more than 15 minutes in CUBE; there simply wasn't enough there to sustain a more prolonged visit, and we failed to find any trace of the mooted Manchester city centre helipad (the other of the two fanciful, scratched projects which had drawn us in).
Worth ducking in for a look, Infra_MANC feels like a opportunity missed, an exploration of an interesting subject let down by a frustrating lack of relevant material.
Update: We're reilably informed, by exhibition curactor Richard Brook (Manchester School of Architecture), that the heliport drawings can be viewed in the adjacent RIBA Hub, as this is a joint exhibition.
The RIBA exhibition is advertised as running until 24 March, and there is due to be a catalogue with over 30000 words added shortly, so you've now got plenty of time and more reason to pop in and look around. Print off a 'Winter Warmer' voucher from the RIBA website and you can get a free slice of cake when you buy a large hot drink too.
Manchester Histories Festival runs in various Manchester locations from 24th Feb - 4th March 2012 (you have missed it, sorry)
The Infra_MANC exhibition is, according to their website, on display at CUBE until 17 March 2012.
If the exhibition gives you a taste for images of the city industrial check out http://www.manctransit.co.uk/ which acts as a depository of related raw material for the North Manchester Bedroom Allstars (NMB).
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Category Manchester |
