The 2022 Summer Guide to London: What to See, Watch and Where to Eat

London is back in full swing for the summer. The city is on a high after celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebration in June, and there’s more on the agenda from exhibitions to restaurants that celebrate the city’s multiculturalism. Here are some of the spots worth going to.

What to see

AFRICA FASHION

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Courtesy of the V&A

The Victoria & Albert museum is displaying its first African fashion exhibition in its 170-year history. The exhibition is divided into two parts — the downstairs will explore photographs from the ’50s onward, with historical outfits, while upstairs will focus on contemporary designers and photography. The show features designers with powerful political messaging on feminism and LGBTQ rights by Rich Mnisi, Orange Culture and Sindiso Khumalo. Also making an appearance is the brand Tongoro, which has been worn by Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and Naomi Campbell, but is still under the radar in the western fashion industry.

MILTON AVERY, AMERICAN COLORIST

Courtesy of The Royal Academy of Arts

Dubbed as the American Henri Matisse, Milton Avery’s artwork often goes unnoticed in Europe, where the big stars are Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. Avery’s artwork at the Royal Academy crosses between two movements: American Impressionists and the Abstract Expressionists, from the ’30s to ’60s, with a selection of 70 paintings on display. His pieces spotlight tranquil landscapes from his visits to Maine and Cape Cod, portraits of his inner circle and studies of daily life. Avery was celebrated by the likes of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.

IN JEST

Harry Griffin

Colombian-born and New York-based artist, Ilana Savdie is staging her first London show at the White Cube, home to artists such as Theaster Gates, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. “In Jest” is a visual analysis of “performance and excess as modes of dissent and resistance.” Savdie focuses on the carnival tradition by using repeated items throughout her work via a curtain, a hoof, a ball and a hoop. She also draws on human bodies and insects, from muscles, ribs, bones to worms, slugs, parasites. In November, she is set to join the inaugural Artists-in-Residence at Horizon Art Foundation, Los Angeles.

PENNY WORLD

Artist Penny Goring’s 30-year art career will be display at The Institute of Contemporary Arts, which is showing her expansive work of self-portraits, drawings, digital collages, videos and brightly colored paintings. She takes her inspiration from history and contemporary culture with her own take on fictional mythologies — many of the themes in her art pull from grief, fear, loss, panic and powerlessness. “‘I have always lived under the rule of men and money, and right now, I am angry at the ways it hobbles my life and my body. I find the future we are in to be terrifying,” says Goring.

What to watch

CRUISE

PAMELA RAITH

Jack Holden has made a name for himself on the London theater scene, from playing the lead (Albert) in “War Horse” to taking a role in Amazon’s “Ten Percent,” an English reinterpretation of the hit Netflix show “Call My Agent!” At the Apollo Theatre, Holden will reprise the role of Michael, a gay man on his last night on earth in 1988 in Soho. The 90-minute monologue production was inspired by the stories Holden heard when first volunteering at the LGBTQ helpline, Switchboard, where he encountered countless stories of AIDS-related illness and tragedies.

PATRIOT

Marc Brenner

“The Crown” creator Peter Morgan is bringing a Russian political drama to the stage at the Almeida Theatre. “Patriot” plays out in the post-Soviet, post-perestroika era. The subject of Morgan’s new work is Boris Berezovsky, played by Tom Hollander, a former friend of Vladimir Putin, turned exiled oligarch. It bears similarities to Morgan’s 2006 play, “Frost/Nixon,” which was adapted for the big screen in 2008.

MY FAIR LADY

Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are back on stage again, but this time for a new generation at The London Coliseum. It’s a world away from the classic 1964 musical starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison about a man teaching a girl how to fit into society. Amara Okereke stars as the first Black Eliza, alongside Dame Vanessa Redgrave as Mrs. Higgins. The play may not be set during the Regency period, but there are many motifs to be found throughout the Edwardian onstage drama.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER: FASHION FREAK SHOW

Boby

The story of Jean Paul Gaultier is getting an all-singing and all-dancing treatment at The Roundhouse. The show is written and directed by the French designer himself and features more than 200 of his original couture pieces, from the conical bra famously worn by Madonna on her “Blond Ambition World Tour” to his nautical and burlesque designs that have transformed him into a household name. The couturier will be taking his “Fashion Freak Show” to Tokyo in 2023.

Where to eat

TATALE

Felix Speller

Ghanaian-British chef Akwasi Brenya-Mensa is bringing a taste of his childhood to London with his new restaurant Tatale, named after the Ghanaian plantain pancake. His new venture will reside at The Africa Centre. The restaurant has been going on an international roadshow for the last four months, by taking a taste of pan-African dishes to Lisbon, Amsterdam, Puerto Rico and more. The menu will house many of Brenya-Mensa’s personal favorites dishes, including chichinga chicken, spiced rice pudding and red red, a black-eyed bean stew that he used to ask his mother to make him every Tuesday after football.

MIRO

When opening a restaurant, it’s always about going big — and sometimes, that’s with the menu prices. For Miro on Old Burlington Street, that philosophy manifests with the “Sunken Treasure Chest,” a 3,000-pound dish that includes a kilo of caviar, blinis, mini brioche buns, croissants and a variety of condiments. The restaurant is headed up by Michelin-starred chef Toby Burrowes, who has held positions at Elystan Street and Zuma. 

ISIBANI

Knightsbridge is getting a West African restaurant that promises to “bring the light,” which translates to the venue’s name, Isibani, in Zulu. Chef Victor Okunowo from “MasterChef: The Professionals” leads the restaurant as head chef. It will be a two-floor fine dining experience that focuses on Nigerian cuisine, featuring smoked monkfish filet with charred okra, kachumbari and brown shrimp; mackerel with iru, apple and celery tartlet; jollof rice with grilled broccoli and fermented scotch bonnet and more.

MRIYA

Elena Bazu

Chef and ambassador of Ukrainian cuisine, Yurii Kovryzhenko has opened a restaurant in Chelsea that will only employ Ukrainian refugees. Mriya, which translates to dream, will reside on Brompton Road. After the start of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kovryzhenko hosted dinners to raise money for relief, with his counterparts in the food industry Jason Atherton, Jamie Oliver and Tom Sellers. Kovryzhenko’s menu is already filled with classics such as borsch, chicken Kyiv, zucchini pancakes, smoked trout and more.

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