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Houses in the Bo-Kaap Atlas Trading, a spice shop in the Bo-Kaap is a veritable Cape Town institution. Bo-Kaap (meaning Upper Cape Town aka the Malay Quarter) is the Muslim area of the town and is dotted with pretty little mosques and brightly coloured flat roofed homes.  I was staying in the area, originally peopled by muslim slaves from Indonesia. The dawn chorus here is the morning call to…

Autumn Leaves and Bloody Marys

The offer to fly a light aircraft over Boston and into New Hampshire was difficult to refuse. The colours of autumn leaves in the American North East are stunning – seeing them from the air is a rare treat. Flying small planes in the UK is a pretty casual affair. You show up at a tiny airport with a storied history; many airfields in the South East served as bases for Spitfires in World War 2.…

Mile High Martinis with Qatar Airways Long haul flights are excruciatingly boring. If you are a frequent flyer you’ve already seen all the movies. The quality of the food ranges from forgettable to “why did I even bother”, and the cabin crew can’t make your favourite cocktail. Then there is the Mile High club. There is a certain frisson of excitement about bending your partner over the toilet and…

The Pig, the Prime Minister and his Honourable Member

The British Prime Minister is alleged to have stuck his privates into the mouth of a (mercifully dead) pig. David Cameron cocked up, but it could happen to anyone. You are young. You are at a party. Someone starts passing around dead pigs… How exactly does one react to #piggate #respectfulinterspeciesfacefuck #necrozoophillia? My American friends were horrified at the prime minister’s behaviour.…

There was an episode of Top Gear where the team attempted to fry an egg on the engine block of a super car.  It “proves” the kind of point that boys in fifth grade argue about. In the same vein, Martini Mandate attempted to shake a martini on the engine of a Ferrari.  It is a bit silly, but then so is a blog about drinking.  I hope you enjoy watching it!…

Iconic girl, iconic chair, iconic sixties scandal – iconic picture by Lewis Morley, 1963 The whiff of scandal gives Cliveden House, the grand home of the Astor’s a rakish edge. If you must have an affair at the height of the cold war with a 19 year old who might be sleeping with the enemy – this is where to do it.  Throw in sex parties featuring naked masked waiters who may or may not be cabinet…

Ageing Queens Rarely Look Good

The Queen’s Hotel circa 1918   My earliest memory of the Queen’s Hotel in Kandy was visiting the in-house barber with my father. I must have been five. The barber claimed to have cut Lord Mountbatten’s hair during the war. I think he used the same clippers on me – they were ancient and kept shorting and giving me small electric shocks. My complaints fell on deaf ears. I later discovered that the…

Casa Mono-Whose Casa is it?

Bill and The Donald discuss assets and liabilities   Hilary Clinton wants to inherit her husband’s old job, because well, you know, she deserves it. Donald Trump wants to become president because he believes he can appeal to everyone’s inner arsehole. The spectacle that is the U.S. Election campaign is well under way. Most people know how they feel about the Donald. Hilary generates more complex…

Sex, Socialism and Rock ‘n Roll

As a teenager I had a brief fling with socialism. It had less to do with politics and everything to do with meeting attractive members of the opposite sex. Left wing women believed in sex, drugs and rock and roll; my principle motivations for attending college in America. Right wing women believed in Jesus, which was not quite as much fun.

Although deficient in modern depilitory practises, most…

Bye Bye New Year Resolutions

You’ve been at work for almost a month of the new year.  The holidays seem a distant memory.  You still haven’t caught up with the email backlog from the holidays.  By now you’ve decided that any idiot who generates email traffic during the holidays doesn’t deserve a response.  Your new year resolutions have already fallen by the wayside.  As you decide between getting your 15th cup of coffee or…

Santa Brought Me a Cigar and a Go-Go Dancer for Christmas

Smokes and a whiskey at Lexington Bar & Books

Merry Christmas!  I trust this finds you in the bosom of family and friends with a cup of cheer in your hand.  I know many of you will have travelled by plane, train and automobile to be with your loved ones over this holiday period.  I was in New York City with an early morning flight back home to London. I faced a choice between spending a few…

Not Your Grand Daddy’s Hotel

Martini Mandate guest writer the Drinks Pimp sends this report from Cape Town:

Cape Town’s Long street morphs from trendy Afro centric shops to a traffic jammed and crammed night time strip, filled with back packers and party people. Bars spill into the street and the stop and bite restaurants are packed, clubbers are out.  The Sky Bar at the Grand Daddy Hotelis a quirky hotel rooftop bar…

Never Sleep Where a Footballer Has Been

The Trianon Palace Versailles

In the old Soviet Union there were restaurants that closed for lunch.  France was never quite that bad, but service with a smile, or service period, still remains an alien concept.

The Scene:  The 5 star Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace Hotel in Versailles. It is a historic property on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles – one of the grandest gardens in the world.…

If you’ve been on Facebook recently you may have noticed people posting a daily list of things that they are grateful for.  I’m not really sure why they do that. However I’ve never let my lack of understanding get in the way of active participation in a cause – that by the way is the definition of a liberal. I also wear sandals with socks and hug trees when no one is looking. Yesterday I even…

Of Tuk Tuks and Politics

Tuk Tuk drivers can have trenchant political views

Discussing the current situation in the Middle East with perfect strangers is not recommended.  Doing so in Sri Lanka with a tuk tuk driver, who insisted on making eye contact while speaking, turned out to be almost a life changing experience – both for me and a host of other road users!  According to my driver all the past troubles in the Middle…

Colonial era buildings have been converted into stunning boutique restaurants and arcades – this is a former Mental Hospital at Independence Square

My most enduring memory of the recently concluded civil war in Sri Lanka is of the checkpoints which dotted the roads. Armed soldiers stood behind piles of sandbags designed to mitigate the impact of suicide bombs, while others checked vehicles and…