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The GOOD LIFE
This month, it’s all about health checks, top grub and saying no to phones for Alice B-B The full MOT at Lanserhof at the Arts Club
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T’S NEVER TOO LATE… to be the best you can be. Well, that’s the theory behind the top-to-toe health check at Lanserhof at the Arts Club in Mayfair. This is the medical wellness facility where top notch doctors and specialists, with a raft of diagnostic equipment, look after all sorts; from well-lunched Mayfair marauders to Premier League footballers (they come for a once-over before transferring to a new club). The idea is that, whether you need a full-monty overhaul, a little lifestyle tweaking or just fancy safeguarding your future health, this is the place to be. I had blood and muscoskeletal tests, ultrasounds, and my walking and running gait analysed. The upshot – I need to eat less butter and cheese (my cholesterol is a little high – I blame being a quarter French!). And I need to specifically train my ‘unstable pelvis’. Because it’s not too late to avoid a hip replacement. I FEEL SAD… for the restaurants that came a cropper over the last two years. But the enforced cull means a total freshener of the restaurant scene. Over the last month I’ve scoffed good pub food at The Princess Royal in Notting Hill: mysterious dark corners for clandestine meetings, Jinny Blom-designed garden for sunny soirées and a few charming bedrooms upstairs because… you never know. Then to Grosvenor Square for a phenomenally delicious dinner at The Twenty Two: a new hotel, restaurant, members’ club filled with BYTs and whispers that ‘Madonna was here last night’. I can’t stop dreaming about the crab salad made with an entire head of lettuce, a melting steak béarnaise (with a sneaky side of cacio e pepe – because, why not?) and a rascal of a crème brulée. I also went to Michelin-starred Indian restaurant Jamavar – an old friend that has weathered the recent storms. I tipped up for the annual, monthlong ‘Alfonso Mango Celebration’; an homage to the most intensely flavoured variety, which appeared all over the menu from chutney to lassi to curry and finally, the naughtiest little burnt mango tart. I left joyously stuffed and with a booking for next year. ALWAYS ONE STEP AHEAD… My friend Amazing Amy, who gave a magical party for her birthday and asked that all phones be left at home or with a ‘phone minder’ on the night. Genius. No cutting short great conversation for a selfie, speeches without a sea of black rectangles held aloft and dancing with the reckless abandon only possible without fear of it being filmed and sliding onto social media. And yes – there’s a gaping gap in my photo album chronicling one of the best parties of my life – but the memories are (sort of) all there. My memories – not my iPhone’s version. Phonefree is the future. n
THIS MONTH I’LL BE...
GETTING sweaty in Ayda Field’s ace new workout gear (shopayda.com). GAZING in wonder at this wooden e-bike (coco-matbike.uk). SAMPLING (via my pup) the new Caboodle dog food – everything a pooch needs for a day all in one nifty box (caboodle.dog).
ILLUSTRATION BY MEI MEI, @MEIMEI_2503
‘Whether you need a FULLMONTY overhaul... or just fancy SAFEGUARDING your future HEALTH, this is the PLACE to be’
24 | COUNTRYANDTOWNHOUSE.COM | July/August 2022
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30/06/2022 18:17
