LOWDOWN: More than a gimmick
We're making damn sure that you're eating your greens
Greetings all,
How are you doing on this balmy afternoon?
I’ve had a very indulgent week since we last spoke, for our towering overlord darling editor has been on holiday. I have, as such, worked from home in blessed peace, typing away in a lush garden tended to by my very green-fingered flatmate.
It’s back to the office tomorrow, which includes a commute on the unbearably hot and unbearably loud Northern Line. Deep breaths.
And so, inspired by the viridity surrounding me last week, this LOWDOWN has a touch of the outdoors about it. Our Pro-Tips are dedicated to windowsill herbs and our intern, Emmeline, ventured to Kew Garden’s new immersive exhibition to bring you her hot take.
For those of you who don’t much like your greens, we’ve reviewed West London’s The Cheese Barge, and investigated Hockney’s early work.
Enjoy!
Maya Sall x
Writer and editorial assistant
THE LOWDOWN by LOST ART
Pro Tips: Herbs you can legally grow on your windowsill
Devoted followers of THE LOWDOWN will remember that at the turn of spring, I wrote about how you can easily grow your own tomato sauce ingredients. A few of you emailed in to say how much you enjoyed our little accessible-gardening segment, so I thought I’d come back with another!
Gardening basics 101: most seeds are sown in spring, in time for them to grow before it gets too hot and dry in the summer. However, if you’re twiddling your thumbs for something to do on a hot weekday evening, there’s still time to have a go at growing some herbs. If you’re lacking outdoor space, fear not, for these edible delights grow very happily on windowsills too.
Dill is easy to grow, providing you give it a nice sunny spot. Although harvests last only a few weeks, if you sow seeds repeatedly in small batches, you can have fresh leaves to pick all summer. The flowers and seeds are also edible.
Parsley likes well drained soil, so consider mixing your compost with some perlite. Sow your seeds quite deep – about 1 cm down and water regularly. Germination can be slow, taking up to six weeks, so be patient! When the seedlings are large enough to handle, thin them out, removing the weaker ones. These thinnings are packed with nutrients and can be added to salads.
Coriander has a penchant for hot, dry weather, so now is the perfect time to start growing it. The seeds can be a bit tough, so soak them in a glass of water overnight before sowing them. Like dill, it’s best to regularly sow seeds, as you will only get a few harvests out of one crop!
Fennel can be grown from the seeds found in the supermarket spice aisle. To check if you’ve got viable seeds, place them on a damp paper towel for a few days and if they start to germinate, you’ve got yourself a plant.
Camembert on the Canal: The Cheese Barge
By Wang Sum Luk
The mood to visit: you want to wow your dairy-loving friends with a meal to remember
I once had a near-death experience with a grilled cheese sandwich. It was as long as my forearm, oozing with cheese, and so tasty I finished it in minutes - then spent the next hour feeling faint, like my stomach was packed with lead. For years, I’ve been chasing an equally enjoyable but less life-shortening cheese experience, and I’m pleased to announce that I’ve found it at The Cheese Barge.
Moored on a picturesque bank of the Regent’s Canal, a quick walk from Paddington Station, The Cheese Barge is what its name implies: a double-decker barge that serves cheese.
It should be a gimmick, but I’m struck by the sophistication of it all - the interiors are strikingly Scandi-minimal, as are the menu’s small plates. I’m advised to start with their curried cheese curds, deep-fried nuggets laced with bittersweet turmeric and gilded with chilli honey.
Next up, a grilled cheese sandwich with Cheddar, Ogleshield, and onions, adorned with nothing except cornichons. It’s a simple, unpretentious recipe, allowing excellent ingredients to speak for themselves.
The Cheese Barge thrives on these classic flavour combinations - on their cheese board (£14.25 for three cheeses), port-and-onion marmalade offsets the saltiness of a Beauvale blue cheese - while also getting cleverly experimental. I adored a Cornish Gouda paired with clotted cream fudge, which complemented the cheese’s natural sweet nuttiness.
However, rosemary sugar and ‘honeycomb’ (a chewy caramel-like candy the colour of a sun-dried tomato) didn’t add much to the delightfully tangy Driftwood goat’s cheese they accompanied.
Full-flavoured and satisfying, these small plates are best enjoyed with a group: even as I eat, I gaze enviously at larger tables digging into sharing platters of golden baked Brie. I usually like to take my meals for THE LOWDOWN alone (a nice bit of ‘me time’ away from the office). But perhaps dining with company, as well as that brie, will be something to try on my next visit.
WHERE: Sheldon Square, W2 6DL
WEBSITE: click here
AN INTERLUDE: If your herbs aren’t growing - try crying into them, like Isabella, from the Keats’ poem Isabella, Or The Pot Of Basil
Justifiable Screen Time: The Lucombe Oak’s Digital Experience at Kew Gardens
By Emmeline Blythe
The mood to visit: you need to touch grass but… you’re not going to let go of your phone. It’s an addiction and today is not the day to fight
Every time I’ve read about ‘Of the Oak’ at Kew Gardens, I’ve been perplexed by how a giant garden could urge visitors to engage with a screen. Before I know it, I sound like my elders, griping over how everything wrong in the world is ‘because of the damn phones.’ (*shakes clenched fist at the sky*)
But even though I tried to lean in, I kept hearing the little voice in my head… and it was unsure about this digital installation. Not only is it on a huge screen in the middle of the green, the straight edges and perfect 90 degree corners are all a bit 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Adding to the surreal scene, approaching this monolith felt like walking down a wedding processional —my groom being the ginormous piece of tech.
Fortunately, there is no droll wedding tune, and instead visitors are drawn in by a powerful sonic pulse that vibrates through your entire body. Unlike the short sharp notification zaps of a handheld device, the exhibit’s rhythms bring sounds of the Lucombe Oak to life. So if you manage to focus on the actual tree instead of the screen, you’re still immersed in the experience.
My confrontation with this digital art opened a personal investigation into what my human eyes fail to see in this tree. As I walked away, I wondered what it’d be like to watch at night. What would my senses pick up on then?
I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did stop short of being a robotic takeover, and once I spent some time with it, I began to see the piece as an invitation to delve into what life is like for our supposedly inanimate plants.
WHERE: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Richmond TW9 3AE UK
When: Until 28th September
WEBSITE: click here
The Thrill of Self-Discovery: David Hockney at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert
By Wang Sum Luk
The mood to visit: you want to fire up your imagination with an exhibit full of youthful ambition
‘Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert’s Hockney exhibit’ sounds like a tongue-twister, but it’s as worth visiting as it is fun to say.
Created in 1960-63, the works in this exhibit precede the sunny austerity of David Hockney’s iconic swimming pool paintings, revealing a young art student with a brash and vigorous mind.
Many works on show are abstract, featuring shifting silhouettes and snatches of text: ‘don’t give up yet…?’ the corner of one painting says, while ‘shame’ is painted, almost subliminally, in white paint on the white background of another piece.
These pieces were created amidst Hockney’s coming-out as gay, years before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967. Amidst the palpable mix of excitement and angst, there’s also a wry sense of humour—one etching features a scratchy self-portrait caricature flanked by the words ‘I am 23 years old and wear glasses’. Raw, fractious, and full of the thrill of self-discovery, this exhibit displays an artist discovering his own style. It’s an intimate new way to see the now-legendary art figure.