Today, 'Jackpot' director Paul Feig joins Condé Nast Traveler to share his favorite things about London. Although he hails from the US, the 'Bridesmaids' and 'A Simple Favor' director is now a London resident. From the grand halls of Claridges to Twiglets and HP Sauce, Paul Feig breaks down the best things about living in London.
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00:00Hey, I'm Paul Feig, London resident, and here are some of the things I love about living in London.
00:05We're going to talk about places to see, we're going to talk about food,
00:08we're going to talk about drink, and I'm going to make you a Vesper Martini.
00:21So, let me tell you about some places in London that I love.
00:25Wow, look out. Hello. It's too long. Let me lower that. There we go.
00:31First and foremost, my favorite place in all of London is Duke's Bar.
00:35It's in the Duke's Hotel, which is right off of St. James', which is right there, I don't know.
00:41It's right in here somewhere, where you can get the best martini in the world, made by Alessandro Palazzi,
00:46and he will pull up a cart next to you, inside this bar,
00:50and he will make a table-side martini that is really good and really strong.
00:56They're so strong, because they have no ice, that they limit you to two.
01:00I love Claridge's Hotel. It's one of the most traditional hotels, probably the most traditional hotel in all of London.
01:06Every famous Brit has been in there. You've seen pictures of the Queen in there.
01:10You've seen pictures of Churchill in there. You've seen all American movie stars, British movie stars.
01:15It's the most opulent lobby. It's a beautiful hotel. Go have tea there.
01:20It's a beautiful place to have a little romantic meet-up.
01:24Another favorite place of mine is a great Italian restaurant, right there, that's right,
01:30over by Covent Garden, called Giovanni's of Covent Garden.
01:34And if you go there, ask for the... how do they say it in Italy? Is it pollo or polo?
01:38I think it's polo, a la Paul Feig. That's right. I have a dish named after me there.
01:42My friend Patti LuPone has a salad named for her.
01:45Start with a Patti LuPone and end with a Paul Feig.
01:48And I'm also a big fan of German Street. It's right there. It's right there.
01:52And that, if you are into men's fashion and clothing, that is the Rodeo Drive of men's fashion.
01:58All kinds of amazing stores, a tie shop and shirt shop called Turnbull & Asser is there, which is wonderful.
02:04If you're into cigars, there's the Davidoff store.
02:06Franco's Restaurant is right across from that, where you can have a great Italian meal and smoke a cigar if you want.
02:11And also New in Lingwood, which sells great pajamas, great slippers and amazing dressing gowns.
02:17So there you go. That's just a few of the places I like to go in London.
02:20I could go on all day, but I won't because you'd be bored and I would lose my voice.
02:29Okay, we're going to take a look at some London landmarks.
02:31I don't know what they are yet, but let me just say, if I like them, I'm going to tell you why.
02:34And if I don't, I'm hitting this buzzer and you don't have to go see them.
02:37Okay, here we go. Number one.
02:39It's Big Ben. Big Ben's really cool, but you don't have to go see it because you see it everywhere.
02:45So just look up and you'll see the thing. It's a big clock. Come on.
02:48The next one up is, oh, look, it's the London Eye.
02:52It's a big Ferris wheel. You can go on it.
02:54It's really cool, but I'm going to say skip it.
02:57Why? Because when you get on it, it takes about an hour to go all the way around.
03:02So by the time you get about here, you want to kill yourself and jump out of it.
03:05But it's really pretty.
03:06Next thing up is the Stanford Bridge Stadium where the Chelsea football team plays.
03:12I happen to live in Chelsea.
03:13And should you go to see a football game?
03:17I'm not a sports fan, so if you're into it, go ahead.
03:20But I'm not going anywhere near that place because it's filled with crazy people.
03:23Hey, look, it's Buckingham Palace. Wow.
03:26Buckingham Palace is kind of awesome.
03:28I'm going to say you should go see this.
03:29But with a caveat, try not to go when everybody else goes.
03:33Everybody goes in the middle of the day to see the changing of the guard.
03:35So I say for the daytime, but go at night.
03:39It's not very crowded.
03:40It's all lit up.
03:41It's beautiful.
03:42And you will have the best time.
03:43So that's my tip to you.
03:45Oh, look, it's the Tower of London.
03:48Any XTC fans out there?
03:50One of their best songs, Towers of London.
03:52When I was a kid, we went to the Tower of London because in there are the crown jewels.
03:56And we waited about four hours to see them.
03:59And they rushed us past them so fast that we could barely see what it was.
04:03Sorry, Tower of London.
04:05Next one up is Westminster Abbey.
04:08That's where all the kings and queens get coronated.
04:11It's also where the royals get married.
04:13There's a lot of dead dudes buried under here.
04:15I mean, it's awesome, but it's crowded.
04:18Come on, you don't need to see that.
04:20You watched the royal wedding. You saw it all.
04:22Hey, look, it's Trafalgar Square.
04:24That's really fun, and it's big.
04:25It's always crowded, but it's kind of cool to see.
04:27So I would say go see that.
04:29Check out these places.
04:30See them if you want.
04:31Take my advice with a grain of salt because I'm just a cantankerous old guy, so there you go.
04:41Hey, look, everybody, it's London Foods, and we're going to talk about them.
04:44These are Jaffa Cakes.
04:45Brits love Jaffa Cakes.
04:47With their tea, they are delicious.
04:49Dark chocolate on top, orange, kind of jam in the middle.
04:53Look at that.
04:55Can you believe that?
04:56Delicious.
04:57Thank you, Britain.
04:58Next up, wait, we had dessert first.
05:00What's wrong with us?
05:01Now it's a sausage roll.
05:03What I love about a sausage roll is it's kind of a meal all in one.
05:06Do you see inside there?
05:08There's a little sausage peeking through, wrapped up in a beautiful pastry shell.
05:12Now what we are missing is HP sauce.
05:15That's right, HP sauce, which is basically British A1 sauce for you Americans in the crowd.
05:21So wait, do we have some?
05:22Lookit, we've got HP sauce.
05:24What does HP stand for?
05:25House of Parliament.
05:26House of Parliament.
05:27I believe that is actually what it is called.
05:29I'm guessing.
05:30Britain, don't kill me if I'm wrong.
05:32They also call it brown sauce.
05:33All right, here's how you eat a sausage roll.
05:35You dip it in the HP sauce, and then you get a big bite.
05:41Oh boy, that's good.
05:43Okay, put it down, Paul.
05:45You're on a diet.
05:46All right, next up on our hit parade is Leucasade.
05:49Leucasade is sort of the British version of Gatorade, but it's got a little bit of fizz in it.
05:54It's very hydrating.
05:55I believe it's got electrolytes in it.
05:57It's very delicious.
05:58It's orangey, and it's very sweet.
06:00And this is the great cure for hangovers.
06:02Trust me, I've had plenty of bottles of Leucasade.
06:06Next up are Twiglets.
06:08Now, if you've ever been to a London pub, a London bar, you'll know no visit to a bar with drinks is complete without Twiglets.
06:16Twiglets are kind of the British version of little pretzel sticks, but they're covered with Marmite,
06:22which is a very bitter but delicious...
06:25It's almost, I would dare say, like a beef stock, but a little more bitter than that.
06:30But it sounds terrible.
06:32It's one of the best things ever.
06:35I defy you to stand next to a bowl of Twiglets and not empty the thing.
06:38Now, let's take an experiment.
06:40What if we took a Twiglet and dipped it into HP sauce?
06:46I'm running for prime minister next year.
06:48All right, I think I'm going to eat everything on this table unless we go to the next segment.
06:52So save me for myself. Here we go.
06:58All right, my friends, today we're going to make a Vesper Martini.
07:01Now, what is a Vesper Martini, you ask?
07:03Well, it's a drink that was made famous and kind of invented by Ian Fleming, the writer of the James Bond books.
07:10And the Vesper is what we like to call an ass-kicker because it's got not one, not two, but three types of pure liquor in it.
07:17Come on, what's better than that, right?
07:19And I'm going to show you how to make one right now.
07:21You've got three parts of gin.
07:22Actually, we're going to put in three ounces of gin.
07:24There you go.
07:25So there you go.
07:26Laying on a nice firm base, right?
07:28It's not boozy at all.
07:29It's three ounces of gin.
07:30So what will we put on top of that?
07:31Well, we're going to put vodka in with that because why would you not?
07:34We're only going to put in one ounce of vodka.
07:36Gin has a flavor to it.
07:37That's why it's gin.
07:38It's juniper-based.
07:40Vodka, on the other hand, is made to have no taste.
07:43It's actually regulated so it doesn't have any taste.
07:45What's the best kind of martini?
07:47A gin martini.
07:48Vodka martinis aren't real martinis.
07:50You heard it here first.
07:51Talk amongst yourselves.
07:52And now, to make it a real Vesper, you've got to put in a little bit of Lillet Blanc.
07:57Lillet Blanc is like a fortified wine.
07:59It's a beautiful aperitivo.
08:00But for this, we put in a half ounce of Lillet.
08:04So there you go.
08:05And into our Vesper it goes.
08:08First of all, I didn't do it, but this should be a frozen glass or you should put ice in it and get it nice and cold.
08:14So pretend that that's frozen.
08:16I let my guard down.
08:18But now the biggest thing you want to do is make sure that your drink is really cold.
08:22And I would dare say that I think we might be cold enough now.
08:27All right.
08:28Now what you want to do is just pour in your Vesper martini that's spilling all over the place.
08:33One of the secrets to using a mixing glass is you have to pour really slowly like this.
08:39There you go.
08:40Here's your Vesper.
08:41Now it's optional, but you can also put a twist on top.
08:45Now you have what I would like to call the perfect Vesper.
08:49And guess what?
08:50I get a drink and you don't, but you can make your own.
08:52Cheers.
08:55Oh, it's good.
08:56That's a good drink.
08:57Thanks, Ian Fleming and James Bond.
08:59Well, that's it.
09:00Just about does it for me.
09:02I hope you had a great time and I hope you can try out some of the places that we talked about in London
09:06and try out some of the things I told you about because you're going to have a great time.
09:11Cheers.