In a move that could only be pulled off by one of the world’s most famous department stores, Harrods of Knightsbridge has started to sell gold bars, ingots, and coins from its new Harrods Bank located in-store. The Mohamed Fayed owned store was eager to satisfy an emerging but rapidly growing demand from its wealthy customers for a way to profit from the boom in gold prices worldwide. The price of gold had recently topped a high of $1072 per ounce, and shows no sign of stopping its rapid upward trajectory.

I came across Kurz & Lang when reading an old copy of Time Out magazine, and was surprised to see that it was just around the corner from my workplace. Its located smack in the middle of the drinking/eating area just East of Farringdon Station, and in all honesty is pretty much a posh German kebab shop.

NearLondon are launching a new website in November just in time for Christmas. The website is a virtual world that fully replicates Oxford Street, Regent Street, Leicester Square, and Bond Street. Most of the big high street shops have signed up to the scheme, which means that you can be taking a leisurely stroll down a virtual Oxford Street and see the exact same shops that you will normally see in real life.

Sen Nin Teppanyaki Restaurant was one of the more unusual dining places that I have been to in London, and ended up being an incredibly good place to bring someone for a Birthday or celebration! Teppanyaki is a very leisurely style of Japanese eating where you can see the food being cooked and presented right in front of you, almost like a show in itself (bringing a whole new meaning to the dinner-show concept!). Typically, there are multiple courses, but each course is quite a small serving and is more like a sampler.

The Q Awards is a relative minnow in the world of music awards, but it is steadily growing in reputation and its nominations and winners are always carefully selected. What sets the Q Awards apart from the others is its focus on rock, indie, and alternative music. This year’s Q Awards will be held at the Grosvenor House in Park Lane on the 26th October 2009.

The Giaconda Dining Room is a hidden little gem in the heart of London! Tucked away on a side street near Tottenham Court Road Station, It seems very much like a family run establishment, with only a few tables. By virtue of its hidden location on a street nicknamed “London’s Tin Pan Alley”, you are guaranteed to have some quiet from the raucous Oxford Street nearby. When you walk in, the first thing that catches your eye is the fabulous wall of wines at the far end of the restaurant, and while we did not order any bottles, wine did seem a very popular choice with many of the diners who looked like regulars.

The London Restaurant Festival is a celebration of good food, with many of the top chefs and restaurants in London supporting it. Over the few days between the 8th and 13th October, restaurants in London will be creating special dishes and menus at discounted prices for food lovers to sample. We have chosen the highlights of the festival that any hardcore foodie should not miss!

In a big news for London commuters today, The Evening Standard has announced that it will be a free newspaper (a.k.a freesheet) from the 12th October. The owner, Alexander Lebedev, is confident that the move to free will more than double the current circulation of 250,000 copies a day to more than 600,000 copies a day.

This news comes only weeks after The London Paper, a free newspaper, was retired.