Kensington and Chelsea Review - Unpack Issue - Autumn 2018 by Kensington and Chelsea Review

VOLUME FOUR | ISSUE THREE | FREE

The Issue with a lot to Unpack What we did on our summer holidays...

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10 DOWNING STREET SCULPTURE BY TIMOTHY RICHARDS

Welcome to the latest issue of Kensington and Chelsea Review. Filled with art, auction, culture and luxury, Kensington and Chelsea Review is the magazine for the rather discerning resident of the Royal Borough.

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GREX 2018

GUANGZHOU REAL ESTATE EXPO 2018 Nov. 2nd- 3rd, 2018, China Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center Most Professional & Influential Trade Fair in Real Estate & Overseas Property Industry in China !

www.chinarealestateshow.com

Editors’ Letter It’s been a long hot summer, so we’ve been shutting down our laptops and flying away in search of adventure. Read about our food odyssey in Japan, a (sort of) wellness retreat in the Isle of Wight and how we cooled off in Quebec, where we met the mysterious ‘Bonhomme’ at the Winter Carnival. We’ve also been enjoying chilled glasses of Belgian Dubbels and Trippels in convivial beer gardens and spent what was seemingly Britain’s only rainy weekend camping out at festivals in the north and south. In this issue we take a look ahead at autumn and winter in the Borough, and offer some travel inspiration for summer 2019. Plus, our usual round up of restaurants, beauty and things that make you go vroom… PUBLISHER Talismanic Media

THE KENSINGTON & CHELSEA TEAM

FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR Sid Raghava CHIEF EDITOR Kate Weir ART DIRECTOR Harriet Bedder

Contents 4.

News

Creative Kensington

20.

Shopping

24.

Fashion

26.

Travel

51.

Eat

58.

Beauty

61.

Drive

MOTORING EDITOR Lisa Cur tiss OFFICE MANAGER Lee Marrero CONTRIBUTORS Kate Weir, Harriet Bedder, Sid Raghava, Adam Jacot de Boinod, Sarah Rodrigues, Andrew Coles, Sarah Jackson, Martin Post, Theo Woodham Smith, Lisa Curtiss, Sarah Lavigne, James Massoud. All material in Kensington and Chelsea Review is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission of the publishers. Colour transparencies and photographs submitted for publication are sent at the owners’ risk and while every care is taken, neither the publisher nor their agents accept liability for loss or damage however caused. The publishers can accept no liability whatsoeverof nature arising out of nor in connection with the contents of this publication. Opinions expressed within the articles are not necessarily those of Kensington and Chelsea Review and any issues arising therefore should be taken up directly with the contributor.

Explore the latest openings, exhibitions and events from the borough and beyond.

Impressively replicated buildings, far-ﬂung fantasies and beautiful craftsmanship. Where to splash your cash this month. Meet a head-turning new model. Find out just how cool Quebec is at the Winter Carnival, pack for alpaca walks in the Isle of Wight, and choose between festival camping or glamping. In the spotlight: healthful and decadent dining experiences. Your autumn beauty round-up. Motors we’re mad about.

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READ ALL ABOUT IT A rundown of news, from the worlds of art and culture (plus the items that intrigue us), all handpicked for the Royal Borough resident. LOND ON ART WEEK’S WINTER SALONS If you want a truly unique gift, for that very special someone, cast an eye over work from 40 leading international art dealers at the winter iteration of London Art Week. Planned to coincide with the December Old Master auctions at Bonhams, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, there are also talks and events for those not looking to spend.

WINTER WONDERLAND IS BACK Yes, it’s a little early for Xmas, but Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland is set to be bigger and better this year, with a comedy club, ice-sculpting workshops, the UK’s biggest outdoor ice rink and not one, but two spectacular circus shows. It’s also fun for families, with Peter Pan on Ice, the Teletubbies’ Christmas Show and Santa Land – let the countdown begin!

www.auriens.com

www.londonartweek.co.uk, 29 November–7 December 2018

www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com 22 November 2018–6 January 2019

CHECK IT OUT, MATE… Purling London have matched up a roster of hip artists to revamp the classic Staunton chess set (introduced in 1849 and named after star player Howard Staunton). Creating fine-art masterpieces out of classic games, they’ve collaborated with the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) in St Louis for ‘Painted Pieces: Art Chess’. From Mr Doodle’s Keith Haring-esque scribblings, to Tom Hackney’s vibrantly coloured kings and bishops and such, it’s a beautiful game…

DRESS LIKE A DANE Copenhagen ladies know how to cope with the chill in style. Take luxury womenswear line Brøgger, whose MO is outerwear; the brand have become known for their flirtatious ruffles, zingy brights and bold floral prints, which adorn perfectly tailored jackets, suits and coats. Their autumn/ winter 2018 offering was inspired by 1980s Danish couturier Erik Mortensen: a playful mix of colour and texture, with ruffled hems and quilting – ideal for the sultrier months ahead… The collection will be launching at Harvey Nichols. www.brogger.co

www.worldchesshof.org/exhibit/paintedpieces-art-chess-purling-london

BRØGGER AMANDA COAT IN SKY BLUE £675

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STEPHEN ONGPIN FINE ART, ERTE, SPORT D'HIVER

L ATE-IN-LIFE LUXURY Set a course for the ‘happiness curve’ with Auriens luxury properties. They’re currently working on a £200 million development in Chelsea with 55 beautifully outfitted one- and two-bedroom apartments. Each is designed for the over-60s and offers up-to-date tech, a concierge service, restaurant, gardens, a pet parlour and 24-hour care from Draycott Nursing.

DOMINIQUE ANSEL AT JUMEIRAH Cronut® creator and sweet dreamer Dominique Ansel has partnered up with Belgravia’s Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel and Jumeirah Carlton Tower to make guests’ stays a little more decadent. Book his Bakery Experience and you’ll get a chauffeured ride, £25 voucher to spend on treats and an exclusive signed edition of ‘Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes’ cookbook. www.jumeirah.com www.dominiqueansellondon.com

THE PARALLAX ART FAIR Makers from around the world pile into Chelsea Town Hall to peddle their artwork, jewellery, textiles and crafts (with no commission). Come and rummage through more than 7,000 objets, grab some grub and listen to live samba and jazz. www.parallaxaf.co

FEELING JOLLI If you see a strange red bug descend on Earl’s Court in October, don’t be alarmed – it’s likely the mascot for the first UK outpost of Filipino fried-chicken joint Jollibee. Dear departed Anthony Bourdain was a fan, and some say their fried chicken is the best in the world, so, no pressure. Order up with a side of spaghetti and hotdogs. Trust us, no regrets…

AN ELIXIR OF LETTERS We highly approve of the theme of Chelsea Physic Garden’s latest exhibition: Beverages Bubbles and Brews. Yes. 16 artists, including Martin Cook and Annette Stirling were invited to be inspired by the ingredients in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic libations, to create standing stones and sculptures, sundials and ornaments – some inscribed with drinking songs.

www.jollibee.com.ph

Until October 2018 www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk

MALLUCCI LONDON Chelsea-based Mallucci London offers a 360° approach to aesthetics, fusing natural beauty and artistry. The team, led by Mr Patrick Mallucci offers a full range of bespoke, non-invasive and surgical treatments. With operating rooms and dedicated specialists on hand including dermatologists, radiologists, gynaecologists and hair transplant surgeons, Mallucci London is the ideal clinic for effective aesthetic procedures to repair and restore skin health post summer sun.

KING’S ROAD ART GALLERY Joseph Ijoyemi is an emerging artist, who is yet to showcase his new collection of figurative and abstract paintings, exploring the topics of racial abuse and how he overcome questioning his identity and culture. He hopes his work will resonate with people who have a shared experience. The exhibition will run from 12–20 October.

www.508kingsroad.com

www.mallucci-london.com

LA CASA TELEMATICA, UGO LA PIETRA, COURTESY ARCHIVIO UGO LA PIETRA, MILANO

FUTURE SCENE Fans of retro-Futurism rejoice, the Design Museum’s new exhibition, Home Futures, looks at the world of tomorrow through a domestic lens. A partnership with Ikea Museum, the show looks at fantastical past designs and how homes of today evolved. On display, there’ll be original furniture from the Smithsons’ House of the Future (1956), footage from the General Motors Kitchen of Tomorrow (1956), and an original model of Total Furnishing Unit by Joe Colombo (1972). So, where’s our Jetsons-style robohousekeeper? www.designmuseum.org

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WINTER WONDERLAND IS BACK On Halloween eve, the Notting Hill Arts Club will host an intimate screening of seasonal classic Hocus Pocus. Reserve a private booth and watch the witchy antics of the Sanderson sisters – fancy dress is welcome and the film starts at 8pm, leaving enough time for revelry till the witching hour and beyond.

www.alainducasse-dorchester.com. Price: £250 pp. 9am - midday

GUYS AND D OLLS A new production of Guys and Dolls swaggers into the Royal Albert Hall this autumn. Adrian Lester, Jason Manford and Meow Meow star in the production, which comes to the iconic London venue for three performances only in October. This version of the musical comedy, to be directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear, will also feature Joe Stilgoe, Clive Rowe (reprising his Olivier Award-winning role) and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. www.royalalberthall.com

COTTON CLUB RUM WEEK National Rum Day was celebrated on 16 August and Cotton Club was the go to place to enjoy one of the world’s favourite spirits. After Cotton’s Rum Week, the launch of Rum Flights offers patrons the opportunity to sip their way across the Caribbean, trying premium rums, such as Appleton reserve blend from Jamaica; Matusalem 15 from Dominican Republic; Angostura 1919 from Trinidad; and Barbados’s Plantation 5. The rum flights are available at all Cottons (£20 a person). You may sip the rums straight-up or pair with your favourite mixer. Cottons Club is their free loyalty programme which offers perks, such as a loyalty stamp scheme, 25 per cent off food Mondays and Wednesdays, Happy Hour all night Thursdays and special invites and rum classes

GP BALL 2018 On Wednesday 4 July 2018 the Hurlingham Club hosted the 8th Annual Grand Prix Ball; it’s the only time of year when Formula 1 cars are driven in London. Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Simon Lazenby hosted the televised event on the Thames, at Hurlingham Club’s splendid 42-acre estate; widely considered one of the world’s top private members’ clubs. On arrival, guests enjoyed walking up the red carpet with celebrities such as Love Island’s Kendall Rae-Knight, Rosie Anna Williams, Charlie Frederick, Zara McDermott, Made in Chelsea’s Sophie Hermann, Francesca Newman-Young, Olivia Newman-Young, Hofit Golan and ITV2’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’, David Lundy, Caroline Stanbury, Amanda Cronin, Britain’s Next Top Model Victoria Clay, Olivia Cox, Hayley Sparkes and Nicki Shields

LOND ON ART WEEK’S WINTER SALONS This autumn, furniture and interiors company Timothy Oulton will open a worldwide flagship store in the historic Bluebird Garage on the King’s Road. The new 670m2 (7200 sq ft) gallery will feature the largest retail display of Timothy Oulton collections anywhere in the world. Showcasing the scope of the brand’s offering, the space will see Victorian styling collide with the look of 1960s anti-establishmentarianism. Stand-out items include one of the world’s largest collections of Louis Vuitton trunks, a giant fish tank housing a yellow submarine and Apollo spaceship and a custom-designed ‘vessel’ first showcased at this year’s Milan Design Week.

www.cottons-restaurant.co.uk

www.gpball.co.uk

31st October www.nottinghillartsclub.com

THE ART OF CHOUX For the very first time, the Art of Choux pastry will be revealed at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester during a one-off masterclass on Monday 29 October. Executive Chef Jean-Philippe Blondet and Pastry Chef Thibault Hauchard will take guests through a never-seen-before, step-by-step guide to mastering choux pastry – both savoury and sweet – to satisfy all tastes.

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www.timothyoulton.com

POETRY FOR THE POORLY EDUCATED Released in May 2018 by Morbid Books, Poetry for the Poorly Educated is a series of books released to be poems as popular entertainment and were composed by L ‘Tumbleweed’ Parker from 2014–2018, while stationed as a Literary Prostitute or Poet for Hire in London. New York, Paris, Berlin, Edinburgh and other, smaller towns. The book contains verse written for lovers, relatives and pets (dead and alive), poems to celebrate orgies, pleas to cheating husbands and their prostitutes, responses to Donald Trump and other apocalyptic events, plus a selection of suicide notes. Not one for the squeamish… www.morbidbooks.bigcartel.com/product/ poetry-for-the-poorly-educated

FOX & PHEASANT The Fox & Pheasant pub – situated in pretty mews the Billings – has found a saviour in ‘You’re Beautiful’ warbler and Twitter wit James Blunt and his wife. As residents of the mews, they rallied against another overpriced property being built and have breathed new life into the 170-year-old institution, and attracted swathes of punters. Go to revel in the attention to vintage detailing and the all-day Sunday roasts; and be sure to natter with your barkeep, Blunt himself has been known to pull a pint or two – go on, give him a tip… 1 Billing Road, Chelsea, London SW10 9UJ, UK, www.thefoxandpheasant.com

MARYLEBONE DESIGN DISTRICT This district will make its debut during London Design Fair 2018 and many of the well-known retailers and design shops on High Street, Crawford Street, Chiltern Street, and more in the surrounding neighbourhood (including Selfridges department store on Oxford Street), will become partners. During the festival, partners will host workshops, demonstrations and launches, with the official kick-off around Marylebone’s festival day on 19 September. Marylebone Design District is coordinated by the Howard de Walden estate and the Portman Estate: the two Central London Estates that together protect and promote the wider Marylebone area for the benefit of residents, businesses and visitors. www.marylebonedesigndistrict.com

DERMOI! Dermoi! is the first (and only) service in the world that offers advanced facials and resurfacing treatments outside of a clinical, medi-spa environment. The mobile/at-home service has partnered with Hollywood’s favourite leading cosmeceutical brands – iS CLINICAL® and Osmosis Skincare – and their revolutionary gender-neutral mobile facial service has wellness at its heart, offering results-driven progressive treatments with effective home-care programs for healthy skin. www.dermoi.com

SORY SANLÉ Born in Burkina Faso, a former French colony in West Africa, Sanlé began his career in 1960 – the same year the country gained its independence. The exhibition shows blackand-white photographs taken across 196585, documenting the culture of the country. Sanlé went on to open one of the country’s earliest photography studios, Volta Photo. The exhibition is curated by Amelie von Wedel and Pernilla Holmes from Wedel Art. Sory Sanlé is represented by David Hill Gallery, London. Sory Sanlé at The Arts Club, London, 24 September 2018 - January 2019, Wed & Sat, 10am-12pm, by appointment only. www.theartsclub.co.uk SORY SANLÉ, LES AFRO-POP, 1973, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND DAVID HILL GALLERY

DIRTY VEGAN POP-UP ON KENSINGTON HIGH STREET Dirty Bones, a High Street Ken favourite most famous for hawking the meatiest of cheat-meal dishes - have introduced a brand new Vegan menu available at seasonally during the year. Among many dishes, the ‘Vegan Mac Daddy’ - a plant-based meat B12 patty topped with vegan mac and cashew ‘cheese’, smoky mushroom ‘short rib’ and espresso-spiked BBQ sauce on a soft bun - is set to be the biggest seller. Keep your eyes peeled for the next pop-up; it’s not one to miss. www.dirty-bones.com/dirtyvegan

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LINCOLN SELIGMAN’S INDIAN ODYSSEY

SID RAGHAVA talks to renowned painter Lincoln Seligman about ballet, Gauguin and his far-flung passions…

Lincoln Seligman, born 1950, was educated at Harrow and read jurisprudence at Balliol, Oxford. His paintings are in the collections of Duke of Devonshire, Duke of Roxburghe, Chanel, Tiffany, Flemings Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank. Lincoln Seligman spent January this year on a painting sojourn in India, a country he returns to again and again. This time he was concentrating on stepwells (vast underground cathedrals) and temples in Gujarat and Rajasthan. He explains how his Indian connections began, the reasons for such a long-lasting love affair, and talks about his latest travels… His solo exhibition at Osborne Studio Gallery in May and June 2018 focussed on his discoveries while visiting Gujarat and Rajasthan. We spoke to Seligman about his art. Congratulations on your recent show at Osborne Street Gallery. We know you love India; please tell us in your own words how the project took shape and specifically why you chose to cover the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan – what piqued your interest in those parts? Yes the show went very well, with a good proportion of people ‘buying into‘ both the fantasies and the more literal take on India. All my trips to India have at their core a need to search for new visual stimulation, but you don’t have to look far. And, the spiritual and religious background always makes the experience richer. Rajasthan for colour, palaces and flamboyant people. Gujarat for deserts, vast salt flats, stepwells, fortresses and wonderful displays of textiles that are paintings in themselves. Usually the last trip I made tops the list – till the next one. Your grandmother Hilda was an artist living in the Himalayas. How do you connect with her work? Have you

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been to the places she lived and worked in? My grandmother was a successful artist and sculptor – her sculpture is still in front of Delhi’s parliament building. I understand her love of the Himalayas as a retreat from the demands of urban India at its most voracious. If I paint mountains I’d be happy to do it as well as she did, capturing their isolation, peace and majesty. She was an inspiration in that she divided her time between her art and her successful efforts to contribute in real terms to the good of India, which she did through her health-focused charities. You are friends with Maharajas and their families. What part have they played in your recent work and what is it like to work with them? I was lucky enough to go to a school with a good sprinkling of émigré princes and maharajas – though as a schoolboy the more exotic social nuances disappeared into the overall morass of life. But, it was indeed amusing to meet them again as adults, and be lucky enough to see them on their home turf. Some were into collections of classic cars, which encouraged me in my rather fanciful paintings of old cars, transporting hunting parties with a cheetah on the back seat. A collection of these now graces the Udai Bilas palace at Dungarpur. Can you please tell us something about your forthcoming work for Wayne Eagling’s ‘Remembrance’ at Sadler’s Wells? ‘Remembrance’ is a new ballet at the Peacock Theatre, produced by the inexhaustible Karen Pilkington-Miksa and the New English Ballet Theatre. It centres on love and loss against the backdrop of the First World War. This will be my third collaboration with NEBT, at Sadler’s Wells, the Peacock and Covent Garden. My contributions have been to the set design, in the form of computerised moving images and painted backdrops. How do your projects compare – performance art, paintings, sculpture art installations – and what do you enjoy the most? Do you find them equally rewarding?

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‘Timelessness is India’s unique selling point. Not only do you see life being lived as it was 500 years ago, but that world exists side by side with modern India. And this is not a display for tourists – it goes to the heart of Indian civilisation.’

What other projects do you have planned in the next year or so? What can fans look forward to? I will probably be leading a painting tour to Rajasthan in February, and then travelling on to explore the South of India. I like to go somewhere new every year. I’ll be revisiting the USA – New York and Long Island Sound in the Autumn, to enjoy the reminders of Edward Hopper’s melancholy paintings, and to do some of my own, though perhaps a little cheerier. These travels may form the basis of another exhibition, and will, I’m sure, be a pleasure in themselves. Coming back to India, can you please give our readers an idea of what you mean by the ‘continuum of timelessness’ that pervades India? What is spirituality for you and how does India fit into your quest for it? Timelessness is India’s unique selling point. Not only do you see life being lived as it was 500 years ago, but that world exists side by side with modern India. Mainly, but not always, happily. And this is not a display for tourists – it goes to the heart of Indian civilisation. The grandeur of its history, briefly and arrogantly appropriated for a while by the British, is a continuum which now embraces greater power and influence than ever in the new world order. Whatever the parameters of spirituality behind that power, India’s spiritual and religious history, tormented as it has often been, has played a powerful part. What effect it has had on me I can’t say, except that in India the view on life is not the one that offers itself in London – or anywhere else.

his views on integrity, courage and self fulfilment – coupled with generosity – prevail. His poem ‘If‘ is about all those things, with not a hint of jingoism. And, corny as it may sometimes sound to the modern ear it’s not a bad user’s handbook for dealing with life. What are your favourite things to do in both the Royal Borough and City? Kensington and Chelsea – I lived there for quite some time as a teenager and again after leaving Oxford. I was lucky enough then to live in Cadogan Place, with its lovely gardens, for a number of years. But my slide has been continually downwards and westwards since then. Maybe, like Gauguin, a timeshare in Polynesia will turn it around in my later years… I also love Motcomb Street and working with the Osborne Studio Gallery. Lincoln Seligman: www.lincolnseligman.co.uk Osborne Studio Gallery: www.osg.uk.com

Rudyard Kipling was your mother’s godfather. How do you view his illustrious legacy in light of the recent backlash at allegedly rose-tinted Raj depictions and the idea of philanthropic colonialism? I fear that Kipling was indeed a colonialist with a tendency to patronise. But, his legacy was some of the most enjoyable literature in the English language. It can only be a good thing that time has moved on and that his views are seen in the context of his era. So perhaps it’s best to concentrate on his works where PAGE 9

Which artists inspire you the most? Gauguin’s life has always been an encouragement. He was a successful businessman in Paris, but left that life to become a painter, ending up in Polynesia surrounded by his always beautiful, and mainly naked, subject matter. I was a shipping lawyer and in my thirties I left City life to become an artist. I have worked a lot in Asia but Polynesia probably still beckons. I have stolen the odd cheetah from Stubbs, but some of the greats for me are Sargeant, Sorolla, Lavery, and more recently Andrew Wyeth. I probably subconsciously steal ideas and techniques from all of them - and I’m happy to admit to it.

Different projects are always a challenge, you have to accept that one is part of a larger production team where effective collaboration is the basis of success. Painting canvasses and making large sculptures does not involve such collaboration and one only has oneself to satisfy; and – one hopes – perhaps a buyer. Certainly the process and the rewards are different. Being able to do both is most enjoyable.

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TIMOTHY RICHARDS: ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE www.modernsouvenir.com www.timothyrichardscommissions.com

‘I want to give people something that engages and challenges them.’

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THEO WOODHAM SMITH speaks to Timothy Richards, a talented model maker with a lifetime love of architecture, about his meticulously made plaster buildings – from Buckingham Palace to the Pantheon in Rome, a Tudor palace or cherished family home.

German national poet, Goethe, called architecture ‘frozen music’; for Timothy Richards, it is more like ‘frozen poetry.’ This year his unique (for once the word transcends the cliché) ‘artistry with exactitude’ will be recognised by a display of the finest British craftsmanship at Fortnum & Mason for Prince Charles’ 70th birthday. And, the Palace of Westminster entrusted him to restore their 19th-century model of Big Ben at the V&A. Emotion informs the delicate detail of his new Great War Memorial Collection: small plaster models to commemorate the Armistice centenary on 11th November. They include the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, the Cenotaph in Whitehall and Thiepval monument to the fallen of the Somme, both by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Timothy grew up in the village of Corston near Bath; he reflects that the City of Bath, with its grand Palladian streets, probably inspired his chosen path, though he insists he is not ‘anti modern.’ From the age of five he made models of ships from PAGE 10

card or wood – a box of cornflakes was transformed into a tea clipper. An early memory is witnessing the ‘sack of Bath’ in the 60s and 70s. ‘Great swathes of Bath were torn down, and I remember thinking “this is wrong” and getting upset about it.’ This was at the age of 10. He went to art college in Taunton and travelled around Europe looking at furniture design (he loved the Wishbone chair by Danish designer Hans Wegner). He taught art and design for six years before setting up his model-making workshop in 1988. He showed his first four models, which included a Georgian terrace house, at various art fairs around the country. Sheer persistence won him a commission from Sir Terence Conran to create a 20cm Michelin Building, complete with the tiny figure of Bibendum, the Michelin man, imbibing a glass of nuts, bolts and nails. Each model he makes is a form of love letter to the structure it represents. He was not trained in architecture but exercises an extraordinary empathy with the building he is

reproducing and the architect who designed it. ‘If you stand outside a building, you can take it in, but if you try to draw it you have to notice more’, he explains. ‘If you then make a model of it, that’s really stepping up again in terms of your knowledge of a particular structure. You get to know it really well, and in that respect you’re very close to the mind of the architect’. Thoroughness and attention to detail, Richards believes, are what sets his work apart. ‘We’ve developed techniques that nobody else uses as far as I know, because it’s too hard to do – it’s not profitable enough‘, he claims. However, despite ‘tricky times’ including a workshop fire and financial crises, he now has a global reputation among private collectors and public institutions. He has attracted a particularly large following in America, with commissions from industrial magnates to Harvard University. A collection of limited-edition American masterpieces includes the Chrysler and Flatiron buildings in Manhattan, the Lincoln Memorial and

Capitol in Washington. In 2013 he won the Arthur Ross Award, the US Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Prize for craftsmanship in the classical tradition. The RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) commissioned him to create a Palladio exhibition, celebrating Andrea Palladio (1508–1580): a stonemason from Vicenza, considered to be the most influential architect who ever lived. The show toured libraries and universities in America, taking in New York, Washington, Pittsburgh and Indiana. On his affection for neoclassical design, Richards says: ‘Georgian buildings can make you feel you are living in a palace, at least on its first, principal floor, known as the piano nobile.’ Over the past quarter century he has completed more than 150 commissions. Some models are produced in blue, which look as if they were illuminated from within. His chosen material, British gypsum plaster, is an effective masonry lookalike; for tiny details he uses brass, lead and glass. Everything is done by hand by the workshop PAGE 11

team. Prices for bespoke commissions range from £5,000 to £100,000 – for a vast model of the Palais Royal for a private museum in the Middle East (6.9 metres wide and 2.75 metres tall, and significantly larger than anything he has done before). Timothy Richards models add lustre to any interior, whether on a shelf or in a glass cabinet. His handcrafted, modestly priced collections of people and places for his new sister company, the Modern Souvenir, make charming presents. They range from £20 for a small bust of HM the Queen to £650 for a life-size bust of Jane Austen. ‘What I’m looking for is a reaction,’ says Timothy. ‘I want to give people something that engages and challenges them. When you pick something up in your hands to look at it, your reaction is less academic and more visceral. The worst thing anyone can say is “It’s all right.”’

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A RARE OLD TIME SID RAGHAVA speaks to Master Blender Jim Beveridge about Johnnie Walker’s Rare and ‘Ghost’ whiskies…

Blue Label Ghost and Rare is a rich, velvety smooth blend of eight treasured Scotch Whiskies including three ‘ghost’ whiskies from the silent distilleries of Cambus, Pittyvaich and the Highland Single Malt, Brora, which lies at the heart of this special release bringing a deliciously light peatiness and sophisticated subtle sweetness. Jim Beveridge – Master Blender of the Year in 2015 and 2016* - has long been fascinated by how whiskies from a small number of iconic distilleries that closed many years ago can bring the extraordinary richness for which Johnnie Walker Blue Label luxury Scotch is known. We spoke to Jim about his craft. What is the specific idea behind Blue Label Ghost and Rare? Also, if you could please explain to the reader what ‘ghost’ distilleries means and how many there are in Scotland? The idea behind Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare is to give people the opportunity to explore some of the exceptionally rare whiskies held in the Johnnie Walker reserves that each bring a unique, inimitable character to Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Some of these rare whiskies are from what we call ‘ghost’ distilleries – and are among the most iconic names in Scotch. A ‘ghost’ distillery is a distillery that has closed and no longer produces any whisky. At Johnnie Walker, among our reserves of about 10 million casks are some very rare whiskies from some longclosed distilleries – such as the Highland Scotch, Brora. It’s hard to say exactly how many distilleries have closed over the hundreds of years people have been making Scotch, but what I do know is that the whiskies we hold from ‘ghost’ distilleries are very rare indeed, they are precious liquids to blenders. As a master blender, how important is your understanding and love for Single Malt whiskies? What are some of your favourites? Understanding single malts – and indeed grain whiskies – is critical to my work as a blender, it’s very important for me to understand the range of flavours that come from each distillery and the whiskies they produce. While a good single malt or grain whisky can be wonderful on its own, what really excites me as a blender is thinking about how each of these great whiskies can be building blocks of flavour to produce something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Often, it’s in bringing together different flavours, characters and textures that you begin to unlock hidden depths in all of the individual whiskies; what we do is not just about combining different expressions, with every whisky playing its own, individual role – when you get it right it’s also about how each of the whiskies can bring out a particular aspect or note in another whisky. For me that means understanding a single malt is not just about understanding its own flavours and layers but really understanding how those things might work as part of a bigger picture – and that’s pretty exciting! As for favourites… it’s hard to say! That changes all the time. When it comes to the single malts in Johnnie Walker Ghost and Rare, they are so rare, so precious, that they quickly become a favourite when you taste them - when you are at the blending bench, when you have them in your hand, for that moment, they are your favourite.

started and what were some of the key stepping-stones along the way? I joined Johnnie Walker straight out of university in 1979. Having studied chemistry, I saw how you could apply science to Scotch whisky. I began as a flavour chemist, working with malt and grain whisky and understanding how they mature in the wood, before I took off the lab coat and started moving towards the blending table, later becoming Johnnie Walker Master Blender. My background means that I had a good understanding of the chemistry behind the creation of Scotch whisky – but I’m glad to say there is so much more to whisky than chemistry – it’s as much art as it is science. Personally, I am a huge fan of Japanese Whisky - what is your view? Also, your thoughts on Irish and Canadian whiskies and Bourbon please – any preferences there? I have an enormous respect for Japanese whiskies, similarly Canadian and Irish. They are great whiskies. Personally though, I find the wonderful thing about Scotch is that it opens up a variety of choice. It gives you the opportunity to experience so many different styles of flavour. The depth of history and heritage that Scotch, has coming from the four corners of Scotland, brings such a breadth of flavour that no other whisk(e) y can match. Are you still involved with the The Explorers’ Club Collection? What’s the idea behind it? We are winding down our current partnership with The Explorers’ Club, but it has been a thrill to work with them over the last few years. We share a lot of the same values – that passion for exploration is something that still drives me forward. Crafting whiskies for the Johnnie Walker Explorers’ Club Collection was a great example of pushing the boundaries of what is possible with flavour – it was a thrill to create. What was it like working on Ghost and Rare compared to your previous work with Johnnie Walker , such as Johnnie Walker Double Black and Johnnie Walker Platinum? It was such a rare and exciting experience to be working with the precious whiskies when crafting Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Brora. The nature of the experience, the feeling I have, changes depending on which part of our reserves I am using for a blend. With Johnnie Walker Ghost and Rare Brora there was a very limited, finite selection of casks, so I had to adopt a different mindset and that was the challenge when creating Ghost and Rare. Your knowledge of Scottish distilleries is beyond doubt, encyclopaedic! Do you do anything specific to keep your priceless taste buds and sharp nose in prime condition? It’s a great question! And you’re right, we limit how much we taste and nose in a day in the blending room. But outside of that I try to look after myself – to eat the right things and get plenty of exercise. Could you please let us know what a master blender like you does in their spare time or for leisure? I love walking, so I don’t find it a challenge to stay active. Scotland is a beautiful place for doing that – you don’t need an excuse to get outdoors!

You started off as a chemist and haveCalling been2019 immersed in 25 to 28 July. You can buy tickets now: www.standon-calling.com Standon will run from the world of whiskies all your life. How exactly did you get www.thewhiskyexchange.com | RRP £219 PAGE 13

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A LOOK INTO SOCIETY LIMONTA SID RAGHAVA gets the lowdown on what’s ahead for the luxe Italian homewares brand…

The Limonta Group dates back to 1893 and is based in Costa Masnaga, an important area for the textile industry in Italy’s Lombardy region. Society Limonta, its home furnishing division, was founded in 2000 and exemplifies the group’s experience and vast credentials in having established itself as a market leader. Their subtle, luxurious designs are well-loved and on display at their flagship store on South Kensington’s famous Walton street. On the eve of the launch of their Autumn/Winter 2018/19 collection, we spoke to their Commercial Director Davide Mazzarini: What can we expect from the new collection being showcased at the London Design Show? The AW19 ‘Winter Diary’ collection embodies Society Limonta’s values through a story that has always been written by hand, a very personal story. Writing your own winter diary means making each collection your own, choosing the colours and style that most identifies you. At Society Limonta, the new collection is about sophisticated interiors, with soft, cosy fabrics. When the light is dimmer, the house takes on peaceful tones; when it is cold outside the spaces are warmed with soft wool. Three colours, deep and essential: a strong plum, an intense neptune blue and the tone of raw clay, a new stand-out neutral. Entering a Society Limonta home is like stepping into the pages of a book made from the most sumptuous textiles, ready for browsing. How does the long and distinguished history of Limonta Group filter into the Society Limonta brand? How does the company deliver on its noble promises both creatively and by style of management? Limonta was born in 1893 in Costa Masnaga, near Lecco, in one of the main Italian textiles regions. In over 100 years in business, the history of a company destined to become one of the most prestigious Italian fabric groups has flowed. Starting at the beginning of the 20th century, producing gobelins, matelassé, jacquard and velvets, the Limonta Group has developed such solid expertise that it is now a point of reference for many major names in clothing and furnishing. The Group is a thriving centre of textile research. Relations with universities such as the Politecnico di Milano maintain a direct link with the new design generation, while the internal supply chain gives continuity to increasingly rare trades such as warping, knotting and weaving, which historically have characterised this community with its strong textile identity. This genetic heritage nourishes Society Limonta’s research, continually enriched by skills and experience. Control of our production chain, which takes place within a highly specialised company located in our own region, ensures the highest quality standards and enables innovation. In-house production means we can be flexible and differentiate our product range. Selecting our yarn, being able to choose a frame and modify it according to the type of finish, gives more space to creativity and a more flexible service.

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ALES TALES FESTIVAL A boozy guide to Belgian beer by KATE WEIR There are 76 beers to try in Bethnal Green’s Oval Space. That’s up to 76 beers I could ask to be poured into my loaner glass at a flick of my Ales Tales Festival wristband. And, if you’re even casually acquainted with Belgian beers, you’ll know that these bad boys clock in at an average of 7% apiece. Of course, there are some that run lower, but where’s the fun in that?

was as juicy as I’d hoped, with a good slug of passionfruit flavour. Eminently drinkable with a sunny disposition, this went down all too easily.

Spoiler alert: I don’t make it to 76 beers – and my liver thanks me for it – but, I gave it the old college try. Here are my entirely unprofessional findings and musings as a progressively tipsy, beerappreciating layperson…

3. Halve Maan’s Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel (11%) The sort of beer that requires a saucy Marks & Spencer ad whisper to describe it. A step up from a dubbel and tripel, this awardwinning, potent, Trappist-inspired brew has notes of all sorts of delicious things in it: sherry, caramel, banana, anise, spices… It’s made to keep and age, but let’s face it, on seeing this saucy minx chilling in your fridge after one long day at work, you probably won’t.

First off, I discovered that a ‘zythologist’ is a sort of beer sommelier, skilled in pouring techniques and such. Renowned Belgian zythologist Eric Boschman and in-the-know beer merchant Jonny Garret have lent their expert palates and recommendations to guide the beer seekers at Ales Tales. As I grew more confident – read, sozzled – I went off piste and tried to develop a (mouth)feel for personal favourites. Here are my top five picks from the festival, in no particular order:

4. Westmalle’s Dubbel (7%) Westmalle are a Trappist brewery that began in 1794, they make three beers that are supposed to represent the Holy Trinity. I’m not sure if I’d quite classify this Dubbel as a religious experience, but it’s smooth and flavourful with a not-unpleasant aftertaste of overripe fruit and malt. The sort of beer you want to try the proper way – you were shown at a tasting once – but you’ll be tempted to knock it back.

1. Hof Ten Dormaal’s Cerveza Y Chocolate: Fruit Sour (6.5%) A dark, rich, oaty beer, which is matured with both cherries and roasted chocolate beans. There’s a little cheek-puckering from the sourness, but it’s softened by the earthiness of the cocoa. A nice reddish tinge to it and a complex array of flavours. The sort of Belgian beer you’d meet in Victoria Miro gallery then take to an ironic square-dancing class.

5. Hof Ten Dormaal’s If Only the Hof Had a Beard Confession: I was partly swayed by the pun… A collaboration with Weird Beard Brew Co: this refreshing beer clocks in at less than 4%, but gains points for its delightful name and citrussy bouquet. Huell Melon and Lemondrop hops, and Mandarina Bavaria combine to make something bright and drinkable. A good starter Belgian beer for those unprepared for how quickly they get you sauced…

2. Ermitage Nanobrasserie’s Temple de la Passion IPA (6%) I’m a sucker for a tropically inflected IPA – possibly stemming from my love of a chilled can of Rio. This light, hoppy and golden ale

Add a plate of carbonade, cone full of frites or steaming bowl of mussels, then wash down a cream-slathered waffle with a Kriek… Proost!

Ales Tales: www.alestales.com Hof Ten Dormaal: www.hoftendormaal.com L’Ermitage Nanobrasserie: www.ermitagenanobrasserie.be De Halve Maan: www.halvemaan.be Westmalle: www.trappistwestmalle.be

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KENDAL CALLING FESTIVAL A warm can of Foster’s you’ve paid a fiver for? Or a Garden Party Mule with sprigs of fresh rosemary and mint, edible flowers and lashings of vodka? Which would you rather be knocking back at a festival? Admittedly, my festival style is usually the former – there’s less risk of spilling and cocktails are generally pricier, so lager or beer it is… But, when Russian Standard Vodka invited me to Kendal Calling Festival for a weekend of glamping out, I discovered that maybe I’ve become more discerning. We arrived on the Saturday to find a festival in full swing (it starts on Thursday); our taxi pulled up as hail started to pelt, churning up mud, but we’re not staying in the campsites on the furthest orbit of the arena’s locus – those from which you must trudge to the stages with a day-pack and headlamp for your return later. No, we’re in one of Deer Lodge’s bell tents. After check-in, a chirpy helper leads us past rows of squat colourful yurts; I’m delighted to see the tents increase in size as we reach ours. The bell tent is the furthest thing from your average boil in the bag, nylon sack of stress positions. We can stand fully, our twin beds have duvets, rolled up blankets and towels laid out on them, and we’re opposite a hair salon (sadly its blow-dryers seem futile in the rain, but it’s a plus nonetheless). The lineup is a Now CD’s worth of 90s indie and dance: look, Basement Jaxx! Shed Seven! The Fun Lovin’ Criminals! James! Tim Burgess and The Coral on decks! It’s a welcome boogie along memory lane for me. Grandmaster Flash is on top form scratching and bass-dropping his way through barnstormers such as I Want You Back and Gangsta’s Paradise: the crowd dutifully throw their hands up in the air and whoop when he asks them to. More recently formed acts such as Pale Waves, Wolffpeake and The Marmozets also whip up the crowd. The Libertines captivate once again, and last-minute switch-in, Plan B woos the crowd with his modded 60s soul, even if he didn’t quite fill absentee Run DMC’s Adidas Superstars. Even with the constant showers, there was a feeling of joyful abandon amid the poetry-inspiring landscape of the Lake District. Partygoers favoured the glittery and colourful: spandex and spiked shades, pearlescent raincoats and even the odd nun’s habit (seen at D’n’B outfit, Hospitality’s set). As a familyfriendly event, children toddled about with the same sense of self-awareness as those indulging in cocktails (there’s plenty to keep littl’uns occupied, with a cinema, theatre, fairground rides and more). Meanwhile, we worked our way through Russian Standard’s potent cocktails from refreshing minty mules to orange-blossom-infused St Pete’s Sling, to the powerful Espresso Martini. I want to still believe I can fully embrace the lo-fi festival experience: minimal showers, flimsy two-man tents, drinking absinthe from a kettle – as we once did at Reading Festival when we ran low on receptacles. But, revelling in the headspace of our yurt, drinking things with actual garnishes and the potential to blow-dry my hair is all too enticing – thanks, Russian Standard Vodka: you made my head foggy, but I’m thinking clearly now…

We were kindly hosted and looked after by the Russian Standard Vodka team: www.russianstandardvodka.com Kendal Calling Festival runs from the 25 to 28 July in 2019. Book tickets here: www.kendalcalling.co.uk

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW

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KATE WEIR heads north for glamping and gigging with Russian Standard Vodka.

STANDON CALLING FESTIVAL

SARAH LAVIGNE hits Hertfordshire’s fields for a spectacular weekender. ‘It’s about openness, fun and discovery…’ These are the words Standon Calling founder Alex Trenchard used when I asked him to describe his event. The Hertfordshire-based festival, which started many years ago as a birthday party for music-loving Trenchard, is truly open to everyone. Among the festival goers, you will meet people from all ages and all walks of life: from rosy cheeked toddlers to veteran visitors, determined party goers to chilled-out loungearounders, everyone is welcome! Over the years, lineups have been as eclectic as audience members (with the likes of Suede, Kelis and Grace Jones performing); this year was no different. Friday night saw the uncompromising Paloma Faith polarise her audience with excessive ramblings about kindness and acceptance, breaking the flow of an otherwise average show. The next day, local hero George Ezra charmed the public with his crooning voice and chart-topping melodies. Sunday’s audience were also unanimous in their adoration for debonair British legend and former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry, who completely owned the stage in a sentimental headline show, alternating his own seductive compositions with Roxy Music classics. Lower-billed acts gave the headliners a run for their money. American rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club delivered a pure dose of rock’n’roll magic, but Goldfrapp stole the show with their unique brand of electroclash and Alison Goldfrapp’s intoxicating, understated charisma. Japanese psychedelic rock band Acid Mothers Temple also gave an unforgettable performance, with a blend of atmospheric creative chaos and jawdropping technique. On Sunday, The Bootleg Beatles took us back in time with faultless covers and hilarious banter. The electro scene was well represented, and DJs were out in force to keep the party going. From the hiphop beats of DJ Yoda to the legendary 2manyDJs, there was once again something for everyone. Britpop icon Jarvis Cocker himself made an appearance to play us some retro classics. The big names may have sold the tickets, but Standon Calling’s character is forged by the up-and-comers, of unrivalled quality this year. The punk riffs and attitude of Brighton trio Dream Wife gathered a very engaged crowd, as did the powerful vocals and catchy, dark pop of the Howl & the Hum. Other ones to watch include Waste and Findlay. For those who wanted an occasional break from music, entertainment options were endless. With ‘the future’ as this year’s theme, all children (big and small…) could jump on fairground rides, watch live comedy or take part in costume competitions or watch dog shows – yes, even four-legged friends were welcome. The Wild and Wellbeing Camp provided an escape from the hustle and bustle, offering yoga classes and spa treatments. And, of course, what better way to recharge than with a nice healthy dinner from one of the food trucks. ‘Openness, fun and discovery’: from an audience perspective, that’s a pretty accurate description and it’s reflected in Standon Calling’s safe, friendly and respectful atmosphere. I already can’t wait to see next year’s lineup. Standon Calling 2019 will run from 25 to 28 July. You can buy tickets now: www.standon-calling.com

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BAGS OF STYLE We’re big fans of your label. How did it come about? After studying my degree in Bratislava, I spent a year working in the UK and then studied for a MA in Nice, France. I worked many different jobs and internships, and I was inspired when I discovered an amazing community of founder-led fashion businesses in London creating some very high-quality products. Customers are more receptive to these small artisan brands than ever before. In my opinion people are growing tired of mass-produced mass-market label’ brands and becoming attracted to the moresimple artisan values: beautiful design, practicality, high-quality materials and solid craftsmanship. I wanted to create something that was objectively beautiful and timeless, which felt long-established and based on classic values, but with a contemporary twist. The goal was to make people feel special. What was your initial motivation for building the brand – your ‘lightbulb moment’ – and why did you choose to make leather business bags? One of my own frustrations was that, like many women, I was always having to carry a separate handbag and laptop bag. This is particularly inconvenient when flying or going to a meeting. I wanted one single bag that would be as beautiful as a handbag, but also as practical as a laptop bag. And so, after months of planning and many visits to tiny artisan factories in Italy, we had our first product: a rigid leather case with beautiful curves – we called it our Attaché Case – and thus, Bucklesbury was born. How did Italian craftsmanship enter the arrangement? There’s a lot of emphasis on intergenerational learning in Italy and a reluctance to simply forget techniques of the past that have been perfected over many generations. Quite simply, when it comes to producing a handcrafted leather product, Italy leads the world for skill and expertise. It’s a lot more expensive to work with manufacturers in Italy than in many other countries. But it’s important for us that every single Bucklesbury bag is a little bit special. Every piece of beautiful leather is like a fingerprint, and you can rely on Italian craftsmen to make a virtue of any differences and variations. Every Bucklesbury is handmade, and we are comfortable with imperfections when they enhance the unique beauty of an individual bag. You simply can’t get this level of artistry and craft anywhere except Italy.

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You’re just 27 and your business turns over upwards of six figures. How do you view your success as a millennial entrepreneur? Is it easier to get into business nowadays with the reach of the Internet? And what were some of the hardships you encountered? What we have achieved with Bucklesbury so far is just a small fraction of what I want to do, and while I’m pleased to have gotten this far, I’m anxious to ensure we achieve our greater potential. It’s easy to think that the Internet makes building a brand much easier, but online you’re competing with a lot of big brands for the eyeballs of fleeting customers. I’ve been happy with an early decision to take the long way around’ so that through word of mouth, customers can connect with Bucklesbury much more deeply. The bags speak for themselves and the people who own them are enthusiastic global ambassadors. And I think it says a lot that we sell bags to new customers in Asia and the USA where the only way that people can discover Bucklesbury is by seeing a customer carrying a bag. Just last month I was stopped by a lovely Japanese couple at Heathrow, who wanted to know the brand of my backpack. As for hardships, we operate on much slimmer margins than our ‘super brand’ competitors because of our preference for high-quality materials and traditional production methods. So, there have been plenty of moments that I’ve seen friends progressing in their stable salaried careers and wondered ‘Why am I doing this?’ – but I think it’s important to do what you love, and I love that Bucklesbury brings pleasure to so many people. You went from being a student in Slovakia to a high-fashion designer/ entrepreneur in the UK, via France and Italy. Was this planned? And – perhaps a thorny subject – but, how do you view Brexit? There’s been a big adjustment in the PoundEuro exchange rate since the Brexit vote which we had to be careful to factor in to our plans, and whatever Brexit brings next we will work around that too. I am a Slovak founder of a British brand that is handmade in Italy; and many of our customers would think of themselves as global citizens. And our Anglo-Italian heritage is now an immovable part of our DNA. We are also realistic. The overwhelming majority of people have never heard of Bucklesbury. But that’s also part of our specialness – that we are a discovery to be made, and then whispered about. So, PAGE 20

whatever happens with Brexit, we will just keep doing what we do for those who have an appreciation for the values that we stand for: beautiful design and high-quality craftsmanship. We have heard about Bucklesbury Backpacks – what are your futureplans for these new products and others in the range? When people first discovered our Attaché cases they would say: ‘I have lots of handbags, but I don’t have this!’ and then buy one. When they first discovered our backpack – which we created because so many of our existing customers asked us to make a backpack version of our cases – they loved the combination of beauty and comfort, and the thought that had gone into making the backpack extra comfortable for women. Over time word started to spread, and Bucklesbury is something of a well-traded secret in certain circles, particularly among professional men and women who travel. We also hear from people who don’t need an Attaché or a Backpack, but who want to buy into Bucklesbury, so we’ll be adding new items to our collection soon. Initially these will be offered privately to existing customers. What connections do you have to Kensington and Chelsea? Bucklesbury exhibits at trade shows and events at Olympia, so we have a bit of a team tradition that afterward we always go to Whole Foods for noodles and a bottle of wine. It’s simple but satisfying. On a nice day I like to stroll the streets and explore the smaller independent stores. I’m also a fan of proper British pubs, and taking a stroll is a great way to find the Royal Borough’s hidden corners. What inspires you? Coco Chanel – she had a humble start in life and used her talents to make big changes. She invented trousers for women as a fashion item, launched the first unique scent for a fashion house, pioneered costume jewellery and turned the little black dress into a wardrobe staple. Her life was one of strength, determination and creative vision. I also admire Sophia Amoruso, because she started her Nasty Gal brand aged 22 and quickly built a global empire with distinct core values. I went to see her speak at her GirlBoss event in New York last year, and I was struck by how modest and self-depreciating she was about her success and her anxiety as her business flourished.

OH, CANADA A year ago Wes Myron was a Canadian fitness influencer and entrepreneur. His model good looks led to him being Insta-scouted and recognised by industry experts as ‘The Next Big Thing 2018’. We caught up with him on his recent London visit to style him in classic summer-to-autumn looks… PHOTOGRAPHER Charlie Chiu STYLIST Zoe Kozlik

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SHOPPING 2.

1. Urban Veda British skincare brand, Urban Veda, takes inspiration from the ancient practice of Ayurveda, with a special emphasis on holistic approaches and wellbeing. The range has been formulated with natural ingredients and is designed to protect skin from pollution. The complete Urban Veda range has been fully accredited as vegan and cruelty-free by PETA and a range of eight products. Suited to the Pitta Dosha: Facial Polish £13.99; suited to the Kapha Dosha: Purifying Facial Wash £12.99 and Facial Polish £13.99; suited to the Vata Dosha: Radiance Day £18.99 and Night Cream £19.99; and suited to Tri-Doshic types: Reviving Facial Oil £29.99 and Hydrating Toner £13.99. 2. NeoStrata NeoStrata’s Skin Active range has been awarded best cosmeceutical brand for the third year. NeoStrata is launching the serum of serums this spring. With NeoStrata Skin Active Tri-Therapy Lifting Serum, there’s no need for a moisturiser and it’s ideal for those who are sensitive to retinol and are seeking an alternative anti-ageing serum. Containing three potent, active ingredients – AminoFil, Gluconolactone and Hyaluronic Acid – this serum lifts and firms the skin whilst strengthening the skin’s matrix and providing instant hydration. The ingredients work together to improve skin tone, laxity and texture, delivering a triple-active punch of rejuvenating and energising properties. www.neostrata.ca

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3. Pure Collection The PÜRE Collection is a range of organic essential oils – high-performing formulas that deliver visible results – ideal for rehydrating winter skin. The most recent launch is a trio of luxury serums inspired by nature, with high-quality ingredients: prickly pear, sea buckthorn and marine phytoplankton… Organic Prickly-Pear Serum is an effective cold-pressed serum for all skin types. It moisturises, brightens under-eye circles, restores elasticity and neutralises free radicals which cause signs of aging. Organic Intense Serum with Prickly Pear, Sea Buckthorn and Rose Otto has the recuperative properties of some of the world’s rarest oils. It’s formulated as a preventative skincare serum to provide intense nutrition to your skin, giving it a brighter, tighter look. Organic Revitalising Serum with Prickly Pear, Tamanu and Marine Phytoplankton is rich in antioxidants, nutrients, essential fatty acids and vitamins and is formulated as a reparative serum for tissue damage, preventing moisture loss, flaky skin, irritation and inflammation. www.thepurecollection.com 4. Tri-Balm Tri-Balm – the luxurious, all-natural, solid-stick cleansing balm. The skinnurturing cocktail contains botanical oils enriched with starflower, NorOmega Gold™, beeswax and oats to melt away makeup and impurities, cleanse the skin and deliver high levels of topical nutrition. Pumpkin enzymes, high in AHA's, provide a very gentle exfoliation to brighten and soften, whilst hyaluronic acid, sweet almond oil and vitamin E work to hydrate and plump the skin. (£46/70g) www.francesprescott.com PAGE 28

5. Pestle and Mortar Recover – the Ultimate Eye Cream Diminished skin lines, improved skin texture, reduces puffiness and dark circles around the eye area. It is a brightening, nourishing and hydrating eye cream which absorbs very quickly. Palmtoyl Tripeptide-5 is the key, patented ingredient, composed of chains of amino acids. It stimulates collagen production and healthy tissue growth £35 www.pestleandmortar.com/uk Harvey Nichols www.lookfanstastic.com 6. Hemp Ceutix Hemp contains phytocannabinoids, which are the natural substances present in the cannabis sativa plant that contain nutritional and medicinal properties. Natures Plus, global supplier of quality natural vitamins and nutritional supplements,has launched the HempCeutix Complete Capsules (£39.95, naturesplus.co.uk). It helps to harmonise both your body and mind, assist you in managing your stress levels, aid in better sleeping patterns, supporting your immune system and boosting energy levels. HempCeutix Complete Capsules are made from European eco-farmed cannabis sativa, enhanced with natural botanicals and are both gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians. The new product is available to buy in Revital stores. £39.95 www.revital.co.uk

8. 11.

7. 9.

12. 7. Meters OV-1B – VU for the ears Beyond measuring the volume signal, VU meters formerly excited the listener with needles dancing between the ‘safe’ -20db to 0 db counters and ‘danger’ zone, peaking at 3db. Meters Music (a subsidiary of Ashdown Engineering – who made pro amplifiers used by Stevie Wonder, U2, Bliffy Clyro and such) have revived this analog tech for their signature headphones. The Bluetooth incarnation, the OV-1B (note the Obi-Wan Kenobi nod) looks great! Each ear has a fully-functioning VU meter and gives you a graphic idea of the decibel level. They have wireless AptX HD Bluetooth technology to deliver quality sound and Active Noise-Cancelling (ANC). You get eight hours of listening with one charge and a wired connection is available too. You can change the volume or track, or answer calls, with tap buttons on the left ear. Meters themselves put it best: With the OV-1B, you can see your music and hear it in high-resolution. £329, www.metersmusic.com 8. Atelier Silhouette, the Austrian world leader in beautifully designed eyewear, will showcase its luxurious new Atelier 2018 collection for the first time. The collection is all about timeless craftsmanship. Precious stones combine with new materials to create one-of-a-kind, bespoke eyewear designed to accentuate its wearer’s personality. The collection, for men and women, introduces sustainably sourced buffalo horn for the first time; it’s been beautifully merged with the brand’s iconic high-tech titanium and 18-carat solid gold to create an array of hand-crafted (80% of the collection) full-frame fronts and rimless and supra eyewear. Each pair is an individually designed masterpiece in its own right. From £1,800 www.silhouette.com/gb/en/atelieradidas

10.

9. 3D collection Adidas Sport Eyewear has just announced its latest revolutionary frames, the 3D collection. Adidas’ lightest models yet, the new frames have been expertly crafted using a revolutionary 3D printing technique to put the brand at the forefront of design when it comes to sports eyewear style, performance and innovation. Adidas Aspyr 3D, from £260 www.adidassporteyewear.com 10. Silhouette x Perret Schaad Introducing Silhouette’s limited-edition sunglasses collaboration for 2018, the luxury eyewear brand has chosen dynamic German design duo Perret Schaad to re-craft Silhouette’s iconic TMA frame. Perret Schaad are best known for their understated but cool designs, using beautifully contrasted materials and playful, contemporary shapes and colours, making them the perfect partner for Silhouette. £275 www.pretavoir.co.uk PAGE 29

11. Briggs & Riley Global premium luggage brand, Briggs & Riley has launched a new Bronze colourway for its best-selling Sympatico Collection. Harrods is its exclusive European launch partner and it is the first and only hard-sided suitcase collection in the world with CXTM ExpansionCompression Technology, allowing up to 25% more packing space. The suitcases also have a special area with a coat hanger for folding suits or dresses and keeping them wrinkle-free. The collection comprises of three sizes of suitcase, Carry-On, Medium and Large. Briggs & Riley bags have the industry’s only lifetime guarantee; they promise to repair all functional aspects of the bag, for life, and if a bag is broken or damaged – even if the damage was caused by an airline – they’ll repair it free of charge. From £429 Exclusively from Harrods www.harrods.com www.briggs-riley.com 12. Mayra Fedane Mayra Fedane's Lily Trunk stand-alone, colour-pop red handbags are lovely. The brand’s unique integration of geometry and architecture is reflected in the design, with further enhancements recognised through the vibrant application of contrasting colors. Sold in some of the most luxurious stores in the world it goes well with the brand's quirky accessories and adds a dash of fun to your wardrobe. www.mayrafedane.com

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW

Nightly rates at the Anantara Kalutara Resort start from £203 for a Premier Garden View Room based on a B&B basis. anantara.com

OCEAN JEWEL SARAH RODRIGUES finds that Sri Lanka, despite its small size, is an island with an astonishingly diverse landscape – and that’s without even making it as far as the North.

Sprawled on a sunlounger, with a ridiculously large G&T in hand: could there be a better way to chase off the jetlag incurred on a London to Colombo flight? I’ve come to Sri Lanka in search of adventure, as an incantation to my past life as an intrepid backpacker when I tackled the likes of India, Nepal and South America. I’m not sure why Sri Lanka never made it on to my radar back then, but I do know that I wouldn’t have had the good sense to start my journey in a five-star hotel if it had. The Anantara Kalutara Resort is located just south of Colombo and the air-conditioned, bottled-water-stocked and WiFi-enabled van in which I’m collected from the airport is blissful enough after the 12-hour flight – so the cold towels, fresh juice and welcome dance that greet me at the hotel are almost overwhelming. The hotel was designed by Sri Lanka’s most celebrated architect, the late Geoffrey Bawa, and has views of either the Kalu River or the Indian Ocean from the rooms. The aesthetic is unsurprisingly clean, elegant, soothing and strong. My first few days in the country pass by in a happy haze as I alternate between pink-tinged sunset swims in the ocean and lazing by the pool. Here, spa staff regularly circulate, offering complimentary massages, and a man cycles around serving a choice of icecream flavours from a freezer box attached to the back of his bike. Ensuring that my eventual departure isn’t a baptism of fire, I accompany the chef on a trip to the nearby markets one morning;

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this is part of the Anantara brand’s Spice Spoons experience, which allows guests to shop for food locally and then prepare and eat it. It’s a brilliant way to ease into local colour and culture with the added ‘security blanket’ of a guide. Blistering heat, clusters of flies on glistening meat, jostling customers, animated haggling, heat-doped but watchful dogs and stallholders wielding curved, piratical knives: it’s a blaze of authenticity so visceral that it seems impossible that the cosseted environment of the hotel is just a short tuk tuk ride away. Sri Lankan train journeys are generally considered to be among the most scenic in the world, but even before setting off from Colombo Fort Railway Station, the squat, colourful engine I board has already made me smile, so much like a vintage toy does it look. The ticketing system seems haphazard, at best, yet no less efficient for that; true, there may be some people hanging half out of windows and doors, and I am being ribcrushingly pinned to the wall by a man whose share of the seat is significantly greater than mine – but it seems that everyone from the platform has more or less managed to embark. The six-hour train journey to Kandy is eye-poppingly beautiful: as someone who nods off as soon as the wheels of any form of transport start turning, I am, in this case, glued wide-eyed to the window, and not just because of the man whose body weight is holding me there. The landscape – dense jungle pierced by towering palms – is so incredibly vivid that it’s like looking at a photo on which someone has maxed out the saturation. As the train climbs up into the hill country, the track

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‘The kindness of strangers is something that imbues every experience I have in Sri Lanka with a joy that I struggle to articulate.’

clings to the mountainside as it snakes its way ever-higher; sheer drops become visible as we turn stomach-lurching corners.. Kandy is hectic; it’s too flooded with the diesel of a thousand motorised tuk tuks to be anything more than a jumping-off point, but I do spend some time wandering the perimeter of its lake and hovering outside The Temple of the Tooth. Here, streams of Buddhist devotees, clad in pristine white, are holding frangipani, jasmine and lotus flowers to pay homage to the holy relic housed within: Lord Buddha’s upper left canine. I’m happy to watch from outside for a while, but eventually my curiosity impels me to go in. Alas, I’m turned away as my skirt doesn’t quite cover my knees. Noticing my crestfallen face, a nearby vendor smilingly fills my hands with fragrant flowers, waving away my attempt to reach for my money. The kindness of strangers is something that imbues every experience I have in Sri Lanka with a joy that I struggle to articulate. At every meal, little extras appear as if by magic, as I eat rice and lentils with my fingers, surrounded by locals at roadside cafes. I drink from coconuts prepared for me by street vendors, and stand knee-deep in a river at the Millennium Elephant Foundation to scrub one such gentle beast with the husks, for which I am rewarded with a lazy squirt of water from its trunk. At waterfalls, fully garbed families frolic in the water, including me as they joyfully point out the troops of nearby monkeys, clearly revelling in my delight. I receive blessings in temples and Buddhist monks ask me to join them for selfies, which they take on phones that they pluck, somewhat incongruously, from the saffron and

vermillion folds of their robes. Travelling through tree plantations, neatly combed into rows of vibrant green, a sword swallower performs horrifying feats for me; meanwhile I am chugging down yet another cup of seriously good tea. From Nuwara Eliya, I make the short hike to the base of Lovers’ Leap Falls, so called, legend has it, because of an ill-fated couple who ended their lives here rather than face a separation imposed by disapproving parents. Sitting on a rock and revelling in the sunshine, I meet a wizened man with cataract-clouded eyes, who shows me where to fill my water bottle and offers to guide me to the top of the waterfall. The climb is steep and unmarked, and we squeeze through narrow crevices and hoik ourselves up from one jagged rock to the next. My walking shoes are far more suitable for the job than my guide’s tattered flip flops, yet he makes the climb look effortless alongside my panting clumsiness. The panorama from the top, when we reach it, is staggering, but my guide rejects my offer of payment, accepting only a biscuit from my stash. From various tea plantations, I take in the glorious views of Adam’s Peak and the verdant countryside, the endless green of which is occasionally broken by one of those charming trains. Travelling further south, this scenery eventually gives way to rice paddies, then to the ocean. A treehouse in Tissamaharama becomes my home for a few days; from here I’m picked up in the pitch dark of pre-dawn to go on safari in Yala National Park, which claims to have the highest density of leopards in the world. However, the long faces of some of the people I meet during the morning attest to the fact that wildlife can be capricious and blissfully unconcerned about the hour for which you’ve set the alarm on their account. In any case, there are elephants, crocodiles, monkeys and water buffalo, as well as a whole handbook’s worth of birdlife. A lull in the action, combined with the early start and bumpy motion of the jeep, has started just to take its soporific effect on me when a ripple of movement in the far distance jolts me upright. A mother leopard and two cubs! Majestic even at this safe distance, their powerful stride and the astonishing complexity of their markings takes on an even greater magnificence through the binoculars soon pinned to my eyes. This coastal area of Sri Lanka was devastated by the 2004 tsunami; within the national park stands a monument to those whose lives were claimed by the disaster in which, astonishingly, no animals were lost. The aftermath of the event is still evident as I travel westwards towards Galle, stopping to surf at Unawatuna, snorkel at Jungle Beach and party on the beach against sunsets that dye the sky purple in Mirissa. The influence of a Western surf culture is apparent here, yet it’s the locals, with their unfailing kindness, who make every experience shine. There’s a patience and gentleness in every encounter that’s not only hard to reconcile with the suffering this region has experienced – it’s incredibly humbling. Galle Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with its Portuguese and Dutch colonial influences, is the last stop on my journey before the return to Colombo. Walking the ramparts that encircle its narrow, cobbled streets, I see playfully reckless boys swimming out to protruding rocks, which they climb in order to jump off, whooping as they plummet. Further along on my wander, I see a more orderly bunch practising cricket at Galle International Stadium, one of the loveliest cricket grounds in the world. At the southeast tip of the fort, I visit Galle Lighthouse, which stands gleaming white and flanked by palm trees. It may be just the sentimentality that tends to strike on the last afternoon of a wonderful vacation but this structure, proud yet modest, calm and beautiful, seems to perfectly sum up what I have experienced of Sri Lanka on this trip.

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INK, IN: A HIP HOTEL AMSTERDAM Our man in Berlin, MARTIN POST, goes to the Dutch capital for a well deserved respite from his hectic life back home. Wait, did you read that right? Berlin to Amsterdam, excess to excess? Well, all we know is that he’s looking forward to a wonderful stay in one of his favourite places while he catches his breath, or not…

Late yet again, I finally get off the train. By now, it’s almost de rigueur for me to miss the earlier one I’d planned to catch to Amsterdam Centraal yet again. Everybody keeps asking why I don’t just fly. However, I actually enjoy taking the train to Noord Holland. It gives me time to relax and refill my energy levels, leave my hectic – verging on outrageously hectic – schedule in Berlin, and to immerse myself in the wonder that is quite rightly known as the Venice of the North. Amsterdam is famous for its nightlife, high times and hedonistic vibes, but the narrow streets, canals and boats always convey the feeling of visiting a little village – a refreshing and calming experience for a Berliner. Back to my missed train and the moment I arrive in Amsterdam… I will admit, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from INK hotel. Tired and soaked in the rain, as I was, it was a pleasure to find myself at the hotel within five minutes. For tired, disoriented and, quite honestly, lazy folk like me, the location of your night’s abode is of paramount importance. In my 20s, I fell asleep far too often on trains and kept missing stops in a desperate attempt to get back to some remote hotel. I digress. In contrast to other cities, the central train station in Amsterdam is in the middle of the city, so the surrounding area has plenty of worthy hotspots. On arrival, INK feels inviting. The entrance area is open plan and the decor’s glass – allowing light to flood the hallway – concrete walls and plants gives a modern, industrial, yet warm feeling. It fits well with a clichéd idea romantics might have of Amsterdam. Then I experienced the super-friendly staff, an attitude I have come to expect from Amsterdammers. Maybe I am generalising by saying Dutch people are friendly, but each place has its own groove, whether Los Angeles, Kensington, Berlin Mitte – and this is Amsterdam’s – so, you tap into the different energy and adapt to it. Finally, I arrived in my room; I was at the verge of a physical breakdown, so thankfully I liked what I saw. The room was modern but not overly trendy. The first thing you might notice when you enter one of INK’s rooms is that the walls are covered with handwriting and hand-

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drawn pictures. There are drawings of houses and famous buildings in Amsterdam. Although there is a story behind those words I just asked myself whether maybe a family with some freeminded kids had the room before me and let their offspring loose on the wall with a box of crayons. I guess the result would have been quite similar. But it all adds to the homey feel and works well. A word to the shy: the bathroom is open, meaning that there is just glass panel between the sleeping area and bathroom. I did appreciate the bathroom fittings which were modern and industrial in design. I know today many bathrooms in hotels are only separated by glass from the room. So, that’s a thing… Though I’m not sure whether I’m a fan of that movement or not. Even if it was a romantic getaway, there’s nothing so bad about keeping some realities a mystery. Since it was a work trip and I was on my own anyway, I enjoyed my shower without an audience and ended up having a delicious dinner at the restaurant of the hotel. The restaurant fits the overall design of the hotel as well as the adjacent bar; it’s all very modern but comfortable. They have a well-equipped gym room as well. The next day, I learnt about the hotel and its background; suddenly, the hotel’s design makes more sense to me. At the beginning of the 20th century the hotel used to be the base of a Dutch newspaper. The concept is to pick up on that theme to add some meaning and depth to the writing on the wall, coffee-table tomes and industrial design. So the hotel works quite beautifully as a place where stories are written and people bring their own experiences to that hotel. It has an image or ethos that suffuses with its former avatar. It works well. Would I go there again? Absolutely. It’s what I expect and want from Amsterdam and the price is reasonable for what you get. Now, it was time to go back home and realign with Berlin. A lot of people wearing black, looking serious and working on some creative project that I can’t quite get my head around. Well. I just can’t leave for too long without getting homesick… www.ink-hotel-amsterdam.com

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SARAH RODRIGUES gets a taste of La Dolce Vita at the Baglioni Hotel in Kensington.

THE ITALIAN JOB

‘The menu, in both Italian and English, causes me to pause a couple of times, not only in an agony of indecision... but over the occasionally proffered nutritional advice.’

Lovers of minimalism and understatement, look away… Founded in 1974, the lavish Baglioni Hotels have an international presence, primarily in Italy but also in France and the Maldives. In Italy – where maximalism is fully embraced – I can imagine that people may not be as struck by the brand’s opulence as they are here, in ‘nobody likes a show-off’ London. After all, at the end of a day of cupolagazing in Florence, the transition to these rich interiors would seem, well, seamless. London dresses itself a little more modestly, so Baglioni’s Kensington hideaway is a sense-awakening experience. The decadent interior is concealed behind an original Victorian façade, so stepping inside is like going to sleep as yourself and waking up as Sophia Loren – of whom, incidentally, luscious portraits abound. There are also black Murano-glass chandeliers, gilded, textured walls, glossy surfaces and oversized floral arrangements. It’s lavish and luxurious, yet still welcoming.

London’s attractions may be less flashy, but there are several worth seeing within easy reach of the hotel. Opened in 2004, it’s located more or less opposite Kensington Palace and within a short walk of the the Royal Albert Hall and Kensington High Street. Of course, if a short walk isn’t quite your bag (or shoes, as the case may be) then you can always avail yourself of the services of the hotel’s chauffeur, who’ll take you anywhere within a two-mile radius – in a Maserati, no less. The rooms continue in a similarly plush vein, with dark wooden floors and striped feature walls, rich fabrics and huge mirrors. The beds are vast and supremely comfortable; and blackout curtains and soundproofing ensure a deep and restful sleep. The wonders of the bathroom take time to explore – think sleek black marble, mirrored walls (the reflection is still me, and not, alas, Sophia Loren) and rounded washbasins of beaten gold, flanked by gorgeous Ortigia toiletries. A ring at the door of my suite announces the arrival of a welcome fruit platter and bottle of sparkling Ferrari wine. Thank goodness dinner isn’t booked until 8.30pm; glasses are clinked and the deep-seated sofa in front of the fireplace is where we settle for the next few hours. The hotel’s restaurant, led by executive chef Alberto Rossetti, had a major overhaul last year, after an unsuccessful incarnation as Osteria, which – surprisingly – was deemed overly indulgent. It’s re-emerged as Brunello, and it’s assuredly wonderful. The space has statement lighting, exotic black-and-white tiles, mixed with accents of gold and yellow; it feels more cavernous than cosy, but the staff’s attentiveness more than compensates for diminished intimacy. They are on hand but unobtrusive, happy to make suggestions and offer information about flavour profiles and ingredients’ provenance. In truth, I never ate at Osteria, but whatever errors have been made here in the past have surely been eradicated PAGE 33

by the elegant simplicity of these dishes, each of which really allows the quality of the ingredients to shine: every morsel was sublime. The menu, in both Italian and English, causes me to pause a couple of times, not only in an agony of indecision (fresh burrata with roasted tomatoes, taggiasche olives and mixed leaves? Or Jerusalem artichoke with crème caramel, cauliflower and sichuan pepper?), but over the occasionally proffered nutritional advice. The vegetablestuffed Portobello mushroom, with spiced gratin and mushroom broth, is deemed ‘anti-ageing and fat-free’, while one of the desserts – also anti-ageing – reassures potential indulgers that it contains the same calories as two apples. Personally, I prefer wild abandon at the table and atonement in the gym (and spa, obvs); here, both have been newly refurbished and offer a variety of options for achieving aesthetic goals, from bespoke fitness programmes to resultsdriven treatments for both face and body. The spa decor is every bit as sumptuous as in the rest of the hotel; soothing neutrals blend with exotic touches and elaborate highlights in a space that comprises treatment rooms, male and female steam rooms, experience showers and a relaxation lounge. Logic dictates that red double deckers are trundling back and forth outside somewhere, but from within the cosseted comfort of the Baglioni hotel I find myself not giving a damn about the ‘real’ world – after all, I’m that one step closer to becoming Sophia Loren… Baglioni Hotel London has rooms from £275 based on two adults sharing a Deluxe room, including VAT. For booking and further information please visit www.baglionihotels.com or call 020 7368 5700.

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW

A LOCAL INSIGHT IN ITALY On a recent journey through Northern Italy’s most historic cities, ANDREW COLES is reminded that five-star travel means more than marble staircases to the time-poor journeyer looking for that something extra. ‘In the restaurant, just remember to look up at the ceiling every so often’, the concierge enthused upon hearing my dinner plans. I was checking in at Due Torri’s Grand Hotel Majestic in Bologna - and, as typical, I’d arrived with little idea as to what treasures the city held. We’d come from the City of Gastronomy Festival in Parma via a quintessentially Italian long lunch at the Cleto Chiarli winery outside of Modena, and the hour just spent on the Autostrada was dedicated to that rarefied holiday treat – the afternoon nap. Located about as far as you could throw a mortadella from the central Piazza Maggiore, home to the 453-year-old Fountain of Neptune, the Grand Hotel Majestic carries its name with no sense of irony; it was converted from villa to hotel in 1912, and

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its Michelin ‘Three Forks’ award-winning I Carracci Ristorante punctuates its five-star rating. Above the tables is an elaborate 15th-century fresco painted by Giovannia Luigi Valesio, depicting the mythological Fall of Phaeton, and the walk to the bathroom skirts the foundations of a Roman road. In between about the fifth or sixth course, I ask the Maître d’ if he has any suggestions as to a route for my morning run. An ignorant request, perhaps, but it was past 11pm and with the chances of any meaningful research diminishing with every sip of wine, I wanted to see something of Bologna. ‘You must leave early and follow the path to Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca!’ The 17th-century porticoed arcade stretches 3.8 miles and

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‘A private viewing of several Michelangelo sculptures and the Medici Lions is a rare treat. Our group has the world-famous attraction entirely to ourselves. These special moments are rarely found on your own..’

thousands of steps from the centre of Bologna to a church at the top of Guardia Hill. The route is popular with activewear-clad locals and guidebook-toting tourists, but I depart at sunrise, so arrive at the summit blissfully alone – albeit breathless and dripping with sweat. The 180-degree view spans the entire city and beyond; from here I can see the landmark Asinelli and Garisenda towers near the medieval town gate. It’s so peaceful. The first half of my return trip is solitary, but soon the arcade is clogged with foot traffic and I am the only one heading downhill. As I weave in and out of tour groups and nearly trip on an errant walking pole, I make a mental note to thank the staff at the Grand Hotel Majestic for my smug satisfaction at such an enjoyable start to the day. I feel as if I am reaping the benefits of those five stars. We then travelled to Florence, and later that night, after a delightfully lengthy dinner at Hotel Bernini Palace’s La Chiostrina Ristorante, our small group is blindly following an immaculately dressed man down narrow cobbled alleys. It was almost midnight and we could only guess at where we were being led, but the knowing grin of the concierge when we’d asked for a

late-night bar recommendation had secured our trust. After all, a group of Londoners knows not where the best bars in Florence are hidden. We arrive to a wine bar named Locale Firenze. We’re led inside, past an ancient wine cellar – the arched doorway of which is said to date from around 30 BC – and incredulously sip whiskey sours inside this 16th-century Medici palace. Our eventual amble back to Hotel Bernini Palace brings another highlight: its location, within sight of the Palazzo Vecchio, prompts one of our group to suggest a slight detour via Piazza della Signoria; after all, a private viewing of several Michelangelo sculptures and the Medici Lions is a rare treat. Other than a lone Texan backpacker practising his sketching, our group of four has the world-famous attraction entirely to ourselves, and it is less than a minute’s walk back to our beds. These special moments are rarely found on your own. The tour continues unabated the following day; a guided walk points out the finer facts that we’d missed the previous night, and another long lunch in the sun at Ristorante Frescobaldi is as enjoyable as it is indulgent. With seaside Genoa as our destination, we catch frames of the glimmering blue Mediterranean as we speed along the Italian Riviera, staving off another lunch-induced afternoon nap. That night we dine on freshly caught seafood and local pesto at Hotel Bristol Palace, whose oblong spiral staircase allegedly won over Alfred Hitchcock when he stayed during the filming of The Pleasure Garden in 1925. Genoa’s history as a strategic trading port has made it a centre of commerce and wealth for centuries; its Bank of St George was founded in 1407 and funded the expeditions of Christopher Columbus, a native Geonese. The city is not a pastiche of days gone by; hurried locals carry on about their business, seemingly ignorant of the medieval relics that frequently dot the sloping landscape. My final port of call is Verona; wary of pastiche, I try my hardest to avoid Juliet’s balcony. Once we’re checked in at the five-star Hotel Due Torri the decision regarding a location for an apéritif is a tough one: do I have it leaning on the windowsill of my room, overlooking the adjacent Sant’Anastasia church? Or on Due Torri’s rooftop terrace? It was an unnervingly difficult decision, but the terrace with its 360-degree city views and the lure of a sunset Aperol Spritz won. When discussing hotels, five stars mean different things to different people, but for me it’s about making a fleeting visit as memorable as possible. When time is in short supply, choosing an exquisite hotel is an investment in this most limited of resources. Grand Hotel Majestic and Ristorante I Carracci, Bologna: grandhotelmajestic.duetorrihotels.com Hotel Bernini Palace and Ristorante La Chiostrina, Florence: www.hotelbernini.duetorrihotels.com Ristorante Frescobaldi Firenze: www.frescobaldifirenze.it Hotel Bristol Palace and Ristorante Giotto, Genoa: www.hotelbristolpalace.it/en Due Torri Hotel and Due Torri Panoramic Terrace Restauran, Verona: www.hotelduetorri.duetorrihotels.com

AN OFFSHORE WELLNESS WEEKEND KATE WEIR hops on a ferry to relax and recharge in the Isle of Wight.

To me, the words ‘wellness weekend’ conjure up images of au naturel chanting sessions and bowls of sadness quinoa. So, when I signed up for a restorative retreat in the Isle of Wight, courtesy of Red Funnel Ferries, I was thrilled to discover that this getaway’s holistic MO was, ‘have a glass of gin and stroke an alpaca’ – no nudity required. We ride from London Waterloo to Southampton, then hop on Red Funnel’s passenger ferry to the Isle of Wight – door-to-door takes just under three hours, making the isle a viable weekend-break spot. We disembark at East Cowes, which is every inch the seaside throwback: icecream shops here, chippys there… But our first adventure in wellness is at The Coast Bar & Dining Room in Cowes, a laidback gastropub with rustic-wood tables, model boats out of their bottles, weathered paddles mounted on Farrow and Balled walls… There’s not a whiff of worthy asceticism – even the salads look abundant. I pick honey-soaked mini chorizos and a pepperoni pizza just shovelled out from a brick oven. We chase plates of battered fish and spicy duck salads with raspberry bellinis and crisp white wines. So far, so wellness… Now, we must exercise off our excesses; what better way to do this than walk an alpaca around a farm? West Wight Alpacas (and llamas) has a shaggy herd of the Suri breed, happy enough to trot around on leads. What this lacks in HIIT, it makes up for in meditation. These soft, strokable, sweetly natured creatures make excellent therapy animals and have been introduced into care homes to alleviate stress. One spin round the farm’s neatly tended fields, with my charge Amadeus by my side – past pygmy goats, mini donkeys and crias (baby alpacas) – leaves me giddy. It’s all-ages fun (NB. kids will fare better with the more diminutive alpacas than llamas) and the shop sells Peruvian wares. To slough off any residual stress, we head to the West Bay Club’s spa, an exquisitely dressed, calming space where chill-out rooms have squashy pillows to flump on and the fluffiest of robes and slippers to hang out in. Those waiting for massages can hit the sauna or flip idly through magazines, sipping a fruit-infused water, as plates of homemade cake are

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delivered. The spa’s naturally active Liz Earle facials, and Aromatherapy Associates’ body buffing and pummelling, ensure fragrant pampering from head to toe. Masseurs often bully my muscles, pounding at my many knots as though seeking vengeance, but my hour-long Ultimate Aromatherapy Experience and its expertly mixed scents lull me nearly to sleep and leave me feeling sigh-y and floaty. Massage is technically low-impact exercise, so this counts as feeling the burn, even if I’m seconds away from lightly snoring. By now, we’re ready for downtime – hey, we’ve earned it – so it’s off to the Royal Hotel in Ventnor. Classic, with modern touches, this regal stay was a mere coaching inn, called Fishers (founded in 1832), before Queen Victoria checked in and it adopted airs and graces. She loved the Isle and inspired wealthy families to build villas in the seaside resort, some of which survive today. The stay is buffered from the sea by lavish gardens and lies close to Steephill Cove’s tranquil beach and the Botanic Gardens. My room is periwinkle blue, with crisp white linens, antique wooden furnishings and a garden view. After some mattress testing and a sniff of the Elsyl toiletries, it’s down to the bar to meet for an apéritif (and toast our improving health, of course). Then to the dining room, which looks ripped from an Oscar Wilde soirée: striped walls hang with grand, stern-looking portraits, white tablecloths are laden with silver, and staff are smartly dressed. I feast on Gallybaggercheese soufflé with white-onion purée, then devour a tender, beautifully presented pork loin, before demolishing a crumble as buttery and custard-drenched as any homemade one. I sleep soundly. I have to conserve energy for the meaty breakfast menu, after all. And, for our next adventure: biking with Wight Cycle Hire. I’m a wobbly cyclist at best; myths about never forgetting how to ride just feel cruel when I try, so I was nervous. I presumed an e-bike would be easier, but one rev later it was clear I’d end up in a stream – back to pedal-pushing for me. Gradually, I stop white-knuckling my handlebars and screeching to a halt every time an obstacle (fellow rider, dog, some weeds) came close. I began to enjoy the cool air and bucolic scenery. I don’t complete the circuit, but feel I’ve achieved PAGE 36

something. After, our car drops us at Little Gloster, a coastal restaurant with nautical decor: little beach huts, stripy deckchairs… We perch on a picnic table and watch the gently rolling waves. My goat’s cheese and parmesan ravioli, with sage butter and toasted hazelnuts, is delicious, as are our cocktails: an all-too-drinkable prosecco, gin and mint muddle. Yet more gin awaits at The Mermaid Distillery, where we taste some of the 10 botanicals in the locally made, allnatural gin, G&Ts in balloon glasses and an explosively strong naval-proof gin (a headspinning 57%) – a collaboration with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, and an elegant rock-salt vodka. The bar’s terrace is a calm place to sit and sip, and co-founder Xavier Baker’s enthusiasm for future projects is as dizzying as a slug of his strongest gin – a whisky is currently maturing in bourbon and white-wine casks, and more high spirits are planned… Our merry band rock up to Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s Med-style manse, to tour the ornate Indian dining room and living quarters (including playrooms for nine little princes and princesses). Victoria’s bittersweet bedroom pays tribute to Albert –

the upholstery even hides secret silhouettes of the couple. The Mediterranean terrace has cherubic fountains and elegant parterre to promenade by – gazing at the sea, you could indeed be in Naples or the French Riviera. Try to stop at Swiss Cottage, a charming playhouse built for the little royals. Tonight’s dinner date is Chef Rob Thompson, an impressive young talent, at his eponymous restaurant. To start, cocktails; I order a rhubarb-and-custard drink that’s more trifle than apéritif – the bartender does warn me it’s an after-dinner drink – but the creamy head and tangy base are still a winning combo. Rob has dreamt up a multi-course meal for us. But first, we marvel at the beamed dining rooms and little drawer each diner’s cutlery rests in – a lovely touch. We also discover that kitchen staff act as waiters too, so chefs get faceto-face praise for literally slaving over a hot stove. Each dish delights, from a petite cup of chilled pea soup with ham croutons, to a goat’s-cheese-stuffed cigar with yellow and red tomatoes. Rabbit-and-lobster ballotine is a pleasing mix of gamey and sweet meats; Cornish cuttlefish pasta with Arvette valley asparagus is delicate on the

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Red Funnel Ferries: www.redfunnel.co.uk West Wight Alpacas: www.westwightalpacas.co.uk The Coast in Cowes: www.thecoastbar.co.uk The West Bay Club: www.westbayclub.co.uk The Royal Hotel: www.royalhoteliow.co.uk Wight Cycle Hire: www.wightcyclehire.co.uk The Little Gloster: www.thelittlegloster.com The Isle of Wight Distillery: www.isleofwightdistillery.com Osborne House: www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/osborne Thompson’s Restaurant: www.robertthompson.co.uk Ventnor Botanic Gardens: www.botanic.co.uk Lady Scarlett’s Tea Parlour: www.ladyscarlettsteaparlour.co.uk The Garlic Farm: www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk

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tongue. John Dory arrives with an almost fudgy raisin purée and silky velouté with a slug of Noilly Prat, followed by barbecuedlamb hotpot and twin desserts: a raspberrypocked, burnt-honey panna cotta I still think about, and strawberry and white-chocolate parfait – all plates end up empty. The next day we stroll through Ventnor Botanic Gardens, which are kept temperate by the Undercliff – a natural anomaly that creates a microclimate – allowing tropical flora to flourish. Walking on to Ventnor Beach, we clock Neopolitan-hued B&Bs, pubs with pirate paraphernalia and vintage cafés; we stop for hot chocolate at Lady Scarlett’s, a World War 2-themed caff with a bomb-shelter bathroom and retro tuck shop, where the owner’s just received an MBE for her work at infamous Parkhurst Prison. Outside the beach is buffeted by wind and busy with kayakers and surfers Our final stop, the Garlic Farm, is an Isle of Wight legend. Farmer Colin has grown the pungent bulbs for years, trekking through the Caucasus, scouring the lowlands by the Dead Sea and even singing the Garlic Anthem at Moravia’s annual festival; allegedly, the best bulbs are from Azerbaijan. His dedication is evident throughout the estate, which has a restaurant, education centre, tasting room (where you can try sauces, chutneys and oils) and yurts you can book for holidays. On a tractor-trailer ride, he tells us of the antiquities he’s unearthed on site – war shrapnel, scraps of Roman pottery – and after treats us to black-garlic ice-cream and garlic-infused beer – both surprisingly good. Our trip wasn’t, perhaps, the most focused bid for wellness, but it was a surprisingly effective cure-all. A weekend in a balmy microclimate, stroking cute animals, sipping gin and trying the best dishes from accomplished chefs: the Isle of Wight does it all, very well…

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WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS A city of astonishing complexity and history, Jerusalem leaves SARAH RODRIGUES bewitched and bewildered.

The Machane Yehuda market heaves with activity – come sunset, cooking will be off limits until sunset the following day. Such is Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath which is observed from Friday evening. It’s also a time for feasting and family, which means that all of the food for Saturday needs to be prepped and cooked in advance. Perhaps avid perusal of Israeli chef Yottam Ottolenghi’s books has prepared me for the pyramids of spices, sacks of grains and legumes, mounds of vegetables and vast array of dried fruits, but certainly not for the crowds and bustle. Still less has it prepared me for the stall-holders’ generous tastings. We sample nuts thick with syrup, coconut chips, tahini cold-pressed between stones, pink Israeli gin and Arak, a fennel-flavoured spirit. At the fromagerie, we roll our eyes ecstatically over a gouda with walnuts, the creamiest brie imaginable and a dessert cheese, sweetened by nothing but its own caramelised lactose. ‘If you want to truly see a place, visit its markets.’ Such was the advice given to me a long time ago, on my first ever trip abroad, and I’ve never forgotten it. The conflict between Jews and Muslims, their claims upon this holy city, is all real, but here in the Machane Yehuda, they trade and buy freely, side by side. Food is the great unifier. When we visit the King David Hotel, at which Prince William has recently stayed, we’re shown the table that was borrowed from the hotel for the signing of the IsraelJordan Peace Treaty in 1994. How much more, in the way of world peace, might be achieved if this grand table were laden with the foods we’re seeing today? Upstairs from the market, at Tali Friedman’s Atelier, an only slightly less impressive table awaits us – and there’s a spread to come, too, but only after we’ve prepped our purchases. Under

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the guidance of chef Youssef Hillel, a group of six of us peel, dice, slice, roll and debone our way to a multi-course meal, of which a zingy ceviche and flame-roasted aubergine are just two of the highlights. There are some destinations where looking, eating and enjoying may suffice. Jerusalem is not one of them. Every moment there throws up new dichotomies, new questions. A night time visit to the Tower of David for the Night Spectacular, a 45-minute long light show projected onto the ancient walls of the citadel, immerses the viewer in dazzling light and the illuminated stories of leaders, legends and religions… And, questions – I can think of few places to which I’ve ever travelled which have made me so aware of the paucity of my knowledge. Our guide Shelly is a powerhouse of information, gifted with the ability to bring the city’s history to life; she weaves words and worlds at every stop on our journey, from the Holy Sepulchre, to the Mount of Olives and the Via Dolorosa, along which Jesus is believed to have carried his own cross en route to the Crucifixion. Each of these places has a story, but some are oft repeated. When we visit the the Israel Museum and view the Dead Sea Scrolls – kept cool in their underground chamber within a huge white sculpture over which water flows – my mind is officially blown, and I opt out of touring the rest of the museum, choosing instead to sit in the sculpture garden and gaze at the view, while trying to make sense of everything I’ve learned. ‘Everyone is speaking their own truth’, says chef Youssef. It’s true – there are no absolutes. A visit to an artist’s colony introduces us to an English Jew who makes exquisite prayer shawls but casually mentions that he is also a successful estate agent. On a night-crawl of the city’s bars and clubs, we meet

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Jerusalem’s self-proclaimed ‘only hipster’, who has a cold and mentions that both his wife and mother tend to him at home. At the King David Hotel, a long strip of flooring is covered with famous guests’ autographs: Donald Trump’s thick-stroked, Crayola-esque scrawl lies not far from the elegant flourish of Gregory Peck, whose role as Atticus Finch in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird represents everything that’s lacking in the current US administration. One morning, we find ourselves exploring the Mea She’arim neighbourhood, one of the oldest in the city. It’s populated by devout Orthodox Jews, and a large sign warns against entering in ‘immodest clothes’. Residents hurry past us, eyes either avoiding our covered-up but unmistakably Western clothing, or skittering off as soon as they make contact. Later that night, we’re in a disused retail space which has been reimagined as an art installation and bar, where louche young things lounge in corners with drinks and cigarettes and one girl, oblivious to everything, dances wildly on her own in front of a painting. ‘Do you know what a tell is?’ asks our guide, as we’re about to embark on a subterranean journey into an ancient water system under the City of David. ‘It’s a hill or mound created by the accumulated refuse of people living in the same place over hundreds or thousands of years. The further you dig, the more layers you uncover. It was less than 15 years ago that an excavation led by Eilat Mazar uncovered what’s believed to be the remains of King David’s palace – who knows what future digs will reveal?’ This about sums up Jerusalem itself: It is worlds within worlds. This particular world, dubbed Hezekiah’s Tunnel, was uncovered in 1867 and links the Gihon Spring to the City of David via an ancient feat of engineering. The 533-metre walk through it is not for the faint hearted; it’s pitch dark and the pinprick beams of light provided by the tiny torches supplied don’t offer much in the way of illumination, while the water, although refreshing after the searing heat outside, is in some places at knee level. The tunnel is narrow and occasionally low-ceilinged. You definitely wouldn’t want to be claustrophobic or, for that matter, carrying a little extra weight. Above ground, Jerusalem offers a wealth of viewpoints, as well as points of view - and they’re all splendid, from the ramparts, which we ascend at the Tower of David and walk as far as the Jewish Quarter, coming back down to ground level at Dung Gate, to the lookout on the Mount of Olives, from which domes glint brightly amid a landscape and architecture that has the colour of washed-out desert sand. Some of the best hotels and restaurants maximise these views with rooftop settings, too – from the Catholic Notre Dame’s Cheese & Wine restaurant, at which we dine on the Friday night, when the advent of Shabbat has hushed much of the city, to the Mamilla, where incredible cocktails and sushi are accompanied by a side of sunset. Families take shortcuts across the covered market of the Old City, barely pausing to admire the blanket of rooftops visible from this vantage point; below our feet lies a labyrinthine puzzle of constricted alleyways and lanes, divided into four quarters: Christian, Armenian (which is also Christian), Muslim and Jewish. The Muslim Quarter is the largest of the four and contains the Dome of the Rock which, incredibly, is only about 500 metres away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and a minute’s walk from the Western Wall – the mix of cultures and beliefs here is that cheek by jowl. Our visit coincides with Tisha B’Av, one of the most significant days of the Jewish religious calendar, marking the destruction of the Temples, first by the Babylonians and then by the Romans. One of the major observances of the day is fasting: despite the 30-plus degrees heat, eating and drinking is forbidden for 25 hours, which is bittersweet, having seen the unity and cooperation that food can foster. People have thronged at the Western Wall, the wailing from which it takes its lessformal appellation just discernible in a low hum of prayer from the women, who caress religious texts (not the Torah, as this is considered inappropriately joyful) and press their foreheads

and hands against the cool stone, lingering sadly before moving away backwards, so as not to turn their face away from the Wall. Beyond the partition that separates the women from the men, ululations at a lower pitch can be heard; in both sections, slips of paper, inscribed with prayer, are crammed into every crack and dimple in the stone. When we prepared our feast at Tali Friedman’s Atelier, Chef Yousef mentioned that he would love to go to Bethlehem, less than 10 kilometres away, but with his Israeli passport, has never been. There’s no right or wrong. As he said: everyone is speaking their truth. If ever there’s been a city to visit with an open mind and heart (and a good appetite!) Jerusalem – every bewildering aspect of it – is it.

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King David Hotel www3.danhotels.com/JerusalemHotels/KingDavidJerusalemHotel Tower of David Night Spectacular Sound & Light Show www.tod.org.il/en/the-night-spectacular/ Tali Friedman Cooking Class - www.haatelie.com/en Notre Dame Cheese and Wine Restaurant www.notredamecenter.org Israel Museum - www.imj.org.il/en#page-2 City of David Tunnels Tour - www.cityofdavid.org.il/en Half-day private tour £115

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THE JEWEL IN THE MALDIVES’ CROWN JAMES MASSOUD enjoys barefoot luxury at a glitzy Indian Ocean hideaway… Jumeirah Vittaveli – Vittaveli meaning ‘vastness of space’ and ‘eternal light’ – located in the South Malé Atoll, exudes five-star luxury in a subtle way. Just a 20-minute, motorised catamaran journey away from the Maldives’ main airport, the hotel is a paradise escape for both families and couples alike.

The Island

Every villa comes equipped with bicycles, on which you can transport yourself around beautiful Bolifushi Island (translating to ‘Island of Shells’), on which Jumeirah Vittaveli resides. It’s the best way to explore this tropical haven of bucolic palm greens and lush white sands. Before Jumeirah Vittaveli opened, the island housed one of the oldest resorts in the Malé atoll. The Bolifushi Resort – as it was originally known – opened in 1982 with just 30 rooms. The island is also home to one of the healthiest and most abundant house-reefs in the whole of the South Malé Atoll region, with vibrant and colourful sea-life, including baby reef-sharks, stingray, parrot fish, turtles, octopi, crabs and so much more. Indeed, the staff host a ‘feeding of fish’, which incredibly attracts the ocean’s residents – including the large stingray – promptly at 5.30pm every day! Equally incredible is that between 20 to 800 metres away from the house-reefs lay five shipwrecks. They can be found by divers and snorkellers at depths of 12 to 30 metres.

The Rooms

The resort is home to 89 stunning suites and villas, each of which comes with its own pool and provides direct access to the beach or lagoon; the ideal setting for both sunrise and the sunset. The Beach Villas are spacious and secluded, with their own open-air bathroom and outdoor marble bath tub. Facing out to the private pool and beach, meanwhile, is a luxurious king-size bed with an incredible view to wake to in the morning. The freestanding, two-floor Ocean Suites are particularly

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popular with couples and honeymooners, since they make such romantic retreats. Standing on stilts in the serene waters of the Indian Ocean, they’re accessible by a complimentary boat service, which runs round the clock. The Royal Residence, however, is the glint in the jewel. It’s a resort within a resort. This breathtaking five-bedroom accommodation (that can welcome up to 14 guests) stretches out over 3,500 square metres of oceanfront estate. It has its own private beach, two private pools, a spa and gym, plus a full-scale restaurant and a overwater bar, all complemented with the most resplendent decor. The Cuisine As you’d expect, Jumeirah Vittaveli’s dining is of an exceptionally high level: both the cuisine and the service are exemplary. In fact, over Easter the resort introduced a new concept – one which would see the world’s finest chefs visiting the resort, to spend time training the on-site chefs and designing elegant seasonal menus. The first guest-chef residency was Michelin-star-holding Anthony Demetre of Mayfair’s Wild Honey. The week-long event saw live kitchen pop-ups, interactive lunches, chef masterclasses and an unforgettable beach barbecue dinner for the final night. Watch this space for more guest appearances throughout the year. Another new concept is Cuvée, the resort’s impressive wine library, boasting more than 350 labels. Guests select a menu of their choice and then Jumeirah Vittaveli’s passionate sommelier, Paolo Graziosi takes them on an educational journey of food and wine pairing. Dinner in Swarna is also a must. It’s been voted ‘Best Indian Cuisine in Asia’ by the World Luxury Restaurant Awards in 2016 and 2017, such is the extraordinary skill and imagination demonstrated in every dish and flavour combination by chef, Bharat Kapoor.

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‘The island is home to one of the healthiest housereefs in the South Malé Atoll region, with colourful sea-life, including baby reef-sharks, stingray, parrot fish, turtles, octopi, crabs and much more.’

What’s there? Exploring the underwater world surrounding Jumeirah Vittaveli can be done either by snorkelling, scuba diving or even by hopping on a semi-submarine tour. On land, kids can be kept entertained in one of the Maldives’ largest kids’ clubs, which has a games room, Island Treasure Hunt and snorkelling lessons. Oh, and don’t forget the ice rink – the only one you’ll find in the Maldives. Adults, meanwhile, can treat themselves to a moment’s respite in the Talise Spa, who produce their own 100 per cent pure coconut oil, using the island’s own fruit, which then gets utilised in every signature treatment. With so much on offer, it’s little wonder the Maldives has seen an 18.7% increase in UK visitor figures, who represent 7.9% of all tourism here. Book a stay at Jumeirah Vittaveli from £645 a night on a B&B basis in a Beach Villa with Pool Suite. www.jumeirahvittaveli.com

Who to book with?

Give yourself some peace of mind by letting Quintessentially Travel (part of the award-winning Quintessentially concierge service) book your holiday. They’re experts in providing tailormade, luxury lifestyle travel for both members and nonmembers. And with offices around the world, they’ve got their finger on the pulse with every step. As part of the esteemed luxury network, Virtuoso, Quintessentially Travel is connected to more than 1,000 of the world’s leading hotels in 150 countries. Plus, they have access to amenities, upgrades, benefits, unadvertised excursions, extravagances, flights and many other extra services, making them the easiest choice for you to help book that perfect, dream getaway. For more information visit www.quintessentiallytravel.com

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KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW

AND RELAX… A WEEKEND IN OXFORDSHIRE ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD escaped London for greenery and farm-fresh food in Oxfordshire. Sometimes the relentless pace of London can get you down, not to mention its soundtrack punctuated with police sirens and having to deal with queue-bargers… It can get especially chaotic at weekends and in the summer, so my girlfriend and I decided to get out. We didn’t want a lot of effort and fuss, just to pack a few clothes and snacks, pop everything in the boot of the car and set off. No passports or body searches, or other airport annoyances – just a motorway to contend with before a simple weekend away. We decided three nights was the perfect getaway length. So we rented a cottage in Oxfordshire, an hour’s drive from London. It was endearingly titled the Little Coach House and it was set in a lovely, sleepy village called Stanton St John, just six miles from Oxford city. It proved to be the ideal hideaway, and, at just a month old, all fixtures and fittings were brand new. It was wonderfully set up for the easy life: relaxing, cosy, luxurious even. And, it was ideally sized and designed to make country living effortless – even down to everything in the kitchen being set at arm’s length. It had the requisite mod-cons and Christian Lacroix wallpaper in the loftlike upstairs bedroom and bathroom – a cool, quirky touch – which added to its charms. Stylish, tasteful and thoroughly thought through: we’d found our new home for the next three nights. In true neighbourly country fashion, the owners (who live across the road) stopped by to welcome us. They’d gone out of their way to make us feel accommodated, with little posies of flowers picked from the garden – their pride and passion. They’d generously filled the fridge with provisions too: not just the bare essentials but fresh bread and asparagus invitingly wrapped in

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little bundles, both from the local farm shop they ran, along with fresh strawberries from their pick-your-own greenhouses. They encouraged us to pick the mint and chives growing in a pot on the patio, too. When we felt sufficiently grounded – not too much of a challenge when you’re overlooking the garden in a deck chair, we explored the garden. It was in full bloom, with neat lawns and precisely plotted flowerbeds; trees and shrubs running wild. A lovely, characterful combination. From there, we could easily have taken ourselves off to the Cotswolds, the Chilterns, Bicester Village, or the city, but I was happy to rely solely on my feet. We didn’t even need to totter to the local – our supplies were sufficient enough to feed and water us… There was a state-of-the-art television in the cottage but it was as superfluous as our ignored iPhones. No distractions from the outside world were necessary or relevant. The immersive peace was only interrupted by blissful birdsong, horses hooves in the distance and the toll of church bells from across the road. Starting to recuperate from London’s stresses, we ventured out to a rather special village – one that retains all its charm since its 16th-century acquisition by New College, Oxford. Life here seemed straight out of the Archers: the village hall was the venue for sheepskin inspections after a day of shearing. We discovered two pubs and a small village shop, and replenished our supplies with fresh produce from a farm shop, set beside the allotments where locals tend to their vegetables. Recently planted lettuces reminded me of Peter Rabbit, as did the carrots on a par with those tended by Mr McGregor. The virtue of locally sourced food spoken loudly here and signified the luxury of absent supermarkets.

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We walked along footpaths and bridleways that split off in all directions each the start of a gentle stroll or full-on trek, on and off tarmac, each beckoning and bathed in sunlight, some shaded by glades. Each yellow arrow at the end of each field was a new adventure. We passed sun-dappled lanes and meadows, long-grass fields, bee-buzzed buttercups… The atmosphere reminded me strongly of the sensuous, Tilda Swinton-starring film, ‘I Am Love’. On top of one of the hills that surround the parish, we came across an area comprised of a neatly arranged vegetable garden, freshly mown paddock for exercising horses, and a lovely Palladian mansion called Woodperry House: an august pile, lime-tree-lined avenues, and fields of rams and ewes – separated, naturally… For us central-Londoners, the hourfrom-door-to-door drive to reach this little bit of heaven is more than enough reason for future escapes. It may not be far from home, but it’s a different world in every other sense. You can book the retreat with a company called Mulberry Cottages. Situated across southern England, they have a vast range of properties, including country houses, cottages and beachside retreats.

Adam Jacot de Boinod was a researcher for the first BBC television series QI, hosted by Stephen Fry. He wrote The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from around the World, published by Penguin Books. Mulberry Cottages, England’s leading, boutique self-catering lettings agency, comprises over 600 luxury and quirky properties that sleep two–50 guests. Founded by Sarah Wood in 2011, the independent agency specialises in providing memorable home-from-home experiences across England, at their handpicked properties. Ranging from countryside manor houses and chocolatebox cottages, to beachside retreats, to city centre apartments: over half of which are pet friendly. www.mulberrycottages.com

‘In true neighbourly country fashion, the owners (who live across the road) stopped by to welcome us. They’d gone out of their way to make us feel accommodated, with little posies of flowers picked from the garden.’

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A WINTER’S TALE Joining Québec’s winter celebrations, SARAH RODRIGUES takes layering to new levels

‘Blimey, what a hassle when they need the loo.’ That, rather joylessly, is my first thought at the sight of young families at Québec’s Winter Carnival. But then, I live in a city where a few days of snowfall makes front-page news, grinds public transport to a halt, causes schools to close and the economy to suffer. We’re in double-figure negatives here. Children are rendered shapeless by layers, their snowsuits causing their arms and legs to stick out in starfish-like angles from their tiny bodies. Adults haul them along in toboggans; occasionally, we even spot large dogs on towing duty. Nobody looks discouraged, fed up or even, for that matter, cold. I’m realising that not only is there no such thing as bad weather, only poor clothing choices – there’s also, perhaps, just negative attitudes and unprepared infrastructures. However, it’s not simply a case of preparing for winter here, by way of investment in municipal snow-clearing and weatherappropriate gear. Winter is actively welcomed. It’s embraced and celebrated. It’s personified in the form of Bonhomme (the King of the Carnival), whom a long line of children, humming with excitement outside his winter palace, are waiting to embrace. The scene calls to mind children’s willingness to sit on a strange bearded man’s knee in a shopping centre at Christmas. Except that Bonhomme is not just strange: he’s ghastly. A cross between the Michelin Man and the doughy Stay Puft creature who oozes marshmallow all over Manhattan at the end of Ghostbusters, Bonhomme’s blankly smiling face rears up, moonlike, at every turn. ‘Aren’t children ever scared of him?’ I venture to ask a bystander, only to be met with a face as blank as Bonhomme’s own. The question seems to have revealed me as a nonQuébécois more definitively than even my accent. I smile weakly and down another gulp of Caribou, the warmed, sweet local firewater that’s loosely based on the whisky and cariboublood concoction supposedly consumed by colonial hunters. Unlike Santa, who stretches suspension of disbelief to breaking point with his ability to appear in several different stores during the course of one harried shopping trip, there is one – and only one – Bonhomme. The likenesses that loom are effigies; the faces that appear ghoulishly on every street corner are cardboard cutouts or illuminated statues. What’s more, no one knows who he is. So enshrined in myth and mystique is Bonhomme that the man (or woman?) behind the suit is a closely guarded secret, known to, well, not a soul, allegedly. He has bodyguards, private jets and makes around 1,000 appearances a year – when not presiding over the Winter Carnival, he’s touring the world promoting Quebec as a destination. His ability to defy temperatures that would make a lesser snowman melt is as mysterious as his true identity. ‘But… but… how do you know that he’s not some kind of international criminal?!’ I ask our guide; I can feel years of noir-novel-reading, plus vague impressions of Killer Clowns, bubbling to the surface, even in the face of all this joviality – not to mention the loosening effects of the Caribou. ‘Seriously – that monstrous moonface… All of these children… And no-one, literally no-one knows who he is?’ ‘But he is Bonhomme! He is the Good Man!’ comes the response, rich with laughter and that wonderful Québécois accent. And that, it seems, is enough.

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Québec City is, quite simply, charming. Divided into two levels, its French history is tightly woven not only into the language of its inhabitants, but into every narrow, turning lane of the Old Town – into the shopfronts festooned with wreaths of paraphernalia, into small squares and dinky churches. The more stately Upper Levels, in which the 17th-century city fort, as well as the majestic hotel Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and various other galleries and municipal buildings are located, can be reached by either funicular or – for the strong-of-leg – a number of stairs. Inviting enough throughout the rest of the year (its population of around 750,000 sees a yearly influx of about 4.5 million tourists, many of whom arrive in the autumn months for leaf peeping), it is transformed by the cold into a dazzling winterscape. Impressive ice carvings line the streets, fairy lights twinkle, and toboggan runs, along which delightedly shrieking groups fly downhill, are set up. A scent of caramelly sweetness fills the air: huge blocks of ice form the base on which warmed maple syrup is poured in long streaks, dark amber against the frozen white. As it starts to harden, it’s deftly twizzled up onto lolly sticks and given out to eager, mittened hands. Similarly formed bars are serving up Caribou to an older clientele. There are skating rinks, slides, ice baths, axe-throwing, food and performances. With an average of 400,000 people attending the annual twoweek extravaganza, it’s the largest winter festival in the world. And always, below, the otherworldly sight of the frozen Saint Lawrence River. On its surface, vast chunks of ice shift and jostle against one another, powered by the tidal currents beneath; a greyish white wasteland somehow at odds with the legendary joie de vivre of the city it gave rise to. The legendary Ice Canoe Race, one of the pinnacles of the carnival, takes place in these forbidding conditions; each year, teams compete in below-freezing temperatures to twice complete a circuit across the ice-choked waters and celebrate the past heroism of those who braved the wintered river to deliver mail, supplies and medicines to the settlements strung out along its banks. Navigating their way through the swiftly moving floes, the canoeists are forced, at times, to get out and push their vessels across the ice; spiked shoes give them the necessary traction but contact with those icy waters, whether by way of falling and submersion – or ‘just’ by splashing – is inevitable. Under the circumstances, the broad smiles they give the cheering spectators are astonishing: can adrenaline be frozen in place? I’m up before dawn the next morning to witness the first ferry of the day; it’s curious to see the river untouched by such a celebratory mood, when it’s once again simply a body to be traversed by commuters from Lévis, on the opposite shore. The Saint Lawrence is moody; in the half light you could almost believe that it’s littered with large, broken sheets of polystyrene, of the type used to cradle large electrical goods – but the unearthly creaking and groaning as the ice yields under the force of the ferry churning through the early morning freeze is too thrilling to be synthetic. It makes my stomach lurch pleasurably. Few people have boarded this early vessel; those who have are tucked away in the cabin. Out on deck the chill bites my nose as we approach the opposite bank; Québec City is a glittering jewel of a postcard, its landmarks discernible first by joining up the disembodied pinpricks of light that trace them and then, eventually, as morning light washes the return crossing.

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Three hours’ drive from Québec City, the wilderness of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean awaits us. Its Narnian combination of the White Witch’s landscape and Aslan’s life-affirming joy is utterly captivating: arriving at a snowmobiling centre, we’re expecting a spin or two around a track – possibly even riding pillion – but there are over 3,300 kilometres of marked trails to be explored here, and it turns out we’re bossing our own machines and following those routes. Once kitted up and instructed, a day of swooping across wintered fields, speeding over frozen fjords (with a brief pause for a spot of ice fishing) and zipping between snowladen trees ensues: I am literally whooping for joy in my helmet. There’s no cushy seat-warmer or heated handlebars the following day; strapping on snowshoes in the Monts-Valin National Park, we make our slightly breathless way up to its highest point via the Valley of the Phantoms – so called because of the spectral appearance of the snow-cloaked trees, bending under the weight of winter. The silence is astounding; the snow absorbs all but the most piercing yelp of laughter, which

emanates from one of us occasionally as we go off-piste and find ourselves wrong-footed and half buried. The snow is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before: so deep, dry and fluffy, with the consistency of talc – our deliberate wallowing is delightful until various crevices protest otherwise. And the light! The light is extraordinary: the day is overcast and, although we’re told (and I can imagine), that blue skies throw the crisply white landscape into glorious relief, there’s something ethereal about the layers of white, on white, on white, with that dull globe of sun shimmering dimly behind the cloud cover. It’s -27 ° and, in the window left exposed by my balaclava, my eyelashes freeze to tiny white icicles, fringing my eyes, which have, in any case, all but disappeared in multiple creases of unseen smiles.

For more information on Québec visit www.quebecoriginal.com, Québec City: www.quebecregion.com, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean: www.saguenaylacsaintjean.ca/en Economy return fares from London Heathrow to Montreal start from £408 a person - aircanada.com. Fares are inclusive of taxes and subject to change.

LOST IN トランスレーション HARRIET BEDDER takes us on a whirlwind tour of gourmet dining in the clouds in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Tokyo. The Japanese megalopolis with no discernible centre. The city with so many districts that it’s mind boggling to contemplate its physical sprawl. Our first impression is very good: we arrive at Haneda Airport early and catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji peeking from under a vast blanket of cloud as the sun rises. Our first taste of Tokyo’s dizzying altitude and electrifying illumination is the view at the panoramic Sky Lounge Stellar Garden atop the Prince Park Tower hotel, Shibakoen. Set as close as you can get to the Tokyo Tower, the hotel boasts a picturesque outlook over Shiba Park and the Shiba Tosho-gu shrine. The basement-level restaurant and towering sky bar here cement the hotel as a landmark destination for locals throughout the week, and it’s not hard to see why. Before heading up to the 33rd floor for a nightcap and a long discussion on Japan’s obsession with everything Parisian, we are utterly spoilt by the head chef at the hotel’s fish restaurant Hamashiba. This is our first taste of sushi since touching down in the Land of the Rising Sun less than 12 hours previously. It’s clear as the chefs walk into our private horigotatsu den to prepare our multi-course kaiseki meal, that being a sushi chef is not just a career but a lifelong passion. An eager Japanese souschef provides translation for head chef Toshikazu Usami, casual conversation and some of his technique tricks throughout the meal. Kaiseki is a traditional style of Japanese dining, with many courses, allowing the Itamae (chef) to demonstrate his endless skills – it’s analogous to Western haute cuisine. This first meal is the one we have been most excited for on our culinary tour

‘At Tsukiji Fish Market, trolleys have priority over people and we are told brusquely to move out of the way as soon as we see one coming – they rarely slow down, and if they have to, you hear about it. ’

of Tokyo, and our chef seems just as excited to be preparing it for us. The craftsmanship of being a Master Itamae (or head sushi chef) takes a lifetime to learn and, contrary to belief, the Master Itamae doesn’t pass on all knowledge to their sous-Itamae. The culture around the career requires 24-hour dedication; Usami explains how he encourages his apprentice to learn in a handson environment. How can you tell good tuna from bad tuna? By the tenderness of the flesh under the tail – but, you can’t touch it, the skill comes from years of judging by sight alone. He also won’t go to the market with his apprentice, to encourage him to learn how to choose the fish by himself – the teacher solely gives advice and teaches the technique of preparation. After 12 courses of artfully presented dishes, including plaited silverfish nigiri, torch-seared fatty tuna and paired sakes we already feel as if we are on top of the world – then we’re taken there for drinks… After our sky bar drinks, we get an early night. We have an even earlier start, because head chef Usami, dressed in his classic white uniform, is excited to be taking us to his favourite place – and one of Tokyo’s main tourist attractions – the worldfamous Tsukiji Fish Market. Here, 2,000 tonnes of fish are moved through every day, and one tuna can cost up to $1 million. We are treated to a full tuna-butchering demonstration, which takes three men roughly 20 minutes from start to finish. The market is an exceptional place to visit and it’s only open to the public from 5am, opening to trade at 3am. Fish-buying is a serious business. Here, trolleys have priority over people and we are told brusquely to move out of the way as soon as we

see one coming – they rarely slow down, and if they have to, you hear about it. We leave the market at 8am for breakfast; before we depart we’re given a film recommendation from a market-stall owner – the critically acclaimed documentary ‘Tsukiji Wonderland’ which includes footage of the famous tuna auction. As we are excitedly led to the back entrance of famous Tsukiji Market eatery Sushi Dai, chef Usami solemnly tells us the market will soon move out of central Tokyo to a controlled industrial estate near the port and will soon be closed to the public at all times. We feel very lucky to have had such an intimate tour, and also feel silently despised by the streams of people who have seen us enter the tiny fish restaurant from the kitchen entrance. The famous fish market eateries, Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi, have queues around the corner as soon as the market opens, let alone the restaurants themselves. As such, it’s recommended to get here early (à la David and Brooklyn Beckham) to avoid disappointment and sushi envy, with TripAdvisor accounts reporting that the three-hour queue can start as early as 2.30am. The restaurant is small, and the phenomenal omakase menu is an economical ¥4,000/£28 – fabulous value for a meal that leaves you dreading your usual Friday lunch at the local King’s Road Itsu. Trust me, high-street sushi will never taste the same after a gastronomic tour of Tokyo. The ‘omakase’ menu is a tradition we are unfamiliar with in the west; our guide explains that it is short for ‘omakase shimasu’, roughly translating as, ‘I trust you (the chef)’. For the majority of our visit, we mistake it for the tasting menu… but we are told by our guide that its meaning is deeper than that; the courses being delivered are crafted using solely the chef's judgment and they’re not taken from any menu.

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Mid-morning, we make a visit to the Hikawa Shrine in Kawagoe. Here, the – mainly Japanese – tourists dress up as geishas for the day in rented robes. The tea-houses famed for geisha service are traditionally based in westernised cities, such as Kyoto, but here it has become a tradition to dress in a kimono and traditional geta shoes when visiting the shrines, so you feel as if you’ve travelled back in time to ancient Edo. We ride around in a rickshaw propelled by a spritely youth in running shoes. It feels somewhat colonial and, therefore, rather uncomfortable, but judging by the number of fellow passengers, it’s a tradition here. So, we ride with it (no pun intended) and try not to feel too embarrassed. Charcoal-boiled unagi (freshwater eel) is a delicacy native to Kawagoe, due to the city’s proximity to the Iruma and Arakawa rivers. Rooms, gardens, furniture, utensils: everything is done in the historic style of Koedo-Kawagoe, and reflects traditional Japanese culture. Bring a knife and fork if you struggle with chopsticks. Following a quick trip to Candy Alley – a street paved with coloured glass and lined with 22 sweet shops – and an encounter with an athletic parrot who can do forward rolls, we head back to Tokyo. After an exceptional dinner, set 140 metres above the city at Table 9, in Shinagawa Prince Hotel, we head out to explore the nightlife. We start in Gonpachi, famous as the bar in Kill Bill’s ‘Showdown at House of Blue Leaves’ scene, where Uma Thurman confronts Lucy Liu. However, tonight there is little snow and even fewer sword fights. The bar has been reimagined as a restaurant, without some of the movie’s setpieces, but staff will play the soundtrack’s ‘Battle Without Honor or Humanity’ when they serve birthday cakes to overexcited westerners. We find the bar a little too gimmicky, despite its great cocktails, so we hit Roppongi. Unbeknown to us, Roppongi is Tokyo’s Leicester Square and something of a tourist trap. There’s a Spring Break’s worth of inebriated Brit, American and Aussie expats – so, swerving clear of a bar playing The Proclaimers, we seek out singalong bar, Karaoke Kan, where we can belt out our own rendition of ‘500 Miles’ and reminisce over our teenage love of ‘Lost in Translation’ (after all, this is the bar from the film). Screaming along to Meatloaf’s ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’ in a dimly lit room turns out to be extremely fun, and we continue belt out 80s and 90s classics while dancing the night away. The next day, we make an unscheduled stop at Ginza’s popular ramen restaurant, Funamizaka, before shopping in this famously upmarket shopping, dining and entertainment district. Orders are taken by vending machine (a dish is 950¥/£6), and the ramen is excellent. It cures the worst of our hangovers after our night of song; we pile on the garlic and chilli sauce and blast our morning-after headaches to the high-heavens. Ginza is Tokyo’s version of New York’s Fifth Avenue, or London’s New Bond Street. Shopping here is an experience in itself and this is somewhere to see and be seen. It’s home to designer concept stores (Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Harry Winston etc), and dedicated storefront is impeccably designed – some architecture may almost surpass the content of the stores themselves. We head to Gina 6, the enormous, brand-new, million-dollar department store, to check out its most recent

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‘Unbeknown to us, Roppongi is Tokyo’s Leicester Square and something of a tourist trap. There’s a Spring Break’s worth of inebriated Brit, American and Aussie expats – so, swerving clear of a bar playing The Proclaimers, we seek out a singalong bar where we can belt out our own rendition of ‘500 Miles.’ art installation (which happens to be Daniel Buren’s colourful glass panes, following on from a popular opening stint by Yayoi Kusama). Our final few nights are spent at the Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho hotel. The restaurant and bar are so high up above the city that on an overcast evening you can barely see the electric landscape; when clouds do begin to clear, you feel as if you’ve stepped onto the set of ‘Blade Runner’. Our rooms feel equally futuristic: with the flick of a switch, the clear glass walls of the bathroom become opaque. The room is controlled by an iPad, so you can open the blinds from anywhere. Hours could be spent admiring the view from the California King bed, or from the room-length window seat, which, no matter where you stay in the hotel, promises a spectacular cityscape. Sous chef, Mr Ken Takahashi, gives us a practice menu he’s trialling with us before he enters it into a European culinary competition. We feel very spoilt, especially as we finish with a round of champagne flutes in the Sky Gallery Lounge Levita. We conduct a fleeting visit to the Meiji Shrine – a structure dedicated to the deified spirits of the first emperor of modern Japan and his consort – before a private tea ceremony at Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa. The tea ceremony represents purity, tranquillity, respect and harmony and a lot of preparation goes into this fascinatingly important cultural event. One of the most important ideas behind the Japanese tea ceremony is the concept of spiritual experiences in life and it symbolises quiet and sober refinement. Understanding the material side of life

and it’s decaying nature. this emptiness and imperfection is considered an important part of spiritual awakening. Our final day ends with a trip to offbeat tourist area, Kappabashi Street. Located between Ueno and Asakusa, this stretch is filled with stores stocking chopsticks and crockery, Japanese ceramics (such as the popular rice bowls and sake sets) and other souvenirs. The Kappabashi area dates back to 1912, when it was known for selling wholesale tools and hardware; it almost exclusively supplied the hospitality and restaurant trades. It caters to the same market more than 100 years later, but the area now sees more travellers – and locals – who flock here for the experience (and bargains). We travel chef Mr Usami, from our first evening at Hamashiba, Prince Park Tower. He helps me pick out an original folded-steel knife from the Tsubaya shop – it’s perfect for my arthritic father who has recently become something of a knife connoisseur. Our whirlwind trip to Tokyo concludes with a game of Tetris, which involves our luggage and all our new purchases from Kappabashi and the shrines. I leave Tokyo wearing more of my clothes than anticipated, so I can pack more crockery into my checked luggage. I can’t envisage a scenario where taking a 12-inch knife through security in my carry-on doesn’t result in my immediate arrest. It’s hard to check out of the hotel room. I have grown accustomed to the ever-present view of the city. But, I had to get my head out of the clouds and go back in time to England, where the most dizzying height I reach is the office’s third floor walk-up roof terrace.

THE PRINCE PARK TOWER TOKYO A Panoramic King room costs from £523 a night, including the service charge and consumption tax (excludes breakfast). THE PRINCE GALLERY TOKYO KIOICHO A Club Deluxe King room costs from £954 a night, including the service charge and consumption tax (excludes breakfast). For more information and reservations, please visit, www.princehotels.com Japanese Airlines flies direct, twice daily, to Tokyo Haneda, with great connections to more than 30 cities in Japan. Direct flights, including one Japan domestic flight each way, costs from £820 return.

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HIDING ALL AWAY KATE WEIR finds an unlikely minibreak spot in Hull as the city’s first boutique hotel opens… Humberside city, Kingston-upon-Hull has several claims to fame: it’s the site of the pub where the British Civil War kicked off, Lemsip originated there, and it allegedly has Britain’s smallest window (although this is hotly debated). However, it couldn’t quite claim to be a must-visit minibreak destination until fairly recently. Hull’s City of Culture designation has defibrillated its arts, music and dining scene, and seen the inauguration of its first boutique stay, Hideout Hotel. This set of retro-styled apartments have mix and match formica tables and mid-century-style sofas with local artwork and mod kitchens (outfitted with all you’ll comfortably need for even a long stay). They hold a privileged position at the centre of the city, right next door to the brilliant Atom brewery – oh, and Hull Minster is pretty much on your doorstep. I was taken with the little easel set up beside a tin of Caran d’Ache coloured pencils, the super-soft bed, enormous bathroom, faux elephant-head mount and the bag of goodies (with luxury popcorn, granola, cola and such) in the kitchen (yours for a small extra fee). However, the best part was an entirely automated and streamlined checkin service, involving just a door code. The hotel’s design is carefully considered and locally loyal – furnishings come from thrift stores and city-based designers, and Hull-grown products are represented. It’s the first of its kind too: the hotel’s owner, Georgia Allenby has plans to expand to more northern hubs – perhaps as far as upcoming City of Culture, Coventry? Maybe when it’s as re-energised as Hull… Automated check-in or not, one can’t hide from Hullensians forever, especially as the Freedom Festival’s dance and drama shows, talks, and random bursts of performance art took place throughout my stay. There’s a complimentary bag of coffee from

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the Blending Room in my apartment, but BE coffee shop is built into Hideout’s complex for easy caffeination; after a stop there I headed to Queen’s Gardens for Anja Lyngbaek’s talk on local activism (an enlightening bolt through micro-economies, happiness indexes and Yorkshire fracking) and Stopgap Dance Company’s bleary-eyed Bill & Bobby hangover dance. To follow, a mesmeric tossing by Gandini Juggling in Trinity Square and Luke Jerram’s giant inflatable moon, wedged into the Minster’s nave, between exquisite stained-glass windows. During pit stops in my apartment, mobile Boombike DJs cycled past the window with feather-scattering revellers in tow. A mad joyous romp all round. On less festive weekends, the Deep aquarium, Ferens Art Gallery and the Bonus Arena do the lion’s share of entertaining, but that’s not to say Hull is dullsville on such occasions – if you’re hungry, it’ll do right by you. Hit Humber Street for a rich vein of hip eateries. Thieving Harry’s offers brunches of sourdough topped with feta, crushed peas and poached eggs or crumpets with ‘nduja, washed down with mimosas. Opposite, graffitied eatery Butler White serves up wagyu beef burgers and pizzas topped with boudin noir and taleggio. Find fine Indian dining at Tapasya by the Marina, and genius bun-fillers at Dope Burger, where the Blue and Black, with stilton, cheddar and black treacle, will make you reevaluate your burger standards. The Trinity Market Hall also has a cool cache of street-food stalls. Top off your night with Tiny Rebel’s rhubarb-and-custard sour at Atom Brewery then walk the few steps back to your Hideout for a cup of Yorkshire tea before bed. Turns out, heaven may not be for everyone, but Hull is the place on Earth right now.

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BECK AT BROWN’S Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4BP WORDS: KATE WEIR Brown’s is one of London’s well-established, old-school hotels that embraces you like a beloved, well-perfumed dowager aunt. It’s delightful, everything is prim but not too proper and oh-so tastefully done. Beck at Brown’s, the hotel’s new restaurant, takes off where Mark Hix left. Exquisitely grilled meats and sinful trifles have made way for a svelte, sashaying Italian helmed by chef Heinz Beck. Above the wood panelling, where once hung ‘oi-oi’ YBA art, are murals with a tropical bent, replete with birds of paradise and palm fronds. It’s the work of hotel-designer extraordinaire Olga Polizzi and it’s a charming refresh. The menu has caused flutters through London’s finer diners, too – it’s a lookbook of tastefully twisted, seasonally appropriate classics, running breathlessly from aperitivo to dolci via attentiongrabbing fish and meat dishes. But first, a drink – no mean feat with the Joyce-ian epic of a menu: a litany of surreal compositions: say, vanilla vodka with honey syrup and chilli, or tamarind-infused tequila in an applewood-smoked glass. (If one’s feeling flush, order Salvatore’s Legacy – a blend of spirits from the 18th and late-19th centuries – POA). I’m engaged in this novella, but aware I must order before midnight – so I accept the waiter’s suggestion: a classic Aperol Spritz for me, a Martini for my friend. To start, I order the restaurant’s much-chattered-about crab chips. Calling a dish ‘chips’ is a trend I’m wary of – if you’re not serving fat greasy oblongs from a cone, can they really be chips? These iterations are crispy slinkies filled with delicate flakes of crab. Perhaps not quite a chip, but a delicious start nonetheless. My friend’s single oyster comes with apple jelly, a refreshing alternative to more virulent vinegars and pickles. Scallops with asparagus are plump and crisply caramelised at the edges, they’re firm and meaty, yet yield like butter. Tuna with chard and rice-wine vinegar is elegantly composed with rich red sashimi slabs. I don’t know how Italians manage primi and secondi plates without exploding, but cacio e pepe has caught my eye. A squeeze of lime cuts through cheese and pepper, and a shapely scampi balances salt with sweetness. These tweaks add depth to an a can’t-go-wrong comfort food, thus elevating it. I wish I hadn’t ordered it to share… Mains were well-received too: cod given clout with a whack of ‘nduja, a tenderloin of Iberico pork with just-right pungency, served tender with mash and fennel. We want to give the Sorrentolemon cheesecake or tiramisu a whirl, but settle for scoops of home-churned ice-cream – each one decadently creamy. Beck has replaced a British classic with a new Italian classic that’s well suited to Brown’s old-school glamour. Dining here is bestowed with a sense of occasion, so while I might not be popping in for a first Tinder date or a casual weeknight snack, I’ll absolutely be back i n my finery to wolf down a whole dish of that cacio e pepe. PAGE 51

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SIMPSON’S IN THE STRAND 100 Strand, London, WC2R 0EW WORDS: SARAH JACKSON should come as no surprise that we opt for the carving trolley. They’re offering 28-day dry-aged roast rib of Scottish beef with Yorkshire pudding, slow-roasted carrots, beef-fat-roasted potatoes, gravy and horseradish (£35), or Daphne’s Welsh lamb with potato gratin, English fine beans and mint gravy (£35), with extra slices of beef or lamb coming in at £9.50 a piece. It might seem a touch pricey for a roast, but once a sliver of that mouthwatering meat passes your lips, you’ll be as sold as we are. The tenderness and texture is out of this world and, as expected, all the trimmings are perfectly prepared. The beef is paired with a hearty Château Siaurac, Lalande de Pomerol, Bordeaux, 2009 (£24.50), whereas the lamb is accompanied by a Hush Heath, ‘Manor’ Pinot Noir, Kent, England 2016 (£17.00). Both wines have the desired body to match the strong dishes, but with the requisite notes to complement the subtler flavours. It is also worth noting that Simpson’s have a signature menu, as well as a grill menu. We would recommend the Buccleuch Estate 28-day, dry-aged Beef Wellington (£42) – well you’ve got to really, haven’t you, if you’re going for the quintessential English experience – or the barley and cauliflower-cheese with grilled Portobello mushroom, London Howard cheese and pickled-walnut purée (£19), if you’re looking for a vegetarian option. From the grill, the Dover sole meunière, served with spinach, brown butter, lemon and capers (£42), is a slice of heaven; it’s ideally paired with a Domaine Jacqueson, Bourgogne Aligote, Burgundy (£16.50). Finally, we move on to puddings (priced at £10 each) and spend a few fraught minutes

BIBENDUM OYSTER BAR Ground Floor Michelin House, 81 Fulham Rd, London SW3 6RD WORDS: SID RAGHAVA Bibendum Oyster Bar Michelin-starred French chef Claude Bosi, quite aptly, was born and brought up in a restaurant. His parents owned one in Lyon and food has been a passion ever since. After the closure in 2016 of the highly succesful Hibiscus, Claude took over Bibendum on Fulham Road and earned back 2 Michelin Stars for the first floor fine dining restaurant on the first floor. In June, he relaunched the iconic ground-floor Oyster Bar in time for summer 2018 which had closed for refurbishments earlier this year. On a swelteringly sunny day during a spell of heat that aimed to disrupt the Summer of 1976’s longstanding record of the warmest recorded summer in London, we walked down to the famous Michelin Building for a taste of the masterchef’s magic touch. The stars of the show are the seas and their offerings and the newly refurbished eatery features a six-seater oyster bar, grandiose, open views of the kitchens and a stunningly conspicuous florist all situated on the immaculate, semi-fresco terrace space. All of the historic and architectural integrity of the Michelin building remains intact. There are nine, very interesting types of oysters on offer, all responsibly caught and sourced from sustainable sources. These include Dungarvan,

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Carlingford and Ostra Regal from Ireland, the eponymous Jersey Rocks, Amazing, Gillardeau and Tsarkaya Cancalefrom France and Morecambe Bay and Colchester from England. Fruits de mer abound as well and once you have savoured the delightful seafood at the bar or on a platter at the table, it might be time to get on with French brasserie classics like Soup de Poisson, Rouille & croutons, Lemon sole Meunière, English snails with classic garlic butter and Calves liver, bacon and onion. There is an extensive list of some rather good wines which are quite affordable despite the obvious quality. If that’s got your juices flowings, weekend brunch includes modern classics such as a Lobster roll with shoestring fries and other favourites include crispy crab cake, poached egg, hollandaise sauce and salad, Chilli crab & lobster lingui or a choice of Bibendum LBT (lobster, bacon, onion & cheese) toastie or a Squid, shrimp and cheddar toastie. The iconic, Michellin man’s unmistakable blubber is on view at every table as an ashtray which doubles up in these non-smoking times as a butter tray. The patio is exquisite as its always been - perfect in the sun - and blankets are available on demand so a slightly chilly PAGE 52

trying to decide which to choose, due to the general fabulousness of the menu. We finally go for the Black Forest trifle with preserved cherries, chocolate custard and Kirsch-infused whippedcream, with a Quady, Elysium, Black Muscat (£42 a bottle) and the St Clement posset with candied kumquat, pistachio shortbread and ewe’s milk sorbet, with a Rheinhessen, Germany Dreissigacker, Riesling Auslese (£76 a bottle). The trifle is as decadent as it sounds – a sip of the heady Muscat after a spoonful of the Kirsch cream is enough to send you into ecstasy. The posset is, in turn, as light as it is punchy, with the acerbic citrus and rich nuttiness creating a perfect balance with the delicate Riesling. A wonderful way to polish of a superb meal. For those interested, Simpsons also have a few other strings to their bow. They have their own gin brand which they serve in their gin dedicated den, The Knight’s Bar. This name is a nod to the fact that they first opened as a chess club and coffee house in 1828, and you can also see this knight motif on their logo. This makes Simpson’s one of London’s oldest restaurants. They’re also launching their own Pale Dinner Ale, created exclusively for Simpson’s by Ilkley, a group of Yorkshire breweries which specialise in old style beers, adding to their practice of celebrating history and the British. So, huzzah and hurrah for Simpson’s In The Strand, as they fly the flag for Britain and all the delicious goodies therein. And although many may think that “Simpsons” is only synonymous with yellow cartoon characters and crazy comedic high-jinx, those in the know are aware that it has a much more illustrious past, present, and undoubtedly, future.

The first thing you notice about Simpson’s is its old-school grandeur: acres of dark glossy wood, pristine white tablecloths offset by lights dripping with crystals. It’s opulent, majestic and, yes, a touch intimidating. That is until you meet the wonderfully friendly staff, who immediately put you at your ease and ensure you feel right at home, even if that home is more Buckingham Place than Butlins. The second thing you notice is how quintessentially British it is; both the drinks list and menu are brimful of homegrown produce from across the British Isles, and I’m thrilled at the thought of all this gloriously fresh fare. As I’m offered a glass of sparkling wine (English of course), a lovely 2014 Ridgeview Cavendish (£18 a glass), our waiter explains that Simpson’s have a special relationship with Ridgeview, an award-winning wine producer based near Burgess Hill in East Sussex. Indeed, there are several on the menu, including the Brut Rosé NV, Brut Rosé de Noirs, and Blanc de Blancs. The Cavendish has even been specifically produced for Simpson’s. It happens to match superbly with my starter of salt-baked Lincolnshire beets with creamy goat’s curd, paired with tangy Yorkshire rhubarb and crystalline honeycomb (£13). This melts in the mouth yet bursts with flavour in equal and delightful measure. The handdived Scottish scallops, charred with an emulsion of cauliflower, topped with curried raisins, pinenut and caper dressing (£16) is also a perfect match – the piquancy of wine cuts perfectly through the strong flavours, with no taste being overpowered or outshone. One of the things us Brits really know how to do is meat – especially roasts. Therefore it

autumn night might also be equally enjoyable. Service is immaculate as always and the food delivers on its promises. Still the best place in the Borough for bubbles and oysters especially on a warm summer’s day.

THEO RANDALL @ THE INTERCONTINENTAL, PARK LANE InterContinental, 1 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7QY WORDS: HARRIET BEDDER Theo Randall has the best bottomless brunch in London. You may think this is a strong statement, but, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, allow me to present my case: 1.

2. 3.

4. 5.

You are seated at a beautiful, well-lit table in an elegantly decorated restaurant: a space of pastels and blonde wood. The music is quiet enough for you to comfortably converse, and the waiters are impeccably uniformed, polite and ready to meet your every need. Especially the designated ‘prosecco waiter’. Your glass is only ever half empty or full – depending on your worldview. You never have to ask and you’ll hardly notice him refilling your flute. Once you’ve made the hardest decision of the day: choosing your main course from a list of around six delicious-sounding options (a word to the wise: the longhorn-beef bavette with lentils and melt-in-your-mouth datterini tomatoes is a dish you’ll dream about), then selected your seasonable ravioli – one of the waiter’s recommendations – you’ll let loose on the antipasti table. There is a bread and cured-meat station before the antipasti area. Here all imaginable kinds of bread and meat are available – the carpaccio and garlic and rosemary focaccia are sensational. The antipasti spread is truly incredible. Smoked salmon and eel, panzanella (an unmissable Tuscan bread salad with grilled marinated peppers, tomatoes, capers and anchovies), octopus and prosciutto salads, to name a few. You could spend the entire evening here and be happy with paying the £57 for the entire meal,

6. 7.

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including prosecco. You can try not to overdo it at this point, but you will fail. Dragged yourself away from the antipasti? Full of bread? Tell the waiter you need a while before the perfectly cooked ravioli appears. Savour it, it is delicious. Ricotta and spinach was the dish del giorno on our visit. Two large, well-stuffed squares, with extra parmesan, acted as a palate-cleanser primi before the arrival of the secondi. What a wonderful world we live in. Having been back to Theo Randall twice – once for a birthday with a large family group – be confident that you won’t make a mistake when ordering your main. Be it sea bass or trout (but honestly the beef bavette is best), you’ll be satisfied until your final bite – stuffed, ready to roll home and probably fairly tipsy, but completely satisfied. Dolci. A smorgasbord of cakes: creamy vanilla panna cotta with strawberries, Sicilian lemon cheesecake, velvety rich chocolate cake and soft, melt-in-the-mouth panettone. If you’re not comatose at this point, repeat from step one. Have I convinced you yet? I’ve just made my next reservation. The food here is so good it should be a crime.

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW

CHUCS AT THE SERPENTINE SACKLER GALLERY

West Carriage Drive, London W2 2AR WORDS: KATE WEIR Late architect Zaha Hadid’s curvaceous funnel-web of a restaurant, sprouting from the neoclassical Serpentine Sackler Gallery like an alien goiter, seems to require a leftfield menu – not least to sustain the artsy types popping in after browsing the exhibits. I was a fan of the inventive brunch menu at The Magazine restaurant, a panflavourful affair which diverted from smashed avo in favour of mushrooms piled on brioche and grapefruit sorbet in rice pudding. So I wondered if its new guise: Chucs, a straight-and-narrow Italian chain (with outposts in Harrods and St Tropez), would be a good fit. It’s sunny in Hyde Park when we arrive; we secure a table among the smattering out front. The cocktail list is a line-up of the hits: Negronis, Martinis, Aperol Spritz. We pick the latter requisite summer’s day refresher – it goes down easy, shortly followed by a light pinot grigio, and another for good luck. The menu is also a textbook exercise in Italian dining: a burrata here, a Milanese there… But, well-loved classics are hard to do well without some chutzpah, and perhaps those who’ve spent time musing on Turner Prize winner Tomma Abt’s Op-Art brainbenders want the comfort of an demystifying dish. My beef carpaccio with parmesan (£12.50) has a generous yet not overpowering slug of good olive oil. The beef is a pliant complement to the salty slices of parmesan. My dining companion’s yellowfin tuna tartare with babygem lettuce (£13.50) is light, delicate and fresh. Of the homemade pastas and trim edit of pizzas, I select the cacio e pepe and my friend the chilli-sprinkled, rocket-topped salmon and mascarpone pizza. My bigoli pasta is the comfort dish I was hoping for – its parmesan and pepper unguent the just-right consistency. The pizza also strikes the right balance of piquent and creamy. Desserts are straight from a trattoria trolley too – now sticklers for tradition, we pick tiramisu and panna cotta with summer berries. Tiramisu – especially when one has had the creamy, caffienated, absurdly alcoholic mess of a traditional, nonna-made one – can be tricky to get right, but this is a satisfying iteration; the panna cotta has a salacious creamy wobble. While I may miss the overt wackiness of the former restaurant’s menu, Chucs have successfully pulled off an egalitarian pit stop for park wanderers, creatives and those who want a post-pedalo drink. It offers an inviting menu of contentment and post-munching sighs that will do well round these parts – a classic.

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CARAMEL 272 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON SW3 2AW WORDS: HARRIET BEDDER The highly anticipated fourth restaurant from Caramel Group has arrived in style on the Brompton Road, following successful outposts in Dubai, Muscat and Abu Dhabi. Just a stone’s throw from the King’s Road, Caramel evokes European style at first glance, with its grand façade, open frontage and sociably placed tables overlooking the road – ideal for Chelsea people-watching over a cocktail. The drinks list, devised by consultant mixologist Bryan Pietersen of Purl London, is the sort of thing you could plunder for a whole afternoon. Our enthusiastic Maître d’ is happy to talk us through the menu and advise on cocktails to suit, based on our palate. After analysing which drinks might quench the thirst of two 20-somethings with a penchant for sweet and refreshing gins and rums, respectively, we settle on a Brompton Garden and a Sweet Habibi. These are both Caramel specialities, infused with lime and elderflower. We’re so delighted with these that we almost refuse the food menu and ask to keep these coming, but by now the selection of sliders have caught our eye. Sushi, sliders and sharing plates are the specialities of Caramel – and we want to try them all. After ordering a lot of ‘small dishes’ from the menu, we sit and admire the decor. Marble tables are dotted around the restaurant, with leather chairs and green-velvet seats clustered around each. The bar is marbled and gilded, with shattered-glass accents, which draw the eye. Oak-panelled booths are available by reservation at the back of the restaurant, for when the atmosphere becomes livelier on a weekend evening. But, it’s a Tuesday, so the restaurant is fairly empty. We were pleasantly surprised by the novel serving style of our mac ‘n’ cheese, which was delivered to the table in deep-fried-stick form; however, the additional oil was too heavy for a starter, particularly when combined with the other dishes we’d ordered (beef and blue cheese sliders, cod and a tempura-prawn sushi roll). Instead, we both favoured the miso-glazed cod bites, which were deliciously served with crisp kaitafi filo and pickled daikon. We were full at the first hurdle, but – cocktails in hand – we awaited our main courses. The filet mignon could have been more flavourful, but the seared Chilean sea-bass with rock-shrimp risotto and lobster broth was a dish of wonder: a rich medley of flavours. We end up sharing the same plate and ignoring the less-enticing truffle-oil fries in favour of savouring every last bite. Dessert is not remarkable and sounds a lot more exciting than it tastes – the Nutella gnocchi is another novelty, but the salty, refreshing flavours of the chocolate caramel fondant gets our vote. Serving brunch, lunch, dinner and desserts at a higher price than Chelsea favourites; Bluebird and The Ivy Chelsea Garden, we recommend you go to Caramel (but not too hungry) for the cocktails, people-watching and a sharing plate but skip dessert before heading down to The King’s Road.

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STREET EATS AND VEGAN TREATS La Suite West, 41–51 Inverness Terrace, London W2 3JN WORDS: SARAH JACKSON With summer impatiently tapping its foot in the wings, the stage is set for the Nosh Garden Kitchen, at La Suite West. This peaceful eatery is set on a leafy street in Bayswater on the rim of Hyde Park. Despite the restaurant’s proximity to central London, its feel is decidedly more Parisian than Paddington on a sunny day. They’ve kept things simple with a British classic, the afternoon tea (£29 a head), but with a contemporary twist: it’s vegan. As any foodie will know, vegetarian and vegan alternatives have vastly improved in standard and choice and have become more prevalent over the last decade. You need only look to pioneering venues such as Redemption to see that there is more on offer than salad or chips. However, for those remaining naysayers, I urge you to give Nosh’s afternoon tea a go; I have no doubt you’ll be going back for more. When I arrived the first thing to be pressed into my hand was a cool fizzing glass of nonalcoholic bubbly. Oh no, I hear you cry – but it tasted just like prosecco, and unless one is drinking to get drunk (which by my age is a bit sad) a refreshing drink doesn’t need to be alcoholic to do the job on a hot afternoon. In a trice, an

MIN JIANG ROYAL GARDEN HOTEL 2 - 24 KENSINGTON HIGH STREET, LONDON W8 4PT WORDS: SID RAGHAVA Min Jiang, now in its 10th year at the very top of the Chinese food charts in London, is a cause to celebrate. Literally situated at the top of Kensington’s Royal Garden Hotel, the restaurant boasts some of the most spectacular views of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. There is a strong feeling of authenticity that is refracted through its red-and-black interiors, lavish items of eastern artistry (including some delectable pottery), perfumes that pervade the space and its Chinese cooks and staff. Kensington & Chelsea Review were invited to celebrate Min Jiang’s 10th anniversary with a selection of exquisite dishes prepared by their dedicated and loyal chefs this August. During its 10-year legacy, the restaurant has become synonymous with awards celebrating the talented chefs. World Cuisine Chef awardwinner, Head Chef Han, is known for his masterful carving of the Beijing duck, a skill that’s positioned

impressive array of sarnies was fanned out in front of me, including falafel and spring onion with chilli sauce and lettuce, cheese with caramelised red onion, roasted mixed pepper and aubergine with pesto sauce, sliced cucumber with cream cheese and chives, and coronation tofu with mayo. After chewing my way through a good few, I decided that my favourites were the falafel and the roasted pepper and aubergine because I love chilli and I’m an absolute goner for aubergine. Aubergine is a great meat substitute due to its fleshiness, flavour and succulence, as I’m sure you’ll all know if you’ve ever tried a moussaka. The big surprise for me was the cheese and caramelised red onion; I must admit, I hadn’t tried vegan cheese before so didn’t know what to expect. This one was made using cashew nuts, but the texture and taste was similar to cheddar: a bit milder but still robust and salty, which worked well with the sweetness of the onions. Loosening my jeans a little, I then indulged in their warm homemade scones with dried fruits, served alongside fresh strawberries and whipped coconut cream, plus a selection of the chef’s cakes and desserts. I adored the coconut cream; it was rich yet light, and the coconut added a gorgeous woody sweetness. The scones were just like any ordinary scones; I’ve made vegan

scones myself (though not as good as these by any stretch of the imagination) and it’s simply a case of using margarine instead of butter, so no great mystery there. As for the cakes, I tried the carrot, chocolate brownie and Victoria sponge, all of which had the same taste and consistency as non-vegan cake. I didn’t ask – my mouth was too full by this point – but I assume the chef must have used corn starch or vegetable oil as an egg alternative. The Victoria sponge was particularly sumptuous, with the toothsome jammy filling eliciting a loud sigh of pleasure. This drew a look of alarm from a passing waiter, who swiftly hurried off in the opposite direction. There is also a decent gamut of hot drinks, from fresh Italian roasted coffee to an assortment of loose-leaf teas, ranging from English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Green Tea L’Oriental, Green Tea Gunpowder Peppermint Leaf, Coquelicot Gourmand, Hibiscus and Rooibos. Finally, I polished off an already decadent tea with an exquisitely nectarous lychee and vanilla mocktail (FYI this is not included in the price of the tea). If I’d had room, I’d have also tried the passionsfruit and almond one, which sounded gorgeous. Instead I promised myself I would come back and try it, and in my near comatose state, waddled off to the tube to head home for a well-deserved sun bathe in the garden.

the restaurant as a go-to destination for high-end Chinese cuisine. Prepared according to an ancient Chinese recipe, over 48 hours, by dedicated duck chefs, the dish is glazed with sugar and cooked in a wood-fired oven before being made into three delectable dishes. First the crispy skin is served dipped in fine granulated sugar, followed by homemade pancakes with sweet sauce and shredded leek and cucumber; or the same with garlic paste, radish and Tientsin cabbage. The next serving is split into four options, allowing diners to fully experience the balance of the duck meat: minced duck with lettuce wrap, salted vegetable soup with duck and tofu, fried rice with diced duck or fried noodles with sliced duck. With some of the best Chinese cuisine in the capital, Min Jiang celebrated its continued legacy over the past decade with a ‘best of’ menu featuring 10 of its most-loved and legendary dishes. This included Beijing duck, crispy fried squid, steamed dim sum, Min Jiang steamed Xiaolongboa with blue-swimmer crab, tofu with morel mushrooms in black-bean sauce, string beans with minced chicken, diced rib-eye of beef with black-pepper sauce, stir-fried baby pak-choi and a fresh-fruit platter.

To mark this significant occasion, exemplary Austrian winemaker Lenz Moser handpicked three of his signature Chinese wines to complement the dishes. Diners experienced pairings of Friendly Gruner Veltiner, Château Changyu Mose XV, White Cabernet Ningxia 2016, Château Changyu Mose XV, Sauvignon Ningxia 2015 and Château Changyu Moser XV Ninxia 2013. The menu included a dim-sum platter consisting of Alaskan king crab, Beijing duck garnished with morels, truffles served with bun dough and spiced sauce, langoustines delicately poached in Chinese wine and finally a Malibu parfait with compressed pineapple and chocolate hazelnut crumb. As a final word, Chef Han, Min Jiang’s head chef, had this to say on their aluminium achievement: ‘For 10 years, we have maintained our authenticity by offering traditional Chinese cuisine to our diners, making sure each dish is cooked using Chinese cooking styles and techniques that have been passed down through generations. We can’t wait for our diners to experience our anniversary dishes that have allowed each master chef to deliver their own signature dish.’

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COCOTTE 95 Westbourne Grove London, W2 4UW WORDS: HARRIET BEDDER Cocotte is a small, rustic-style restaurant located in a popular spot: a corner opposite Farmacy restaurant on Westbourne Grove. Its prime location and popularity with locals ensures that there’s a lengthy wait for a table on most evenings. We visit on Sunday lunchtime and the restaurant has two large family groups and one other couple; filling most of the tables. As soon as we walk into the rotisserie, we are are hit with the smell of the Cocotte’s famous slow-roast chicken. Our waiter explains that the free-range poulet is sourced from the Loire Valley in France, and are express delivered to Notting Hill, where they are marinated for 24 hours in a ‘secret blend’ of herbs and spices. Sitting at our cosy table, the waiter waves over at the slowly rotating chickens browning on the spit behind the bar and explains that the flavour runs through from skin to core. We salivate. The chicken, which is available by quarter (£8), half (£13) and whole (£23), is moist and juicy; but for more than double the price of the birds served in Nandos, we are really expecting something special. We devour our chicken in a

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW

matter of minutes alongside a cocktail and a few salads selected from a curated section of the menu (two things that Nandos can’t offer.) As advertised, the food is wholesome and comforting, and our salads definitely taste as if we have invested in our health (as opposed to the indulgent Pizza Express-type ‘salads’ which leave you fuller than the pizza itself.) We shared and enjoyed the Fernande salad: green leaves with barley, pomegranate and feta cheese, but felt that a very light dressing would have only added to the dish – the barley became a little bland in the final few bites, once the frugal sprinkling of feta and pomegranate had disappeared. We instead stir through some of the (seven) sauces that are available to order alongside the chicken and particularly enjoy the Cocotte mustard and garlic mayonnaise mixed with the barley. We’re aware we are being judged for this oddity, but we’re a resourceful team. We wash down a sharing side of ratatouille – the vegetables of which are sourced from local and independent suppliers – with a glass of red wine, and in lieu of a dessert we order a cocktail

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each to congratulate ourselves for our healthy choices. We can highly recommend the Riveria; peach, belsazar white vermouth, rosé wine, angostura and lime juice, and the White Tiger, with Tanqueray, elderflower, pear liqueur, Marie Brizard and lemon juice. By the end of the meal, we are still a little hungry and so agree that we have probably done the ‘healthy rotisserie’ right. We imagine this is quite easy, unless you opt for the truffle mac and cheese and triple-roasted potatoes, which we have been secretly admiring on the table next to us. Overall, we were expecting a habit-changing (Nando’s-changing) experience from the healthy and homemade rotisserie, but found, upon receiving the bill, that we were a little disappointed in the overall value of the meal. The novelty of the restaurant definitely makes it worth visiting. It would make a good third-date location – with its beautiful ambience; exposed brickwork, lush greenery and low-level lighting, it’s reminiscent of a French bistro; but if you are a Nandos fan, expect to leave a little unsatisfied.

A LITTLE CULTURAL BREAK… The Kensington & Chelsea team met with some talented lyricists from a South London poetry collective affectionately titled PoClu (Poetry Club) a group of young poets who regularly meet and recite work with the aim of improving and inspiring each other. Members include Damian Le Bas, author of The Stopping Places – a Radio 4 book of the week. We invited them to showcase some of their work…

William Kraemer was born in 1985 and grew up in Brixton. He currently works as an administrator for a Psychotherapy Charity. He has previously published short fiction in Open Pen and Volume magazines. His writing focus is poetry and Short Fiction.

To the sky’s taste? By William Kraemer The sky is a huge jawed maw whose tongue is the sun, whose teeth are the clouds. Some days I am so sure that I am a grain of sugar, about to be sucked up and swallowed, Loved among its favourite globules of delight. On others, I feel like an inedible shard of grit or, worse, a crumb of some foreign staple, unknown to the sun, and then the wind sniffs at me suspiciously and I run for cover. Where is the meal that needs me as an ingredient? Will I wonder this wide plate until I turn sour?

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AESTHETIC APPEAL From Botox to vampire facelifts, fat freezing to peels, there’s a ‘tweakment’ for just about everyone these days – and many are conveniently possible during a lunch break. The challenge can be just what to choose. Read on to discover one of the most popular: localised fat reduction – sometimes called ‘body contouring’ – for when you want to remove a little extra padding on your thighs, hips, tummy, chin or arms… The Chelsea-based Cadogan Clinic, winners of Best London Clinic at last year’s Aesthetic Awards, offers SculpSure™, regarded by many as the most effective of the non-surgical fat-reduction treatments available. This is an FDA-approved laser treatment which works by heating up and destroying fat cells in targeted areas, known as lipolysis. It works particularly well on those stubborn areas of fat which frustratingly don’t seem to ever shift with a healthy diet and exercise. While you relax, special applicators are positioned on your chosen areas to heat the fat layer while also cooling the skin’s surface for comfort. There is no downtime with this laser treatment, and you can return home or to work straight away. During your consultation, you will be very honestly advised as to whether it is likely you really will see the results you hope for. If the amount of fat is more substantial than is usually treated this way, you may wish to consider a surgical liposuction alternative. These days some areas can be treated while using just local anaesthetic: under the chin, for example, to effectively give a much-improved and defined jawline. Even with general anaesthetic, you can be treated and home in the same day; and in some cases, a couple of troublesome areas can be reduced at the same time (ankles and tummy, for example). Since introducing liposuction to the UK more than 30 years ago, Cadogan Clinic founder, Mr Bryan Mayou, has pioneered the use of it here. He assembled a team of world-class surgeons; now the clinic is so renowned for their extensive expertise, they treat more liposuction patients each week than any other clinic in London. They’ve really perfected their technique, to ensure the procedure is as minimally invasive and effective as possible. They offer what they consider to be the best lipo treatments: Traditional liposuction The area where the tube will be inserted is numbed with local anaesthetic, and a large amount of an anaesthetic solution is injected into the fatty tissue before the procedure is started. MicroLiposuction Local anaesthetic is used to remove small pockets of fat – a fast and effective method to ensure the patient has very little downtime and is back to normal as soon as possible. Suitable for smaller areas such as the chin, underarms and jawline. SmartLipoMPX or Laser-Assisted Liposuction This technique works by liquefying fat with a laser then removing it with cannulas. A laser then smooths and tightens the skin and seals blood vessels, reducing swelling, bleeding and bruising. www.cadoganclinic.com

BEAUTY

TOP-SECRET SERUMS Lightweight, easily absorbed, soothing and packed with the latest agedefying ingredients: it’s little wonder serums are replacing traditional moisturising creams in many women’s daily beauty regime. Here are some of the best we’ve discovered – all promising excellent results…

Emma Hardie Midas Touch Face Serum Duo With wild bananaseed, pepper-fruit extract and avocado, this serum not only boosts radiance and moisture, but blurs the appearance of lines and wrinkles, too. www.emmahardie. com, £69 for two 15ml tubes

Lift & Lustre Golden Elixir Antioxidant Serum MZ SKIN by Dr Maryam Zamani Celebrity and socialite regulars of Dr Maryam Zamani at the Cadogan Clinic, Chelsea, swear by this excellent serum, which is clinically proven to dramatically improve skin radiance and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. On application it instantly tightens, lifts and firms the skin and gives a youthful glow. Its powerful blend of antioxidant-rich active ingredients reduces oxidative stress and stimulates cellular detox, working to correct skin tone and create a protective shield from everyday stress and pollution. www.mzskin.com, £205

Farsáli – Rose Gold Elixir A firm favourite of bloggers and makeup artists worldwide, this serum contains 24-karat gold and rosehip oil, and it’s ideal for refreshing tired and dehydrated skin. www.farsali.com, around £50 for 30ml

Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum This multi-award-winning serum is said to be adored by many A-listers seeking a soothing, effective and delightfully fragranced solution to a host of skin issues. Available from Liberty London www.libertylondon.com, £175

Püre Collection Revitalising and Intense serums Prettily packaged and effective, both the Revitalising and Intense serums are must-haves for city dwellers wanting an antidote to office air-con, pollution and stressed-out skin. The Revitalising Serum is rich in antioxidants, prickly pear and marine phytoplankton to refresh and revive. (£79 for 30ml). The Intense Serum features precious rose otto and sea buckthorn, formulated to reduce signs of ageing, and to brighten and tighten skin. www.thepurecollection.com, £89 for 30ml

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FINE FRAGRANCE LISA CURTISS has sought out the fragrances to spritz on yourself this autumn. Cinnamons, citrus and a touch of petrichor are the scents of the season. Read on for our favourites…

Rosa Ekaterina – Moresque Another wonderful and exclusive fragrance, inspired by the freshness of nature, but this time coupled with the scent of exotic rose. Hints of vanilla, cumin and cinnamon take it from old fashioned to modern and delightful. Available at Harrods (www.harrods.com), EDP 50ml £290

Collection Extraordinaire Néroli Amara Van Cleef & Arpels A reviving, fresh green floral fragrance, with notes of sharp bergamot, cypress and black pepper, with zesty Italian lemon, lime and mandarin, tempered with neroli and musk – it’s long-lasting and distinctive. www.vancleefarpels.com, EDP 75ml £130

In the Wood for Love – Roos & Roos Perfect for those who love a fresh, natural and unique scent, Roos & Roos have captured the delicate fragrance of the countryside after the rain. You’ll notice cedar and vetiver, artfully tempered with mandarin, orange blossom, violet and iris. www.roosandroos.fr, EDP 100ml £170

Rose Rouge Van Cleef & Arpels Another Harrods exclusive, Rose Rouge is decadent and luxurious, reminiscent of sultry summer nights in Provence. Blackcurrant, vetiver and cocoa lift and freshen the rich Turkish rose. www.vancleefarpels.com, EDP 75ml £130

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MOTORING

KCReview motoring editor, LISA CURTISS, casts her eye on some of the latest news and releases from the world of luxury driving.

E M I T E DRIV

ry limited anniversa lia c e me of this p s cars to look at so y a it s c e k d n ta a S s sh saloon A CURTIS From styli editor LIS g n ri to o ur m editions, o buts… xciting de e ’s n seaso

New A-Class Saloon Compact, sporty and spritely: the new A-Class Saloon from Mercedes-Benz launches later this year. It’s ideal for those who want a small but spacious, stylish and luxurious car. At home in the city or countryside, there’s ample cabin room, and the 420-litre boot is easily capable of carrying the spoils of a serious shopping spree. Both state-of-the-art diesel and petrol engines are efficient and frugal, and there is an abundance of comfort, safety and performance features, guaranteed to please even the most particular of passengers and demanding drivers. For a sneak preview, visit the Paris Motor Show in October. www.mondial-paris.com

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Audi TT 20th-Anniversary Limited Edition To mark this iconic and award-winning model’s 20th anniversary, Audi is launching a very special limited-edition TT. Just 999 ‘TT 20 years’ models will be produced, much to the delight of the distinctive car’s fans worldwide. Luxurious and stylish, special features include seats finished in fine Nappa leather, in moccasin brown, with specific Panuka contrasting stitching: the interior of the 20-years special edition harks back to the early cars with their ‘baseball leather’ upholstery. ‘TT 20 years’ badges on the steering-wheel and gear-lever knob also mark the car out, as do stainless-steel tailpipes in a specific design, Matrix OLED rear lights and matt-finished Audi rings above the side sills. The ‘TT 20 years’ will be available in both Coupe and Roadster body styles with either Arrow-grey or Nano-grey paint finishes.

Landmark Edition Discovery Sport Another special anniversary edition launches this year: the new Landmark Edition salutes Discovery Sport’s success as the fastest-selling Land Rover of all time – coinciding with the brand’s year-long 70th-anniversary celebrations. This new special model is available in three colours – Narvik Black, Corris Grey and Yulong White, all crowned with a Carpathian Grey contrast roof. A sporty and dynamic front bumper, with Graphite Atlas exterior accents and 19-inch Style 521 ‘Mantis’ wheels, in Gloss Dark Grey, add to the appeal. Slip inside and you’ll find Ebonygrained leather seats and headliners, complemented by dark-grey aluminium finishers around the centre stack, a panoramic roof, MeridianTM sound system and heated steering wheel. Powered by Land Rover’s excellent TD4 180PS diesel Ingenium engine, Landmark offers the best of the Discovery Sport range with a unique colour and trim combination.

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IMAGES: LUKE PENNEY

New BMW i8 Roadster Since its debut in 2014, the i8 has been a technological trailblazer and the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bestselling hybrid sports car. Now, in 2018, it is joined by a new model that adds further allure to the arena of sustainable driving pleasure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the all-new BMW i8 Roadster. Supremely sleek, fast and distinctive, this i8 combines emissions-free and high-performance motoring, and adds open-top thrills. For an exhilarating performance, silent acceleration and top-down driving, this will be hard to match.

Mini Clubman City British-built, urban cool and quirky: the iconic Mini has long been a favourite of the city set. Today’s models are not only high-tech, but remarkably spacious for their size. The latest model, the Clubman City, is aimed at those who live life on-the-go, with low emissions, WLTP compliance, competitive running costs and benefit-in-kind tax rates. There’s also a raft of features as standard too, including Satellite Navigation, with a 6.5” display, Apple Car Play, DAB, Real-Time Traffic Information (RTTI) and Intelligent Emergency Calling (E-call), and Rear-Park Distance Control (PDC), Bluetooth handsfree function, air-con and Cruise Control. MINIMALISM Fuel-Saving Technology is fitted to every Clubman model, with features including Automatic Stop/Start function, Break Energy Regeneration and Shift Point Display. Two petrol and one diesel models are available: all are smooth running, slick and spritely. Compact but with plenty of curb appeal and practicality, the Clubman City may be small but looks and feels solid – the use of premium materials is evident throughout, and it can seat five passengers and their bags with relative ease.

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C E L E B R AT I N G V I N TA G E V I TA L I T Y

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