The Cultured Traveller, December 2018-February 2019 Issue 24

ISSUE 24 DEC-FEB 2018-2019

TOKYO RAFFLES EUROPEJSKI WARSAW • MOSCOW MALDIVES • LISA STANSFIELD • DELUXE EUROPEAN WINTER ESCAPES

54 THE MIND-BENDING JAPAN

Alex Benasuli dives head first kamikaze emerges a total convert to this most exci Whilst everyone knows that TOKYO is a m with some of the best eating and shoppi residential neighbourhoods teeming with

166 EUROPE’S DELUXE WINTE

As Europe’s ski resorts, mountain towns a fresh blanket of snow, a new collection preparing to welcome their first visitors. stand-out for the 2018/19 winter season

NESE CAPITAL

e style into the Japanese capital and iting and mind-bending of metropoles. modern and sophisticated city, complete ing in the world, it is the side streets and h hidden gems that steal his heart.

ER OF WONDER

and cold climate escapes prepare for n of Alpine lodges and chic chalets are Joe Mortimer rounds-up the most n.

HIGHLIGHTS DEC 2018-FEB 2019 ISSUE 24

224 SINGING AROUND THE WORLD

LISA STANSFIELD has been all around the world but still loves to tour and considers her latest album Deeper to be her best yet. The pop and soul songstress chats to Nicholas Chrisostomou about sharing the stage with George Michael, her recent US tour, writing her life story and her dogs Mavis and David.

50 WIN FOUR LUXURY NIGHTS IN SINGAPORE

Win a four-night stay for two in a luxury Sarang suite with private plunge pool at colonial boutique hotel VILLA SAMADHI SINGAPORE, which is set amidst the verdant greenery of a nature reserve, hidden away from the urban hustle and bustle yet mere minutes away from Singapore’s cosmopolitan delights.

218 NOVIKOV ROCKS MAYFAIR

Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov’s 540-seat 3-floor Moscow-meetsMayfair multi-cuisine restaurant and bar has been rocking since it opened on Berkeley Street in 2011. Nicholas Chrisostomou visits the venue on a busy Friday night to find out the secrets to its success.

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 5

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CONTENTS 8 EDITOR’S LETTER 10 CONTRIBUTORS 12 NEWSFLASH

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The Cultured Traveller rounds-up the most interesting events, cultural experiences, sports happenings and unmissable festivals happening in the coming months around the world, including Turkey’s annual MEVLÂNA FESTIVAL of its famous whirling dervishes; Denmark’s world-renowned winter jazz festival VINTERJAZZ; Colombia’s fourday BARRANQUILLA CARNIVAL; one of the most important and romantic dates on the Taiwanese calendar, its LANTERN FESTIVAL, and Hollywood’s night of nights THE 91ST OSCARS on 24th February 2019.

24 REST YOUR HEAD

We review the recently re-opened ANDBEYOND PHINDA HOMESTEAD in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province; boutique 29-room PARAMOUNT HOUSE HOTEL in Sydney’s cool Surry Hills neighbourhood; HOTEL NATIONAL DES ARTS ET METIERS in the trendy Marais district of Paris; THE LINE DC housed within a former 110-year old neoclassical Washington church;

WANÅS estate in Sweden, located just outside the village of Knislinge; Four Seasons’ divine Seychellen resort on DESROCHES ISLAND in the Indian Ocean, and rustic-chic BERBER LODGE in the tiny Moroccan village of Oumnas, in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains.

130 SUITE ENVY

A huge collection of Polish modern art takes centre stage at a 160-year-old Warsaw hospitality landmark, which was unveiled this summer, after a painstaking four-year refurb, as the first new Raffles property to open since AccorHotels purchased the luxury brand.

Nicholas Chrisostomou spends a long weekend getting acquainted with the Polish capital from the decadent surroundings of the country’s most opulent accommodation: The Presidential Suite at RAFFLES EUROPEJSKI WARSAW.

144 BOARDING PASS

Regarded by many as one of the world’s best carriers, Singapore Airlines took its refined reputation to new heights when it unveiled its new first-class suites in November 2017, as part of a redesign of all its A380 cabins. Martin Jones indulges in some long-haul luxury in a

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SINGAPORE AIRLINES A380 FIRST CLASS SUITE bound for the Southeast Asian island state and shares his experience with The Cultured Traveller.

166 SPOTLIGHT

As Europe’s ski resorts, mountain towns and cold climate escapes prepare for a fresh blanket of snow, a new collection of Alpine lodges, chic chalets and glimmering attractions are preparing to welcome their first visitors.

Keeping a close eye on the very best the season has to offer, Joe Mortimer rounds-up some of the stand-out, must-know deluxe arrivals for winter 2018/19.

188 TRAVELLER LOWDOWN

Brimming with places to see, taste, sip and spend, lively open-all-hours MOSCOW is a veritable mix of historical and iconic sights which sit comfortably alongside kooky architecture, artistic hotspots and world-class opera and ballet. The Cultured Traveller spends 24‑hours in the Russian capital, which is perfect for discerning travellers seeking a cultural yet

exhilarating city break experience.

201 TASTE & SIP REVIEW

In Helsinki, chefs have been quietly championing the farm-to-table movement for years and now the rest of the world is starting to notice.

Dawn Gibson visits an intimate Michelin-starred restaurant that is giving Finnish fare a global reputation.

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210 TASTE & SIP TREND

Gone are the days of a one-size-fits-all approach to long drinks. Joe Mortimer explores the emergence of craft mixers and the age of bespoke mixology.

236 STYLISH GLOBETROTTER

Finding the perfect present for a stylish woman is no easy feat, and a fashionconscious guy is an equally tricky beast to buy for. But, before you give up and opt for the ubiquitous voucher, check out The Cultured Traveller’s selection of stylish CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS, hand-picked by our Fashion Editor Adrian Gibson, and let’s tick some names off your list!

240 LITTLE BLACK BOOK

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From left to right: Kanuhura resort in the Maldives; Tokyo and Mount Fuji; having dinner at Field in Prague; the dining area of the Presidential Suite at Raffles Europejski Warsaw

EDITOR’S LETTER

I

t never ceases to amaze me how quickly that time of year comes around again, but it does focus the mind somewhat. In my case, towards the end of a year I begin to take stock of the places I’ve dropped anchor in the past twelve months.

Putting work commitments aside, I have a rule to visit at least two new destinations every year, and avoid re‑visiting favourites simply because they’re easier to reach or require less preparation. So, as Christmas approaches, rather than panicking about the big day, I start thinking about where I’m going in the new year.

And, family-commitments permitting, I try to set aside some quiet time over the festive season to research destinations and look at flights. This is the best present I could possibly give myself - planning a new trip - and so I urge all of you to try it, even if it’s just thinking about a staycation. Trust me - the mere thought of travelling anywhere will give you the strength to deal with “the family” this Christmas Day! In this our 24th issue, Alex Benasuli visits the electrifying Japanese capital of Tokyo, and immerses himself in everything the mind-blowing city has to offer a cultured traveller (page54). Joe Mortimer rounds-up a selection of luxe European Alpine lodges and chic winter destinations which are easy to reach during the coming months (page166).

Martin Jones indulges in some long-haul luxury in a Singapore Airlines A380 First Class Suite (page144). Carolyn McKay escapes everyday life to hideaway in an over-water villa on

an idyllic Maldivian atoll (page154).

I road-test the presidential suite at a 160‑year old Polish hospitality grand dame, reborn this year as a stunning new Raffles hotel (page130).

Lastly, before you buy vouchers for everyone, check out the stylish selection of gifts hand‑picked by Adrian Gibson, some of which are sure to satisfy even those most difficult to buy for (page236).

Personally, since experiences generally lead to greater levels of happiness than material goods, I suggest giving the gift of travel this Christmas. After all, regular disconnections from routine are what keep us all going, and trips can produce life‑long memories. This makes travel one of the most meaningful gifts one can give but also one of the most complicated, so be careful before you splash out on a skiing trip for someone who detests the cold!

Joyeux Noël

Nicholas Chrisostomou Editor-in-Chief

ISSUU.COM/THECULTUREDTRAVELLER/DOCS • INSTAGRAM.COM/CULTUREDTRAVELLER • FACEBOOK.COM/THECULTUREDTRAVELLER • WWW.THECULTUREDTRAVELLER.COM SUBSCRIPTIONS SUBSCRIBE@THECULTUREDTRAVELLER.COM • ADVERTISING ADS@THECULTUREDTRAVELLER.COM • EDITORIAL WORDS@THECULTUREDTRAVELLER.COM 8 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

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CONTRIBUTORS ALEX BENASULI

MARTIN B JONES

Alex Benasuli has been traveling the world his whole life. Growing up in New York City, he would accompany his family every summer on visits to relatives in Spain, France and Germany.

A successful two-decade career in finance often took him to Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Russia, India, Indonesia and all over the Far East. Today, as an avid yoga practitioner and part-time teacher, Alex also has a keen appreciation for combining luxury highbrow urban travels with off the beaten track alternative destinations and experiences.

Currently leading AccorHotels’ luxury brands as VP F&B Europe, and an authority on global luxury hospitality, Martin B. Jones is a food and beverage specialist, whose 35 years of expertise enable him to predict what luxury consumers really want. His award-winning F&B concepts are consistently commercial successes, and many have become trend-setting destinations for leading hotel brands. A hospitality innovator, relentlessly reinventing, Jones has travelled to 100 countries, lived in 16 and is a seasoned globetrotter.

CITY FOCUS

BOARDING PASS

ADRIAN GIBSON

JOE MORTIMER

STYLISH GLOBETROTTER Adrian worked as a professional fashion buyer for some of London’s leading department stores for more than two decades, including Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nichols. More recently Adrian has been working in the Middle East selecting designer threads for both Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdales in Dubai.

An avid shopper, he enjoys nothing more than visiting stores, meeting designers and supporting new talent where ever and whenever he’s travelling the globe, as well as keeping a keen eye on the latest trends, both on the world’s most fashionable streets and online.

CAROLYN MCKAY

SPOTLIGHT

Joe Mortimer is a UK-based writer and editor who specialises in luxury travel and high-end hospitality. Joe has visited 60 countries and stayed in more than 100 luxury hotels and resorts, as well as having wined and dined in some of the best restaurants in the world. In between journeys, Joe Mortimer has interviewed high-profile characters in the world of luxury including the chief executives and presidents of brands such as Lamborghini, LVMH, Hublot and Montblanc as well as legendary chefs including Pierre Gagnaire, Nobu Matsuhisa and Marco Pierre White.

DAWN GIBSON

NO SHOES REQUIRED

TASTE & SIP REVIEW

Carolyn McKay grew up in Australia, taking her first overseas trip when she was 16. This trip sparked an intense passion to travel. In the last twenty years, via her teaching, photography and writing, she has lived in Jakarta, London and New York and travelled to numerous destinations in between. Based in Sri Lanka for the past few years, she uses her Indian Ocean base to travel regularly within Asia Pacific. Carolyn especially loves exploring markets, and is always on the lookout for a quality coffee and a comfortable spot to people watch.

Dawn Gibson is a globe-trotting journalist who boarded her first plane at the age of four. After a childhood of camping trips in the Australian desert, and a traditional coming of age tour to Europe, Dawn has been travelling ever since, visiting more than 30 countries and living in three.

Dawn enjoys writing about food and has yet to meet a cuisine she doesn’t like. Her work has appeared in leading publications, including the Sydney Morning Herald, Time Out, in-flight magazines for Qatar Airways (Oryx), Garuda Indonesia (Colours), The Age and The West Australian.

10 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

HOT EL C A SA COC HER A DEL GOB ER NAD OR

RNT 51971

Charm and alegance are the characteristics of the Hotel Casa Cochera del Gobernador, located in Cartagena, the most romantic city in Latin America. In this beautiful place you can have and encounter with your history and take a carriage ride arround this wonderful Tourist and Cultural District.

Tel. (57 5) 651 7133 | reservascasagobernador@oxohotel.com | www.casacocheradelgobernador.com Centro Histรณrico, Calle Cochera del Gobernador No. 33-23. Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

KRAMPUSNACHT

Krampusnacht unfolds every year, brimming with ghastly demons, quite literally everywhere. The highlight of Krampusnacht is essentially an alcoholfuelled Krampuslauf race, which winds through the pedestrian-friendly city centre, with a thousand alpine-jogging contestants dressed as scary, childkidnapping, horned and furry devils. So terrifyingly demonic are Krampus costumes, that a constant debate rages throughout the country, involving a number of eminent psychologists and reputable schools, all of whom want the creature completely banned from society because it is so scary to kids!

1 December 2018

AUSTRIA Described in Austrian folklore as a horned, anthropomorphic half-goat half-demon, who haunts the central European mountainous region that supposedly birthed the creature, Krampus comes alive during an annual festival which spreads some good old-fashioned pre-Christmas terror!

Nowhere does this devil rampage more frighteningly than the town of Klagenfurt, the capital city of the southern Austrian province of Carinthia, on the eastern shore of Lake Wörthersee.

Here the biggest and most rowdy

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH U.S.A. Since first launching in 2002 (long after the original fair was christened in Switzerland in 1970), Art Basel Miami Beach has created such an art-drenched ecosystem full of diversity, that there’s something for just about everyone at this four-day artistic spectacle which completely takes over the famous beachfront Florida city. While the fair’s epicentre is the Miami Beach Convention Centre,

there are literally dozens of offshoots, offbeat and off-centre exhibitions, films, performances and shows throughout the city. For 2018, more than 200 of the world’s leading international modern and contemporary art galleries display artworks by over 4,000 artists, including paintings, sculptures, installations and photographs, not to mention museumcalibre masterpieces of the highest quality. Meanwhile, editioned pieces by the new generation of emerging young artists will also be showcased, many of which are infinitely more affordable than the works on sale by big named artists.

6-9 December 2018 www.artbasel.com

SOMERSET HOUSE ICE SKATING U.K.

FRANKFURT CHRISTMAS MARKET GERMANY Whilst many German cities and towns have a scenic backdrop of historic houses and beautiful squares for their Weihnachtsmärkte, dating back to 1393, Frankfurt’s Christmas market is one of the oldest in the country, and the scenery and atmosphere is uniquely enchanting.

Officially opened by the city’s mayor late last month, the elaborate and lavish decorations, the scenic surroundings of the Römerberg and St. Paul’s Square and the huge Christmas tree in front of the Römer all combine to make Frankfurt’s Weihnachtsmärkt one of Germany’s most beautiful, stretching from the Zeil shopping mall to the Römerberg and down to the River Main. With more than 200 beautifully decorated stalls vying for attention, and the scent of roast chestnuts, mulled wine and grilled sausages permeating the air, it’s impossible to resist sipping on hot apple wine with cinnamon and cloves, or treating yourself to some Bethmännchen almond candies.

Until 22 December 2018 www.frankfurt-tourismus.de

Don your finest winter-wear to trip the ice fantastic at the grand Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court at Somerset House, which must surely be one of Europe’s most stunning locations for seasonal skating. No matter how impressive (or amateur) your skills, a visit to this 900-metre square outdoor rink will look the very picture of glamour in your Instagram posts! Skating by day is a veritable family affair, with kids and parents of all ages on the ice. After sunset, “Skate Lates” feature a specially curated programme of music throughout the season, including takeovers by the likes of radio station Balamii, Tottenham based club Five Miles, and DJ Emily Rawson with the Rock The Bellescrew. Après skate, recharge at Fortnum & Mason’s Lodge, in the west wing of Somerset House, where you can munch on British classics like Welsh Rarebit and mince pie with clotted cream, or splash some cash at the rink-side shopping arcade.

Until 13 January 2019 www.somerset.org.uk

MEVLÂNA FESTIVAL TURKEY Turkey’s famous whirling dervishes are the stuff of legends and famous the world over. Mevlâna annual ceremony attracts more than 100,000 visitors annually to the Anatolian city of Konya (an hour by plane from Istanbul), to commemorate the death of 13thcentury Sufi poet, Mevlâna Celaleddin-i Rumi, one of the world’s great mystic philosophers. His work in poetry and religious writings are amongst the most cherished in Islam and beyond.

Affectionately known as “Rumi” in the west, he is a best-selling poet in the US with legions of loyal fans. Throughout this festival, whirling dervishes, dressed in white robes with voluminous skirts, dance as if they are in trance, under the observance of a seyh (master). Their performances can best be described as mesmerising and mystifying - the ecstatic spinning accompanied by orchestral music and chanting making for a truly spellbinding spectacle. The festival’s highlight is the last night, when the entranced dervishes spin to commemorate Mevlâna’s wedding night.

10-18 December 2018 www.goturkeytourism.com Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 13

SUNBURN FESTIVAL INDIA “Live love dance” is the motto of Sunburn, one of India’s most famous electronic dance music festival brands, held in various locations around the globe, culminating in the biggest annual event which takes place just after Christmas and before NYE in Goa. Sunburn is a carefully crafted combination of music, food, shopping and EDM entertainment, spread over three days, and the handpicked lineup of artists showcases some of the world’s top DJs alongside local talent.

If past Sunburn gatherings are anything to go by, the festival’s twelfth outing promises to be bigger than ever before.

Some of the industry’s biggest names in dance music have performed at Sunburn, including Swedish House Mafia, Armin Van Buuren, Axwell, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, Avicii and Pete Tong. And a couple of years ago David Guetta played the closing night party. Festivalgoers can also let loose with a range of adrenaline-powered activities, including bungee jumping and zorbing, completing the ultimate music-driven vacation experience.

29-31 December 2018 www.sunburn.in

RHYTHM & VINES

Ronson. American rapper, singer and songwriter from Chicago, Juice WRLD - who has repeatedly knocked Drake and Kanye West off Spotify’s top spot this year - will be headlining day one. Premium accommodation options including onsite glamping and teepees (set in a cute village) and buying a Vintage Club Premium Pass provides access to a VIP bar, various experiential cocktail bars around the site and special platforms boasting the best views of the main stages.

29-31 December 2018 www.rhythmandvines.co.nz

NEW ZEALAND Sorry Sydney Harbour, but the first place in the world to welcome the first sunrise of the New Year is New Zealand, and what better place to do it than Rhythm & Vines, the country’s annual, award-winning music festival, held at Waiohika Estate family vineyard close to the city of Gisborne (hence the “vines” in the name!) The lineup is spread across three days and seven stages, and past headliners have included Calvin Harris and Mark

ATI-ATIHAN PHILIPPINES Whilst Filipinos are known worldwide for their gracious hospitality and friendly nature, this feast festival held annually in January, in honour of the Santo Niño (the Infant Jesus), allows us a glimpse of their wild, colourful and playful side, a facet of these devout and thoughtful people rarely seen in public. The ultimate Filipino fiesta experience and believed to be around 800 years old, Ati-Atihan is an enthralling festival of 14 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

constant movement, drumming and feasting, not to mention a non-stop riot of exhibitionism, costume, music and dance. The grandest Ati-Atihan celebrations in the Philippines take place in its capital, Kalibo, where soot-black painted faces, feather headdresses and animal bones create a showstopping visual treat. After days of relentless drumming and festivities, it is nigh on impossible for even the most reluctant traveller not to get covered in soot and become part of the romping, all-night closing masquerade ball.

1-20 January 2019 www.facebook.com/kalibo-ati-atihan

CARTAGENA MUSIC FESTIVAL

The festival program is divided into three, with the audience hearing music composed in Europe, New World music from different eras, and European works with influences from unpublished New World languages. This year’s performers include Quartetto di Cremona which is world renowned for its mature and lyrical sound (pictured). An Italian string quartet founded in a city famed for its Stradivarius collection, Quartetto di Cremona consists of Cristiano Gualco (violin), Paolo Andreoli (violin), Simone Gramaglia (viola) and Giovanni Scaglione on cello, and is considered one of the best of its generation.

4-13 January 2019 www.cartagenamusicfestival.com

COLOMBIA For ten days every January, the historic Colombian walled city of Cartagena opens to the public some of its most charming colonial spaces - indoors and out - for the Festival Internacional de Music. Performances by classical musicians from around the world quite literally fill Cartagena with music, including Teatro Heredia, the beautiful chapels of hotels Santa Clara, Santa Teresa and Iglesia de Santo Toribio, and Plaza San Pedro Claver.

TIMKAT ETHIOPIA Celebrating the baptism of Jesus Christ in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, Timkat is the greatest festival for Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, and the three-day affair is rich in colour, comprising various ceremonies all conducted with great pomp. On the eve of Timkat, called Ketera, sacred replicas of the Ark of the Covenant (known as tabots), are wrapped in luxurious cloth and placed on the heads

WAKAKUSA YAMAYAKI JAPAN Formerly a volcano and rising 342 meters above sea level, Mount Wakakusayama, in the Japanese city of Nara, is the location for this annual event held on the fourth Saturday of January, which sees the entire hill fired-up in a controlled burn. Following a parade that includes a giant rice cracker tossing competition, a torch is lit with sacred fire at Kasuga Taisha Shrine. Buddhist monks then carry 16 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

of priests to be carried out of the church in procession with the clergy. The pilgrimage halts just outside of the city at Fasilides’ Bath, whereupon a divine liturgy is celebrated at 2am, attended by crowds who bring picnics to eat by the light of oil lamps. At dawn a priest extinguishes a candle burning on a pole set in a nearby river using a ceremonial cross. Many in the congregation leap into the river. Escorted by horsemen, the tabots are then taken back to the churches, while the festivities continue.

19 January 2019 http://afrotourism.com

the sacred fire down to a small shrine at the foot of the hill. First, interfaith members of Kofuku-ji, Todai-ji and Kasuga Taisha ignite the hill. Then hundreds of fireworks are launched, followed by the ritual burning of the hill, for roughly an hour, with the grasses on the slopes blazing as if a red hell is draped over the mountainside. When all of Mount Wakakusayama is eventually alight, like a gigantic flickering torch, unsurprisingly the fire can be seen across the entire metropolis.

26 January 2019 www.jnto.go.jp

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Our clothing isn’t just about sleep. It’s about providing ultimate comfort wherever you are. Our fabrics are built to last – incredibly crisp two-fold cottons which are cool against the skin in warmer climates and exceptionally soft and warm two-fold brushed cottons to keep you cosy on cold days. We travel with you.

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VINTERJAZZ DENMARK Spanning the gamut from electronic to experimental, funk to free and mainstream to modern, Denmark’s world-renowned winter jazz festival has been thawing the Scandinavian chill with smoking tunes for more than fifteen years, gradually growing into one of the biggest European gatherings of the musical genre. Taking place over three weeks, there are more than 500 concerts to experience at 100+ different venues across Denmark. International stars on tour, new award-winning productions

and different concert themes drop anchor in numerous of the country’s cities and suburbs. Hence, Vinterjazz very much kick-starts the season for the country’s clubs, and helps keep the music playing throughout the year. A highlight of the 2019 festival is the appearance of DR Big Band on 10th February (pictured).

Founded in Copenhagen in 1964, DR Big Band comprises 19 outstanding jazz musicians, all of whom are strong personalities, crisp soloists and celebrated contemporary faces on the Danish jazz scene.

1-24 February 2019 www.jazz.dk

SUPER BOWL 53

Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia and be broadcast by CBS. Super Bowl’s halftime show has always attracted major talent. Janet Jackson had her infamous wardrobe malfunction in 2004. Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars have also featured.

Lady Gaga wowed the crowd in 2017 and last year Justin Timberlake made his third halftime appearance. This year, Adam Levine (pictured) will bring his Jagger-like moves to the biggest televised concert event of the year when Maroon 5 performs.

3 February 2019 www.nfl.com

U.S.A. The most important day of the professional American football season, when millions of fans who can’t make it to the stadium are glued to the couch for the duration of what is often the most watched US television program of the year, Super Bowl LIII will be the 53rd Super Bowl and the 49th modern-era National Football League championship game.

It will decide the league champion for the 2018 NFL season, be played at

FIS ALPINE WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIP SWEDEN Held every two years and almost certainly the most important event in alpine ski racing, the last FIS Alpine World Ski Championships were held in the exclusive Swiss lakeside resort of St. Moritz. This year’s host city of Åre in Sweden is a leading Scandinavian ski resort, and was selected at the FIS Congress in Barcelona in June 2014.

Very much a prestigious gathering, winter athletes from more than 70 18 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

nations will compete in a packed two-week schedule of 11 racing events, and will see new world champions crowned in downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, alpine combined and the alpine team event, amongst others.

For a truly VIP experience and to avoid the crowds, purchase a Lounge 2007 pass to use the exclusive two-floor tent just next to the finish line, at the very center of action. Meanwhile, away from the slopes, visitors will be entertained by a variety of shows, DJs and live bands until the early hours.

5-17 February 2019 www.are2019.com

BARRANQUILLA CARNIVAL

THE 91ST OSCARS U.S.A

COLOMBIA The start of a new year is not just about fresh goals for Colombians, since it also marks the beginning of carnival season.

This four-day extravaganza may kick off mid-February, but the party atmosphere starts weeks earlier, when rehearsing dancers and enthusiastic participants adding finishing touches to elaborate floats can be seen on Barranquilla’s streets. Pre-carnival events include the crowning of King Momo and the Carnival Queen, and the reading of the Lectura del Bando, which serves as a call for citizens to begin celebrating. The Queen leads the first day’s festivities with the main event - the Batalla de Flores - with spectators in fancy dress filling the streets. Next day, the Grand Parade features a multi-coloured mass of flamboyant characters, all vying for a place in next year’s main event!

10-13 February 2019 www.carnavaldebarranquilla.org

LANTERN FESTIVAL TAIWAN The annual Lantern Festival is one of the most important and romantic dates on the Taiwanese calendar. Thousands of shining decorative lanterns, bearing the wishes of their owners, illuminate the sky over rural Pingxi District in New Taipei. Meanwhile, firecrackers are set off at the Wumiao Temple in Yanshui District of Tainan. Together, these ceremonies are known as “fireworks in the south, sky lanterns in the north.”

Locals eat traditional rice dumplings with sweet and savoury fillings, known as tangyuan, and take part in lion and dragon dances, acrobatics and mock battles. Giant high-tech light installations give the festival a futuristic edge, while times past are reflected in traditional handicraft markets, selling everything from painted fans and Chinese knotwork, to paper craft and, of course, lanterns.

19 February - 3 March 2019 www.taiwan.net.tw

QUÉBEC WINTER CARNIVAL CANADA Whilst most people spend the winter months doing their level best to avoid ice and snow, the inhabitants of the picturesque Frenchspeaking province of Québec City do the very opposite, and positively revel in the frigid surroundings, celebrating the joie de vivre of carnival season in

freezing, sub-zero fashion. Québec City held its first large carnival in 1894, but the annual event was interrupted by two wars and an economic crisis before the first official edition of the Québec Winter Carnival took place more than sixty

Beamed around the planet from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on “Oscar Sunday” 24th February 2019, Hollywood’s night of nights is a prime opportunity for some serious star gazing as well as some serious gossiping!

From the moment nominations are announced (on 22nd January 2019) through to the glitzy ceremony itself, the fortunes of nominees often swing up, down and sideways, depending on everything from box-office numbers to shifting cultural and political winds. By the time the nominees and celebrities strut and pose on the red carpet for the 91st Academy Awards, those in the know will have already set themselves up in comfort and style at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in the heart of Beverly Hills, or The Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel, both favoured haunts of the Hollywood elite for decades. Will you be staying up late to watch the acting world’s biggest night of the year?!

24 February 2019 www.oscars.org

years ago in 1955. The largest winter shindig in the world has been an annual event ever since, comprising parades, an outdoor amusement park, giant ice slides and snow sculpture competitions.

Not to mention a fair amount of eating, drinking and being merry, plus traditional dogsled and canoe races.

Not to be missed is the Ice Palace constructed with compacted snow bricks and lit with tons of coloured lights.

8-17 February 2019 www.carnaval.qc.ca Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 21

KRAMPUSNACHT

Described in Austrian folklore as a horned, anthropomorphic half-goat half-demon, Krampus comes alive for one night only every year, to spread some good old-fashioned pre-Christmas terror in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt 1 December 2018

Rest Your Head

SEYCHELLES • KWAZULU-NATAL • LIVERPOOL • SYDNEY • BARCELONA LISBON • OUMNAS • WASHINGTON • PARIS • WINDHOEK • SHANGHAI

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 25

SEYCHELLES FOUR SEASONS RESORT SEYCHELLES AT DESROCHES ISLAND There are plenty of gorgeous island nations in the waters off the coast of Africa, where jet-setters can hang out on white sand beaches or hide away in overwater bungalows dangling above picture-perfect archipelagos. For many however, the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean is the continent’s crown jewel. More than 100 beautifully pristine islands, countless far-flung resorts and (more recently) a variety of private island escapes make the Seychelles a perennial favourite amongst the well-heeled, celebs and royals seeking to unwind in private, unadulterated luxury.

Located on the outer edge of the Seychelles and a 35-minute flight southwest of the largest island of Mahé, it’s safe to say that if you land on Desroches you are not stopping-off en route to somewhere else.

Sparsely populated 933-acre Desroches is a lowlying stretch of coral, awash with lush vegetation and enveloped by spectacular dive sites and exceptional fishing options. The island’s animal sanctuary cares for over a hundred Aldabra tortoises and a Creole village provides an insight into the Seychellois way of life.

Intimate Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island (formerly called Desroches Island) is the wellknown American hospitality brand’s second property in the country, and has been designed to strike just the right balance between the energy of larger sister property Four Seasons Resort Seychelles on Mahé and a secluded private-island retreat, the latter of which are rapidly gaining popularity amongst discerning travellers.

Guests are accommodated in just forty breezy beach suites and bungalows, all of which boast private plunge pools, indoor-outdoor bathrooms, and a casual-cool island aesthetic.

Families or small groups can settle into one of eleven swishy private villas, liberally spaced along the island’s nine miles of sugary beaches - each of which feature three, four or five bedrooms, a full kitchen and a dedicated butler. Four Seasons does butlers very well indeed, and, perhaps just coincidentally, British Airways recommenced its service between London and the Seychellen capital of Victoria at the same time as the opening of Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island back in March. Perhaps because it was the most exciting new resort to emerge in a destination already awash with lavish hotels? www.fourseasons.com/seychellesdesroches

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 27

KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA ANDBEYOND PHINDA HOMESTEAD Stretching for 800kms along the east coast of South Africa, the country’s KwaZulu-Natal province is divided into eight, distinct geographical destinations, centred around the capital, Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city, Durban. The three coastal regions and their beaches bordering the Indian Ocean comprise the thin lowland strip of the South Coast, dotted with resort towns stretching towards the Eastern Cape; the North Coast - also known as the Dolphin Coast - between the Umdloti and Tugela Rivers; and the more remote Elephant Coast with its internationally important wetland parks.

Formed in 1991 and located in the latter, between Mkuze Game Reserve and the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park, Phinda Private Game Reserve boasts a rich diversity of ecosystems, and is situated in an area of KwaZulu-Natal that is home to many protected parks and reserves which are among the best in Africa, and offer unique opportunities to see the Big Five, as well as many rare and endangered species.

Tucked into the edge of a dappled forest, sole-use safari lodge AndBeyond Phinda Homestead re-opened on 28,555-hectare Phinda Private Game Reserve just a few months ago after a completely rebuild, following a devastating fire in December 2016.

Inspired by the lodge’s natural surroundings and local Zulu culture, interiors are furnished in clean lines and earthy tones, highlighted by burnt clay, aloe and red. Traditional Nguni hides, intricate basketwork and colourful craft pieces - all sourced directly from local communities - are featured throughout the property, paying homage to the area’s proud and vibrant heritage and the reserve’s past as a cattle and pineapple farm.

An interactive kitchen brings the lodge’s private chef into the center of the guest experience. Homegrown herbs enhance the hearty fare prepared for guests. Inviting guest areas, open to the cooling breezes, blend perfectly into private bedrooms and spacious bathrooms, where oversized deepsoaking tubs look out onto beautiful landscape and the surrounding bush. The overall result is an elegant yet warm contemporary bush home, and the perfect base from which to explore the thousands of surrounding hectares with the lodge’s dedicated ranger, tracker team and safari vehicle.

Game drives as well as meal times are completely tailored to guests’ wishes, giving you the rare opportunity to completely personalise your safari experience. And after a long game drive, guests can relax in the sparkling swimming pool or indulge in a therapeutic massage. Other on-site facilities include a library, sprawling outside timber deck and a gym. www.andbeyond.com

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 29

LIVERPOOL, U.K. HOPE STREET HOTEL 2008 marked a noticeable change in Liverpool, England’s historic maritime city in the northwest of the country, where the River Mersey meets the Irish Sea. A key trade and migration port from the 18th to the early 20th centuries and famously the hometown of The Beatles, Liverpool had just celebrated its 800th birthday in 2007, when the following year the city became a European Capital of Culture. This very public opportunity to showcase its cultural life and development marked the veritable rebirth of this characterful metropolis, the effects of which have yet to slow down.

Liverpool so deftly used its Capital of Culture status to completely transform its cultural base, not to mention the way in which the city was viewed internationally, that, one decade on, Liverpool still continues to develop and grow at a pace that few could have imagined ten years ago. In tandem with this progression, the city’s restaurant, nightlife and tourist industries have also blossomed exponentially, resulting in a fascinating and well-rounded cultural destination, which holds its own internationally and makes for a superb city break.

Liverpool’s beautiful Georgian Quarter is a legacy of the city’s former wealth, and the area boasts one of the largest collections of terraced Georgian town houses outside London.

Treading the cobbled streets of this picturesque district is to uncover a different story at every turn, and hence, unsurprisingly, the Georgian Quarter has become a hotspot for production companies filming everything from Hollywood blockbusters to TV dramas against the backdrop of gorgeous buildings.

At the heart of Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter is Hope Street, which won the Academy of Urbanism’s 2013 Great Street Award.

Dominating the skyline at one end of Hope Street is Liverpool Cathedral - Britain’s biggest cathedral, the largest Anglican cathedral in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. At the other end of Hope Street, the starkly contrasting Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral is another of the city’s magnificent landmarks, and regularly hosts cultural events including music concerts and recitals. In between these two Liverpool icons is Hope Street Hotel, the city’s first boutique offering, which skilfully marries new and old buildings (one dating back to 1860), including a magnificent, Italian palazzo-style Victorian warehouse, the ground floor of which is home to the much-lauded London Carriage Works restaurant.

Upstairs, a selection of individually-styled rooms and suites offer guests a taste of the past updated with contemporary decor and modern conveniences. Aptly described by The Sunday Times as ‘Isambard Kingdom Brunel meets Carrie Bradshaw’, Hope Street Hotel is the perfect base from which to explore Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter, the real beauty of which is that even if you veer off the beaten track, you will almost always find hidden architectural treasure. www.hopestreethotel.co.uk

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 31

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA PARAMOUNT HOUSE HOTEL Surry Hills neighbourhood is located in the south-east corner of Sydney’s business district and is very much the city’s go-to dining and drinking destination. Fancy highend restaurants happily sit side-by-side with bijou bars, clothing boutiques, quirky shops, public parks and art galleries.

Conceptualised from the outset to have a distinct personality and interact with its surrounding urban environment, Paramount House Hotel is housed within two skilfully stitched together uber cool buildings in Surry Hills - the original 1940s former Australian headquarters of Paramount Picture Studios and the adjoining film storage warehouse. The 29-key hotel occupies shares the space with the Golden Age Cinema and Bar, Paramount Coffee Project Café (serving some of the best blends in Sydney), Paramount Recreation Centre and a chic co-working area called The Office Space.

Hyde Park is just a few minutes’ walk away.

The hotel’s reception is so understated that it wouldn’t be difficult to miss, and is simply marked by copper herringbone doors either side and a concrete sign that says, ‘Permanent Vacation’. Guests checking-in are routinely greeted with a glass of wine or a cold beer.

Upstairs, the 27 bedrooms and two suites occupying four floors of what was once the film storage warehouse - have a distinctly industrial feel to them, offset with a multitude of stylish touches and gorgeous accessories that will have you asking the inner-city hipster staff where it all came from. Contemporary tapestries hang on the walls. Bed linen in soft shades of blue and apricot is adorned with merino blankets, while colourful Pakistani kilim rugs offset tiled floors, cement ceilings and exposed copper pipework. Most rooms have enclosed plant-bedecked terraces or balconies. Some of the terrazzo-tiled bathrooms feature stunning Japanese-inspired wooden tubs.

There’s a gym on the roof and always so much going-on in the building that you will almost certainly be reluctant to leave. https://paramounthousehotel.com

32 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

LISBON, PORTUGAL THE LUMIARES In recent years a number of funky boutique hotels have popped up in the Portuguese capital to aid Lisbon’s claim to being one of Europe’s cool cities. But, not until The Lumiares opened - housed with a beautiful, lovingly restored 18thcentury palace, atop a hill in the heart of the old city - did any of them make such a mark on Lisbon’s hospitality scene.

With its 53 luxuriously spacious rooms, an elegant spa, two great restaurants courtesy of acclaimed Miguel Castro e Silva (one of the country’s best-known chefs) and a fashionable rooftop bar, The Lumiares has undoubtedly set a high new hotel standard in the Portuguese capital.

Almost every piece of artwork and swathe of fabric in The Lumiares was designed and made in Portugal, some of it within walking distance of the hotel. In fact, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe The Lumiares as a tribute to Portugal’s craftsmanship, traditions and food.

Much of the hotel’s mid-century contemporary furnishings were produced by Room 2 Fit - one of Portugal’s leading bespoke manufacturers, which produces high quality furniture, millwork, upholstery, lighting and drapes. The divine bedroom rugs were made by Ferreira de Sá, which has been producing premium hand-tufted rugs in a small town in the north of Portugal since 1946. Hand-woven tapestries adorn the walls of every guest room, incorporating the black-and-white logo of the hotel together with Lisbon’s characteristic blue and yellow. Everything has been beautifully brought together by local architects Metro Urbe, who have skilfully blended the 18th and 21st centuries with dramatic effect, around the original grand, central stone staircase, which is the only remnant of the original palace, above which hangs a stunning Beau McClellandesigned cubic brass lighting installation that echoes the geometric black and white flooring of the hotel’s lobby.

Corner rooms on the third and fourth floors boast sweeping views across the city towards São Jorge Castle and down to the harbour. Meanwhile, second floor rooms have the highest ceilings, since these were the most lavish rooms of the former palace. All have deluxe kitchenettes kitted out with high-end appliances and premium porcelain, complete with a fridge containing complimentary white wine, water and milk. The attention to detail throughout The Lumiares is second to none, and a stay in any room in this gorgeous hotel will undoubtedly be memorable. www.thelumiares.com

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 35

OUMNAS, MOROCCO BERBER LODGE The latest project of talented French-Swiss architect Romain Michel-Meniere, who first visited Morocco 15 years ago, Berber Lodge is located in the tiny village of Oumnas, in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains about 20 kilometres outside Marrakech.

Michel-Meniere discovered Oumnas while he was working on Kasbah Bab Ourika, a romantic hotel in the Ourika Valley which he made his name designing. So, when he finally got round to opening his own hotel, Michel-Meniere purchased seven hectares of land just outside Oumnas, and turned for help to friends Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty of French Studio KO, the design team behind Marrakech’s stunning Yves Saint Laurent Museum.

The result is a relaxed, elegantly pareddown boutique hotel of just nine rustic-chic lodgings, housed within several traditional, pink pisé village-like single-storey structures, interspersed with gardens of wild grass and ancient olive groves, replete with a 20-metre jade-coloured swimming pool.

Each cottage-style room stands alone for privacy and boasts a private garden or terrace. Inside, interiors combine a heritage feel with modern or vintage furniture, punctuated by custom-made wicker pieces, Berber bridal chests, hand-knotted rugs and fabrics plus items from Michel-Meniere’s personal collection. Bathrooms are oversized, equipped with baths and showers and laden with luxurious hand-woven towels.

The overall aesthetic is effortless, stylish and serene, and, most of all, modest.

As you can imagine, such simplicity makes for a highly relaxing and laidback stay, especially when feasting on the unpretentious yet delicious contemporary Mediterranean-Moroccan dishes served in Berber Lodge’s bijou on-site indoor dining room, where you will usually find MichelMeniere chatting to guest. www.berberlodge.net

36 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A THE LINE DC Housed within Washington’s former 110-year-old First Christ of Scientist neoclassical church - perched on the corner of Euclid Street and Columbia Road, in the diverse and constantly-buzzing Adams Morgan neighbourhood - the first spinoff of LA’s hip Koreatown hotel is truly like no other hotel in routinely stiff D.C. For starters, the dramatic entrance is nigh on monumental. Just watching people weave their way up and down the front steps, and through the towering columns, is an attraction in itself. Once inside, 20-metre vaulted ceilings criss-cross a spectacular lobby, above which the church organ’s pipes have been reimagined as a striking chandelier which hangs in the center.

Lobby seating has been fashioned from repurposed mahogany church pews adorned in midnight blue velvet, lifting them way beyond their original use. Staff are stylish, laid back, polite and knowledgeable with a hint of hipster. The hotel’s soundtrack is live, nonprofit, culinary-driven internet radio station and podcast network Full Service Radio, created by Heritage Radio alumni Jack Inslee, which broadcasts from the lobby and a rooftop terrace. Salvaged pages of old hymn books have even been re-used to create art pieces.

Like its sister hotel in Los Angeles, The LINE DC artistically perpetuates a stylish aesthetic that pays homage to both its structure and the surrounding neighbourhood, creating a supremely social, communitylike vibe which is unlike any other Washington hotel.

A selection of drinking and dining options, helmed by local talent, further bed the hotel and its F&B venues into Adams Morgan, including modern lobby café The Cup We All Race 4 which serves Counter Culture Coffee and delicious, no-nonsense food, courtesy of celebrated chefs Spike Gjerde and Erik Bruner-Yang.

Unlike the hotel’s restaurants, bars and public spaces, which positively encourage meeting and mingling, the vibe of the 220 guest rooms and suites upstairs have been thoughtfully designed to promote a sense of calm and relaxation. Featuring brass bed frames, curated local artwork and mini libraries sourced from nearby Idle Times Books, makes staying at The LINE DC like being in a cozy home away home, and as check-out time approaches, leaving is likely to be the last thing you’ll want to do. www.thelinehotel.com/dc

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 39

PARIS, FRANCE HOTEL NATIONAL DES ARTS ET METIERS The former marshland of Le Marais is almost certainly Paris’ trendiest neighbourhood. The historic Parisian district set on the Right Bank, between the Pompidou Centre and the Bastille, is brimming with everything from fashionable cafés, intimate restaurants and funky bars, to gorgeous museums and some of the city’s leading contemporary art galleries. The area is also presided over by some gorgeous golden stone mansions, transformed over the centuries from noble residences into a variety of uses including workshops, factories and Chinese wholesalers, and nowadays stunning synagogues and desirable apartments.

Just a few years ago, the reopening of one of Le Marais’ most magnificent buildings, the Musée Picasso, grand siècle Paris at its best preserved, gave visitors yet another reason to spend time in this historic district.

On the fringes of the Marais, Hotel National des Arts et Métiers combines industrial edginess and innovation in two updated Haussmann buildings, drawing its name and inspiration from the nearby Musée des Arts et Métiers, the city’s esteemed engineering and manufacturing institute. This is fashion magnate Samy Marciano’s second property on Rue Saint-Martin, where neighbourhoods Sentier and Le Marais meet, following the success of his striking Art Deco Hôtel Bachaumont down the road.

Jerusalem-born Paris-based designer Raphael Navot has furnished Hotel National des Arts et Métiers with intensely seductive interiors of hand-crafted natural materials, soft lighting and plenty of greenery, juxtaposed with industrial accents that include oxidised pipes and classic French wrought iron furniture.

Upstairs, 70 rooms including 10 suites are bright and modern. Beds are made with the finest Parisian linens (naturellement), many rooms have balconies which overlook the classic rooftops of Paris.

Budget permitting (your holiday cash will buy you a lot more here than it will at Hôtel de Crillon!) book the oak-floored 100sqm penthouse for magnificent sprawling vistas plus your own sitting room with fireplace, dining area, kitchenette and rooftop terrace cum suntrap. www.hotelnational.paris/en

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 41

BARCELONA, SPAIN THE BARCELONA EDITION Universally regarded as the avant-garde capital of Spain, Barcelona is a natural location for Ian Schrager’s growing EDITION empire. Hence, somewhat unsurprisingly, since opening its glamorous doors just a few months ago, Barcelona’s most awaited hotel unveiling of 2018 has already carved out a unique niche as an elegant urban resort in an unforgettable location, offering intimate and sophisticated boutiquestyle guest rooms alongside seductive and well-considered common spaces.

Located on the edge of El Born - the city’s creative hub in the centre of famed Ciutat Vella - Spain’s first EDITION property is situated in the most historic part of Barcelona, an area positively vibrating with life, style and energy and considered by many to be the beating heart of the city.

Under the creative direction of Ian Schrager alongside famed Spanish interior designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán, what was once an outdated and underused 70s building has been transformed by Carlos Ferrater Studio into a contemporary, glass-fronted hospitality haven.

Home to 100 impeccably turnedout tech-savvy bedrooms and suites, The Barcelona EDITION is crowned with a gorgeous 10th-floor urban rooftop terrace, plunge pool and cocktail bar - all breezy white fabrics and lush greenery - which has already become a firm favourite with hipster Barcelonians.

Three restaurants, two more bars (including a fresh incarnation of The London EDITION’s award-winning Punch Room), a yoga and meditation studio, and a 24-hour state-of-the-art smoked oak skin-lined gym complete a dynamic social hub, where guests and visitors alike can work, relax, socialise and dine all under one beautifully executed roof. www.editionhotels.com/barcelona

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 43

WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA OMAANDA Omaanda (meaning rhinoceros in Oshiwambo), is the fourth property in the Zannier Hotels collection, a Belgium-based hospitality group that specialises in small, boutique properties with a pared-down yet sophisticated design aesthetic.

Inspired by the Ovambo tribe, Omaanda takes its name from its location in the heart of the 9,000-hectare private Zannier game reserve, located in the savannah near the Namibian capital of Windhoek.

The reserve is managed by N/a’an ku sê, one of the country’s premier conservation organisations, which strives to sustain the preservation of natural spaces - a conservation mission that aligns with the values of the Zannier Reserve, which is home to a rich sanctuary of flora and fauna as well as wildlife.

Like the lodge’s name, everything about the property flows organically from the sights, sounds and culture of this wide, savannah-covered corner of Namibia. And thanks to their traditional Ovambo architecture of rounded, natural clay walls topped with hand-finished thatched roofs, the camp’s hut-like buildings appear to rise out of the dusty plains and look right at home in their surroundings.

Inside the lodge’s ten deluxe guest huts, long-time Zannier Hotel’s collaborator, Géraldine Dohogne, has approached the decor with a natural respect for the region’s ancestral architectural techniques. The result deftly combines Dohegne’s signature stripped-back approach to luxury with one-of-a-kind antique pieces sourced from Namibia and neighbouring countries. From large, private terraces, guests enjoy views stretching towards the mountains in the distance. In the mornings, guests often rise to find curious baboons lounging on the cool, polished concrete decks.

Banded mongoose, pangolins and caracal are often spotted alongside zebras, giraffes and hyenas during daily game drives. Though elephants and rhinoceroses do not roam freely through the reserve, at its center is a hospital for injured or abandoned rhinoceroses and elephants, funded by the JoliePitt Foundation, the main aim of which is to raise awareness and educate the planet on the need to support and preserve the wild world. At the hospital, guests can get up close and personal with animals, and gain a deeper appreciation for those that champion the massive conservation efforts that have helped rehabilitate the country’s wildlife, which has flourished since protective programs which were put in place in the mid-1990s. www.zannierhotels.com/omaanda

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 45

SHANGHAI, CHINA THE MIDDLE HOUSE Shanghai is not short of top-end hotels. On the contrary, deluxe properties seem to be popping-up in China’s biggest city at breakneck speed. Just this year alone has seen stunning Amanyangyun, health and wellness-driven Anandi Hotel & Spa, and Las Vegas’ famous Bellagio all open in Shanghai, the latter minus the casino but replete with all the glitz of its American namesake.

Located in historic Dazhongli neighbourhood in the heart of Shanghai’s popular Jing’an district, the newest addition to Swire Hotels’ hospitality portfolio and the fourth property from the super-stylish House Collective (the group behind the gorgeous Upper House in Hong Kong which The Cultured Traveller reviewed in issue 8 issuu.com/theculturedtraveller/ docs/08/44), The Middle House was inspired by the city’s rich heritage of craftsmanship and culture.

Courtesy of renowned Italian designer and architect Piero Lissoni, contemporary design has been blended with traditional Asian elements in 111 guest rooms and suites plus 102 serviced apartments, throughout which bold lines and clean silhouettes prevail by way of custom furniture inspired by traditional Chinese pieces, transparent room dividers and original Chinese artwork alongside rich dark woods and sumptuous white linens. Whilst the result is a chic blend of Shanghainese decor and a contemporary Italian approach to interiors - offering guests a much-needed sensory respite from the pulsating metropolis outside and a veritable oasis of calm in one of the world’s busiest cities - the overall style is sealed by the outstanding art collection which runs throughout the hotel.

Curated by Alison Pickett, who is responsible for all House Collective’s art-centric hotel interiors, the theme at The Middle House is ‘I Dream of China’, which has been brought to life via more than 650 cutting-edge pieces liberally scattered throughout the property: from an extraordinary Chinese robe covered in 12,000 ceramic butterflies which hangs in the lobby, to striking

by Richard Winkworth paintings in Café Gray Deluxe restaurant, overlooking buzzing Nanjing West Road, where guests can indulge in New York-based chef Gray Kunz’s signature mix of modern European cuisine made with Asian ingredients.

Elsewhere there are two further restaurants for guests to feast in: homely Italian Frasca and contemporary Chinese Sui Tang Li. The Middle House’s seemingly immaculate design aesthetic flows into the hotel’s basement, which accommodates a swimming pool, sauna, steam room, gym, yoga studio, juice bar and HYPOXI room, plus a superb spa, where a signature Chi Ling Lian facial will almost certainly put you right post-flight. www.themiddlehousehotel.com

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 47

KNISLINGE, SWEDEN WANÅS Set on a large estate that includes one of Sweden’s biggest organic dairy farms, Kristina and Baltzar Wachtmeister are the ninth generation of the family to be running Wanås (pronounced “Vanoos”), which thanks to its unique mix of a lush country setting, historic architecture, cutting-edge art and more recently a rather good restaurant and inn, has become a destination for art lovers from around the world.

With a history going back to at least 1440, Wanås estate is home to numerous buildings erected in a variety of architectural styles, anchored by a 1560s step-gabled, Renaissance-style castle, to which two wings were added in the 18th-century. Beyond the fairytale-like main building, several 19th-century farm buildings serve as art spaces, a shop and deli, and - as of last spring - a modest yet stylish 11-room inn and restaurant, the latter serving locally-focused dishes using ingredients from Wanås’ own organic farm.

Located just outside the village of Knislinge, Wanås makes for a perfect day trip from either Malmö or Copenhagen, both of which are roughly a 90-minute drive away. If you are going to make the 3.5 hour train journey from Stockholm followed by the 30-minute taxi ride from the station, you might as well stay overnight in one of the eight individually decorated double rooms and three junior suites at Wanås’ boutique inn-like hotel, which combine Nordic design and sustainability with locally sourced materials in contemporary elegant fashion, mixing vintage furniture, contemporary art, natural materials and rustic walls. Vintage pinktiled bathrooms, limestone and oak floors, soft beds and custommade furniture complete the carefully curated rustic-chic aesthetic.

More than 80,000 people visited Wanås last year and obviously not all of them stayed at the inn! Most made the trip to visit the world-class art park, Wanås Konst, where more than seventy works are scattered across the property’s 100 acres. You will need a good few hours to see them all. Not to be missed is Ann Hamilton’s “Lignum”, which occupies all five floors of a former farm building. Two multi-sensory installations in the forest are also worth foraging for: Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg’s “In Dreams”, and Robert Wilson’s “A House for Edwin Denby”.

Other pastimes include walking in the majestic beech forest, relaxing in front of a roaring fire in the lounge, stargazing on a starry night or enjoying a long Scandinavian summer evening.

The inn’s mudroom is equipped with boots and rain jackets to cater for every outdoor eventuality, and guests venturing out for a short walk have been known to return late into the night, after uncovering many of the estate’s hidden gems. www.wanas.se

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 49

WIN A 4-NIGHT STAY AT HOTEL VILLA SAMADHI S

Set amidst the verdant greenery of one of the island city-state’s four nature reserves, Villa Samadhi Singapore is a veritable retreat, hidden away from the urban hustle and bustle yet mere minutes away from the city’s key attractions.

Housed in a heritage colonial residence, this beautiful boutique property features just twenty alluring chambers furnished in complete harmony with their historic surroundings. Echoing the hotel’s genteel vibe, each guest suite is decorated in a pared-down monochrome palette and features sleek wooden floors and an imposing carved four-poster bed. Some also feature private plunge pools.

To stay at Villa Samadhi Singapore is to enjoy an indulgent and exclusive respite, a world away from the island’s traffic-clogged centre yet just a short drive away from Singapore’s cosmopolitan delights.

BOUTIQUE SINGAPORE

PRIZE DRAW

The lucky winner will stay for four nights in a Sarang suite with private plunge pool at Villa Samadhi Singapore, including daily breakfast (for two); welcome afternoon tea on arrival; one chef’s tasting dinner at Tamarind Hill restaurant including wines; signature turndown service nightly including port and Asian snacks, and evening cocktails at Chandelier Bar on the last night. Free wi-fi is also included.

To enter this prize draw email your contact details to win@theculturedtraveller.com. The draw will take place after 28th February 2019 and the winner will be notified via email. This prize can be used any time between 1st March – 31st December 2019 subject to availability when booking. Blackout dates apply - the winner will be informed. This prize is not transferable to another person. The Cultured Traveller will not share your details with third parties. Entrants will be added as subscribers to The Cultured Traveller’s mailing list. Multiple entries will be disqualified and excluded. www.villasamadhi.com.sg Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 51

FRANKFURT CHRISTMAS MARKET

Dating back to 1393, the scenic surroundings of the Römerberg and St. Paul’s Square, together with a huge Christmas tree in front of the Römer, combine to make Frankfurt’s Weihnachtsmärkt one of Germany’s most enchanting Until 22 December 2018

Alex Benasuli dives head ďŹ rst kamikaze style into the Japanese capital of TOKYO and emerges a total convert to this most exciting and mind-bending of metropoles

TOKYO

T

he views over Tokyo from up above never get old. From the top of the Tokyo Skytree, or one of the many other soaring skyscrapers around town, the scale of the city truly staggers. As far the eye can see, an urban sprawl like no other spreads from Tokyo Bay in the east to the mountains in the west, encompassing a greater metropolitan area of a whopping 36 million people and an economy bigger than Russia. Seemingly infinite clusters of downtowns are visible over incredible distances. And on a clear day, nothing can really prepare you for when snow-capped Mount Fuji deigns

to make an appearance, looming over the Japanese capital like a powerful and watchful deity. It is only in the shadow of Mount Fuji that the perspective of this great mega city begins to offer some sense.

At sunset, Mount Fuji is illuminated like one of the sublime screen paintings for which Japan is famous for, making for a spectacular, if not spiritual, vision. However, it is the night time view from up top that gives the real clues as to how to approach this mammoth city. Major arteries of brightly lit thoroughfares convene in multiple urban hubs.

Emanating out from these main avenues and city centres is an irregularly formed concentric web of parallel side streets, that increasingly darken and narrow into smaller roads, paths and alleyways.

With that understanding (not to mention with the help of Google Maps!), one can quickly discover an off-the-beaten track Tokyo, in addition to the bright lights and big city elements that the world’s most populous metropolis is so well known for.

Like sliding doors that give way to serene inner sanctums, Tokyo like no other city can be a journey

from urban density to residential stillness, from commercial activity to intimate charm, and from the seemingly obvious to the virtually undecipherable, all in a matter of moments, and unlocking Tokyo’s mysteries and its myriad of attractions is both highly stimulating and deeply satisfying. Whether a first-time visitor or a seasoned Tokyophile, spending time in this dazzling and cutting-edge capital is a real treat for the senses.

On the ground, Tokyo’s scope can seem daunting.

Most foreigners initially focus on Ginza, the city’s longstanding posh district, littered with upscale ►

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 57

shopping, entertainment and art galleries. Ginza real estate prices are some of the most expensive on the planet and it shows. The world’s leading luxury brands all have massive flagship stores here that don’t fail to impress. Chuo Dori, Ginza’s main avenue, is like a cross between Fifth Avenue and the Champs-Elysées, with more than generous dashes of neon and bling. A centre of Tokyo wealth since the 1600s (gin in Japanese means ‘silver’ and za ‘guild’), Ginza emerged as a highend retail mecca in the 1920s and was rebuilt in the 1950s following WW2. In fact, despite the showiness, there is a Mad Men, mid-century modern sensibility still to be found in Ginza, particularly in its side streets and off the main drags.

Though some of Tokyo’s best restaurants and much of the city’s exclusive shopping is to be found here, there is also a decidedly decadent side to Ginza. When night falls, open doors reveal dimly lit bijou sized cocktail and whisky bars full of Japanese business men, their kimonoclad companions and a smattering of foreigners.

This discreet yet lively action is just as likely to take place below ground and on the second and third floors as it does on street level.

Most of the time signage is hard to decipher or nonexistent. This secretive and in-the-know manner of going out in Tokyo is reminiscent of speakeasies. While it can be a little off-putting to the uninitiated, there is also something very seductive and sexy about it. And the numerous art galleries and Kabuki-za (the national Kabuki theatre) add enough culture to allow Ginza to take its place as one of the planet’s most elegant yet enjoyable luxury commercial districts.

When one accepts that peeling back the layers of Tokyo’s identity and urban charms can take days and weeks if not multiple lifetimes, then some real exploratory fun can be had. Despite its reputation as a disciplined city focused on the highest standards of refinement in fashion, the arts, modern architecture and technology, Tokyo is also incredibly creative, with a free-spirited side and a strong individualistic streak. ► 58 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

SHIBUYA CROSSING

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Thirty minutes by taxi from Ginza, or a handful of metro strops away, lies Harajuku. Though the more gritty and counter culture days of Harajuku as the centre of Tokyo’s youth scene have gone more upmarket, it remains one of Tokyo’s most exciting and eclectic neighbourhoods in terms of fashion, food, culture and people watching.

Bounded on one side by verdant Yoyogi Park and Tokyo’s most important Shinto shrine, Meiji Jingū, and connected to affluent Aoyama on the other via tree-lined central boulevard Omotesand, Harajuku is a bustling, eclectic

hive of commercial and residential activity that defines modern, easygoing Tokyo like no other.

While classic Harajuku girls still abound, with their signature interpretations of a fashion look that straddles school girl, Hello Kitty and goth in the pursuit of Kawai or “cuteness”, Harajuku has grown up. The recent arrival of the big box luxury stores has transformed Omotesand, especially towards the eastern end, into a more relaxed yet no less luxurious rival to Ginza. However, it is the tangle of side streets on either side of Omotesand where the more creative spirit of Harajuku is alive and ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 61

well. Here, better known niche international brands coexist cheek-to-cheek with local labels, individual ateliers and some excellent vintage stores.

Trendy noodle shops, bistros and cafés abound; showcasing craftsmanship and creativity in boutiques that run the gamut from sprawling but more likely to the intensely intimate thrives in Tokyo. Nowhere is this more evident than Harajuku, so exploring and experiencing this colourful retail hub is a must.

When a break from the urban bustle of Harajuku or Tokyo is needed, a visit to nearby Meiji Jingū beckons.

Tokyo was basically destroyed twice in the past century - the first time in 1923 as a result of the Great Tokyo Fire, and again when the city was bombed in March 1945. Accordingly, most of Tokyo’s architectural past has been wiped out. Though rebuilt after the war, Meiji Jingū retains a deeply spiritual atmosphere and is one of the most important historical shrines in Tokyo.

The woods that surround Meiji Jingū are surprisingly dense, especially considering its location in the middle of a mega city. Sheltered pathways shaded from the canopy of soaring trees - offer a moment of relaxation and respite from the urban ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 65

Harajuku

mélange. The shrine’s oversized classic Torii gates and massive wooden temple complex provide a pertinent reminder of the strong traditions upon which Japan and its capital are built.

Shintoism, along with Buddhism, co-exist as the dominant religious traditions in Japan. Shintoism celebrates, amongst other things, the spirit that is found in everything, including man and animal kind, nature and even objects. This respect for nature and the spirit world is a fundamental characteristic of the Japanese psyche, that is directly reflected in its emphasis on detail and design. Even amidst the most 66 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

urban jungle areas of the city there will be a front garden, or perhaps a single tree or hedge, whose meticulous care can be interpreted as a spiritual offering or celebration of the divine. In fact, it is because of the overwhelming urban nature of Tokyo, that the city’s green spaces appear so precious.

On the other side of Harajuku from Meiji Jingū is the gem that is the Nezu Museum, which is an excellent place to further appreciate the country’s artistic traditions, and escape into nature from Tokyo’s streets. With its gorgeous entrance of reddish wood, black stone and a bamboo forest, ►

KABUKI-ZA

its modern architecture and historical Japanese fine arts collection, Nezu Museum is an ideal reflection of Tokyo, which is inherently a modern city with subtle yet important nods to the past. The real treasure at the Nezu is its extensive Japanese back garden, replete with water features, moss-covered paths and stone shrines, and filled with trees and shrubs that transform into riots of colour in the spring and autumn. As a visitor to Tokyo, once you know what to look out for in terms of pockets of beauty and calm, you will quite literally notice them everywhere.

Tokyo’s other historic and spiritual heart, is the

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Sensō-ji temple, located across town and a world away in Asakusa. Originally built in the 7th-century and rebuilt many times, this Buddhist temple is Tokyo’s oldest. Whereas Meiji Jingū is nature filled and contemplative, Sensō-ji is incorporated slap bang in the centre of town and has a more crowded and commercial feel. This yields its own charms and is perhaps more reflective of 21st-century Tokyo that moves and shakes.

From the outer gate to the inner gate of Sensō-ji temple complex, 200-metre Nakamise-dori is a shopping street of low-rise stalls that is

NAKAMISE-DORI

reminiscent of what Tokyo must have looked like 100 years ago. It’s an excellent place to buy souvenirs (of tremendously varying quality and price points) and eat local food in traditional surroundings.

As one of the most visited sites in Japan and spiritual centres in the world, you definitely won’t have Sensō-ji to yourself, but there are pockets of calm within the complex to allow for some relative peace. The ponds filled with red carp, five-storey pagoda and incense wafting around massive temple buildings will almost certainly transport you to another world. The temple’s local neighbourhood

of Asakusa is more local and down to earth than Ginza, Harajuku and others, and a good place to experience a more real Tokyo. Nearby, you will also find Kappabashi-dori which has become the go-to street for Japanese kitchen knives and ceramics.

If you visit Tokyo expecting to see Blade Runnerlike neon-lit futuristic urban canyons, you won’t be disappointed. The areas around Shinjuku and Shibuya (two major transportation and commercial hubs) make New York’s Times Square look tame.

Shinjuku and Shibuya are also home to two of the busiest train stations in the world, while famed Shibuya Crossing, with its rushing rivers of ►

SHIBUYA CROSSING Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 69

SHINJUKU

pedestrians heading in a myriad of directions, is also said to be the world’s busiest. Whether in the thick of it at street level or observing from the second floor of Shibuya station or a nearby café, nothing captures modern, busy Tokyo more than Shibuya Crossing.

Meanwhile, Shinjuku is an interesting mix of upscale department stores and downright seedy watering holes, offering a real diversity and an opportunity to let one’s hair down. Love it or hate it, Golden Gai (“Golden District”) is an area of Shinjuku comprising narrow roads and alleyways where salary men, expats and tourists mingle in tiny neon-lit bars which often 70 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

accommodate no more than four or five people at a time. If you are open for an adventure and a taste for the bizarre, and don’t much care how the night will end up, an evening in Golden Gai could be a match.

Beyond Shibuya, within walking distance or a short taxi ride away, the charming and über cool neighbourhoods of Daikanyama and Nakameguro emerge. Long established as the haunt of the affluent creative classes, and popular with ex-pats, Daikanyama has only recently come onto the tourist radar. It is an area filled with smart boutiques, trendy restaurants and bustling cafés, comparable ►

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to Le Marais in Paris or New York’s West Village, except hardly anyone has ever heard of it.

Daikanyama T-Site is the de facto hub of the area.

This upscale bookstore, lounge and gift shop has won global design awards and is an excellent place to watch the boho-chic locals and just imagine, for a few moments, what living in Tokyo might be like. As is typical for the capital, once you leave the main streets the scale of the city immediately becomes more intimate: the roads narrow, twist and turn; vehicles are replaced by bicycles, and retail offerings get cozier and quirkier.

Just a stone’s throw from Daikanyama, a few streets away and down a hill towards Meguro River (which is really more of a canal), is the even more bohemian Nakameguro, one of Tokyo’s hippest neighbourhoods.

Both sides of the canal are filled with artisanal bakeries, coffee shops and low key but fashionable shops. During spring, the cherry tree-lined canal bursts into bloom, making it one of the favourite places for locals to witness this quintessential of Japanese experiences. At night, the area becomes quite lively, as its many bars and pubs fill with regulars and tourists in-the-know. The canal as Nakameguro’s defining feature, along with its low key, creative vibe, ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 73

reminds one of Amsterdam. Neighbourhoods like Daikanyama and Nakameguro, and many more like them, offer a charming and inviting alternative to the Tokyo of the usual leisure and business visitor haunts.

There comes a point when visiting Tokyo when it is best to accept that you will never fully get it. There is simply just too much ground to cover. When that moment comes, allow yourself to be sucked into the side streets, hidden passageways and sliding doors of this compelling city. Explore the bright lights but also the quieter neighbourhoods to discover a depth and richness that seemingly has no end.

Ribbons of over and under passes suddenly become bike lanes. Skyscrapers give way to low rise street scapes. Tiny, carefully tended gardens emerge out of the concrete jungle. Michelin-starred restaurants abound but so does scrumptious street food.

Tokyo’s incredible urban tapestry, where in the blink of an eye you can go from forward thinking, busy and brash to traditional, peaceful and measured; where there is always something new to discover and uncover; and where refinement and luxury are equally paired with simplicity and humility, makes the city one of the planet’s most captivaling capitals.

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TOKYO STAY

PARK HYATT TOKYO ANDAZ TOKYO

PARK HYATT TOKYO

PARK HYATT TOKYO

By Alex Benasuli

Located in a quiet corner of west Shinjuku district, with its neon-amplified boulevards, department stores and anything goes side streets, the hotel is just a 15-minute walk from Yoyogi Park and Meiji Jing, the latter home to some of Tokyo’s most verdant green spaces, which are perfect for morning runs. The eclectic to elegant shopping district of Harajuku, and its tree-lined main avenue Omotesand, are on the other side of the park. Depending on traffic, Ginza and Roppongi are a 15-30-minute taxi ride away. From Haneda Airport, a limousine bus service conveniently drops-off guests directly in front of the hotel’s main entrance.

Park Hyatt Tokyo is a masterclass in warmly and efficiently delivering the highest standards of service in a timeless setting. Sometimes one knows instinctively, during the first few moments of checking into a hotel, that a rather special experience is about to unfold. Such was the case for me at Park Hyatt Tokyo.

Situated on the 39th to 52nd floors of stunning 52-storey glass Shinjuku Park Tower - which was designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Kenzo Tange and completed in 1994 with no expense spared - Park Hyatt Tokyo is a seamless succession of one attentive hospitality moment after another, from arrival to departure.

A team of staff greet guests at street level, ushering them into a ground floor foyer lined with rich woods, white panelled walls and grey marble. A striking bronze sculptural centrepiece, of a fish seemingly taking flight from the sea, completes what is essentially just a launch pad of what is to come upstairs. A deli and pastry shop offer a wide range of enticing hotel-made items.

Stepping out of the elevator almost forty floors later is to enter another world, akin to an elevated oasis of absolute hospitality refinement. Park Hyatt was Tokyo’s first skyscraper hotel, but such is the quality of the hotel’s ageless décor and furnishings, that it is still a firm favourite amongst discerning, design-savvy globe-trotters almost 25 years later, with room rates some of the highest in the city. The hotel is also famous for its leading role in Sophia Coppola’s hit indie film Lost in Translation.

The 41st floor Peak Lounge and bar is 180 degrees of soaring ceilings, a bamboo forest and walls of glass that reveal Tokyo in all its majesty. To say that the views are jaw-dropping is an understatement. If there is a Japanese equivalent to Mount Olympus, then this is it. The hotel’s sprawling, double height all-day dining restaurant, Girandole, is also located on this level, lined with a collage of black and white photographs depicting European café life. Yet, beyond Park Hyatt Tokyo’s 41st floor food and beverage venues, the mood is more inviting and warm. Darker tones and soft lighting accent strategically placed art. Chic soft furnishings abound. And around every corner is another opportunity to luxuriate in the amazing views.

The formal reception process takes place discreetly, in a long corridor of angled bookcases punctuated by individual tables and luxe seating. Guests are then escorted to their rooms where the check-in process is completed. Textured sea green wallpaper, thick matching carpeting, whimsically themed abstract artwork and wide hallways are like passageways of bliss that connect the hotel’s public spaces to guest rooms. ► 78 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

Fashioned by renowned Hong Kong-based international designer John Morford, who is responsible for some of Asia’s most iconic hotel interiors, Park Hyatt Tokyo’s 177 guest rooms, including 23 suites, are all havens of restrained luxury.

It’s hard to believe that they were debuted in 1994. Neutral furnishings and paper-style lanterns are dominated by oversized windows offering sensational views across Tokyo. As with all Park Hyatt properties worldwide, the emphasis throughout is on comfort rather than gimmicks or unnecessary frivolity. Original artworks hang on the walls and a small selection of hardcover books can be found above the minibar.

The focal point of every bedroom is the beautiful 2,000-year-old water elm headboard from Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Beds are naturally made with top quality Egyptian cotton bedding. Bathrooms are an exercise in indulgence, lined with vast expanses of green marble and granite, complete with deep soaking tubs, 15-inch TVs and Aesop products. Spacious 60-sqm corner King Bed View rooms are not only dual aspect thanks to more windows, but also offer a bath tub with a stunning view well worth soaking in.

Park Hyatt Tokyo’s range of deluxe facilities and refined bars and restaurants make its somewhat immersive world both indulgent and fun. 52nd floor New York Bar is a moody, lively and sexy watering hole, consistently rated as one of the best bars on the planet, complete with unbeatable views. A nightly jazz singer, expertly crafted cocktails and a mix of individual and communal seating combine to make the venue spin every night. Adjacent New York Grill, with its open kitchen and American-inspired menu, featuring a wide selection of prime Japanese and imported beef, market fresh seafood and rotisserie-roasted poultry, make it a popular destination eatery year-round. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows throughout the 52nd floor provide those dining and drinking on Park Hyatt Tokyo’s highest level with breathtaking views of the Japanese capital.

The hotel’s exquisite 40th floor contemporary Japanese restaurant, Kozue, offers seasonally-inspired set, à la carte and traditional multi-course Japanese kaiseki dinner options, complete with a range of blowfish dishes and a second-to-none sake selection. Kimono clad servers and Mount Fuji views are merely the icing on the cake at Kozue.

Such is Kenzo Tange’s design, that Park Hyatt Tokyo actually occupies the rooftops of three adjacent towers, of differing levels, like the sails of a tall ship.

These include the hotel’s fitness rooms, pool and spa at 47th floor Club on the Park. A veritable urban oasis, boasting stunning views in all directions via walls of glass topped with soaring cathedral-like ceilings, make working out here a highly attractive prospect.

Park Hyatt properties generally deliver the highest standards of service and attentiveness, which discerning travellers have come to expect from the American chain’s premium brand. If anything, these already high standards are elevated at Park Hyatt Tokyo, where everything from the concierge team to in-room dining and reception staff are all so efficient, discreet and flawless, one imagines that they have been individually trained by a Japanese hospitality master. tokyo.park.hyatt.com Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 81

ANDAZ TOKYO TORANOMON HILLS

By Alex Benasuli

Hyatt’s chic and youthful contemporary hotel brand, Andaz, is known globally in travelling circles for executing visually unique and captivating design themes, inspired by its host cities, and ensuring that the guest experience is informal, social and funky whilst delivering high levels of service and luxury.

Located a short taxi ride from Ginza, Andaz Tokyo occupies the top floors of sleek Nihon Sekkei-designed Toranomon Hills, a modern complex of offices, shops and residential apartments located in the Toranomon district of Minato ward. The National Art Center, Tokyo Tower, Mori Art Museum and the beautiful t are all close by. Andaz Tokyo is very much Toranomon Hills’s crowning jewel, occupying the highest part of the complex and thus commanding arresting city vistas.

Hip, designer and luxurious hotels abound on our planet. However, it is rare that a property executes well all three qualities at once. In the 21st century hotel world, Andaz does this with little competition. Arriving at any Andaz hotel is like stepping into a fantastical vision of the city you’re visiting, conceived as an act of creative brilliance and delivered with tremendous attention to detail. Andaz Tokyo is no exception, delivering an utterly unique Japanese hospitality experience in inimitable fashion.

On arrival, guests are whisked from street level directly to the 51st floor. Here a celestial hospitality temple on a grand scale - Andaz Lounge - enriched by dramatic installations and countless design details, is framed by some of the city’s best panoramas. Floor-to-soaringceiling walnut walls, broken up by mirrors, intricate lattice work and sliding panels, are the backbones of what is a stunning set of main floor public spaces, tinted with generous accents of basalt and bronze dotted throughout.

Andaz typically dispenses with the conventions of a traditional hotel lobby/reception, instead furnishing its stylishly attired welcome hosts with hi-tech mini tablets, so that check-in can happen anyplace convenient, from the arrival lounge to guest rooms.

In Japan, tradition and modernity work in tandem to produce a unique aesthetic based on simplicity, geometric lines, natural materials and attention to detail, all the while maintaining overall flow and harmony. The guest rooms at Andaz Tokyo are a perfect interpretation of this quintessential Japanese design aesthetic. Coming out of the elevators, one is greeted by hallways of floor-to-ceiling Japanese shoji-style white wall panels, lit from below to create the sense of a catwalk-style runway. This minimalist but entrancing look is pumped up a little inside the hotel’s 164 rooms including 8 suites.

Deep, dark and grainy wood panels and matching brown stone foyers resemble a cozy cocoon. Although all lines and angles are clean, the generous use of natural materials adds richness and lushness. Rooms feature expanses of walnut wood and smooth white walls, offset by carpets of matcha green tea, red leather chairs and headboards and shaggy rugs adding dashes of colour and fun. Whilst ‘vintage Bond’ aptly sums up the décor of Andaz Tokyo’s guest rooms, hands down their en suite bathrooms are the pièce de résistance.

Resembling bijou personal spas, these warm wooden enclaves pay homage to Japan’s love of bathing by way of deep circular baths, accompanied by products that change seasonally to showcase different combinations of herbs and florals.

Given that all guests rooms are located on floors 47-50 of Toranomon Hills, pretty much ► 82 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

everyone is guaranteed sensational views. Pick a room on the south for vistas of Tokyo Tower or the north for Tokyo Skytree. During late afternoons and sunset, the dramatically bright red-lit Tokyo Tower really appears to be ablaze.

As is standard in all Andaz properties globally, non-alcoholic beverages and minibar snacks are free, and rooms are also equipped with handheld devices enabled for local calls and Google Maps that guests are encouraged to take with them when leaving the hotel. In a pricey city like Tokyo, these are welcome perks.

Occupying roughly half of the hotel’s 51st floor, The Tavern Grill & Lounge is very much Andaz Tokyo’s beating heart. An entire side of the venue is spanned by full height windows, providing patrons with unobstructed city sight lines as far as the eye can see, creating a feeling of floating on top of the world. The most incredible array of light installations hang from the ceilings, like giant ribbons and star constellations. All day dining is on one side of the venue, while the lounge and bar occupy the centre and opposite side. The daily breakfast buffet is lavish by international standards, complete with separate Japanese and Western food stations alongside the usual bakery and juice offerings. A curated range of simple yet beautiful Japanese ceramics are used throughout the venue, deftly showcasing one of the nation’s oldest crafts and art forms.

In the evenings, the tavern’s menu taps into the culinary concept of yukimuro, a 200-yearold technique of snow-aging food, employed in the wintry region of Niigata, which involves preserving food under snow to enhance its flavours and textures. The signature dish of 25-day Hokkaido snow-aged sirloin, served with snow-aged garlic mash and homemade sauces, is an absolute must if dining at The Tavern Grill.

After dinner, move across to the Tavern Lounge for a relaxed digestif to a backdrop of live music, or head upstairs to the hotel’s buzzing Rooftop Bar, which is very much part of the city’s hip nightlife scene. Here, on the 52nd floor, visitors and residents alike enjoy spectacular night views of Tokyo Bay and Odaiba, in a sophisticated semi-open-air environment, whilst sipping innovative cocktails crafted by a bevy of experienced mixologists using local seasonal ingredients. Also on the 52nd floor, just behind the bar, skilled chefs serve an authentic Omakase experience at intimate eight-seat restaurant SUSHI. And for those who want to grab a quick meal, ground floor BeBu Café & Bar serves an excellent classic burger accompanied by a good range of modern Japanese beers. BeBu’s happy hour is also popular and fun for a predinner aperitif before heading out on the town.

Andaz Tokyo’s AO Spa & Club on the 37th floor may not be at the top of the hotel, but its white, minimalist décor and apothecary theme gives the space a distinctly heavenly feel. A full range of personalised treatments, based on combining Japan’s purest ingredients and seasonal herbs and fruits with the latest spa techniques, ensure that guests emerge this urban retreat utterly rejuvenated. And the spa’s elegantly designed centrepiece 20-metre pool is the perfect place to relax after a hectic day on Tokyo’s streets.

Globally acclaimed New York-based designer Tony Chi has created a sumptuous palace-inthe-sky in Andaz Tokyo, combining the best of Japanese design influences with sufficient cute and grand embellishments to keep even a well-travelled guest entranced for days. However, it is the relaxed vibe of the Andaz brand, complemented by high Japanese service levels and a warm welcoming spirit that make Andaz Tokyo standout. If you’re looking for a contemporary design-led hotel juxtaposed with some fun, be sure to stay at Andaz Tokyo when visiting the Japanese capital. tokyo.andaz.hyatt.com Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 85

SEE TOKYO SKYTREE In a city of superlatives, it makes sense that Tokyo is home to one of the world’s tallest towers, surpassed only by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. Completed in 2012 and standing at a height of 634 metres, upon completion, Tokyo Skytree immediately became one of Japan’s (and indeed Asia’s0 most recognisable landmarks. To say that Tokyo Skytree soars above the capital would be an understatement.

Think the Eiffel Tower on steroids. Its red lattice work emerging ever higher Japanese temple style is identifiable from across town. Choose a clear day with good visibility for your visit and the rewards will be immeasurable. The unfathomable scale of one of the largest cities in the world, with skyscrapers and urban sprawl as far as the eye can see, really reveals itself from the tower’s two observation decks, one of which is glass-bottomed, thus offering another jaw-dropping (and for some terrifying) view of the Japanese capital. And nothing can really describe the feeling of gazing upon snow-capped Mount Fuji from the top of Tokyo Skytree. www.tokyo-skytree.jp

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TOKYO NATIONAL MUSEUM Arguably Japan’s most important cultural institution, Tokyo National Museum showcases the very best of Japanese art and crafts. Exquisite ceramics, Samurai swords, kimonos and woodblock prints compete with Buddhist art and Japanese prehistoric artifacts to tell the history of Japanese civilisation via art. It is a sprawling museum. The showcase Honkan Japanese Gallery can be covered in a few hours, or a whole day can be spent immersing oneself in the full spectrum of Japanese and wider Asian art on display.

The permanent collections are augmented by regularly scheduled temporary exhibitions, almost always of the highest calibre. The gift shop and garden terrace restaurant (the latter managed by esteemed Okura Hotel) are excellent. The museum also has an immaculately presented Japanese garden, complete with a number of traditional teahouses transplanted from various parts of the country.

The garden and teahouses are only open twice yearly, for a few weeks in Spring during cherry blossom season and again in Autumn when maple trees turn brilliant shades of orange and ginkgo trees turn yellow. www.tnm.jp

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MEIJI JINGŪ Although not an old temple, Tokyo’s most important Shinto shrine oozes atmosphere and reverence and seeing Meiji Jing� allows visitors to connect two of the most important facets of Japanese tradition and culture. The shrine celebrates the Emperor Meiji who ruled from 1868-1912 and is credited with transforming feudal Japan into a modern state. Meanwhile, Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan that places emphasis on nature and the spirit world.

The approach to the main shrine is a pure delight - a long winding path amidst woods and a series of gigantic wooden torii (Japan’s classic gates).

The grounds are sprawling and include 120,000 trees collected from all parts of Japan, making Meiji Jing� an ideal place to escape from Tokyo’s concrete jungle, and an interesting alternative to the youth fashion culture of Harajuku, the area in which the shrine is located. Of the surrounding grounds, only Meiji Jingu Gyoen (the inner gardens) are open to the public and are particularly spectacular in June when the irises are in bloom. www.meijijingu.or.jp NEZU MUSEUM If you prefer your museum experiences to be more intimate and serene then head to excellently curated Nezu Museum. Located in Minato districts, not far from Omotesand�, a visit to Nezu Museum can be slotted into most Tokyo itineraries. Walking the museum’s enchanting black stone entrance path, bordered by a wall of live bamboo on one side and canes on the other, is to be transported into another world (pictured).

The museum contains a world-renowned private collection of Japanese, Chinese and Korean art and antiquities. While the permanent collection - including lacquer ware, textiles, hanging scrolls and ceramics - is breathtaking, the building itself, designed by acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, is also stunning, and one of best examples of modern Japanese design in the city. The museum’s garden is widely regarded as one of the country’s hidden gems.

Decorative and fine arts are intrinsic parts of Japanese culture and Nezu Museum embodies this, inside and out. NEZUCAFÉ, situated in a glass box within the garden, is an excellent place to take a coffee break during a busy day of sightseeing. www.nezu-muse.or.jp 90 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

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SHIBUYA CROSSING Imagine New York’s Times Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus combined and magnified and you still won’t come close to fathoming the scale of Shibuya Crossing, reputed to be the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world. Nothing screams modern Tokyo and celebrates the rat race of urban commuting more than Shibuya Crossing, also known as the “Scramble”. The end of the work day and dusk are when the intersection is at its busiest and the neon lights begin to dazzle.

A second-floor Starbucks close-by provides an optimal (but usally crowded) vantage point. The crossing can also be viewed from the secondfloor windows of adjoining Shibuya train station.

Whilst the visual experience is mad, there is order in the chaos and an unexpected beauty in the crowds of people waiting and feverishly crossing Shibuya from a myriad of directions. At exit 8 of Shibuya Station you will find the bronze statue of famous dog Hachiko, who lived during the 1920s and would everyday return to Shibuya Station to wait for his owner, Professor Ueno, to come home from work, even after his owner died. https://trulytokyo.com/shibuya-crossing SHIMOKITAZAWA To the west of central Tokyo, the neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa offers a more down to earth and bohemian alternative to affluent Ginza and Aoyama, and the better-known shopping and entertainment districts of Shibuya and Harajuku.

Also known as Shimokita, the area is a centre for hipster Tokyo, a poster child for urban modern cool and the traditional haunt of artists, musicians and other creative types. Narrow streets of lowrise buildings abound with indie music venues, vintage shops and inviting coffee shops, and it’s an excellent place to sample casual tapas-style izakaya cuisine in a typical Japanese pub. Though Shimokita’s origins are quintessentially hippie, the neighbourhood is evolving into one of the most desirable areas for young Tokyo-ites to live, especially in the northern part which is more mellow and laid back. The south of Shimokita is altogether more boisterous. The almost car free and semi-pedestrianised streets adds to the neighbourhood’s appeal. If you fancy discovering a more laid back, alternative and earthy Tokyo, a little off the tourist trail, check out Shimokita. https://trulytokyo.com/shimokitazawa Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 93

TOKYO TASTE

NARISAWA SUSHI BAR YASUDA TEMPURA MIKAWA KAMACHIKU QUINTESSENCE KIKI HARAJUKU

NARISAWA Depending on the viewpoint, Narisawa is either amongst the 50 best restaurants in Asia or the world. So whichever way you look at it, Narisawa is close to the top of culinary Tokyo, a city that has more Michelin stars than any other. Chef Yoshihiro Narisawa is known as a pioneer in the world of contemporary Japanese cooking. Not afraid to change the rules and make last minute additions to or omissions from the menu if the ingredients are not fresh enough, Narisawa’s passion lies in sustainable gastronomy and conscientious cooking. Long before farm to table was a thing, Narisawa prided itself on organic meats, the freshest seafood and produce only from closely curated sources. The cuisine is creative, and draws inspiration from the forest, mountains and remote seas and bays that make up the Japanese archipelago.

Two Michelin stars and limited seating of roughly twenty ensures that advance booking of weeks but more like months is a must. www.narisawa-yoshihiro.com SUSHI BAR YASUDA If you dream of eating the best sushi in Japan in a relaxed setting with the master chef preparing your food in full view, then this your place. Chef Naomichi Yasuda, founder, owner and sushi chef behind the revered Sushi Yasuda in New York, left the Big Apple in 2011 after two decades of serving the city’s demanding gourmands, and moved back to Japan to open a bijou restaurant in South Aoyama – one of Tokyo’s wealthiest neighbourhoods. Still known as the cowboy of the Tokyo sushi world, a world that can be overly bound by traditions and seriousness, reservations are essential to dine at Yasuda’s Tokyo venue, and you will probably need to book months in advance. As is typical, the menu choice is either omakase (chef’s choice) or an assortment of sushi.

In Japan, every few months brings a new season, with seafood and menus changing accordingly. But, for true sushi connoisseurs, the key is not only the fish but the rice.

Yasuda prides himself on serving his sushi with the most meticulously sourced and prepared rice. www.sushibaryasuda.com 96 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

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KAMCHIKU

KAMCHIKU

TEMPURA MIKAWA Located in upscale Roppongi Hills and therefore convenient to the Mori Art Museum, the 57 story Mori Tower observation deck and a multitude of high-end stores, Tempura Mikawa is a 22-seat tempura house discreetly located on the second oor of a residential building behind an unmarked sliding wooden door.

A mural of blue birds on a gold background covers an entire wall and dominates the intimate space, which is made up of mostly counter seats and a few tables in the back.

There is also a private tatami room. The elegant, understated yet warm and inviting dÊcor makes you feel like you’ve just stepped back in time into a secret culinary world. The tempura, among the best in Tokyo, is fresh and refined (which in the world of tempura means light and not oily) and the menu is based on the fish and vegetables that were local to the Edo area a century ago and before, adding some authority to the dining experience. Welcoming, helpful and jovial staff make customers want to return again and again. Reservations essential.

3-4-7 Nihonbashi Kayabacho, Tokyo 103-0025. Tel 03-3423-8100 KAMACHIKU Kamachiku is a beautiful and charming restaurant specializing in udon noodles near enough to Ueno Park and the museums to make it the perfect place for a well-deserved lunch break when hunger sets in after a long morning of culture! Set in a lovingly restored century-old red brick warehouse with a modern glass box extension, this restaurant scores as high on design as it does for the food. Add its landscaped Japanese courtyard garden by the entrance and the package is complete. There are basically two main items on the menu - hot udon pulled from the pot with dipping sauces, and cold udon topped with shredded seaweed. An assortment of izakaya (tapas-like small dishes) are also on offer. You will not leave hungry. Although Kamachiku has already achieved a Bib Gourmand classification, rumour has it that will be the first udon restaurant in Tokyo to earn a Michelin star. Lunch or early dinner are the best times to visit in order to best appreciate the garden. www.kamachiku.com Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 99

QUINTESSENCE Tokyo equally excels at non-Japanese cuisine.

Quintessence is a three Michelin-starred establishment focusing on contemporary French cuisine. It has a reputation for serving some of the best French food outside of France. Chef Shuzo Kishida adds lighter seasoning and focusses more on the natural flavours of the ingredients, relative to traditional French cooking. The menu changes seasonally and even day-to-day dependent upon the freshness of what is available. The restaurant’s devotion to perfection in the sourcing of ingredients, the slow cooking process, food presentation and the service could only happen in Japan. A set tasting menu offers seven courses at lunch and thirteen at dinner. And whilst this is proper fine dining where the food is the star, the atmosphere is professional and polished without being stiff. Quintessence is about indulging in truly inventive yet flawless cuisine produced by a chef at the top of his game. Reservations are available two months in advance. www.quintessence.jp KIKI HARAJUKU This casual bistro turns out delicious and hearty fare a stone’s throw from the weekend fashion parade and daily bustle that is Harajuku, Head chef and owner Yuki Noda trained at Paris’ venerable Le Taillevent before opening Kiki in 2011. His goal was to serve great food in a relaxed setting with accessible prices that would appeal to a younger clientele. Unabashedly, Noda sticks to French bistro classics fused with some Japanese elements. Think fig temours and wagyu steak frites followed by passion fruit tiramisu. The food is fussy enough to warrant a visit but casual enough to feel like a neighborhood gem. What’s standout about Kiki is its refreshingly normality. The setting is warm and friendly while offering good value for money, and it’s a cool place to decamp after a half day of shopping and people watching in Harajuku, Japan’s frenetic capital of youth culture and fashion. www.kikioishi.com 100 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

QUINTESSENCE

KIKI HARAJUKU

KIKI HARAJUKU

TOKYO SIP

SAKE SCENE MASUFUKU HIGASHIYA GINZA GEN YAMAMOTO TRUNK LOUNGE NEW YORK BAR CHATEI HATOU

NEW YORK BAR Forever immortalized in the movie Lost in Translation, New York Bar, which sits on the 52nd floor of Park Hyatt Tokyo, is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best rooftop bars. Dark wood, walnut floors and ebony chairs set the stage in the sultry space which is elegant and classy. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide a show-stopping backdrop of the bright lights and big city theatricality of Shinjuku skyline at night. In a nod to its namesake, there are two murals that add massive splashes of colour - one of Radio City Music Hall and the other of Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room. The bar excels at classic cocktails and boasts some of the city’s best mixologists as well as the largest selection of American wines in Japan.

Interesting concoction “L.I.T.” (Lost in Translation) is the bar’s signature cocktail, and comprises sake, sakura liqueur, cranberry juice and peach schnapps.

There is nightly live entertainment, usually jazz, and food can be ordered from adjacent New York Grill.

Cosmopolitan and chic, New York Bar is a true Tokyo classic. www.restaurants.tokyo.park.hyatt.co.jp

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 105

GEN YAMAMOTO This intimate (read tiny) watering hole is an island of calm amidst the bustle of glitzy Roppongi district.

The bar counter is carved out of a 500-year old Mizunara oak tree. Apart from this, there is barely any decoration. Yamamoto, the white jacketed owner/ bartender serves the eight patrons himself. This is a cocktail bar on another level. Omakase - the style of ordering food whereby the chef chooses for you - is widely accepted as the norm in sushi and tempura restaurants. Here is reinterpreted in a cocktail bar. At Yamamoto, you decide whether you want four or six drinks and then the bartender decides what to make based on fruits and herbs in season. Prunes and pears from the northern island of Hokaido, chestnuts from Ibaraki and physalis from the mountains of Nagano were some of the ingredients used when The Cultured Traveller visited. Drinks are served in exquisite custom-made glassware. Whilst the glass sizes are much smaller than a normal bar, after four or six cocktails you will not want more. If you’re a cocktail junky this unique experience is not to be missed Reservations are essential. www.genyamamoto.jp

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 107

SAKE SCENE MASUFUKU It would be a crime to visit Tokyo and not investigate the world of sake. Opened in 2016 down a narrow alleyway in Minato-ku, this chic watering hole has set the bar for a contemporary and stylish sake experience. The norm for Tokyo bars and restaurants is a discreet, almost invisible entrance. Not at Sake Scene, which boasts an oversized square window jutting out onto the sidewalk. Owner and hostess Yukari Yanaba greets guests wearing a kimono and practices the best omotenashi - the Japanese art of hospitality. Every detail of the pared back Japanese interior of whites, creams and wood tones, from the light fixtures to the sake cups, has been carefully thought through. A French, Japanese and pan Asian-inspired Ă la carte and set food menu accompanies the sake, which is sourced from smaller producers all over Japan. The 60 odd varieties are displayed like trophies behind the bar.

Advance booking is essential. www.sakescene.com

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 109

TRUNK LOUNGE Although the scene is slowly changing, trendy and hip boutique hotels are practically non-existent in the Japanese capital. Located in the heart of vibrant and cosmopolitan Shibuya, Trunk is not only Tokyo’s coolest boutique hotel, but also a local community hub for creative types and urban trendsetters, and its bar/ lounge is an inviting and buzzy space that seamlessly flows from day to nighttime. It is the perfect place to have a coffee, hold an informal meeting, meet friends pre-dinner, catch up on emails or simply watch the world go by. Post work unwind with some drinks and watch the place move up a notch and get a little crazy. Trunk regularly hosts parties and DJs spin. The cocktails are great, the furniture is über comfortable and the crowd is dynamic. The adjacent Kitchen which serves health conscious Japanese and Western dishes is equally inviting.

Need we say more? www.trunk-hotel.com/lounge

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 111

HIGASHIYA GINZA Higashiya is an elegant and upscale tea house and confectioners located on Ginza’s main avenue. It is the ideal place to decamp to after hours of ginbura, which specifically means roaming the streets of Ginza.

Higashiya offers a modern and classy interpretation of the Japanese tea ceremony, with an extensive menu offering many options and combinations to sample teas. The tea salon seats 40 and also serves alcohol should you fancy partaking of something stronger.

Higashiya’s confectionary is renowned throughout the city for its taste and exquisite presentation. In addition to tea and sweets, a gorgeous selection of tableware products is available to purchase. A Tokyo institution and veritable masterclass in the Japanese take on afternoon tea, Higashiya is worth visit for the design alone, which is calm, warm and harmonious whilst being sleek and modern. www.higashiya.com

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 113

CHATEI HATOU Mere moments but a world away from the bustle and chaos of Shibuya, Chatei Hatou is a true refuge.

Serving meticulously prepared slow drip coffee in a deeply calm and nourishing setting, this is a place to leave modern, busy Tokyo behind and surrender to the slow lane for an hour or two. And “slow” is the operative word, because it often takes up to ten minutes to prepare and serve one good cup of coffee.

Upon ordering, aged coffee beans are grinded, and the process of slowly adding hot water to the dry coffee which sits on a cloth filter begins, results in a perfect cup unfolding like a flower bud coming into bloom. To watch this all taking place is mesmerising and verging on meditation. Classical music and earthy wood textures complete the relaxed scene. The The Japanese can make an art form out of pretty much anything. At Chatei Hatou that art form is coffee. Avoid weekend afternoons which are busier and a tad less serene!

1 Chome-15-19 Shibuya, Shibuya, Tokyo. Facebook

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 115

TOKYO SPEND

DAIKANAYAMA T-SITE COMME DES GARÇONS AOYAMA SQUARE ISETAN FALINE ITOYA

PRADA AOYAMA, TOKYO

AOYAMA SQUARE

COMME DES GARÇONS

SPEND

AOYAMA SQUARE

AOYAMA SQUARE Supported by the Ministry of Economy, Aoyama Square is a showroom and retail store that showcases a wide range of traditional craft items that changes seasonally and is updated when new producers are added. It’s a great place to find beautifully made items at different price points ranging from pottery to textiles to lacquerware. Edo cut glass sake glasses are beautiful and easy transport. Guest artisans also appear on a regular basis to demonstrate and explain the intricacies of their work. To be represented at Aoyama Square, vendors’ products must be mostly by hand using traditional materials.

Another requirement is that merchandise be for practical, everyday use – so think bowls, trays, utensils and soft furnishings.

Whilst not necessarily the place to find bargains, a visit to Aoyama Square is an excellent choice to purchase quality gifts and souvenirs. www.kougeihin.jp

COMME DES GARÇONS, AOYAMA Long before fashion, art and pop culture became a thing, founder of Comme des Garçons, Rei Kawabuko, and head designer Junya Watanabe, hurtled fashion towards the 21st century with a gender transcending and post-modern sensibility that is provocative yet at the same eminently wearable.

Monochrome and minimalist designs share the stage with riots of color and fantasy. Over decades, the brand has achieved near cult status and is known for collaborations. Entire collections often sell-out within weeks.

Comme des Garçons’ flagship store in Aoyama (Tokyo’s elite fashion district) is not dissimilar to a set of futuristic space capsules in which the clothes are displayed like art.

Even if luxury shopping is not in your budget, a visit to Aoyama, with one architectural and design marvel after another, showcasing all the luxury brands, is eye-catching, inspiring and a lovely way to spend a few hours. www.comme-des-garcons.com COMME DES GARÇONS

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 119

ITOYA, GINZA Washi is Japanese fine handmade paper, often decorated by hand or exquisitely printed. Itoya is a nine-storey, century-old Ginza institution that retails all things stationary related. Greetings cards, notebooks, wrapping paper, compact storage boxes, fountain pens, pencils, agendas and paints are all to be found at Itoya. This is Japanese fine attention to detail, simplicity and beauty at its best. Though Itoya has outposts all over Tokyo and one in Osaka, head to the Ginza flagship for a full indoctrination into this beguiling world. But restrict yourself to a fixed amount of time in the store because once inside it’s not easy to leave. An excellent onsite café, Stylo, plus a number of English-speaking staff add to Itoya’s enduring appeal. www.ito-ya.co.jp

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 121

ISETAN, SHINJUKU The Japanese love to shop and Tokyo has some of the most impressive department stores on the planet.

Isetan is perhaps the highest end of Japan’s larger store formats, akin to New York’s Bergdorf Goodman and London’s Harrods, and is known for being fashion forward and sophisticated. The Shinjuku flagship boasts an excellent selection of Japanese and Western designers. Crucially for Western shoppers, Isetan stocks larger sizes and has staff that speak English.

Also known for is seasonally changing window displays, a visit to Isetan is a visual feast in every way. The depachika (or food bazaar) in the basement is alone worthy of seeing. Including sections for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Western prepared foods, the variety and displays are overwhelmingly beautiful. You’ll think you’re in food heaven. Sunset tea and treats at Isetan Shinjuku’s roof garden is a divine experience. www.isetan.mistore.jp

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 123

DAIKANAYAMA T-SITE To call Daikanyama T-Site a book store would be like calling Apple a computer company. The ‘T’ in T-Site refers to Tsutaya, Japan’s leading book, music and movie retail giant. Spanning three architecturally award-winning low-rise buildings in increasingly fashionable Daikanyama neighbourhood, this veritable campus is a temple dedicated to books, magazines, DVDs, music and much more. The selection is combed from around the world and includes rare and vintage examples.

Add to this a specialist camera shop, a pet store and a retail bicycle outlet and Daikanyama T-Site reveals itself as an eclectic destination for Tokyo’s trendsetting sophisticates. Patrons are encouraged to linger in the various lounge spaces and dive into a recently purchased or borrowed publication.

Cocktails are even served in the inviting Anjin Lounge upstairs. www.tsite.jp/daikanayma

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 125

FALINE If you or someone you know wants to channel their inner teenage girl, head to Faline in Harajuku, the heart of youth culture and street fashion. This iconic Tokyo boutique may be pint sized but it packs a lot of punch.

Beloved by locals, Faline has styled the likes of Bjork, Katy Perry and Paloma Faith. Kawaii is a Japanese term which refers to cartoon character-like cuteness. Harajuku and Faline are kawaii embodied. Faline refers to Bambi’s doe-eyed love interest from the Disney film.

Aw, how cute! But cuteness is only one aspect of the Harajuku look. Getting noticed is the other. So, dive head first into this genie bottle of pinkness, and allow Faline’s owner Baby Mama to accessorise you. Then join the kawaii parade on Takeshita-dori Harajuku’s main kawaii fashion area. You’re sure to be noticed there! www.faline.tokyo

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 127

MEVLÂNA FESTIVAL

Turkey’s famous whirling dervishes are famous the world over, and the country’s annual Mevlâna ceremony attracts more than 100,000 visitors to the Anatolian city of Konya to commemorate the death of 13th-century Sufi poet, Mevlâna Celaleddin-I Rumi 10-18 December 2018

The Presidential Suite Raffles Europejski Warsaw

Nicholas Chrisostomou spends a long weekend getting acquainted with the Polish capital from the decadent surroundings of the country’s most opulent accommodation: The Presidential Suite at RAFFLES EUROPEJSKI WARSAW

E

very cultured traveller, discerning globetrotter and hospitality professional knows the Raffles story. I mean, who hasn’t visited Singapore’s famous Long Bar to sip on a Sling, nibble on monkey nuts and drop the shells on the floor?! The famous cocktail was developed at historic Raffles Singapore in 1915 by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon, and has since become an inherent part of the hotel’s rich heritage. More than a century later and the tradition is now a must-do for any seasoned traveller visiting the Southeast Asian island city state, and the Singapore Sling has become a firm fixture on every decent cocktail list around the world. But, successfully combining 21st century accommodations, modern technology and contemporary detailing with the historic 130-year-old Raffles brand, to create a new cutting-edge luxury hotel offering to satisfy the needs of today’s pampered travellers, is another prospect entirely.

And appropriately honouring Raffles’ heritage while propelling the premium luxury brand into the future is no mean feat.

Mid-2016, AccorHotels spent US$3 billion to purchase Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI), the Toronto-based parent company of the Fairmont, Swissôtel and Raffles brands. The move instantly positioned Accor as a leading player in the luxury hotel market, made it the largest hotel

group in the world (outside the States), and prompted it to form a standalone luxury brands group which incorporates Sofitel Legend, SO/ and MGallery as well as FRHI’s brands, amongst others.

Operating independently within Accor to ensure that the hotel group delivers the personalised experiences, top-end services and luxury levels that today’s discerning travellers expect, has enabled Accor’s LUXE division to focus on and grow its luxury brands with exacting detail. If the first new Raffles property to open since Accor purchased FRHI is anything to go by, luxury hotels have just entered another dimension and Accor is in the driving seat.

It is very rare that the top-to-toe renovation of any hotel genuinely returns a once shining hospitality grand dame to its former glory without sacrificing something. Be it the building’s history, super-luxe touches, modern conveniences or sprawling facilities, something is usually lost in the renovation process which renders the reincarnated hotel slightly less than perfect. However, when a renovation is a resounding success and careful attention to detail has been paid, hospitality classics are reborn for generations to come and true hotel greatness is achieved. In recent years this can be said of London’s Savoy, The Peninsula Paris and Rosewood’s spectacular transformation of ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 133

Hôtel de Crillon. After my stay at what is undoubtedly Poland’s most sumptuous hotel today, Raffles Europejski Warsaw firmly belongs on the very same esteemed list.

Rarely does one visit a landmark hotel which not only satisfies all the usual requirements of a fivestar grand dame but also pleases the eye and provokes the mind, complete with a historic pedigree dating to the mid-19th century carefully woven through the property. Proudly Polish Raffles Europejski Warsaw - which re-opened its glamorous doors this summer after a painstaking fouryear refurb - achieves all of this and more, thanks to the skilled work of Warsaw-based architects WWAA working with National Opera House stage designer Boris Kudlicka and architects APA Wojciechowski, all under the close supervision of Warsaw’s Conservator of Historic Buildings.

Originally opened in 1857 as Hotel Europejski and occupying a beautiful Enrico Marconi¬-designed neo-Renaissance palace, back in the day this grand edifice on Warsaw’s Royal Route was the favoured hangout of the city’s elite, attracting artists and luminaries from around the world, for, amongst other things, piano recitals in the vaulted-ceilinged Pompejanska Room. The same spectacular room is now a central part of Raffles Europejski Warsaw’s Presidential Suite, the hotel’s

crowning accommodation. It was to the spend the weekend in this historic suite that I travelled to Poland, although not before seeing the rest of the stunning 106-room property, whose new-found grace, poise and tranquillity have seemingly captivated today’s movers and shakers in Warsaw.

The amalgamation of modern art and classic architecture in any building can totally transform a space, and extend the reach of artworks way beyond where they’re displayed. Nowhere is this more evident than Raffles Europejski Warsaw, where the hotel’s lovingly curated collection of some 500 pieces of modern and contemporary Polish art not only accentuates the historic building, but also imbues it with an overriding sense of vitality, aptly at the beginning of its new lease of life.

The massive building’s classic exterior façades, complete with typically Polish rounded corners, modest columned portico and relatively unpretentious entrance, give little clue as to the hotel’s glamorous interior. But, once inside, it is immediately obvious that Raffles Europejski Warsaw is a rather special hotel.

An elegantly civilised street-level entrance foyer, peppered with custom-designed furnishings ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 135

and lighting, is where guests first encounter the hotel’s art collection, in the form of Włodzimierz Jan Zakrzewski’s futuristic bent neon light installation “Borders”, which pays homage to Poland’s changed land borders over the years. A few steps up, and guests find themselves on a long, striped carpet by Leon Tarasewicz, and beneath a dramatic, lengthy ceiling installation made up of an undulating series of 160 large hand-blown glass pebbles by Filip Houdek, each of which signifies a year of the building’s life. Opposite the main entrance is a 1960s chandelier re-imagined as an illuminated and wall-mounted mirrored kaleidoscope. Leon Tarasewicz also painted the twenty striking striped panels which line one side of a corridor that glamorously leads the way to the hotel’s main restaurant, and are dramatically reflected in a wall of smoked mirrored glass. It is these statement pieces and more on the ground floor which set the contemporary artistic tone that permeates the entire building, and make an emphatic super-styled hotel design statement which is utterly unique in Eastern Europe.

Works by many of Poland’s other top artists are also included in the hotel’s collection, including black and white photography by avant-garde legend Tadeusz Kantor and work by Turner Prize nominee Goshka Macuga, and every guest room - from entry level through to the largest suite -

LONG BAR

features pieces of original art. Where befitting, art pieces from the building’s previous life have also been restored and incorporated in the new hotel, such as the delightful 1961 “Abduction of Europa” mosaic by Krystyna Kozłowska, which now adorns a wall of the reception area of the excellent onsite Raffles Spa. Every piece of art in the property is catalogued in a book dedicated to the collection, which is presided over by the hotel’s knowledgeable full-time art concierge, who also gives guided tours ranging from an hour to half a day. The various facets of the collection are indeed fascinating, and a day can easily be spent soaking it all in, together with the hotel’s four “Memory Rooms”, located in different parts of the building, each of which provides a different curated snapshot of a piece of the property’s past.

Art also features heavily in the hotel’s food and beverage venues, which were fashioned by renowned Spanish designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán. In Europejski Grill, bold blue and white pottery, characteristic of Poland’s artisans, decorates the walls. Meanwhile, Warsaw’s very own Long Bar is presided over by a giant, wall-mounted Jaroslaw Fliciński ceramic piece, “Blessed Relief”, ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 137

which stretches for many metres above the bottles lining the back bar.

Located in a corner of the building and at just over 270sqm, the hotel’s Presidential Suite is the very best that Raffles Europejski Warsaw has to offer, and affords its lucky inhabitants sweeping views up and down the Royal Route.

Entering the room - via a single, unobtrusive door set behind the suite’s high-backed private bar - is a WOW moment if ever there was one. An unabashedly flash and OTT space, I was instantly transported to a decadent world of 21st century luxury in a historical setting brimming with beautiful, modern design at every turn. The hotel’s designers truly excelled themselves in fashioning its Presidential Suite, and the overall effect is nothing short of spectacular.

Soaring ceilings dominated by a pair of mammoth crystal chandeliers share centre stage in the former Pompejanska Room with an authentic, fully restored 19th century Budynowicz concert grand piano, which pays homage to the recitals that took place in that very same place many decades earlier. Yet, despite its size, the piano doesn’t look at all large at one end of the enormous room.

At the other end, a stunning bar and high stools are poised for a mixologist to entertain guests, enclosed by high, curved, glass-fronted cabinets containing a variety of hand-cut crystal glassware of all shapes and sizes, together with coloured antique decanters, vases and jugs.

A pair of vast curved sofas imitate the gently curving contours of the room, accessorised with contemporary armchairs, occasional tables and countless other pieces of custom-made furniture liberally positioned throughout.

Off one side of the open-plan main room is a dining area dominated by a huge marble table and leather armchairs, above which hangs a modern interpretation of a chandelier, skilfully juxtaposing modern lighting with the vintage crystal chandeliers in the adjacent space. Directly opposite and off the other side of the main room is a beautiful dark wood desk, large enough for even the most egotistical of CEO’s, behind which tall bookcases line the walls filled with hardbacks, vintage vases and objets d’art. In fact, gorgeous objects are generously scattered around the entire suite, taking the edge of what might otherwise have been a less welcoming space, for, despite its mammoth size, this is not solely a showpiece suite. Rather, it is a lavish ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 139

place to sit, relax, read, eat and enjoy, and gather with friends over a cocktail or two.

At the centre of a dark wood-lined blacked oak floored study, sits an ink blue velvet two-seater couch, above which a stunning abstract piece by Symon Szewczyk hangs. Not dissimilar to a bijou gentlemen’s club, this room provides a more intimate space to curl up with a book or catch the day’s news on one of the suite’s four screens. In this part of the suite, a warm palette of muted pastels and gold accents prevails, which is in stark contrast to the bright whites of the main entertaining spaces. From the study, a corridor leads to the main bathroom and master bedroom, both of which are luxurious but modest compared to the rest of the suite’s vast proportions.

A glitzy, dimly-lit guest powder room, and a sleek black half-kitchen (which can be accessed by butlers via a separate entrance so as not to disturb the suite’s inhabitants) complete the Presidential Suite’s generous collection of interconnected rooms and entertaining spaces.

Further rooms can be added via a connected lobby to enlarge the suite to two or three bedrooms.

On a trajectory to fast becoming the new Prague, Accor has stolen a march on its competitors by opening what is undoubtedly the most lavish hotel in Poland, in a prime Warsaw location, crowned by a Presidential Suite which must surely be the finest suite in the land.

Raffles Europejski Warsaw has not only introduced unadulterated 21st century luxury to the Polish capital, but also a standout modern art collection, first class food and beverage venues and a sumptuous spa, not to mention butlers for the first time in Poland. But, most importantly, this completely rejuvenated grande dame of the Warsaw hospitality scene has set an incredibly high new bar which will be difficult for any other hotel to reach. Herein lies Raffles Europejski Warsaw’s finest achievement, and the key to its success in decades to come.

Nicholas Chrisostomou stayed in the Presidential Suite at Raffles Europejski Warsaw in October 2018. The year-round nightly rate for the suite is PLN18,360 including breakfast for two and airport transportation. www.raffles.com/warsaw Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 141

ATI-ATIHAN

Believed to be around 800 years old, the Filipino fiesta of Ati-Atihan is an enthralling festival of constant movement, drumming and feasting, not to mention a non-stop riot of exhibitionism, costume, music and dance 1-20 January 2019

MARTIN JONES INDULGES IN SOME LONG HAUL LUXURY, IN A SPACIOUS SINGAPORE AIRLINES AIRBUS A380 FIRST CLASS SUITE

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he battle for commercial first class supremacy in the skies has never been greater. Every premium carrier either regularly unveils revamped business and first cabins, or introduces new way to provide on-board luxury, in a constant battle to attract premium passengers who prefer to splurge on first class tickets and be pampered to spa-like standards, rather than pool their resources and go private.

Currently, Etihad Airways almost certainly offers the most opulent commercial experience in the skies. Only found aboard the airline’s A380s and located at the front of the first class cabin, The

Residence offers private, boutique three-room apartment-like accommodation, including a private shower room, a personal butler and Bentley transfers at each end of the flight. But, as you’d expect, The Residence is bloody expensive. A oneway ticket from Abu Dhabi to New York will set you back around USD30k, and The Residence is only available on a limited number of Etihad routes.

Regarded by many as one of the world’s best carriers, Singapore Airlines took its refined reputation to new heights, when it unveiled its new First Class Suites in November 2017, as part of a redesign of all cabins aboard

its Airbus A380s. Each double decker has just six of these private sanctuaries, located in the front cabin of the upper deck.

Singapore Airlines’ First Class Suites are 50sq ft which is a lot of space by in-flight standards - and boast a leather armchair and separate bed. Akin to a bijou lounge, they also have a closing door. For those travelling with a companion, the first two suites can be combined into a double suite, offering a larger bed and double the amount of space.

My first class experience began the moment I entered the aircraft and presented my boarding pass. A genuine welcome and smile came from

every attendant I came in contact with, and a personal escort to my suite immediately gave me the distinct feeling that ‘I’m going to enjoy this’.

Decked-out in a calming and neutral colour palette of beige and light grey, the first class cabin felt warm, stylish and elegant, not to mention exclusive.

The first glimpse of my private onboard sanctuary was truly a WOW moment. Singapore Airlines has undoubtedly re-defined luxury air travel.

Separated from the aisle by sliding doors and surrounded by high walls to ensure privacy, all suites are identical in their decor and design, having been conceived as hotel rooms. ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 147

A prompt familiarisation tour of my suite revealed many more amenities and features than I had expected. Each suite is furnished with a halfmetre-wide seat and a separate folding bed, thus enabling you to lounge in the chair or rest in the bed without the need to convert the bed from a sitting position. Onboard a plane, this takes some getting used to! The amply-sized foldout meal table is concealed in a side ledge.

The armchair is upholstered in premium Poltrona Frau leather - a renowned, Italian furniture maker, which also boasts Ferrari and Maserati among its clients. The reclining, super-comfy chair was the epitome of comfort, and was fully

adjustable to provide a variety of sitting and lounging positions. It also swivelled towards the windows or into the suite. The option to sit and look where I wanted was a luxury in itself.

All of the suite’s features are controlled by a handset in the armrest, an electronic side panel and a tablet by the windows. A large 32� HD touchscreen monitor can be swivelled depending on where the passenger wants to watch the TV from.

Within minutes I was offered Krug Vintage (2004) or Dom Perignon Brut (2009). My glass of Krug was poured professionally, with

a smile, and refilled as often as I wanted.

KrisWorld - Singapore Airlines’ inflight movie and programme system - is of course the same in all classes, and is without a doubt one of the best entertainment offerings in the sky, with more than 1,000 options including plenty of music. Not that I had the time, but SQ also offers a companion app that allows travellers to discover what is playing on KrisWorld before stepping onboard.

My chosen movie was enjoyed with another glass of champagne and a delicious snack.

Singapore Airlines has a first class reputation for its

in-flight food, which is reflected in its collaboration with a cluster of world-class award-winning chefs, including Michelin-starred Sam Leong. Served on Wedgwood crockery, my five-course in-flight meal was world class and perfectly executed, with balanced flavours and exquisite presentation as if it had been served in a premium restaurant. I could fault nothing about it (which is saying something for me) including the service and the timeliness of each course. We all eat with our eyes, and airline food is rarely a meal our eyes tell us to eat, but I always find on Singapore Airlines that the food is both visually and taste appealing, no matter what class, so you can imagine how it was in my first class suite. ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 149

Served in Lalique-designed crystal glassware, as you would expect, the wine list was extensive and a well-considered global representation of truly wonderful award-winning wines.

The list had clearly been put together by a team of professional sommeliers.

After dinner, it was time to get into my SQprovided Lalique-branded pyjamas, which came with a Lalique-branded amenity kit containing a scented candle, lip balm, body lotion and soap.

The first class cabin was equipped with two large washrooms to the front, one of which had a sit-

down vanity counter. Both were amply stocked with Lalique toiletries, including a bespoke citrusscented facial mist, body lotion and fragrance.

After changing and hanging my clothes in my personal wardrobe, the flight attendant instinctively asked, ‘can I make your bed Mr Jones?’ Within minutes, the leather chair was rotated and a wonderful, 2-metre single bed folded down from the wall and was made into a dreamy, white, super-comfy soft bed. The suite was so well designed, that the TV was perfectly visible from the bed and the controls

were incredibly easy to use. I selected a movie and dozed off into a wonderful sleep, although not before another glass or two of Krug.

my breakfast was tasty, plentiful and truly felt like it had been prepared just for me.

My sleep was seamless and plentiful, and because I was on a long-haul ight, there was still time to wake and have breakfast before landing.

The entire Singapore Airlines First Class Suite experience was the ultimate exercise in air travel self-indulgence, and I honestly could not fault it from take-off to landing.

Breakfast consisted of fresh OJ, sliced fruits, bircher muesli, rolled oats soaked in milk and natural yoghurt with fresh berries. Complete with pancakes served with Kaya mascarpone cheese, mixed berries and apple compote,

Martin Jones travelled in a Singapore Airlines First Class Suite from Zurich to Singapore on 28th September 2018, under his own steam Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 151

TIMKAT

On the eve of Timkat - the greatest festival for Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia - sacred replicas of the Ark of the Covenant are wrapped in luxurious cloth and placed on the heads of priests to be carried out of the church in procession with the clergy 19 January 2019

No Shoes Required AT

KANUHURA

Carolyn McKay escapes her everyday life to spend a few days on the idyllic Maldivian haven of Kanuhura, where peace  and tranquillity prevail rather than A-listers and brash billionaires.

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 157

I

iIdyllic island getaways surrounded by stunning white-sand beaches, azure waters teeming with all manner of sea life and abounding luxury tend to typify the sublime Maldives, set in the Indian Ocean around 800 kilometres off the west coast of Sri Lanka.

Of the some 1,000 coral islands which make up the Maldives’ twenty-something atolls, The Cultured Traveller was destined for Kanuhura - an established and much-loved resort in the peaceful and laid-back Lhaviyani Atoll, located in a part of the sprawling nation which is still relatively undeveloped. Hence my visit.

Providing a reliable opportunity for discerning travellers to completely escape real, everyday life, on lavish, serene havens which offer discreet, first class service, makes the Maldives an obvious choice for a once in a lifetime getaway, or a yearly sojourn for those who can afford it. But there are now so many high-end Maldivian offerings - where one can experience island life at its most relaxed and explore amazing underwater worlds - that choosing a resort is not as easy as it used to be.

Whilst many luxury travel column inches are currently prone to covering this pop star in that Maldivian resort, regularly point out that ‘this award-winning resort is a favourite among A-listers’, or extol the virtues of a resort which ‘feels more French Riviera than Maldives’ replete with hip nightspots and VVIP lounges purpose-designed to cater for Hollywood’s elite, The Cultured Traveller didn’t want any of that (not on this trip anyway) but was rather seeking

a getaway somewhere one was unlikely to bump into Leonardo DiCaprio on a tropical bender.

As is common with almost all deluxe Maldivian resorts, I was greeted by Kanuhura’s staff immediately after my relatively painless flight from Colombo to Malé, and seamlessly transferred to a waterside lounge in preparation for a short seaplane transfer. The stress and cares of my daily life began to dissipate as soon as I sunk into a comfy sofa with a fresh passionfruit and mango concoction in my hand. A dashing young barefooted pilot, at the helm of our half-hour hop, further lightened the tone and enhanced the carefree mood.

It was hard not to be awestruck by the palmfringed islands and deserted beaches of dazzling

white sand, framed by stunningly clear turquoise waters (all of course synonymous with this part of the Indian Ocean), as I soared overhead towards Kanuhura. That short seaplane flight really felt like the beginning of a rather special vacation experience.

Coming in to land on the calm lagoon, inside the reef that surrounds and protects the resort, gave me a bird’s eye view of long and narrow Kanuhura, as well as the two smaller islands of Jehunuhura and Masleggihuraa that make up this tranquil idyll in Lhaviyani Atoll.

Formal check-in procedures having been completed in Malé meant that as I stepped off the seaplane, to a backdrop of sarong-clad Maldivian drummers, my barefoot adventures immediately began. ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 159

And, after a customary fresh juice and lemongrassscented cold towel, I was whisked off for a whistle-stop tour. An immediate orientation is of course optional, since most guests are just desperate to get to their lodgings and ditch their everyday clothes tout de suite.

But I wanted to know what was where a-sap, not least so that I could make the most of my time at Kanuhura.

Appropriately known as ‘The Heart’, Kanuhura’s central hub boasts the usual Maldivian resort offerings, including a spa, gym and dive centre, plus several restaurants and bars. From there, broad pathways bordered by lush gardens and colourful vegetation emanate outwards across the large yet intimate-feeling island towards a variety of 80 stylish yet unpretentious villas, generously

spaced apart, 60 of which sit directly on the beach.

Complimentary bicycles are readily available to get around whilst buggies are also on hand if need be.

Leaving the main island via a wooden pier, I was destined for one of Kanuhura’s 20 stilted over water villas which was to be my temporary Maldivian home for the next four days. Every Kanuhura villa boasts stunning broad vistas, sunrise or sunset views, plus a beachside location or private pool, or hovers over the Indian Ocean. Mine was delightfully the latter, with a wooden deck rolling straight into the sea.

Stepping onto the villa’s cool, whitewashed floors, my shoes immediately came off, and stayed off for the duration of my stay. Calming décor with a distinctly

sunny vibe is flashed with colour accents influenced by the natural environment, including turquoise and greens from the sky and sea, and soft pinks and oranges from the corals of nearby reefs. Geometric prints add fun. Natural light literally floods everywhere.

From atop the sumptuous king-sized bed I laid and took in the spectacular uninterrupted ocean vistas.

A generous bathroom boasted a free-standing al fresco tub complete with its own frangipani tree.

And the dressing room was amply stocked with the full range of amenities for every activity that one might embark upon during a Maldivian vacation.

I guess that the pièce de résistance (if one had to choose my favourite part of the villa) was the outside

deck, which was cleverly designed to provide privacy from neighbouring villas but large enough to feel like a whole other room – complete with over water hammocks adorned by plump pillows, a chaise ideal for lazy morning coffees, generous sunbeds and a bijou dining area. And with Kanuhura protected by a natural reef, the waters under and around my villa were teeming with everything from manta rays and spinner dolphins to green turtles, yellow fin tuna and puffer fish, providing a constant show.

Making so much use of woods, stone and other natural materials throughout lends Kanuhura’s over water villas a genuinely relaxed aesthetic without seeming to try too hard, and it was easy to feel ‘at home’ very quickly. ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 161

That evening I curled up in a sitting nook and began to work my way through the villa’s small but carefully curated library, whilst intermittently gazing at the ocean. For a Maldivian virgin, that first night was truly an astonishing experience. My morning coffee was accompanied by a soundtrack of the gently lapping ocean whilst I watched the sunrise’s spreading glow.

Then, to my wonder, literally out of nowhere and delightfully interrupting the tranquillity, a large pod of spinning and jumping dolphins came into view, appearing to rejoice in the new day.

Young, enthusiastic and professional staff throughout Kanuhura make it very easy for guests to choose

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and feel comfortable with whatever type of holiday they settle on. More than 40 different dive sites within an hour’s boat ride; a range of complimentary classes including yoga, pilates and even Maldivian warrior training, together with the usual snorkelling, kayaking and stand-up paddle-boarding (also free), are complemented by tennis courts, volleyball nets and even a football pitch thanks to the island’s ample size. Kanuhura’s size also means that it’s easy to find a shaded day bed or a deserted area of dazzling white sand to indulge in some quiet time away from other guests. Herein lies one of Kanuhura’s many qualities – the abundance of so many options as well as enough activities to keep guests busy for weeks on end. ►

One afternoon, after a short boat ride across the lagoon, I found myself on Kanuhura’s exclusive deserted island of Jehunuhura. Here, I lazed on a sunbed, sipped cocktails and was spoiled with freshly grilled seafood, including tuna tataki. I could happily have remained on Jehunuhura for the duration of my stay.

Another afternoon I dropped anchor at dream-like Kokaa spa. Staffed by highly-skilled therapists hailing from Thailand, Indonesia and India, a wide range of rejuvenating treatments are offered to unwind both physically and emotionally as well as soothe the soul. To fully experience Kokaa, arrive early and make use of the steam room, sauna and Jacuzzi before your treatment, and be sure to relax afterwards

with some ginger tea in the spa’s serene lounge.

Countless delectable culinary options abound at Kanuhura, courtesy of five restaurants and two bars. Allday-dining A Mano restaurant not only puts on a lavish breakfast spread, but also serves delicious Maldivian curries, divine Chinese dim sum and supremely fresh sushi and sashimi. Poolside Bottega dishes up authentic Italian fare with style and flair. Meanwhile, on the beach, Veli is everything one expects from a deluxe Maldivian feet-in-the-sand dining experience, complete with an open kitchen serving traditional Asian-Fusion cuisine. It’s worth skipping lunch to be sure of a hearty appetite to feast under the stars on Veli’s delectable tandoori lobster, prepared in a traditional Indian oven.

One evening I set sail in a traditional Maldivian dhoni for a sunset fishing expedition. Whilst not an experienced angler, within moments and to my great surprise, I caught a red mullet. The next day at Cowry Bar, my catch was grilled and served for lunch with a zesty lemongrass sauce. I have to say that eating one’s own catch was deeply satisfying!

Either pre-dinner for sundowners or post-dinner for a digestif, Iru Beach Bar on the northern tip of the island is the perfect place to recline with a fancy drink and forget that the real world exists. Although pretty much everywhere I wondered barefoot around Kanuhura was carefree and super-relaxed. And whilst the resort was running at high’ish occupancy during

my stay, it was not unusual to pad around the island’s shores without seeing another soul for hours.

After packing my bags, I stepped onto the deck of my villa to enjoy one more glimpse of the cyan waters in all their glory. Leaving such a haven is never easy, but Kanuhura’s wonderfully friendly staff, for whom nothing was too much trouble, made it even more difficult to say goodbye. I reluctantly found my shoes that had been tossed aside days earlier, and made my way across the island for my seaplane ride to the real world, vowing to return to my Maldivian heaven at the next available opportunity. www.kanuhura.com

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 165

EUROPE’S D WINTER OF W

DELUXE WONDER

SPOTLIGHT

I

n the summer of 1864, Swiss hotelier Johannes Badrutt made a bet that would change the course of history for mountain resorts all over Europe. Until then, Alpine towns served as summer escapes, attracting the ladies and gentlemen of Europe with promises of fresh mountain air, breath-taking views and a collection of daring outdoor pursuits. But Badrutt claimed that his guests would find the town of St. Moritz just as agreeable during the winter months, and promised that while much of Europe endured a bitter winter, his mountain village would be bathed in sunshine. He was so confident that he made a bet with the last of his British summer guests that if they returned to St. Moritz for the winter and found it disagreeable, he would cover their travel expenses. Needless to say, Badrutt won the bet, and winter tourism was born. The rest, as they say, is history.

For the last century and a half, resorts across Europe have competed to offer luxurious lodgings, world-class gourmet encounters and one-of-a-kind winter experiences for their well-heeled visitors, making the most of spectacular mountain settings to create year-round destinations. As the travelling community has become increasingly adventurous, other new winter destinations have emerged outside the traditional Alpine regions, enchanting visitors with awe-inspiring natural wonders; confident in their proposition that cold weather is no reason not to travel. With a selection of European resorts, hotels, lodges and chalets that gets more decadent by the year, The Cultured Traveller takes a look at eight new arrivals for 2018/19 to help you plan where to spend your winter season in style.

FABRIZIO CASIRAGHI

THE EXPERIMENTAL CHALET

VERBIER, SWITZERLAND

In the Swiss resort of Verbier, there’s one rule in the skiers’ code of conduct that supersedes all others: ‘work hard; play hard’. For guests at The Experimental Chalet, the latter is a given.

The chalet sits directly above the Farm Club, an iconic institution that has welcomed Verbier’s bold and beautiful for long nights of fun since 1971. Both the chalet and the club have been taken over by the Experimental Group; purveyors of refined hospitality and fine beverages at locations in Paris, New York, London and Ibiza. Many of the 39 rooms and suites, each elegantly finished by interior designer Fabrizio Casiraghi, feature spacious terraces and outdoor Jacuzzis, with emerald green furnishings that pop against stark white walls. Parisian chef Gregory Marchand has taken over the kitchens of the Chalet Restaurant, which serves hearty Alpine dishes alongside more contemporary fare; and the Group has collaborated with French skincare brand Biologique Recherche to create a spa with its own harman and solarium. Days will end and nights begin by the fireside of the cocktail bar, before the irresistible pull of the Farm Club draws guests downstairs for long nights of carousing. www.experimentalchalet.com

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LE REFUGE DE SOLAISE VAL D’ISÈRE, FRANCE

For those who really want to escape it all this winter, Le Refuge de Solaise might be the answer.

Perched at an altitude of 2,551 metres and accessible only by gondola, Le Refuge is the new incarnation of the former Le Solaise cable car station, the first ever built in the French resort of Val D’Isère. Comprising three private apartments and 18 luxuriously appointed rooms, plus a well-appointed dormitory for younger skiers, the chalet boasts magnificent views over the valley which are best enjoyed by the fireside in its library lounge. Its unique location half way up the mountain means guests can be the first on the slopes each morning, and owners Jean-Charles Coravel and Jean-Claude Borel have added thoughtful touches to keep guests entertained during bad weather days or long winter evenings, including a first-class restaurant, an inviting spa with 25-metre swimming pool and a film screening room. Rooms pay tribute to traditional Alpine décor, with patterned carpets and wall panels, and generous swathes of bare stone and wood. The eight-bedroom Penthouse apartment and the restaurant debut this season, but visitors will have to wait another year for the remaining rooms and spa. www.lerefuge-valdisere.com

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CRYSTAL RIDE

ZERMATT, SWITZERLAND With its collection of handsome accommodation, renowned nightlife and invigorating mountain experiences, Zermatt makes a convincing argument for the title of Switzerland’s most refined ski resort. This year, the town has upped the ante on the luxury stakes, with the new Matterhorn Glacier Ride, which whisks passengers up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise ski area in just nine minutes. Four of the 25 cabins on the cableway offer a little something extra for riders, embellished as they are with 280,000 Swarovski crystals, which shimmer and sparkle in the Alpine air. These Crystal Ride cabins, designed by Italian Pininfarina studio, are inspired by the world of high-end automobiles, with 28 seats upholstered in Alcantara and leather, and an LED-lit starry sky ceiling. And there’s one more trick up their sleeve: three minutes into the journey up the mountain, the white floor fades into a completely translucent glass, revealing the snow-covered mountainside 170-metres below your boots. Not for the faint-hearted. www.matterhornparadise.ch

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 175

CHALET L’ALPENSIA AT L’APOGÉE COUCHEVEL COURCHEVEL, FRANCE

The collection of luxury hotels, lodges and chalets in Courchevel is unrivalled in France, with some of the country’s most exclusive hideaways providing world-class accommodation for discerning guests. When L’ Apogée Courchevel opened five winters ago, the 55-room hotel quickly claimed its place among the best of the best, with stylish interiors by Parisian design duo India Madhavi and Joseph Dirand, and some of the largest rooms and suites in Courchevel. New for this season, Chalet L’Alpensia is fresh icing on the cake: a 550 sqm five-bedroom chalet spread across five floors, complete with its own spa, home cinema and the services of a private butler and chef. Part of the exclusive Oetker Collection, L’ Apogée Courchevel offers guests ski-in/ski-out access to the surrounding Trois Vallées ski area and a host of gastronomic experiences, including sushi and sake at Koori, gourmet dining at Le Comptoir L’Apogée, and a sumptuous Cigar Lounge in which to enjoy the finer things in life. www.oetkercollection.com

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KULM COUNTRY CLUB ST. MORITZ, SWITZERLAND

The glamorous Swiss resort of St. Moritz was the birthplace of winter tourism, and still boasts some of Europe’s oldest winter sports institutions. Few share the celebrity status of the Kulm Country Club, which became the de facto haunt of St. Moritz’s most discerning visitors soon after it opened in 1905.

The club hosted figure skating events during the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympic Games, and was a year-round destination for sports fans and socialites alike. British architect and St. Moritz resident Sir Norman Foster was commissioned to breathe new life into the club ahead of last year’s Alpine Ski World Championships; tasked with restoring the glamour of its early years, while preserving the traditional Swissstyle architecture. The new-look venue blends old and new, with two new timber pavilions that serve as seating and stages for sporting and music events, a permanent exhibition displaying vintage winter sports paraphernalia, and an Italian-Mediterranean restaurant and sun terrace helmed by chef Daniel Müller. www.kulm.com

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ELEMENTS 007 SÖLDEN, AUSTRIA

When the production team behind the 2015 James Bond film Spectre were tasked with finding a venue for a futuristic Alpine clinic, their search took them across Switzerland, Italy and Austria, before they stumbled upon a perfect fit: the ice Q restaurant in the Austrian resort of Sölden. Scenes shot at the venue, which is perched at 3,048-metres atop Gaislachkogl Mountain, precede one of the film’s epic chase sequences, which sees Bond hurtling after a convoy of cars down the mountain. To commemorate the resort’s moment in the spotlight, a local developer commissioned architect Johann Obermoser (who also created ice Q restaurant and the adjacent ski lift) to design Elements 007, a museum and exhibition space dedicated to the world of Bond. With an industrial-feel architectural aesthetic that emerges from the side of the slopes, before burrowing into the mountain, the opening of Elements 007 this year cemented Sölden’s reputation as one of the coolest resorts in Europe.

Galleries use multi-sensory elements to tell the story of the franchise, drawing visitors into an environment that feels every bit like you’re walking into a real life Bond villain lair. www.007elements.soelden.com

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LE MASSIF

COURMAYEUR, ITALY Italy’s ski resorts may not command as much column-width as those in other parts of Europe, but the opening of Le Massif in Courmayeur could change all that. With interior design that blends minimal Alpine chic with full-gloss Milanese style, the 80-room hotel is thing of stark beauty.

Exposed wooden beams and weathered wall panels contrast with polished black marble columns, gilded art deco furniture and statement design pieces, creating a sleek environment that befits the latest member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Set in the heart of Courmayeur, Le Massif has its own in-house ski concierge, a full-service spa, and a kids club that offers all-day childcare for parents who want some alone time on the slopes. As well as the hotel’s own pair of restaurants and two bars, guests have priority access to the mountainside restaurant and bar, La Loge du Massif, which promises first-class Italian cuisine served alongside spectacular views of Mont Blanc from the terrace. www.lemassifcourmayeur.com

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 183

CHEVAL BLANC COURCHEVEL COURCHEVEL, FRANCE

If dashing through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh is your kind of thing, you might like to try your hand at skijoring during your stay at Cheval Blanc Courchevel. The exclusive LVMH hotel is inviting its guests to explore the wintry landscape of the resort’s Jardin Alpine while skiing along behind a horse; one well-trained in this traditional Nordic mode of transport, which affords all the magic of cross-country skiing without having to do any work. The hotel has also introduced a traditional Russian banya for the 2018/19 season; a dry-heat sauna surrounded by mounds of fresh powdery snow, into which brazen bathers will dive, toning the body and fortifying the mind. Cheval Blanc has teamed up with Louis Vuitton to turn its entrance into an enchanted garden for this festive season, complete with a magnificent Christmas tree dressed with signature Louis Vuitton baubles: every bit the winter wonderland deluxe. www.chevalblanc.com

184 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

TAIWAN’S LANTERN FESTIVAL

Every year, thousands of shining decorative lanterns, bearing the wishes of their owners, illuminate the night skies over rural Pingxi District in New Taipei 19 February - 3 March 2019

TRAVELLER LOWDOWN

24-HOURS IN 24-HOUR MOSCOW

Brimming with places to see, taste, sip & spend, lively open-allwhich sit comfortably alongside kooky architecture, artistic hot-spo 24-hours in the Russian capital, which is perfect for discerning t

-hours MOSCOW is a veritable mix of historical and iconic sights ots and world-class opera and ballet. The Cultured Traveller spends travellers seeking a cultural yet exhilarating city break experience

M

oscow is often considered a tricky city to visit.

Home to some 15 million people, Moscow is sprawling and fast-paced and hence can be disorienting to many. People always seem to be rushing around and their abruptness is often mistaken for unhelpfulness which actually couldn’t be further from the truth.

The traffic can be a nightmare, so you really need to know where you’re going. And the weather can be anything from frighteningly cold to scorchingly hot, so care needs to be taken when planning a visit. So why visit Moscow? In short, the Russian metropolis is one of the world’s most breathtaking capital cities, and the incredibly wide range of easily accessible entertainment options and contemporary landmarks make it an intensely enriching option for anyone with a penchant for a vibrant metropolis, or partial to an energetic city break. And Moscow’s renown for being a truly 24-hour capital make it an ideal destination for those with only a day or two to spare who revel in the special buzz of an all-night city, packed with nightclubs, bars and shopping centres. In Moscow, one can truly experience a complete Russian immersion in just 24 well-planned hours.

Despite Russia’s annexation of Crimea stirring-up cold war sentiments, Moscow has very much been moving with the times. In a frenzy of urban renewal and for some years now, sturdy Stalinist architecture has been making way for shimmering skyscrapers, gleaming offices and stylish hotels. The St. Regis Moscow Nikolskaya, which opened just a few years ago, is housed within a complex of historical buildings originally constructed in the 1870s at the corner of Nikolskaya Street and Lubyanka Square. The hotel’s proximity to the Bolshoi, the Kremlin, Red Square and the city’s main shopping district make the 210room St. Regis (including 44 sumptuous suites) the ideal place to stay during a city break in the Russian capital. (www.stregismoscow.com) If you arrive in Moscow armed with a basic knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet (so you can read street names) you’ll honestly get around a lot faster! Devised during the 10thcentury and based on the Greek uncial script, the Cyrillic basics are easier to master than you might think.

Synonymous with cold war mystery and intrigue, the ancient fortress of the Kremlin is the official residence of President Vladimir Putin and has been the nerve centre of the nation’s power for more than half a millennium.

Within the Kremlin’s walls, tsars were crowned ►

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 193

and countless heads of the Orthodox Church are buried in the golden domed Dormition Cathedral. This most sacred of Russian Orthodox churches (not to mention the nation’s patriarchal cathedral) combines Russia’s Byzantine heritage with the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance. You won’t need more than half an hour to see Cathedral Square and the other public areas of the Kremlin, but allow more time if you wish to visit the Armoury Chamber of Tsarist jewels and relics, for which you’ll need a separate ticket. The Kremlin’s gates open at 10am and tickets should be purchased in advance, online. (https://tickets.kreml.ru/en/#id=1) After leaving the Kremlin, head back through Alexander Gardens (towards Red Square) to catch the changing

of the guard (every hour on the hour) at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Unsurprisingly, the manoeuvre is executed with military precision.

In cobblestoned Red Square - site of Tsarist executions and Soviet military parades of might, to impress leaders and intimidate the West - lies the mummified body of the father of the Russian revolution, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Despite constant whispers about removing Lenin, for now the frozen-in-time hero of the 1917 October Revolution is still in his marble mausoleum (which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and you can see him free of charge from 10am ‘til 1pm Monday to Friday. In reality, Lenin looks more like a Madame Tussauds’ wax figure than a well-preserved corpse, but

the unusual Soviet-era spectacle is definitely worth experiencing when in Moscow.

Even after only a few minutes underground - adhering to the strict no-talking, no-photography and no-cell phone policy in Lenin’s mausoleum - exiting into the sunlight of Red Square can be a little disorientating, especially when confronted by Disney-esque St. Basil’s Cathedral, erected by Ivan the Terrible in the 1550s.

Built around the cathedral’s 156-foot high central nave are nine small, separate chapels that are aligned to points on the compass, four of which are raised to designate their position between heaven and earth.

Each is crowned with a different, intensely colourful onion-like dome. Moscow’s most popular tourist

attraction is floodlit at night when it takes on a unique fairytale quality, so do pass by again after dinner, time permitting.

Moscow’s chandelier-dripping public transport system is a cultural attraction in itself, filled with bronze columns, sculptures and statues, com¬mu¬nist murals, beautiful mosaics and stained-glass. Every day more Muscovites travel on the network than the London and New York systems combined, and they seldom wait more than a few minutes for a train. It’s busy and hectic but experiencing the Moscow Metro is a must.

Ride the Circle Line to best appreciate the network’s inherent socialist art deco styling. The Komsomolskaya and Mayakovskaya stops are particularly impressive. ►

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 195

Get off the metro at Pushkinskaya, and grab lunch on the run in the area around Patriarch’s Pond. At Café Margarita, around GBP15 will buy you a hearty Russian lunch such as pancakes with caviar and salt herring (28 Malaya Bronnaya Street - Tel +7 (495) 299 6534).

A spot of shopping is always a pleasant pastime after lunch, and there’s nowhere better to stock up on vodka and caviar than famed Eliseevsky supermarket at 14 Tverskaya. Trading for well over a hundred years and named in honour of its former millionaire owner Grigory Eliseev, huge crystal chandeliers hang in decadent, neoBaroque Tsarist-era interiors, making shopping here a unique retail experience. And, like many of the city’s stores, Eliseevsky is open 24-hours, so you can swing by anytime. (www.eliseevskiy.ru/e_home.htm) For a more designer shopping experience, head back to Red Square and wander around imposing GUM shopping mall. Stuffed full of fancy stores, GUM is a place to see and be seen rather than shop, but it’s worth having a peek inside nevertheless. (https://gumrussia.com) A pleasurable 15-minute walk from GUM - much of it along the banks of the Moscow River - will take you to Gorky Park. Until fairly recently, the city’s biggest green space was rather forlorn, but a major revamp (courtesy of Roman Abramovich) has ridden the place of biker gangs and drunken soldiers, and turned the park into a delightful haven in which to pause for breath during a busy day, with rose gardens, beaches, trickling fountains and free wi-fi attracting a hip local crowd. (http://park-gorkogo.com/en) If you want to grab a bite in Gorky, Lebedinoe Ozero (meaning “Swan Lake”) serves delicious grilled fish and kebabs, al fresco when the weather permits. (9/22 Krymsky Val - Tel +7 (495) 782 5813) Across the road from Gorky Park, at 10 Krymsky Val, is the New Tretyakov gallery which boasts an exceptional collection of Soviet art, including a breathtaking array of Russian avant-garde works. Meanwhile, the original Tretyakov gallery at 10 Lavrushinsky Lane houses the world’s most impressive collection of Russian art. This includes icons by Andrei Rublev and renowned 19th-century realist painter Ilya Repin’s dark portrayal of Ivan the Terrible murdering his own son. (www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en) No visit to Moscow would be complete without a visit to painstakingly renovated Café Pushkin, the longstanding champion of haute cuisine à la Russe. ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 197

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The venue’s early 19th-century Russian aristocratic splendour, combined with waiters in period costume, provide a fantastic backdrop to traditional fare which includes beef stroganoff, pelmeni meat dumplings and sweet Russian syrnyky pancakes. (https://cafe-pushkin.ru/en) Don’t fret if you’ve managed to land tickets to the Bolshoi and need to eat late at night, because from Italian pasta to Russian borsch and hand-crafted cocktails, you can find pretty much any kind of food and beverage after midnight in Moscow. There’s absolutely no need to settle for fast-food. In fact, according to Russian aristocratic tradition, if you are a rich or

powerful person (or just want to appear like one), you simply must behave like a night owl in Moscow.

Apparently, mornings are for the working classes who rise early and shuffle out in the grey Moscow twilight to toil. Influential Russians simply don’t do mornings, apart from a few hours on the ‘phone and mid-afternoons in the office sorting out the business of the day before preparing for a night filled with adventure. Moscow is even peppered with 24-hour flower shops. So, whether you have a post-party hunger, are craving a late supper, wish to propose to your loved-one in the middle of the night or simply don’t want to sleep, Moscow is the city for you and your night-owl pals.

REVIEW ORA

HELSINKI Food Atmosphere

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rom London to New York and Tokyo to Sydney, the concept of farm to table is one of the most integral influences on contemporary fine dining. It has got to the point where it is hard to walk into a quality restaurant, anywhere in the world, without finding a menu liberally seasoned with hipster buzzwords (not least ‘organic’, ‘locally sourced’ and the perennial ‘sustainable’) underlining the chef’s environmental credentials as well as the plat du jour.

In Finland’s picturesque capital of Helsinki, chefs have been quietly championing this approach for years, and now the rest of the world is starting to notice. Helsinki restaurants are gaining an increasing international reputation for their refreshingly innovative use of ingredients, skilfully combining Nordic traditions and global influences, with a huge focus on showcasing the best Finnish produce, from the forest to the sea.

Produce is picked or foraged in season, often from a restaurant’s own gardens. Wild mushrooms, edible flowers and Arctic berries provide splashes of colour across hearty dishes of pork, beef and reindeer. Meanwhile, fresh seafood caught in the Baltic and Finland’s many lakes is presented in a myriad of enticing ways, from creamy salmon soup to graavilohi (raw salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill), smoked herring and succulent crayfish.

There is an emphasis on providing diners with an intimate and highly personal experience. Instead of cavernous restaurants with teams of chefs running a production line, owner-chefs oversee restaurants little bigger than a suburban sitting room, emerging from the kitchen to greet guests and give them a better appreciation of the dishes set before them.

No one personifies this better than Sasu Laukkonen. The charismatic, globe-trotting Finn is a tireless ambassador for his country’s cuisine, and is ebullient that pride in local produce is growing. In 2010, he opened what he describes as the first organic-based restaurant in Finland, Chef & Sommelier. Chef & Sommelier quickly became a favourite with discerning Finns and was presented with a Michelin star in 2014, retaining it every year until Laukkonen closed the restaurant in 2017 to open his latest venture, ORA, which operates from the same premises.

So, what has changed? A lot and a little. ORA has the same underlying philosophy as Chef & Sommelier; a strong focus on sustainability, no waste cooking and pure Finnish ingredients, but there’s “more focus on local than ever before,” Laukkonen enthuses. “ORA just might be the first ever top restaurant in Finland that uses 99 per cent Finnish produce. ORA is more dynamic and has more of a story to tell.” Like its predecessor, the restaurant is swiftly building an enviable reputation, winning its first Michelin star this year.

The restaurant is situated on Huvilakatu in Helsinki’s enchanting Art Nouveau neighbourhood of Ullanlinna, where a wealth of covetable turnof-the-20th-century townhouses, in complementary shades of salmon pink, lemon yellow and rich cream, line the streets. It’s a 10-minute drive from the city centre, but the 20-minute walk is much more rewarding! ►

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Huvilakatu has been voted the prettiest street in Helsinki and it’s not hard to see why. Step inside number 28 and you will find yourself in a cozy, tastefully appointed space that seats just 23 people (booking ahead is paramount). Cream walls are adorned with circular mirrors, and tables face the open-plan kitchen so that diners can observe the intricacies of their food being prepared.

The chunky, dark timber furniture was hand-made by local carpenter Joonas Vaissi and co-designed by Laukkonen, using wood from Finland’s national tree, the birch. The emphasis on local design is reinforced with glassware by iconic Finnish brand Iittala and wooden trays by Vaasa carpenter Jonas Granfors.

Arriving at ORA feels more like visiting friends than going to a Michelin-starred restaurant. Laukkonen whirls around talking to guests, explaining ingredients and cooking techniques, all the while dipping in and out of the kitchen. His team of five including manager and sommelier Aino Tuomikoski, and Dublinborn sous chef Adam Kavanagh - are clearly as enthusiastic as he is, and it’s hard not to get caught up in the exuberance of people who are clearly so passionate about their craft. It probably helps that the restaurant is open from Wednesday to Saturday only, giving everyone a three-day break every week.

The dining concept is simple. The six-course set menu changes often, according to micro-seasons, with ingredients sourced from an organic school garden in Helsinki’s green neighbourhood of Kumpula and the restaurant’s own garden in Sipoo, about 20 minutes from the city. An accompanying wine flight showcases the produce of boutique, organic European vineyards. The Cultured Traveller had not been seated for more than five minutes before a local farmer wandered in carrying giant zucchinis destined for diners’ tables.

On the evening of The Cultured Traveller’s visit, the experience began with freshly picked peas and clear currants, dressed with oil of jalapeno and pineapple leaf, followed by juicy Inari whitefish with kohlrabi (a variety of wild cabbage), tendrils of spring onion and a delectably crunchy new potato croquette, accompanied by a light garganega from Veneto and a perky pinot noir from Austria’s Kamptal region. The dishes were infused with a harmonious collusion of flavours, boding well for what was to come.

In between nibbles of whitefish and croquette, I glanced around at the diverse clientele: behind sat a fashionably dressed young couple in their twenties, the woman drawing appreciative glances with an on-trend tomato red dress and new season Gucci crossbody bag. Meanwhile, a trio of forty-something ladies in floaty floral dresses chatted animatedly. To my left sat a family with adult children. At the next table a couple in their sixties sipped wine. The overall ambience was relaxed and convivial, a far cry from the stiff formality of many fine dining establishments.

The third course was the zucchini that had been carried in earlier, since charcoal-grilled and served with muikku, another species ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 205

of whitefish, lavender, herbs and divinely fresh homebaked oregano bread, accompanied by home churned butter and sea salt. This was a wonderful preamble to a salty, tangy chunk of organic pork loin, presented with a sunflower pesto and caramelised carrots as well as a mustard seed and cider sauce. As I nibbled appreciatively, sipping on a robust, perfectly paired tempranillo graciano rioja, it occurred to me that the background music was a trifle unusual: classic eighties pop and rock, from Flock of Seagulls’ I Ran, to A Ha’s Take on Me, Cindy Lauper’s Time After Time and Kenny Loggins’ Footloose. It was another reminder that the sense of the serious was strictly confined to the plate.

But, come to think of it, is there any reason why haute cuisine must be served to a sombre classical backdrop?!

The experience continued with desserts which were as painstakingly assembled and beautifully presented as each dish which had come before them. A riot of edible marigold petals atop a rhubarb compote was only just trumped by a sinfully creamy parfait with cherry tomato jam, meadow flowers, red currants

and rosehip. The latter was almost too exquisite to devour, but temptation eventually won out.

The Cultured Traveller departed ORA eminently satiated, feeling that delicious soft, warm glow that one gets after a memorably enjoyable evening of fine food, superb vino and easy company. ORA’s emphasis on local, organic produce taps right into the 21stcentury culinary Zeitgeist, but it is not this that sets it apart. Helsinki alone is full of restaurants with similar concepts, albeit perhaps not quite as zealous. It is the combination of a sustainable outlook with other elements that makes for a magical, harmonious whole: the intimate, engaging dining experience; a passionate chef with a global outlook; a talented team; genuinely warm and enthusiastic service, and a commitment to using quality ingredients to make the best possible flavour combinations.

The liberal sprinkling of playfulness at ORA, in an industry which often takes food far too seriously, also sets the restaurant apart from the throng.

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 207

ORA Food: Atmosphere: Executive chef: Address: Telephone: Email: Website: Cuisine: Opening hours:

Sasu Laukkonen 28 Huvilakatu, Helsinki 00150, Finland +358 400 959440 hello@orarestaurant.fi www.orarestaurant.fi Modern local Lunch: Saturday 12:00 - 15:00 Dinner: Wednesday, Thursday, & Saturday 18:00 - 00:00 Dinner: Friday 16:00 - 00:00

Lunch price: Dinner price: Ideal meal: Reservations: Wheelchair access: Children: Credit cards: Parking:

6-course menu EUR89 6-course menu EUR89 6-course menu EUR89 Essential Yes Welcome. High chair available.

No kids’ menu but small portions available All major Paid on-street parking adjacent to the restaurant

Reviewed by Dawn Gibson for dinner on 26th July 2018 Ratings range from zero to five stars and reflect the reviewer’s feedback about the food and service, and separately the atmosphere in the dining room.

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Gone are the days of a one-size-fits-all approach to long drin Today, mixologists are acutely aware of the importance of pai well-matched mixers to bring out the best in a beverage, say

nks. ring spirits with ys Joe Mortimer

TREND

CRAFT MIXERS

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or decades, the producers of premium spirits have put considerable emphasis on education and marketing their products on both sides of the bar. Billboard, TV and magazine advertisements tempt consumers to try their tipples, while product training (and generous free samples) win the recognition and loyalty of bartenders. Even the smallest of bars have traditionally stocked two or three varieties of most liquors and spirits, giving customers and mixologists a choice of which brand they choose as the “main” component of mixed drinks.

But until relatively recently, bargoers ordering long drinks would have few options, if any, as to the brand of mixer served with their beverage. If you ordered a gin and tonic in the late 1990s, it would be served with whatever brand of tonic water the bar happened to stock.

If you requested a whisky and soda, those bubbles would usually have come straight from the fountain.

The same was true of bitter lemon, ginger ale and all the other humble mixers lined up in fridges behind bars around the world, and let’s not get started on cola and lemonade.

But times, they are a changing.

People today are much more discerning when it comes to the products they consume; more aware of quality and provenance than ever before. The age of the craft mixer is upon us. It’s great news for consumers, who have the opportunity to personalise their drinks according to individual taste; and good news for mixologists, who can choose to bring out certain characteristics of a spirit when making long drinks or cocktails, depending on their choice of mixer. ►

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We have the gin revolution of the early 2000s to thank for the change in mind-set. As distilleries fought it out to differentiate themselves among an unending torrent of gin varieties – different combinations of botanicals creating wildly different characteristics – bartenders began to seek out different varieties of tonic water, whose own variations could enhance the flavour of a good G&T, spurring a new generation of craft mixer producers.

Suddenly, people on both sides of the bar began to take note of the not-so-obvious fact that the beverage that makes up the largest percentage of a mixed drink could have a major impact on its overall flavour and quality. Brands like Fever Tree and Fentimans soon became household names, and the market-dominating brands like Schweppes and Britvic suddenly found themselves competing with an army of independent producers.

Artisanal mixers put new emphasis on what was once considered the secondary component to a long drink, thereby elevating the importance of mixers as tools in the bartender’s arsenal. Fastforward to today and most skilled bartenders are able to recommend an appropriate mixer depending on the customer’s choice of spirit, or recommend a successful pairing based on their preferences.

“Fresh ingredients are the way to go in high-quality cocktails, and so the mixers used should echo the same premium standard,” says mixologist Timo Siitonen from Helsinki’s A21 Flavour Studio.

“Mixers play a very important role in cocktails, since they give us possibilities to create longer drinks while adding an extra dimension ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 215

to the mix. There are excellent brands out there; however, most craft mixers do not take into account that 95-99% of the beverage is water.”

A21 recently partnered with VEEN Waters to create a range of premium quality ‘Nordic Mixers’ using indigenous Nordic ingredients such as cloudberry, pine and birch to produce uniquely natural flavours. VEEN’s mixers are made from natural spring water, and contain no additives, preservatives or sweeteners, thereby ensuring the purity of the ingredients.

VEEN is alone in pursuing a natural approach. One of the pioneers of the flavour revolution among craft mixer producers, Fever Tree, travels the world to find the best ingredients, and produces a range of premium mixers made with ginger from India, vanilla from Madagascar and cinchona bark (quinine) from the Democratic Republic of Congo, to name just a few.

Fentimans uses traditional botanical brewing techniques and natural ingredients such as Bulgarian rose oil to make its collection of traditional style mixers; while family-run Franklin & Sons blends pure Staffordshire water with handpicked natural ingredients to create its unique products.

As the trend continues to gather momentum, it’s reassuring to imagine that the wild places of the world have been repopulated by a new generation of explorers, scouring the earth for the finest ingredients and purest waters to give our long drinks that extra special something. And as more independent companies and small batch producers create mixers designed to bring out the nuanced flavours and subtle variations in premium spirits, the more reason we’ll have to linger a little longer next time we visit the local cocktail bar.

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EXPERIENCE NOVIKOV RESTAURANT & BAR LONDON

Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov’s mega 3-floor multi-cuisine London outpost has been rocking since it opened in 2011. Nicholas Chrisostomou visits on a packed Friday night to find out the secrets to its success and popularity.

ARKADY NOVIKOV

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he London restaurant scene has undergone quite a shift in recent years. Ten years ago, the British capital was awash with Michelin-starred eateries and celebrity chef0driven restaurants, many of which were packed to the rafters. But the once-booming celebrity chef industry has seen dozens of restaurants close of late, many helmed by some of the business’ top names.

Gone are the days when a London restaurateur can serve a bespoke plate of tiny food, charge the earth and expect diners to come back.

Few Londoners want this anymore.

Earlier this year, Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant group reported a loss of almost GBP4 million and announced plans to close its flagship Maze venue in London’s Mayfair. Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver closed twelve of his U.K. venues this year.

Granted, some chefs fell foul of rising rents or too-hasty over-expansion. But the underlying reason for this shift, is that foodies have moved towards more authentic fare that doesn’t depend on having a celebrity in the kitchen.

Nowadays, fewer Londoners will pay through the nose for stuffy fine dining, restrictive tasting menus and know-it-all sommeliers. Instead they are opting for good old-fashioned values of choice, hearty food, outstanding service, genuine hospitality and a warm welcome. And diners love the notion of being remembered by a restaurant manager.

The increasing inability of the Michelin system to accurately reflect the reality of the London dining scene hasn’t helped matters. Whilst the people at Michelin have recently realised that a restaurant doesn’t have to be fine dining to belong in their guide, this may be too little too late (for Michelin, that is) and many Michelin-starred

establishments have suffered irreparable damage already.

Concurrently, the rise of the London members’ club scene can’t have helped fine dining establishments, and must surely have made matters worse for celebrity chefs. I mean, who wants to pay through the nose to overhear a pompous chef screaming at his kitchen staff, when one can get a drink in a members’ club, hear cool music and eat great food at reasonable prices, and carry-on afterwards without having to change venues?

including a pan-Asian restaurant on street level, a huge classical Italian downstairs and a buzzing nightspot in the basement - the venue reputedly cost GBP10 million to kit-out. It’s a monster by even Vegas’ standards and the rent is a cool million Pounds per year, but self-made Arkady Novikov is like no other restaurateur. He rules a culinary empire of more than seventy restaurants around the world, and, somewhat uniquely, has a vast, deep-pocketed global fanbase established over a quarter of a century.

On paper, Novikov Restaurant & Bar must have been a crazy proposition. Located at the Green Park end of Mayfair’s Berkeley Street, directly opposite Nobu and a stone’s throw from The Ritz, the vast 18,000 square feet space was passed over by a number of seasoned entrepreneurs before Arkady Novikov got involved.

Novikov started out in a university kitchen before becoming a chef at Moscow’s Hard Rock Café. His first Moscow venture was also the city’s first fish restaurant, Sirena, which he opened in 1992. Sirena was an instant hit and is still open today, 25 years later. That’s something in the restaurant world.

Boasting more than 500 seats on three floors -

Novikov opened his second venue, Club T, in a former ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 221

Soviet furniture shop. Before long, it was voted Moscow’s best French restaurant. Dozens more Russian concept restaurants followed, plus the Yolki-Palki chain of more than 30 nostalgic, loved and affordable Russian eateries.

GQ Bar, which opened in 2007 with a permanent staff of 300, remains the hottest venue in Moscow.

Novikov now employs more than 15,000 people.

Novikov Restaurant & Bar, his first London outpost, opened in 2011. Today the venue turns over more than GBP100,000 every day. It’s not hard to see why. For one thing, the service is incredible.

On the Friday night The Cultured Traveller visited, despite every corner of the bar being rammed with punters hectically ordering cocktails or waiting for tables, it wasn’t difficult to get a drink. Lovingly hand-crafted cocktails were delivered within minutes.RESTAURANT Meanwhile, a steady stream of people swished in and out of the

venue’s main entrance, including many Vuitton-clad women. Perfectly located to attract London’s rich and famous plus those who aspire to be, visiting on a Friday night is wonderful for people watching.

Just off the main entrance, the bustling Asian restaurant is understatedly dark, well-appointed and soothing. An open kitchen runs the full width of the back wall, fronted by an impressive, sprawling display of fresh seafood on ice, evoking the atmosphere of a market. Behind this display, more than a dozen chefs work furiously. They are an impressive sight, as are the dozens of waiters and floor managers weaving between guest tables. A soundtrack of noticeably good music plays in the background, skilfully fusing classic and new funky vocal house.

The huge menu in the Asian room features soups, salads and sushi alongside dim sum, rice, wok and noodle dishes, charcoal-grilled options and countless

signature dishes. Everything is inspired by Chinese and Pan-Asian cuisine. The food concept hasn’t changed since day one and judging by what we ate, never should it, since everything we tasted was a masterclass in combining flavours and textures to create original dishes. From the wagyu tacos and black cod dumplings to the tuna and foie gras carpaccio, premium sushi and Peking duck, every dish was perfectly executed, bursting with flavours and served efficiently by amiable and eminently organised waiters. Don’t leave without sampling the scallop and black truffle sashimi.

But whilst the food is clearly the star of the show at Novikov, the faultless service comes a close second and is surely one of the reasons the place is routinely fully-booked. Despite the restaurant being packed on a busy Friday night, observing the manner in which diners were served around us was impressive. When I accidentally dropped a fork, it was picked-up and

replaced in the blink of an eye. The venue is run by a team of dedicated managers like a well-oiled Mayfair machine.

After our meal, we moved down a few floors to a small table in the sultry, dimly-lit bar-cum-loungecum-disco for a few post dinner drinks. Even here, the service was second-to-none and our table was routinely refreshed. I even danced for ten minutes.

In a city where the service so often lets down a great venue, it’s not hard to see why Mayfair’s Novikov is so popular. The service is faultless and the Asian fare divine.

Coupled with toe-tapping music and a cool subterranean space to sip a few cocktails after dinner, makes visiting Arkady Novikov’s inimitable Moscow-meets-Mayfair venue a night-long experience rather than a mere meal, and one which I would happily repeat every weekend. www.novikovrestaurant.co.uk Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 223

music & NIGHT LIFE LISA STANSFIELD

WHILE LISA STANSFIELD HAS BEEN ALL AROUND THE WORLD IN THE PAST THREE DECADES, SHE STILL LOVES TO TOUR AND CONSIDERS HER LATEST ALBUM TO BE HER BEST YET. THE NORTHERN U.K. POP AND SOUL SONGSTRESS CHATS TO NICHOLAS CHRISOSTOMOU ABOUT SHARING THE STAGE WITH GEORGE MICHAEL, HER RECENT AMERICAN TOUR, WRITING HER LIFE STORY, AND HER DOGS, MAVIS AND DAVID.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR HOME LIFE AS A KID? I was a very happy child. I would play a lot on my own, with my imagination for company.

WHO WAS THE MUSICAL INFLUENCE IN THE HOUSE? My mother was the keeper of the record collection and it was really her that introduced me to music when I was a child.

She was always playing Diana Ross, Barry White and Motown in the house. My accent is down to emulating my mum and dad.

Then when I started singing, I copied singers and it became my voice. Well, my voice with lots of different people thrown in!

WHEN DID YOU FIRST REALISE THAT SINGING AND PERFORMING WERE TO BECOME YOUR LIFE? I always assumed that this would be my life because I never thought about anything else. So, after I won the Manchester Evening News Search for a Star competition, released my first single, and started to play nightclubs and appear on local TV shows, I kinda knew it was the start of my professional career. In my fourteen-year old head it was what was supposed to happen.

I even co-hosted children’s pop show, Razzmatazz, while I was still at school!

IF YOU HADN’T BEEN A SINGER, WHAT MIGHT YOU HAVE BEEN? A writer or an actress definitely, since it would need to have something to do with the arts. I write songs and stories constantly and I don’t know how I’d cope if I couldn’t.

Although, I nearly started a business selling cake products.

We looked into it but then everybody started doing it and I thought no, they’re all chefs that are doing it, so I’m going to be at the back of the queue! I still make a really good banana bread and really, REALLY good cakes, like good chocolate cakes.

WHO OR WHAT WOULD YOU SAY INFLUENCED AND SHAPED YOU MUSICALLY? Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Prince and Chaka Khan. Many great singers have influenced me, and I see them as my teachers.

HOW DID YOUR 1989 HIT SINGLE AROUND THE WORLD CHANGE YOUR LIFE? Well I’m still singing it to this day! I have had and still have a lovely life thanks to that song.

IS FAME ALL IT IS CRACKED-UP TO BE? Fame is what it is, and you have to learn to deal with the good and bad aspects of it. Fame can make people around you ► 226 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

behave in odd ways. You see a different side to many people when they get around a famous person. It’s very interesting and sometimes a little sad too.

WHICH MUSICAL STYLE DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? Soul, R&B and funk music excites me.

WHO WRITES YOUR SONGS? Me and Ian Devaney - my workmate and my husband.

YOU HAVE SOLD 20 MILLION ALBUMS AND RECORDED HUNDREDS OF TRACKS. IS THERE ONE SPECIAL SONG WHICH RESONATES WITH YOU? Not really. It changes like the seasons and my mood at any particular time.

YOU HAVE WON NUMEROUS ACCOLADES, INCLUDING THREE BRIT AWARDS, A BILLBOARD MUSIC VIDEO AWARD, TWO IVOR NOVELLO AWARDS AND MANY MORE. WINNING WHICH AWARD MEANT THE MOST TO YOU AND WHY? They all mean something to me. I do covet the Ivor Novello though, because it’s an award for writing. It looks really cool too!

TO WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THE LONGEVITY OF YOUR THREE-DECADE CAREER? I suppose the fact that I have said ‘no’ to more things than I’ve said ‘yes’ to has stood me in good stead. I think a lot of it is trusting your own gut instinct. There’s a lot to be said for trusting your instincts.

YOU’VE BEEN MARRIED TO YOUR MUSIC PARTNER, IAN DEVANEY, SINCE 1988. WHAT’S THE SECRET TO YOUR LONG AND SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIP? Still fancying someone. That they still excite you and make you laugh. Being best friends and truly wanting to spend time together, whatever it is you’re doing. I just love Ian. He’s got a lot of patience with me. He’s a lot more easy-going than me. He’s a water sign and I’m fiery, so he calms my fire down a bit. But sometimes it goes the opposite way, I make him BOIL and puts my fire out!

IS THERE ANYONE YOU CONSIDER TO BE A MENTOR AND WHY? My drama teacher Jeanette Dawson was a big influence on me and my life in general. When I met her she taught me so much.

I loved her drama classes and how her classroom seemed ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 229

a world away from everyday life and the humdrum of school.

Sadly, she died quite a while ago. I would love to chat to her now and tell her about my experiences, because it’s partly due to her that I have the determination and faith in myself to do what I do.

TELL US ABOUT DEEPER, YOUR EIGHTH STUDIO ALBUM RELEASED EARLIER THIS YEAR? ► I spent about four years working on Deeper, which is pretty much packed with a smooth blend of pop, soul and disco vibes.

The kinda tunes you play before you go out.

HOW DID YOU FEEL THE VERY FIRST TIME YOU LISTENED TO DEEPER THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH? Incredibly proud. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I really do think that if I never make any more music in my life I can die happy.

WHY DO YOU LOVE TO TOUR WHEN SO MANY ARTISTS HATE IT?!

It’s the ultimate way to see, first hand, the effect your music has on people, and it’s so very liberating to play live.

DESCRIBE YOUR ACT WHEN YOU PERFORM LIVE? It’s a real show with a lot of energy and love. We’re very urban, and when we play live we are very serious about our music and it shows. It’s all very in your face. We really love to have a good time and the audience are part of the whole show and atmosphere.

HOW WAS YOUR MOST RECENT TOUR DIFFERENT TO PREVIOUS TOURS? I just played a 13-date tour of North America, which was my first time performing in the States in more than two decades. I was backed by a ten-piece band that’s like a really good football team. The concerts were very energetic, and as well as some of the classics, we also performed a variety of new cuts which went down a storm!

OF ALL THE VENUES YOU HAVE PERFORMED, DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE AND WHY? The Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium in 1992. It was a truly magical day.

AT THAT CONCERT, YOU FAMOUSLY SANG QUEEN’S THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES WITH GEORGE MICHAEL. WHAT STANDS OUT THE MOST TO YOU ABOUT THAT PERFORMANCE? ► 230 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

Everybody who did that show was just so famous at the time.

The place was literally full of musical legends, but nobody had an ego. Even the rehearsals were pretty subdued. I think it was at the Rock In Rio festival in 1991 that I met George for the first time. In rehearsals for the Freddy Mercury concert I was wearing one of Ian’s coats and had a big hat on. I looked a bit like a homeless person, and I was scoffing a big bacon roll because I was starving. George said to me, “Fucking hell, how can you eat bacon and perform like that?” But George was very lovely and we had quite a laugh. After the Freddie Mercury thing we went out with Anita Dobson and Brian May, which was really nice.

AND YOU’VE DUETTED WITH BARRY WHITE? Yes. Barry White was gorgeous, a very kind, warm person and very gracious. A real gentleman. And that voice, NOBODY will EVER have a voice like that ever again.

IS THERE SOMEONE YOU WOULD STILL LIKE TO PERFORM A DUET WITH? I would love to sing with John Newman (Love Me Again). He has an amazing voice. Emeli Sandé also has an amazing voice and is such a great writer. And Gregory Porter, I LOVE Gregory Porter.

MUSICALLY, IS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT YOU WOULD STILL LIKE TO TRY? I’ve never really worked with any rappers, so I’d love to do something like that. I think it would be a fantastic experience. I love doing different things musically and that would definitely be different.

WITH SUCH A BUSY SCHEDULE HOW DO YOU KICK BACK AND RELAX? Since we travel back and forth all the time, just staying at home is like a nice break. Though we do sometimes go away for a few days. On my last birthday we went to the Lake District.

YOU HAVE OBVIOUSLY STAYED IN MANY HOTELS. WHICH IS YOUR PREFERRED HOTEL AND WHY? I absolutely love Claridge’s in London, and the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong is amazing.

YOU HAVE A HOME IN LONDON AND A COUPLE ACROSS THE POND, BUT YOU MOVED BACK TO THE LANCASHIRE MILL TOWN OF ROCHDALE TEN YEARS AGO, AND THIS IS WHERE YOUR ALBUMS ARE RECORDED. TELL US ABOUT ROCHDALE? Ian and I have lived in Rochdale all our lives. We have been spending a lot more time there as we record there and ► Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 233

make films there. Rochdale is a typical Northern town.

It’s our hometown and it’s great that we can spend time there for our work too.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE HOLIDAY DESTINATION? I love the South of France. We used to go to Cannes quite a lot, but we’ve been to Nice a few times in the last few years and I love the mixture of culture there, the food and the atmosphere especially. I don’t much like to sit or lie in the sun all day. I’d much rather walk around and find little junk shops full of nick-knacks and explore. Walking around towns and cities is far more interesting than just lying on a beach all day. I can sun myself for a little while then go and explore!

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR GREATEST PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS? Professionally, to have been in this business for thirty years and have come out the other side relatively unscathed.

ARE YOU A DOG OR A CAT PERSON?!

Dogs every time. I have two in Rochdale - David and Mavis.

Mavis is a Yorkie, named after Coronation Street character Mavis Riley. Our Shih Tzu David is known as “Baby David” because my mum and dad always wanted a boy and would have named him David. So, our little dog David is the token boy in the family.

WHAT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A BUDDING PERFORMER LOOKING TO START A CAREER IN MUSIC? Don’t let anyone bully you. It’s your life and your career.

Don’t rush into anything too quickly for ambition’s sake.

Dance to your own tune - never anyone else’s.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR LISA STANSFIELD? After thirty years in the business I am writing an autobiography. It’s like little vignettes of my life, from my childhood onwards. I have basically picked little stories about me and written them down. And I’ll be back in that studio again soon!

A deluxe edition of Lisa Stansfield’s eight studio album Deeper has recently been released, and includes an 80-minute bonus CD featuring live recordings from Lisa’s 2018 UK tour and a selection of remixes. lisastansfield.lnk.to/deeperdeluxe www.lisa-stansfield.com 234 The Cultured Traveller Dec 2018 - Feb 2019

GLOBETROTTER 2018 CHRISTMAS GIFT ROUND-UP Finding the perfect present for a stylish woman is no easy feat, and a fashion-conscious guy is an equally tricky beast to buy for. But before you give up and opt for the ubiquitous voucher, check out this selection of stylish Christmas gift ideas, hand-picked by The Cultured Traveller’s Fashion Editor ADRIAN GIBSON, and let’s tick some names off your list!

COMME DES GARÇONS WALLET ♂ Founded in 1969, cult Japanese label Comme des Garçon is renowned for avant-garde designs and unusual fabrications.

This zipped cowhide wallet is finished in a striking black and shiny silver checkerboard design. Inside is contrasted with a finer pattern and includes five credit card slots and a snap fastening coin pocket to keep your money organised while also making a bold yet fun statement.

GBP 252 WWW.DOVERSTREETMARKET.COM

HENDRICK’S ORBIUM GIN Often credited with kick-starting the great revival of mother’s ruin, whilst Hendrick’s has taken its time to launch a new gin it has almost certainly been worth the wait. While the original uses Bulgarian rose and cucumber to add flavour, Orbium is unusually infused with extracts of quinine and wormwood, the latter usually a key ingredient in vermouth. But it is the final ingredient of blue lotus blossom which adds bright floral notes to the mix. The now synonymous apothecary bottle has been re-coloured to deep cobalt blue, and although Orbium is delicious with tonic, serving it with soda really lets the gin’s flavour shine through.

GBP 36.75 WWW.THEWHISKYEXCHANGE.COM

CDLP BOXER BRIEFS 3-PACK ♂ Swedish colleagues Christian Larson and Andreas Palm, who were often on business trips together, realised there was a gap in the market for stylish, sophisticated men’s underwear. After two years of design and development in Stockholm they launched CDLP understated premium gentleman’s underwear. Fashioned in Portugal from luxurious Lyocell - an organic fibre made from sustainable wood pulp, with natural breathing and moisture wicking properties – CDLP’s understated, durable and supremely comfortable boxer briefs are smoother than silk, softer than cotton and finished with a stylish logo waistband.

GBP 75 CDLP.COM

PENDLETON CHIEF JOSEPH BLANKET Uniquely woven into Native American communities, Pendleton Woollen Mills continues to uniquely share traditional indigenous design and artistry with the world. Originally designed

by Pendleton in the 1920’s and made in the U.S.A., this Chief Joseph 82% pure virgin wool/18% cotton blanket is inspired by and named after one of the Northwest’s greatest Nez Perce warriors, Chief Joseph. The arrowheads in the pattern, which point in all directions of Mother Earth, symbolise bravery. Cuddle up in this blanket on the sofa, or throw it over a double bed.

GBP 320 PENDLETONWOOLENMILLS.CO.UK

MARTIN GROVER SCREEN PRINT Royal Academy-trained South London artist Martin Grover works in both mediums of screen printing and acrylics on canvas. An accomplished and inventive screen printer, Grover uses photographic and digital techniques, and creates his unique prints by hand painting his stencils directly onto the screen. Taken from his “Record Portraits” series, this breathtakingly realistic cover of iconic Beatles 7” single All You Need Is Love is one of a limited edition of just 14 numbered prints signed by the artist.

GBP 350 WWW.MARTINGROVER.COM

PAUL SMITH DREAMER SHIRT ♂ If you’re looking for a statement shirt for the party season, renowned British fashion brand Paul Smith may have the answer. The Dreamer Print was inspired by a book Sir Paul’s wife gave him many years ago, filled with fairytale-like illustrations by French artist Edmund Dulac. The book subsequently became the inspiration for Paul Smith’s AW18 collection. Crafted in Italy from a lightweight viscose and wool-blend, if you look closely at this long-sleeve slim-fit shirt, you’ll be able to spot various animals in psychedelic colours, including frogs, beetles, snails and leopards, infusing the print with a sense of fun and optimism.

GBP 265 WWW.PAULSMITH.COM/UK

BRITISH BOXERS FARNE SOCKS ♂ Founder of the brand, Deborah Price, used to be a London fashion buyer, but in 2013 she decided to leave the rat race and launch her own underwear and sleepwear brand. Named after her great, great, great grandfather (the first World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Jem Mace), Price prides herself on using British manufacturers wherever possible. New for this winter are a range of classic Country Fairisle patterned socks re-coloured for the modern gen.

Produced by renowned English sock makers Pantherella from fine merino wool in a chunky knit, giving these will make a delightful change from boring sock presents!

GBP 15 BRITISH-BOXERS.COM Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 237

FENDI MANIA CLUTCH ♀ In a market saturated with fashion collaborations, it’s exciting to see two diverse but powerful brands get together. Conceived by talented Londonbased illustrator and graphic artist Reilly, Fendi Mania combines the luxury of the renowned Italian fashion house with the sporty playfulness of vintage sports brand Fila to create a fun capsule collection for AW18. This eye-catching, multicoloured calfskin clutch, marries the luxury of Fendi’s leather heritage with a fresh youthful appeal, making it one of the season’s hit bags.

GBP 650 WWW.FENDI.COM/GB

RALPH LAUREN 50 YEARS BOOK From humble beginnings of selling silk ties for men, it’s hard to believe that this year Ralph Lauren has been celebrating half a century of being in the fashion industry. Lauren’s formula of affordable but instantly recognisable mid-range to luxury goods has helped propel his brand into almost every fashion category.

To commemorate his fiftieth year in the business, this hardback coffee table book has been updated and expanded to include 965 images and drawings, some from Lauren’s personal collection, as well as key advertising campaigns. A must have for any Ralph Lauren fan, the book comes in a stylish, commemorative RL tote.

GBP 37.50 WWW.RALPHLAUREN.CO.UK

HOMEBODY KIMONO DRESSING GOWN ♀

FENTY BEAUTY MINI GLITTERING PUFF ♀

In 1999, Beverley Calvert was looking for the perfect pyjamas for her husband but was unable to find anything she liked. So, after taking an evening fashion course and developing designs and fabrics, Homebody was born. The collection was bought by luxury department store Harrods and proved to be a sell-out. Women’s and kids ranges were soon added.

Fabrication is key to Homebody and everything is made in the U.K.. This stylish, Japanese-inspired kimono dressing gown is made from the company’s super soft signature Modal-Sens fabric and comes with a unique 365-day returns policy.

Rihanna’s runaway success beauty line Fenty was created to include all women everywhere, regardless of their skin tone or type, driven by her desire for women to ‘have fun with makeup, take chances and dare to do something new or different’. For Christmas 2018, this fun, limited-edition mini glittering puff is pre-packed with superfine iridescent pink shimmer powder to add some extra seasonal sparkle, and is packaged in an ornament that’ll look as festive dangling on a tree as it does on the skin.

GBP 185 HOMEBODY.CO.UK

GBP 125 WWW.HARVEYNICHOLS.COM

ANYA HINDMARCH LIP BALM CANDLE ♀ Cutely balancing elegance with unmistakable British humour and taken from her first collection of home fragrance items ‘Anya Hindmarch Smells’, this eye-catching candle is hand poured in the UK and reflects her quirky trademark style. Designed to evoke memories of first kisses, it is scented with French dark cherry, plum flesh, pomegranate seeds, night-blooming Egyptian jasmine, tonka bean, Iris from Florence and Japanese cherry blossom. Contained within a glossy black vessel, it is finished off with a fun cherry motive reminiscent of teenage doodles. Also available in a super large size.

GBP 50 WWW.ANYAHINDMARCH.COM

ROXANNE ASSOULIN ENAMEL BRACELETS ♀ Enamelled jewellery is currently very on trend. Whilst New York designer Roxanne Assoulin has been in industry for nearly four decades, and she has designed for Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta amongst others, her current collection was almost inspired by accident, while she was playing with some mosaic tiles for another project. Inspired by her favourite French bistro chairs, these stretch bracelets come in three different variations and are made from monochrome enamel beads. The ‘Argyle’ is decorated with lapis cabochons. Buy one, two, or the set of three for USD270 USD80 – USD270 ROXANNEASSOULIN.COM

HOLLY FULTON SKYSCRAPER SWEATER ♀ Holly Fulton studied fashion design in Edinburgh before completing her masters at London’s Royal College of Art. Famous for her complex graphic embellishments and witty twists, Fulton has become a firm favourite in the contemporary womenswear market since launching her eponymous label in 2009. For the AW18 season, she collaborated with British luxury knitwear brand, John Smedley, to produce to some fun and graphic pieces, including this striking sweater inspired by Fulton’s long-distance love affair with the Empire State Building. Finished in Smedley’s extra fine merino wool, it will surely make a stylish addition to any lady’s weekend wardrobe.

GBP 180 WWW.JOHNSMEDLEY.COM/UK Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 239

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ALILA JABAL AKHDAR ANDBEYOND PHINDA HOMESTEAD

FALINE www.faline.tokyo FENDI www.fendi.com/gb FIS ALPINE WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS

www.andbeyond.com

www.are2019.com

ANYA HINDMARCH www.anyahindmarch.com AOYAMA SQUARE www.kougeihin.jp ART BASEL MIAMI www.artbasel.com/miami-beach ATI-ATIHAN www.facebook.com/kalibo-ati-atihan

FOUR SEASONS RESORT SEYCHELLES AT DESROCHES ISLAND www.fourseasons.com/seychellesdesroches FRANKFURT CHRISTMAS MARKET

www.alilahotels.com/jabalakhdar

B BARRANQUILLA CARNIVAL www.carnavaldebarranquilla.org

BERBER LODGE www.berberlodge.net BRITISH BOXERS https://british-boxers.com

C

www.frankfurt-tourismus.de

FRIDA HULTEN https://fridahulten.com

G GEN YAMAMOTO www.genyamamoto.jp GUM SHOPPING MALL (MOSCOW) https://gumrussia.com

H

www.cartagenamusicfestival.com

HIGASHIYA GINZA www.higashiya.com HOLLY FULTON www.hollyfulton.com HOMEBODY https://homebody.co.uk HOPE STREET HOTEL www.hopestreethotel.co.uk HOTEL NATIONAL DES ARTS ET METIERS

CASA COCHERA DEL GOBERNADOR

www.hotelnational.paris/en

CAFÉ PUSHKIN (MOSCOW) https://cafe-pushkin.ru/en

CARTAGENA MUSIC FESTIVAL

www.casacocheradelgobernador.com/en

CDLP https://cdlp.com CHALET L’ALPENSIA AT L’APOGÉE COUCHEVEL

I IMPERIAL RIDING SCHOOL RENAISSANCE VIENNA HOTEL

www.oetkercollection.com

www.marriott.com

CHATEI HATOU Facebook CHEVAL BLANC COURCHEVEL www.chevalblanc.com COMME DES GARÇONS www.comme-des-garcons.com CRYSTAL RIDE www.matterhornparadise.ch

ISETAN www.isetan.mistore.jp ITOYA www.ito-ya.co.jp

D DAIKANYAMA T-SITE www.real.tsite.jp

E ELEMENTS 007 www.007elements.soelden.com ELISEEVSKY (MOSCOW) www.eliseevskiy.ru/e_home.htm

J JOHN SMEDLEY www.johnsmedley.com/uk

K KAMACHIKU www.kamachiku.com KANUHURA www.kanuhura.com KIKI HARAJUKU www.kikioishi.com KULM COUNTRY CLUB www.kulm.com

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LE MASSIF www.lemassifcourmayeur.com

RAFFLES EUROPEJSKI WARSAW www.raffles.com/warsaw RALPH LAUREN www.ralphlauren.co.uk RHYTHM & VINES www.rhythmandvines.co.nz ROXANNE ASSOULIN https://roxanneassoulin.com

LE REFUGE DE SOLAISE www.lerefuge-valdisere.com LISA STANSFIELD www.lisa-stansfield.com

M MANDARIN ORIENTAL PRAGUE www.mandarinoriental.com

MARTIN GROVER www.martingrover.com MEIJI JINGŪ www.meijijingu.or.jp MEVLÂNA FESTIVAL www.goturkeytourism.com

N NARISAWA www.narisawa-yoshihiro.com NEW YORK BAR www.restaurants.tokyo.park.hyatt.co.jp NEZU MUSEUM wwww.nezu-muse.or.jp/en NOBU HOTEL MIAMI BEACH www.nobuhotelmiamibeach.com

S SAKE SCENE MASUFUKU www.sakescene.com SINGAPORE AIRLINES www.singaporeair.com SOMERSET HOUSE SKATING www.somerset.org.uk SUNBURN FESTIVAL 2018 www.sunburn.in SUPER BOWL 53 www.nfl.com linked to www.nfl.com/super-bowl

SUSHI BAR YASUDA www.sushibaryasuda.com

T TAIWAN LANTERN FESTIVAL www.taiwan.net.tw THE BARCELONA EDITION www.editionhotels.com/barcelona

THE EXPERIMENTAL CHALET www.experimentalchalet.com

NOVIKOV, MAYFAIR www.novikovrestaurant.co.uk

O OMAANDA www.zannierhotels.com/omaanda ORA www.orarestaurant.fi OSCARS, THE 91ST www.oscars.org

P PARAMOUNT HOUSE HOTEL paramounthousehotel.com PAUL SMITH www.paulsmith.com/uk PENDLETON WOOLLEN MILLS https://pendletonwoolenmills.co.uk

Q

THE KREMLIN (TICKETS) https://tickets.kreml.ru/en/#id=1 THE LINE DC www.thelinehotel.com/dc THE LUMIARES thelumiares.com THE MIDDLE HOUSE www.themiddlehousehotel.com THE ST. REGIS MOSCOW www.stregismoscow.com THE ST. REGIS WASHINGTON www.marriott.com TOKYO NATIONAL MUSEUM www.tnm.jp TOKYO SKYTREE www.tokyo-skytree.jp/en TRETYAKOV GALLERY www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en TRUNK LOUNGE https://trunk-hotel.com/lounge

V VILLA SAMADHI SINGAPORE www.villasamadhi.com.sg VINTERJAZZ www.jazz.dk

QUÉBEC WINTER CARNIVAL www.carnaval.qc.ca

W

QUINTESSENCE www.quintessence.jp

WANÅS www.wanas.se

Dec 2018 - Feb 2019 The Cultured Traveller 241