July 2015 by Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia

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july 2015

Food ISSUE

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InsIderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GuIde

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eat In the heat Singapore S$7.90 / Hong Kong HK$43 THailand THB175 / indoneSia idr50,000 MalaySia Myr18 / VieTnaM Vnd85,000 Macau Mop44 / pHilippineS pHp240 BurMa MMK35 / caMBodia KHr22,000 Brunei Bnd7.90 / laoS laK52,000

CHILLAX WITH NIGHTLIFE PRIVILEGES BY AMERICAN EXPRESS Looking to unwind after work or meet friends for a late-night gathering? Live it up as American Express brings you a host of extraordinary nightlife privileges throughout Singapore, from bespoke hotspots to classic whisky bars. Be sure to present your American Express Platinum Reserve or Platinum Credit Card at the time of order and receive a complimentary drink on us, along with other exclusive offers.

C BE O SP MP O LIM K E EN CO T CK AR TA Y* IL

Y L A CO SS M O PL I F M H E O N U TA SE R W Y* H IS K G

C BE O SP MP O LIM K E EN CO T CK AR TA Y* IL

For more information, please visit bit.ly/nightlifeoffers

AH SAM COLD DRINK STALL Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall offers their take on local classics like Negroni. Must Try: Old Pal

AULD ALLIANCE Transport yourself to a library of 1,500 whiskies at The Auld Alliance with wine, absinthe, champagne, rum and cognac. Must Try: Littlemill 1990 24 Years Old

BITTERS & LOVE Bitters & Love is the perfect place to catch up with friends in this hip and cosy venue for after-work drinks and social gatherings.

C W OM EL P CO LI M ME E N D TA RI R N Y K *

C BE O SP MP O LIM K E EN CO T CK AR TA Y* IL

MAISON IKKOKU Nestled along the quiet Kampong Glam area, this ultra-hipster joint serves up some original cocktail creations such as the Shiso Sorbet Martini by Bar Manager Ryan Hon.

1 N -FO D 10 R-1 % *F O IR FF ST TO D TA RIN L K BI LL *

ORGO BAR & RESTAURANT Panoramic views of the dazzling skyline, hand-crafted Japanese cocktails, Orgo is perfect with friends or for a little romance.

CO W M H PL IS I M K E Y N TA TA ST RY ER *

HORSE’S MOUTH BAR Tucked away in a nondescript corner of Forum The Shopping Mall, be transported instantly into the classy confines of Horse’s Mouth Bar. Must Try: Beetroot Bonanza

C BE O SP MP O LIM K E EN CO T CK AR TA Y* IL

A DVERTISEMENT

THE MAD MEN ATTIC BAR Tucked beneath skyscrapers that includes a view of the stunning Marina Bay Sands, The Mad Men Attic Bar is the perfect go-to post-work hideout in Boat Quay.

THE MEN’S ROOM A quaint yet quirky hideout for the after-work crowd, The Men’s Room offers live Mandopop, Cantopop, and DJs throughout the week.

THE ESTABLISHMENT GROUP (:PLUCK, GEM BAR, MANOR, ZUI HONG LOU)

O R (B -1 EE F RS IRS ,W T D IN RI E) NK *

At Ann Siang Hill and Club Street, The Establishment Group occupies all three floors of this historical conservation shophouse.

SPIFFY DAPPER Expect great drinks thanks to a wide collection of 110 gins and 11 tonic waters served in the unpretentious surrounds of Spiffy Dapper. CO W M H PL IS I M K E Y N TA TA ST RY ER *

K CO IR M IN P L BO I M T T EN LE TA D R BE Y* ER

QUAICH BAR Known as one of the most exquisite whisky bars in town, Quaich Bar spoils you for choice with more than 500 types of whisky. Must Try: The Whisky Taster

THE SECRET MERMAID The Secret Mermaid is a tasting room focused on American craft spirits and the perfect place to try exciting spirits such as Salmon Vodka.

*Purchase of at least one item from the merchant’s menu is required in order to enjoy the complimentary drink. Terms and Conditions: • Offer is only available when your Card is presented at the time of order, and payment is made with the The Centurion® Card, The Platinum Card®, The American Express® Platinum Reserve or Platinum Credit Card issued in Singapore. • Terms and Conditions apply to all the above mentioned privileges/promotions. Please refer to bit.ly/nightlifeoffers for more details. • American Express and the participating merchants reserve the right to change The Terms and Conditions at any time without prior notice. Should there be disputes, the decision of American Express and the participating merchants shall be final.

F E AT U R E S

Pleasure on a Plate Bangkok’s fastmaturing dining scene runs the gamut from obscure local delicacies to Michelin-rich magnificence from around the globe. Richard Mcleish eats his way through the city’s coolest restaurants. Photographed by Christian Hogue.

For the Love of Noodles What strange elixir in noodle soup makes it so good for the soul? Stephanie Zubiri takes stock of why this staple in its many forms warms the heart of Asia. Photographed by Supachat Vetchamaleenont.

The Hunger Games Eating is a sport in Singapore. Howie Kahn reveals why it keeps drawing him back for one more meal. Photographed by Darren Soh.

104

More than Meze Long a crossroads, Istanbul offers cuisine to surprise every palate, provided you know where to look. Robyn Eckhardt offers a glimpse of some of her favorites. Photographed by David Hagerman.

114

CHRISTIAN HOGUE

The Big Easy Does It New Orleans hasn’t just rebuilt, it’s become a new place altogether—one where dreams of every stripe are bringing the city back to anything but normal. By Mimi Swartz. Photographed by Bryce Duffy.

The spread at Bangkok’s Namsaah Bottling Trust.

cont T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M / J U LY 2 0 1 5

HERE & NOW

21 Split Personalities

45 BEYOND

Multi-concept destinations.

24 Backdoor Beijing

45 Adventure An earlymorning ascent of Merbabu volcano in Central Java, Indonesia.

61 THE GUIDE

61 Hungry for More New

and natty food courts across Asia. Museum restaurants where the dishes are objets d’art. Bars that inspire your two-beer brilliance. We’ve sipped and supped our way around the world to bring you the latest restaurants worth traveling for now. UPGRADE

tents Dishes not to miss.

50 The Moment Inside the

recently discovered Son Doong Cave in Vietnam.

28 Steeped in Style Designer tea.

31 Guerrilla Gardening

34 Traveling Pants

Comfortable trousers with a cultural edge.

36 State Secrets A chef who has cooked for world leaders.

38 Changing Seasons

Andy Ricker’s careershaping journeys.

52 The Takeaway The

MOMA merchandising director’s Japanese souvenirs picks.

Urban farming in Asian cities.

54 Spotlight New craft

beers and bars from Japan’s old city to Australia’s beach town.

58 First Person Rediscovering the joys of local train travel.

PLUS Tokyo’s next hot neighborhood, City of Dreams Manila makes a splash; beach beauty essentials; and more.

J U LY 2 0 1 5 / T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M

21 In Every Issue T+ L D I G I TA L 1 0 C O N T R I B U T O R S 12 E D I T O R’S N O T E 1 4 T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N 1 6 W I S H YO U W E R E H E R E 122

67 Travel Smarter

Airfare forecasting tools are getting better; road-tested translation apps; the new way to book restaurants; chic and practical suitcases to carry on or check in; the new travel command center you wear on your wrist.

On the Cover Preparing a meal at Alancha Istanbul. Photographer: David Hagerman.

F R O M L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F M AT T E R ; U P R I S I N G / C O M M O N S .W I K I M E D I A . O R G ; C O U R T E S Y O F E D I T I O N ; C O U R T E S Y O F T H E R E F I N E R Y

sessions by: andrew mcmahon in the wilderness at hard rock hotel BALI . BILOXI . CANCUN CHICAGO . HOLLYWOOD, FL IBIZA . LAS VEGAS MACAU . NORTHFIELD PARK ORLANDO . PALM SPRINGS PANAMA MEGAPOLIS . PATTAYA PENANG . PUNTA CANA RIVIERA MAYA . SAN DIEGO SINGAPORE . TAMPA VALLARTA

Real music. Authentic experiences. Created here.

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july 2015

Food ISSUE

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Available on iOS, Android, Win 8 and Zinio Desktop Reader. Get the July issue now. VISIT US traveland leisureasia.com Now on our site: a stunning new palace hotel in Jaipur, food trucks revving up the dining scene around Asia, the latest travel deals, and more. Here we look at the trips for the ages—for all ages. Fill up on the latest trends in trips for the whole family, even the littlest ones. FAMILY TRAVEL

KEEP UP WITH US Sign up for our newsletter for monthly highlights and offers from T+L Southeast Asia. tandl.asia/ newsletter

PEAKS AND VALLEYS

Climbing and canyoning through Dalat, Vietnam’s City of Eternal Spring, is not for the faint of heart.

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3 exceptionally powerful incredibly compact

Samantha Leese

Richard Mcleish

Traveling Pants page 34 — Hong Kong-based Leese believes fashion comes down to confidence. “My style is simple and structured, with a focus on comfort and flattering shapes,” she says. This month Leese writes about Matter, one of her favorite socially motivated local labels. “I was inspired by the founder’s travel spirit and her ethical vision for the brand.” Leese often sports baubles by British-Laos jewelery designers Finchittida, whose proceeds go towards clearing live bombs in Laos. Leese uses her purchasing power to support Southeast Asian designers. Follow Samantha on Instagram: @samniverse.

Pleasure on a Plate page 78 — “It’s exciting to watch a city reach its dining potential, from the everyday to the extravagant,” says Mcleish of his belt-loosening eating spree across Bangkok. “Putting the local food culture through an international kaleidoscope of ideas sparks wild culinary collisions.” Bangkok’s dining scene is getting more casual and the high-end eateries are benefiting from the new laidback approach. Melbournebased, he gets a taste of Asian cuisine at home, but laments that Australia “has yet to appreciate how genius a quick bowl of something on the roadside can be.” Follow Rich on Twitter: @richmcleish.

Lillian Chou

Howie Kahn

Backdoor Beijing page 24 — When Cho left her job as the food editor at Gourmet magazine to explore Chinese cuisine on the mainland, she had some initial doubts. “I was horrified at the food in Beijing when I fist arrived,” says Chou. “It has taken me years to understand and appreciate Northern Chinese cooking.” Now an old pro at Beijing restaurant-hopping Chou says she can “tell how a good a place will be from intuition.” Though she dishes a few favorite spots in her story, she’s got a secret list of eateries that she refuses to share: “It will be impossible to get a table if I ever write about them.” Follow Lillian on Instagram: @lililbeijing.

The Hunger Games page 94 — “It’s always moving to see the ways people are proud of where they come from,” says Kahn, who embarked on a culinary odyssey through the restaurants of Singapore. “Much of Singaporean pride is conveyed through food.” According to Kahn, bringing an appetite to the city-state is crucial, particularly for Hainanese chicken rice, sold at most hawker centers, and laksa from the Top 33 Kopitiam food stall: “Every dish is a must-have on some level.” The next time he goes, he’ll explore Peranakan cuisine, which combines Chinese and Malay cooking methods. Follow Howie on Instagram: @howiekahn.

W R I T ER

W R I T ER / P H O TO GR A P H ER

W R I T ER

FROM TOP: COURTESY OF SAMANTHA LEESE; COURTESY OF RICHARD MCLEISH; COURTESY OF LILLIAN CHOU; COURTESY OF HOWIE K AHN

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| contributors

editor’s note

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SUNDAY NIGHT IN SHANGHAI, FRESH OFF MY FLIGHT, AND I WANT

@CKucway chrisk@mediatransasia.com

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F R O M M Y T R AV E L S

In Shanghai for the International Luxury Travel Mart, I had the good fortune of staying at The PuLi (above; thepuli.com; doubles from RMB1,546). Now a few years old, the hotel expertly cocoons guests from the bustle of the city. Design is centered on a comfortable take on classical Chinese motifs. As for the travel mart, it’s a chance to hear the lowdown on all that’s new with exactly the types of journeys that pique your interest and mine. More to the point, it’s these trips and others like them you will read about in upcoming issues, so get ready for a great ride.

F R O M L E F T: N A PAT R AV E E WAT; C H R I S T O P H E R K U C WAY

a bowl of chili chicken at a favorite restaurant. What I’m dreaming of isn’t just any bowl, it’s a deep dish where you fish around with chopsticks for the searing pieces of chicken in a sea of red dried chilies. The chili-to-chicken ratio is unprintable, the dish delicious. So too is the tofu smothered in a black-bean sauce, we order. I blame this issue, our annual food special, for arriving in one of the world’s most fascinating cities with only eating in mind. Around Asia, food is integral to our travels—I’m actually embarrassed by how many food photos are on my phone—whether it’s searching out organic innovations at Hong Kong’s top hotels (page 31) or the best new food courts for upscale street food (page 61). Though both my belly and phone are full from many memorable meals, this month’s stories on Istanbul and New Orleans, two destinations I have yet to visit, still manage to work up my appetite. Robyn Eckhardt heads to the Turkish crossroads (page 104) to uncover, not only what locals eat, but when. “I plan my gastronomic forays around what’s on offer at the farmer’s market,” she writes. For a taste of how food can sustain and restore us, look no further than New Orleans (page 114), postKatrina. It’s a story that underscores the links between food and travel, and why we dream of dishes in far-off locales.

the conversation

BURNING QUESTION

Why do I get so dehydrated when I fly?

Dry throat and itchy eyes—we’ve all felt the effects of flying. According to Dr. Clayton T. Cowl, the chair of Preventive, Occupational, and Aerospace Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, an aircraft’s filtration system—which takes in outside air and circulates it in the cabin—is to blame. While this creates a clean environment, it also causes humidity to drop to a parched 10 to 20 percent—between 30 and 65 percent is comfortable for most people. Low humidity means that moisture evaporates from the body quickly, which can lead to dehydration. Plus, when air is dry, the throat’s broom-like cilia become less effective at sweeping out viruses and bacteria, so you may be more susceptible to illness. The final word: There are ways to combat low humidity besides drinking water. Avoid alcohol-based moisturizers, which can be drying (Cowl recommends a vitamin E lotion); pack natural eyedrops and saline nasal spray; and skip the wine and cocktails.

ON OUR WATCH

SELFIE STICKS

The Great Wall. Taj Mahal. Tokyo Tower. It seems like no tourist attraction these days can escape the selfie stick, an extendable monopod that

#TLASIA

FOOD PORN, ANYONE? OUR INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS ARE EATING THEIR WAY ACROSS ASIA—AND MAKING US HUNGRY TO EXPLORE.

attaches to a phone and allows you to take the perfect shot of yourself with the temples of Angkor Wat. Much to the chagrin of visitors, many cultural institutions have put bans in place. Here’s what people are saying.

“If the museum’s mission is one of service to the public, then they should be doing everything they can to encourage attendance and engagement with the artworks, and like it or not,

THAT INCLUDES SELFIE STICKS AT THE MOMENT.” — MUSEUMGOER R ACHEL HYMAN, TO THE GUARDIAN

“SELFIE STICKS WILL CAUSE SAFETY CONCERNS,

whether for tourists or the exhibits.” – SHEN LIXIA, DEPUT Y DIRECTOR OF TOURIST RECEPTION AT BEIJING’S PALACE MUSEUM, FORBIDDEN CIT Y, TO THE TELEGRAPH

“The only thing more annoying than selfie sticks is the

MEDIA’S OB SES SION WITH CREATING A DIALOGUE ABOU T T HEM.” — DAVID CANNON, FACEBOOK

“It’s one thing to take a picture at arm’s length, but when it is three times arm’s length,

YOU ARE IN VADING SOMEONE EL SE’S PERSONAL SPACE.” – SREE SREENIVASAN, CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER AT THE MET, NEW YORK, TO THE NEW YORK TIMES

“At many concerts and events, people are not allowed to bring anything that might potentially hurt others, such as umbrellas.

THE SELFIE STICK IS IN THAT CATEGORY.” — SENTOSA DEVELOPMENT CORPOR ATION SPOKESMAN, TO THE STRAITS TIMES.

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Morning glory in Bangkok, by @midnighttrainblog

South Indian thali in Hong Kong, by @alilfatmonkey

Kinako mochi with tea in Kyoto, by @alilfatmonkey

Spaghetti picante in Jakarta, by @gdedyaksaraka

SHARE AN INSTAGRAM PHOTO BY USING THE #TLASIA HASHTAG, AND IT MAY BE FEATURED IN AN UPCOMING ISSUE. FOLLOW @TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ART DIRECTOR DEPUT Y EDITOR SENIOR EDITOR AS SISTANT EDITOR SENIOR DESIGNER DESIGNER

Christopher Kucway Wannapha Nawayon Jeninne Lee-St. John Merritt Gurley Monsicha Hoonsuwan Chotika Sopitarchasak Autchara Panphai

REGUL AR CONTRIBUTORS / PHOTOGR APHERS Cedric Arnold, Jeff Chu, Helen Dalley, Robyn Eckhardt, Philipp Engelhorn, David Hagerman, Lauryn Ishak, Mark Lean, Melanie Lee, Naomi Lindt, Brent T. Madison, Ian Lloyd Neubauer, Aaron Joel Santos, Adam Skolnick, Darren Soh, Stephanie Zubiri CHAIRMAN PRESIDENT PUBLISHING DIRECTOR PUBLISHER DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER TR AFFIC MANAGER / DIGITAL CONTENT AS SISTANT SALES DIRECTOR BUSINES S DE VELOPMENT MANAGERS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCTION GROUP CIRCUL ATION MANAGER CIRCUL ATION AS SISTANT

J.S. Uberoi Egasith Chotpakditrakul Rasina Uberoi-Bajaj Robert Fernhout Cole Pennington Varin Kongmeng Joey Kukielka Domenica Agostino Justin Williams Gaurav Kumar Kanda Thanakornwongskul Natchanan Kaewsasaen Porames Sirivejabandhu Yupadee Saebea

TR AVEL + LEISURE (USA) EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT / PUBLISHING DIRECTOR VICE PRESIDENT / PUBLISHER

Nathan Lump Steven DeLuca Jay Meyer

TIME INC. INTERNATIONAL LICENSING & DEVELOPMENT (syndication@timeinc.com) VICE PRESIDENT E XECUTIVE EDITOR / INTERNATIONAL SENIOR DIRECTOR, BUSINES S DE VELOPMENT SENIOR DIRECTOR, AD SALES & MARKETING

Jim Jacovides Mark Orwoll Jennifer Savage Joelle Quinn

TIME INC. CHIEF E XECUTIVE OFFICER CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER

Joseph Ripp Norman Pearlstine

TR AVEL+LEISURE SOUTHEAST ASIA VOL. 9, ISSUE 7 Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia is published monthly by Media Transasia Limited, Room 1205-06, 12/F, Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2851-6963; Fax: +852 2851-1933; No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Produced and distributed by Media Transasia Thailand Ltd., 14th Floor, Ocean Tower II, 75/8 Soi Sukhumvit 19, Sukhumvit Road, Klongtoeynue, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand. Tel: +66 2 204-2370. Printed by Comform Co., Ltd. (+66 2 368-2942â&#x20AC;&#x201C;7). Color separation by Classic Scan Co., Ltd. (+66 2 291-7575). While the editors do their utmost to verify information published, they do not accept responsibility for its absolute accuracy. This edition is published by permission of TIME INC. AFFLUENT MEDIA GROUP 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Tel. +1 212 522-1212 Online: www.timeinc.com Reproduction in whole or in part without consent of the copyright owner is prohibited. SUBSCRIPTIONS Enquiries: www.travelandleisuresea.com/subscribe

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C O U R T E S Y O F C O O G E E PAV I L I O N

New multi-concept venues invite patrons to work, dine, groom and unwindâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all under one roof.

Ping-pong, haircuts and tapas are all on the menu at Coogee Pavilion.

NEWS + TRENDS + DISCOVERIES

Split Personalities

/ here&now / features a shared top-floor workshop kitted out with roomy drafting tables and myriad tools for those itching to ply their trades away from home. Downstairs, staff serves Japanese small plates like yakitori skewers and ramen bowls at a communal-style grill, while the cozy second-floor bar is a pleasant spot to sip sakes and classic cocktails with views of the young, dapper diners below. Watch for art parties, pop-up dinners with guest chefs, and tipsy “working” professionals— work space fees are inclusive of whiskey (and coffee). 115 King George’s Ave.; 65/6293-0461; therefinery.sg.

AUSTRALIA Coogee Pavilion Starting at Bondi Beach, hike six kilometers south along a stunning cliffside coastal walk to the laid-back Coogee beachfront area, where rewards for all that physical exertion include freshly shucked oysters, wood-fired pizzas and cold Aussie brews at buzzy seaside hotspot Coogee Pavilion. Or, if you are feeling a little less ambitious, you could just skip the hike and take an easy bus ride here from central Sydney. This airy, sprawling space also has a first-floor barber shop and games area with pétanque courts, ping-pong tables and a giant magnetic Scrabble board. The rooftop deck spoils for choice with four indoor and outdoor bars, along with a kitchen cranking out Mediterranean tapas. 169 Dolphin St., Coogee, New South Wales; 61-2/9240-3000; merivale.com.au/ coogeepavilion. SINGAPORE The Refinery Perfect for traveling artisans, this cool, cavernous three-story space in Singapore’s red-hot Jalan Besar district

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Kuvo Singaporean coffee chain The Connoisseur Concerto goes upscale with Kuvo, a vast 800-square-meter lifestyle cluster with two distinct bars, a restaurant and small gift shop stocked with epicurean treats. True to concept, international bistro Ambrosia has something for everyone, catering to Eastern tastes with, for example, a rich slipper lobster lemak (coconut-milk rice), and to Western palates with foie gras and charcuterie platters. At contemporary Vine Lounge, Antica Fratta Brut, an Italian bubbly exclusive to Kuvo, is the highlight of a selection of some 140 bottles; next door at Elixir Bar, bartender Yutaka Nakashima specializes in bespoke Japanese-inspired drinks. 02-01 Orchard Shopping Centre, 321 Orchard Rd.; 65/67338272; facebook.com/KuvoSingapore. THAILAND Black Amber Thonglor Social Club In January, Bangkok’s trendsetting Black Amber Barber Shop & Tattoo spun off this stylized concept club right across the street in the city’s rambunctious Thonglor area. Bedecked with handsome leather furnishings, bizarro animal skeletons and other quirky decorative pieces sourced by owner Chavin Nantaterm, the place offers vintage fashion at Mirror Mask Vintage, custom suit tailoring from Toast Bespoke, and a range of top-shelf spirits at its sexy cocktail bar; a café is on the way, too. Savor Black Amber’s stellar whiskey stash with one of four three-glass tasting flights (from Bt500), which line up similar-tasting tipples. Thonglor Soi 6, Bangkok; 66-92/ 276-2772; facebook.com/blackamberbarber. — BRIAN SPENCER

F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F T H E R E F I N E R Y; C O U R T E S Y O F K U V O ; C O U R T E S Y O F B L A C K A M B E R B A R B E R S H O P & TAT T O O

FROM TOP: Creative work space at The Refinery; lobster at Kuvo; a shave and a tipple at Black Amber Thonglor Social Club.

/ here&now /

THE DISH: Beijing roast duck THE RESTAURANT: Jing Yaa

Tang at The Opposite House

THE DISH: Zhajiang noodles THE RESTAURANT: Moka Bros

This bright spin on a Beijing classic noodle dish will dazzle your taste buds with a house-made sauce of slowsimmered pork-bellyfermented soybeans. Chinese noodles are topped with creamy avocado, edamame, shredded cucumber, sliced carrot and fresh bean sprouts. It all gets tossed together for a fresh summer bite. mokabros.com; RMB48.

THE DISH: Three-year Nuodeng cured ham with Asian berry jam THE RESTAURANT: TRB

FOOD

Backdoor Beijing

This culinary tour of the Chinese capital, maps lesser-known, must-try dishes. story and photos by LILLIAN CHOU

THE DISH: Boneless pork trotter with sea cucumber THE RESTAURANT: Migas

Slow-cooked boneless pork trotters are gilded with crispy breading and topped with tender garlicky sea cucumber bellies. A smoky tomato sauce laced with Basqueregion green pickled chilies is the magic behind the meal. migasbj.com; RMB98.

Few know China has a cured ham that ranks amongst the finest prosciutti and jamon of Italy and Spain. Consider yourself in-the-know with an off-the-menu order of sliced salty cured Yunnan ham and a house-made berry jam. Handcrafted by the same family for more than 20 generations, it’s available only by request because quantities are limited. trb-cn.com; RMB158. THE DISH: Traitor Zhou’s pickled okra and mala sausage THE RESTAURANT: Okra 1949

The numbing peppercorn in the sausage plays beautiful against tart pickled okra. The links are made with rice wine and smoked onsite over pine needles for four days. okra1949.com; RMB130.

Beijing’s ubiquitous dish is always a must. Seat yourself away from the cacophony of traditional duck-roasters in a serene dining room and watch chefs expertly carve the bird to perfection at your table. The rainbow of condiments served alongside sheathes of juicy meat and crisp skin makes this a hit every time. theopposite house.com; RMB238.

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THE DISH: Steamed sea bass, Sichuan ham and bamboo rolls infused with litsea oil and lime jus THE RESTAURANT: Transit

Don’t let a fear of spicy food scare you away from Sichuan cuisine—the flavors can be quite mild. Transit’s chef is from Luzhou, a Sichuan city known for a citrusy oil used in delicate cooking. Fillets are steamed with Sichuan cured ham and tender bamboo and infused with a fruity scent that will leave you shocked that Sichuan can be so delectable without the use of incendiary chilies. 3F Taikoo Li Sanlitun; RMB198.

t the racha, luxury doesn’t come at a price.

At The Racha, guests rest easy knowing that the resort embraces the highest standards of eco-responsible tourism. The resort is also a recognized leader* in its field.

savor plump, nutrient-rich pickins from the racha’s hydroponic farm.

Some of the resort’s initiatives - All the buildings are built in harmony to the island’s natural topography; no land was cut or filled in the process. For every coconut tree that was felled in building the resort, two were planted in its place. All pools at The Racha are ozone treated - Gentler on the skin and kinder to the environment. Instead of a concrete pier, The Racha utilizes an environmentally sound floating pontoon to preserve underwater ecology. Priceless practices. To sustain the island’s natural beauty for years to come. www.theracha.com

X O

P R I VAT E

Enjoy your 3rd night free with every 2 paid nights (Pool Villa Free Nights) for selected pool villas**. For stays until 31st October 2015 at www.theracha.com.

A menber of Small Luxury Hotels of the World

85 luxurious villas • 3 ozonated pools (excluding private ones) • 3 signature dining establishments & bar

world-acclaimed anumba spa • club del mar for chilling • personalized sea and land experiences • to-die-for-views complimentary tel: 66 76 355 455 fax: 66 76 355 637 email: reservation@theracha.com

www.theracha.com

*as awarded by the Thai Ministry of Natural Resource & Environment and the Ministry of Energy 2014 ** terms & conditions apply

/ here&now / Chandelier lighting at Mod Bar. BELOW, FROM LEFT: Mod Bar’s Yum Cha cocktail;

Tycoon Tann’s signature fried rice.

DINING

Tycoon Tastes

Hong Kong’s Wellington Street may seem an unlikely setting for Shanghai French-Concession-era elegance. Most of the eateries that line this humming street are low-key noodle and dumpling joints, but Mod Bar and Tycoon Tann offer dining, drinks and design in an innovative space that’s worth a visit for the artsy ambience alone. “We’ve created a sophisticated air of days gone by,” says executive director Cherry Lo, “for guests to enjoy the luxury of time and embrace the traditional Hong Kong culture.” On the street level of this three-story lifestyle destination you’ll find Mod Bar, helmed by bartender Peter Kwok, who recently won Hong Kong’s 2015 Kraken Rum Competition. Kwok brings his

A-game to the menu with zesty drinks like the Yum Cha, made with traditional Chinese fruit tea, homemade cinnamon gin, St. Germain and lemongrass. The restaurant Tycoon Tann takes up the next two levels, where the food and flair are also elevated. Chinese poems and modern paintings depicting Chinese dynasties adorn the walls while dishes like chef Ng Chun Pui’s Tycoon Tann signature fried rice, with abalone, crab, Yunnan ham, sakura shrimp and conpoy, bring a new style of modern cooking to classic Chinese cuisine. Of course, if you are just in the mood for noodles and dumplings, you can find those here too. 74 Wellington St., Central, Hong Kong; tycoontann.com; dinner and drinks for two HK$100.

C O U R T E S Y O F T Y C O O N TA N N ( 3 )

A COOL NEWCOMER TO CENTRAL HONG KONG SERVES UP CULTURE, CUISINE AND COCKTAILS.

CULTURE

Shanghai at Shutter Speed There’s now more reason to zoom in on Shanghai’s Museum Mile, a stretch along the Huangpu River south of the city that includes the Yuz Museum, Shanghart and the West Bund Art Center. The newest exhibit space to open is the Shanghai Center of Photography, a clean, white address showcasing the medium, both past and present. The brainchild of Pulitzer Prize-winning and long-term China resident Liu Heung Shing, the center has the grandiose aim of opening up the world of photography to a wider local audience (yes, even today there is more to lens work than mobile-phone selfies). The center’s first focus is “Photography from the 20th Century,” a sweep of some of the medium’s most iconic images shot by everyone from Edward Steichen and Jacques Henri Lartigue to

Bert Stern and Annie Leibovitz. The images currently on exhibit are gleaned from the growing collection of Charles Jin Hongwei and encompass a broad field of styles and eras. Upcoming shows will feature William Eggleston, curated by London’s National Portrait Gallery, as well as works by Chinese photographers that show the country in a more modern light. SCôP, 2555-1 Longteng Ave., Shanghai; 86-21/64289516; RMB30 admission.

Shanghai Center of Photography. INSET: An iconic shot of Marilyn Monroe.

C H I S T O P H E R K U C WAY ( 2 )

SET SAIL

Burma Boating’s luxury expedition yacht MY Drenec will begin cruising Burma’s Mergui Archipelago this October. The 37-meter vessel is the largest and most high-end yacht in their Mergui fleet, accommodating up to 11 passengers.

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DRINKS

Steeped in Style

Kyoto, Taipei and Hong Kong offer three distinct takes on designer tea, cups that will leave you yearning for a refill. BY CHRISTOPHER KUCWAY

YUNNAN TIPPY PU’ER

This medium-bodied brew is best enjoyed alongside a light Chinese meal, though it’s not overly harsh and is pleasant to sip on its own. Taiwan’s Cha Cha Thé specializes in leaves from southern China, though offers 36 different varieties from around the world at its trendy Taipei shops, in the hopes of elevating tea drinking to a sophisticated national pastime. Its black, oolong and jasmine varieties are packaged in smartly designed containers and teaware that are both timeless and modern. In terms of price, a 100-gram cake of oolong goes for NT$900. chachathe.com

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SENCHA KABOKU

Put down your chopsticks, this green tea shines brightest when tasted on its own, without food flavors obscuring the palate-cleansing sensation of each sip. Ippodo Tea Co. is very specific in its preparation instructions of 10 grams of tea at 80 degrees Celsius, with one minute of steeping, for the proper balance. The last few drops of each small pot offer the essence of the tea’s rich flavor, meant for an early morning or after a meal. Founded in 1717, the Kyotobased Ippodo offers a range of matcha, sencha, gyokuro and bancha teas. Its top matcha costs ¥2,000 for 20 grams, the sencha pictured here is ¥5,000 for a 186gram tin. ippodo-tea.co.jp.

C H R I S T O P H E R K U C WAY

SUN MOON LAKE RUBY TEA

The darkest and heaviest of the teas pictured here, this glass of Pu’er pairs beautifully with dim sum, offsetting the fats and grease that accompany some of those dishes. Pu’er may be on the earthy end of the tea scale but Hong Kong’s Ming Cha offers a wide range of teas— green, white, black, oolong and flower among them—to suit any palate or occasion. The leaves and buds are sourced throughout China each year and, overall, offer a more traditional take on tea drinking. Ming Cha’s teas start at HK$85 for some of the more standard oolong and pu’er varieties, though range up to HK$680 for 90 grams of First Flush Longin. mingcha.com

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FA SHION

Ciao, Bella

Nothing’s as glamorous as summer Italian-style.

BY JANE BISHOP

1. Dream Pools, villas on the Costa Smeralda, US$68; rizzoliusa.com. 2. Gucci nail lacquer in Abyss, US$29; saks.com. 3. Baglioni Hotels’ La Vela beach club in Maremma, Tuscany, US$27 for a day pass; baglionihotels.com. 4. Canfora Capri sandals, US$490; canfora.com. 5. Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Swimming in Lipari men’s fragrance, US$68; saks.com. 6. Turquese swim trunks, US$250; turquese.com. 7. Le Sirenuse for J. Crew caftan, US$195; jcrew.com. 8. Pomellato necklace, US$11,700; pomellato.com.

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P H I L I P F R I E D M A N . S E T S T Y L I S T: C H A N E L K E N N E B R E W

/ here&now / TRENDING

Guerrilla Gardening

New city-center gardens offer urbanites a window into the joys of farming. MONSICHA HOONSUWAN tours chicken coops and vegetable patches in some of Asia’s biggest metropolises.

HONG KONG HORTICULTURAL Organic farmers are fueling culinary creations at two of Hong Kong’s best hotels with their fresh, sustainably grown produce. A husband-and-wife team, Yuk Chi Lam and Betty Lam have dedicated their retirement to growing organic greens for family consumption, and now they’re sharing extras with their community. Their work has caught the eye of chef Uwe Opocensky at the MANDARIN ORIENTAL GRILL + BAR

C O U RT ESY O F PAS O N A . I N S E T : C O U RT ESY O F T H E R I T Z - CA R LTO N H O N G KO N G

BANGKOK ROOT GARDEN

The organic vegetable plot, chicken coop, rice paddy and mushroom hut offer a rare splash of green amid Thonglor’s pricey gastropubs. Eakdanai Wongwattana runs this community service project, with support from local non-profits, to educate the public about agriculture. Here you can plant your own veggies, buy produce—or take it home for free, payment is optional— or attend a workshop on how to start an herb garden, but go now, before the pop-up ends in December. Thonglor Soi 3; 66-99/396-4526; free workshops every second and fourth Sunday of the month. SIAM GREEN SKY

At Siam Square One shopping mall, you’ll find Thailand’s

Pasona urban farm.

largest rooftop garden fanning 2,000 square meters. This maze of vegetables, salad greens, flowers and herbslowers the temperature in the mall below by four degrees celcius, decreasing the building’s energy use. Visit on the third Saturday of the month when you can try your hand at planting before refueling with wholesome snacks at their farmers’ market. facebook.com/ siamgreensky; free tours three times every Wednesday and Saturday, free workshops and farmers’ markets on the third Saturday of every month. SINGAPORE OPEN FARM COMMUNITY

Tippling Club’s chef Ryan Clift has turned a former golf range into an orchard complete with roaming chickens and quails, as well as the country’s first

lawn-bowling lanes, only a 10-minutes drive away from Orchard Road. Tour the estate, then stop by his restaurant for a lunch of seasonal dishes like pasta made with whatever is blooming in his garden. 130 E. Minden Rd.; 65/6474-5964. TOK YO PASONA

Pasona building’s façade is overgrown with small shrubs, while the interior is spruced up in a blossoming tangle of 200 kinds of vegetation from rice to radishes. Take a 30-minute tour and you’ll get access to their Eco Love Café for hot coffee and homemade products from their farm in Awaji—like the basil bagna càuda—to go. pasonanouentai.co.jp; free tours on weekdays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., reservations needed for a group of 10 or more.

(mandarinoriental. com), and produce from their Cheung Chau farm is exclusive to the restaurant’s menu. Meanwhile, organic bee farm BEE’S NEST (beesnest.hk) is sweetening up THE RITZ-CARLTON’s (ritzcarlton.com; afternoon tea sets for two from HK$618) new afternoon treats with their raw, monofloral honey. Longanflower-honey praline, chocolate-honey ganache and ivyflower-honey custard are the stars of the set. Hurry, for the nectary nibbles are only available through July. If you can’t make it to Hong Kong this month, you can still try the new milk-andhoney spa treatment (from HK$1,750) is here to stay.

Custard with honey jelly at The Ritz-Carlton.

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SUMMER READ | JOY RIDES In Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, journalist William Finnegan (left, in 1966) recalls a lifetime chasing waves, from Samoa to South Africa, Fiji to Madeira. His memoir is part study, part ode to those ocean obsessives who, like Finnegan, are always ready to dive in “at the moment when the waves and wind and tide might conspire to produce something rideable.” — AMY FARLEY

DOPP KIT TOM FORD

Shimmering Body Oil. US$95; neiman marcus.com.

These seaside essentials deliver a glow that lasts way past sundown.

SHISEIDO

Ultimate Sun Protection Cream SPF 50+. US$36; shiseido.com.

GUERL AIN

Rouge Automatique in Yellow ItStick. US$37; guerlain.com.

Y VES SAINT L AURENT

CHANEL

Le Vernis Nail Colour in Holiday. US$27; chanel.com.

Couture Palette N. 12 Mauresques. US$60; yslbeauty. com.

F R O M T O P L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F W I L L I A M F I N N E G A N ; P H I L I P F R I E D M A N ( 6 ) . S T I L L L I F E S T Y L I S T: C H A N E L K E N N E B R E W

Beauty and the Beach

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Beware the claw; Godzilla’s sweeter side; something’s lurking on Hotel Gracery Shinjuku’s eighth-floor terrace.

NOTICED

Oh My Godzilla

COURTESY OF HOTEL GR ACERY SHINJUKU (3)

THE KING OF THE MONSTERS IS A FIXTURE AT THIS NEW HIGH-END HOTEL IN K ABUKI-CHO. Hotel Gracery Shinjuku knows exactly what you want out of a trip to Japan. Not the shopping, or skiing, or cultural excursions you think you want, but what you long for in your heart of hearts: a Godzilla sighting. The hotel manages to keep the monster-mania theme on the classier side of camp. In fact, of the 970 rooms, only seven actually play on Godzilla glam. There’s the appropriately named Godzilla room, which goes all out —think a trick wall with special effects, a Godzilla claw tearing out of the wall above the beds, while another Godzilla figure stands menacingly in the corner. This room is the only one of

its kind. There are also six Godzilla View rooms, overlooking a statue of Godzilla’s head on the hotel’s eighth-floor terrace. The creature looks like its in midrampage of the city, so the spectacle offers a festive dose of fright, but the interiors are the same as the hotel’s other guest rooms, which is perhaps more authentic. After all, Godzilla didn’t assail Godzilla-themed hotels; he attacked with carefree abandon, also a worthwhile approach for your journey to Japan. Hotel Gracery Shinjuku; 1-19-1 Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; shinjuku.gracery.com; Godzilla room from ¥42,886 per night.

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S T Y LE

Traveling Pants

Singaporean fashion label Matter designs clothes for jetsetters, with looks so fly they should come with their own boarding pass. BY S A M A N T H A L EE S E can define you. “The traveler who wears our ‘pants to see the world in’ is curious, independent and spontaneous,” says Renyung Ho, founder of Matter (matterprints.com), a socially conscious lifestyle brand. The Singaporean label, which employs rural artisans in India to create one-of-akind products with stories to tell, celebrated its first anniversary by rolling out a line of chic, comfortable trousers, built for travel. Titled Silk Cities, this summer’s collection of colorful designs and unisex styles was influenced by heritage patterns and traditional garments found along the ancient Silk Road, from Istanbul to China. The Easy Dhoti in a rich yellow Cave 17 print is inspired by the Library Cave—a famous feature of Dunhuang’s Mogao Grottoes in Gansu, China. An important cache of manuscripts was discovered there in 1900, which included the earliest known printed book, the Diamond Sutra, and these pants are imbued with that history.

While Matter’s first edition, Freedom, used the block-printing techniques of artisans in Rajasthan, Silk Cities highlights the intricate craft of ikat in Pochampally, south India. The designs are mapped onto individual yarns of cotton, then tied and dyed by hand before being woven into patterns. “For us, it’s really about where and how something is made,” says Ho, whose outlook as a traveler and an entrepreneur follows the Confucian motto: “Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” Ho and cofounder Yvonne Sũner aim to expand their network of artisans to Indonesia and the Philippines, pairing master craftsmen with thoughtful designers to continue making affordable, quality travel wear. Stylish, versatile and easy to care for, these are pants for free-spirited explorers. With a couple of tops and a few accessories, you can pack a weekend’s worth of outfits into a backpack, and still look like you glided right from the catwalk to the tarmac.

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Matter blends classic heritage patterns with comfortable unisex designs.

C O U R T E S Y O F M AT T E R

THE RIGHT PAIR of pants

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Chef Chung Kin -leung. FROM TOP LEFT: Veggie shark fin with scrambled egg; crispy Angus beef brisket curry; Hong Kong fried rice.

THE DISH

CHEF CHUNG KIN-LEUNG

won’t dish. He spent a decade at Hong Kong’s Government House cooking for world leaders, but today he’s mum when it comes to spilling any behind-the-scenes dirt on their dining habits. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering; I just want to know if Margaret Thatcher knew how to use chopsticks, or—this is the Canadian in me—did George Bush even know what chopsticks were for? But the chef won’t budge. Call it kitchen diplomacy. Instead, Chung prefers to focus on his latest restaurant

project, Lai Bun Fu (laibunfu. com; set lunch for two from HK$1,176), which at first comes across as a place for ladies who lunch. It’s down a quiet side street in Central; all the proper cutlery is in its place, and there’s even a quirky touch or two—look no further than the chandelier made of bowler hats. But the menu of simple Cantonese dishes sets the bar higher. The politically correct stir-fried vegetarian shark’s fin with shredded abalone and scrambled egg is unbelievable for a dish that, normally, doesn’t exactly

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tingle the taste buds. Yet, in that way the restaurant is just a natural extension of Chung’s kitchen work for world leaders, who also included former presidents Hu Jintao, from China, and Susilo Bambang, from Indonesia. “I had the privilege of presenting the best of Hong Kong and the region through fine ingredients,” Chung explains. The next plate, a deep-fried Angus beef brisket with a small pour of curry melts in the mouth. Even the Hong Kong-style fried rice, a dish as common as one of the city’s

red taxis, goes down as one of the best I’m ever going to have. The subtle flavors of this unassuming bowl—of fresh greens, XO Sauce and bits of pork—buck against the norm of a recipe that is often made from leftovers. The chef’s secret? He sneaks off to Hong Kong’s markets between lunch and dinner seatings for fresh produce. By meal’s end I’ve uncovered the Lai Bun Fu’s biggest secret of all: in a town that can frown on restaurants investing in interior design over food, it serves top-end Cantonese staples in a classic setting.

C L O C K W I S E F R O M R I G H T: C O U R T E S Y O F L A I B U N F U ; C H R I S T O P H E R K U C WAY ( 3 )

State Secrets

Here’s a restaurant serving Cantonese staples and, even though its pedigreed chef is accustomed to heads of state at the head of the table, everyone is welcome. BY CHRISTOPHER KUCWAY

/ here&now / FLIGHT PL AN

COURTESY OF JAQUET DROZ (2)

GOODS: JAQUET DROZ Asian motifs meet Swiss precision. The new Petite Heure Minute Relief Carps by Jaquet Droz plays on the iconic carp, a symbol of love and longevity, in a stylized scene that blends hand-engraving with enameling. Lily pads appear to float on the surface amid wave-ridged layers of transulent blue enamel while a lotus blooms off center. The design comes in white and rose gold, 28 pieces in each. When you wear a watch this exclusive you don’t have to fish for compliments. jaquet-droz.com. Komaneka_July_2015.pdf

6/4/58 BE

Vietjet has launched a flight from Saigon to Dong Hoi, making it easier for travelers to visit Vietnam’s northern beaches and the caves of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Flights run daily Monday through Sunday. vietjetair.com.

5:18 PM

High-end luxury overlooking a tropical forest The luxury of grand spaces, expansive views, lush vegetation, superb understated architecture, a 33-meter lap pool, and the warm hospitality of the Komaneka family for more details please visit komaneka.com

KOMANEKA at Bisma

Your home address in Ubud - Bali

1992

Lampang, Thailand

“Beautiful temples dot the old city along with some amazing Chinese shophouses, making it an aesthetically pleasing and still under-theradar place to visit. Pair that with some nice museums, a great food scene and a quiet vibe and you have a traveler’s paradise.”

1999

Vientiane, Laos

“Vientiane is still relatively sleepy as far as country capitals go. A riverside restaurant scene, great French bakeries and friendly people make this is an ideal spot to spend a few days. Many revered Buddhist temples are situated in the city limits.”

TIMELINE

Changing Seasons American chef Andy Ricker, lauded for his take on fiery northern Thai cuisine, reflects on the journeys that helped him perfect his craft. Thanks to Pok Pok NY, which was awarded a star in the 2015 Michelin guide, and Andy Ricker’s six other restaurants, authentic Thai cuisine is getting some serious recognition outside of its home country. It doesn’t hurt that Ricker’s first cookbook, Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand, went on to become a runaway bestseller and a James Beard award-winner. We caught up with the globetrotting chef to find out about the Southeast Asian destinations that have most inspired him and his cooking. —AS TOLD TO DIANA HUBBELL

2005

Battambang, Cambodia

“The trip from the Tonle Sap to Battambang was a memorable one: up a small waterway in a motorboat for hours witnessing riverside life. Battambang city itself is full of temples and markets and some of the best-preserved French colonial architecture in Asia.”

2005

Phu Quoc, Vietnam

“Phu Quoc is famous for fish sauce and black pepper, but I come for the endless kilometers of undeveloped beaches where you can eat delicious seafood meals caught by local fishermen and cooked fresh over charcoal, right on the shoreline.”

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2003

Macau, China

“Macau is a fascinating mix of colonial Portuguese architecture butting up against traditional Chinese shophouses. The explosion of mega-casinos has thankfully been contained to one area and the old part of Macau is still intact. I love the hybrid tastes of local cuisine.”

2011

Mae Hong Son, Thailand

“I travel here several times a year. Mae Hong Son is mostly populated by Shan people who immigrated from Burma in the distant past. The food is different from the rest of Thailand: sour tomatoes, turmeric, soybean cakes and sesame oil result in simple, flavorful cuisine.”

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F A N D Y R I C K E R ; © S H I N J I 3 8 0 2 / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; ©T E E R A O H O N G / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; E Y E U B I Q U I T O U S / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; © R A P T O R C A P T O R / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; © E F I R E D / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; © J E A F I S H / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; © K A I S K Y N E T/ D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; © D I E T P 0 0 0 / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; D E N N I S K . J O H N S O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S

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Frank and Easy 2-39-14 Kitazawa; frankandeasy. com.

THE ULTIMATE WAY TO EXPLORE HIDDEN SOUTHEAST ASIA ABOARD ITS MOST ELEGANT TRAIN.

SPECIAL OFFER

Book any journey before 24 September 2015 and receive $200 complimentary credit per couple to spend on board.

Contact our luxury travel consultants on

+65 63950678

or your local travel agent. B E LMO N D.COM Book before 24 September 2015. Valid on journeys until 30 September 2015. Offers may be removed at any time without notice and are subject to availability and change. Valid for new bookings only and offers cannot be combined.

Rainbow Soko 3 2-19-5 Kitazawa; rainbowsoko.com.

B&B 2F, 2-12-4 Kitazawa; bookandbeer. com.

Shimokitazawa Three 5-18-1 Daizawa, basement; toos. co.jp/3.

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

Tokyo’s New Groove

The once-gritty Shimokitazawa area—or Shimokita, as the locals call it—strikes a stylish note. The reinvention of this walkable, former punk-rock neighborhood began 10 years ago with the opening of Frank and Easy. At the tiny boutique, owners Ryo Shibata and Keisuke Morizawa turn salvaged gold into angular rings and pendants, and make cool clutches out of hand-dyed Italian leather. For lunch, follow the crowd down a narrow side street to the always-packed Rojiura Curry Samurai, which is furnished with vintage chairs and tables. Loyal fans love the curries (try the pork belly). Nearby, Rainbow Soko 3 is a sleek five-story warehouse

with a gallery, artists’ studios and shops selling surfboards and stationery. Don’t miss the café’s organic drip coffee. The bookstore B & B blends quirky intellectualism (they have lectures on topics such as impasse capitalism) with rotating beers like Osaka Minoh. The area is also known for intimate music venues, or “live houses.” If you have time for only one, make it Shimokitazawa Three, which gets going around 6 p.m. The eclectic lineup ranges from female punk DJs to electronic indie-folk acts. — JENNA SCATENA

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F F R A N K A N D E A S Y; C O U R T E S Y O F R O J I U R A C U R R Y S A M U R A I ; C O U R T E S Y O F B O O K & B E E R ; C O U R T E S Y O F S H I M O K I TA Z AWA T H R E E ; C O U R T E S Y O F R A I N B O W S O K O 3 . I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y M A S A K O K U B O

EASTERN & ORIENTAL EXPRESS

Rojiura Curry Samurai 3-31-14 Kitazawa; samuraicurry.com.

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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: R I C H A R D W. M A R K S ; C O U R T E S Y O F C I T Y O F D R E A M S M A N I L A ; R I C H A R D W. M A R K S ; C O U R T E S Y O F C I T Y O F D R E A M S M A N I L A ; R I C H A R D W. M A R K S

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: DreamTheater at

DreamPlay; Kung Fu Panda-themed fun at DreamPlay; buffet at the Hyatt; intricate interiors at Crown Towers; Barbary duck at The Tasting Room.

DEBUT

Grand Reverie

City of Dreams Manila contends that having it all isn’t a mirage. BY JENINNE LEE-ST.JOHN

WHAT WILDEST FANTASIES float through your head at night? Maybe it’s the power to build a pet dragon out of the latest in reptile-design parts then take to the Viking skies to race Hiccup and Toothless in your own version of How to Train Your Dragon. Maybe it’s going all-in for a king-of-the-hill two-story villa that comes complete with 24-hour staff and your own private casino. Or maybe it’s just savoring a reunion with old friends—we’re looking at you, Nobu-standard-bearers black cod in den miso and squid pasta—in a candlelit floating cabana at the newest outpost of the minimalist founding father of Japanese fusion. Disparate dreams, to say the least, but one glittering complex has the chutzpah to fulfill them all and

more: new in Metro Manila, itself a patchwork of small cities, City of Dreams is conjuring its own municipality. The younger sister of the Macau property of the same name, City of Dreams Manila (Asean Avenue corner Roxas Boulevard, Entertainment City, Parañaque; cityofdreams.com.ph) is a 6.2-hectare gaming/hotel/entertainment/ shopping/dining megapolis that manages to be all things to all ages. Yes, it’s centered on an enormous casino, but you’d be forgiven if you didn’t notice, there are enough distractions around every corner. Let’s start with the kids’-wishcome-true of a 5,000-square-meter play space, DreamPlay (two-hour passes from P210 per adult and P380 per child), where the tikes can jump

T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M / J U LY 2 0 1 5

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headfirst into their favorite DreamWorks movies, both in virtual reality and live-action sets. Just ask the little girl we spotted steeling her courage to leap off a two-story platform to try to grab hold of a punching bag suspended in mid-air Kung Fu Panda-style. She looked as incredulously thrilled to be told just dive in as we, grown-ups, felt when presented with the choose-yourown-adventure of a degustation at The Tasting Room (degustation menus from P3,200). Sure, the chef can send you his favorites, but you can also pick your number of courses and then pluck whatever you want off the menu to populate them. Try the 52-degree egg, and the Barbary duck with polenta pastry and popcorn. And pray the foie gras lollipop is in the amuse-bouche trifecta. The architectural anchor here is a glittering golden egg filled with two nightclubs (Chaos and Pangaea) and

bookended by the family-friendly Hyatt City of Dreams Manila (doubles from P7,300), and Crown Towers Manila (doubles from P10,500), home of the private-casino-villa and other extravagances. But the homecoming king and queen of this parade are Nobu restaurant and its eponymous hotel (doubles from P7,500) above, which is the first in Asia and only the second in the world outside of Vegas, thanks to the championing efforts of Robert De Niro. The aesthetic is stylishly subdued sakura-cool (some might call it “Zen”) in blacks and whites and reds, with calligraphy paintings on the walls and Nobu’s own yuzu sake in the minibar. Ask for a bay-facing room, from which you’ll have a great view of the complex’s best pool and the setting sun tossing sparkly refractions off that giant golden egg. We’re sure your dreams will be sweeter than those of the goose who laid it.

C O U R T E S Y O F C I T Y O F D R E A M S M A N I L A (4 )

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The family-friendly Hyatt; globes light Pangaea club; dessert at Nobu restaurant; Hyatt casino.

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DIPR/457/Display/2015

Ooty

100 km from Coimbatore

The best time to book your bye-bye trip is now.

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss the 22 hectares Botanical Gardens and the Flower Show while you are here.

Refresh. Rejuvenate. Repeat. At 7,350 feet above sea level, Ooty or Udhagamandalam offers wonderful ways to beat the tropical heat with its verdant valleys, cloud-dusted peaks, brooding pines, rolling hills, crystal clear lakes , gurgling brooks, emerald plantations, wooded trails and an oh-so-glorious weather that lulls you into sweet slumber.

Come. See. Surrender.

Tamil Nadu Tourism Complex, No. 2, Wallajah Road, Chennai - 600 002. Tamil Nadu, India. Ph: 91-44-2538 3333 / 9857. Fax: 91-44-2536 1385. Website: www.tamilnadutourism.org E-mail: ttdc@vsnl.com For online booking log on to : www.ttdconline.com Toll Free No. 1800 4253 1111

Commissionerate of Tourism

Tamil Nadu Tourism

Electrifying performance of Award-winning Tango dancers - including world champions 2014: Manuela Rossi & Juan Malizia.

TANGO LEGENDS

BY MARIELA MALDONADA & PABLO SOSA, ARGENTINA Tuesday 6 October 7.30pm

Baht 3,000 / 2,500 / 2,000 / 1,500 / 800

Known for visually striking designs. It is a new vision of dance showcasing athleticism and acrobatics deemed “impossible.”

MIX

DEBORAH COLKER DANCE COMPANY, BRAZIL Sunday 18 October 7.30pm Baht 3,000 / 2,500 / 2,000 / 1,500 / 800

Hotline 02 262 3191 www.thaiticketmajor.com (24 hrs)

www.bangkokfestivals.com

VENUE: Thailand Cultural Centre. Free shuttle from MRT station Thailand Cultural Centre, Exit 1, during 5.30-7.00pm

j ava | s i n g a p o r e | t o k y o | + m o r e

Bagging Rights ADVENTURE

UPRISING/COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG

Following the advice of a website dedicated to climbing the peaks of Indonesia, Duncan Forgan sets off on an early-morning ascent of Mount Merbabu.

The peak of Mount Merbabu, as seen from Mount Merapi.

/ beyond / A D V E N T U R E of the long, dark tunnel appears two hours into our ascent of Mount Merbabu. At first it is barely discernable, the faintest brightening under the thick forest canopy that blankets the lower slopes of the mighty volcano in Central Java. Soon, however, the long-awaited appearance of the morning sun becomes undeniable as arrows of gold illuminate our path and occasional gaps in the foliage reveal a panoramic vista of assorted gunungs (mountains) as well as the wide turquoise expanse of the Rawa Pening Lake. The view, as you might expect, is at once amazing and a tonic after a vertiginous pre-dawn march. The buzz of an alarm clock at 3 a.m. heralding the start of a hike up a 3,000-meter peak isn’t very enticing, but it took me back to my teenage years in Scotland, when for a brief period, I was a weekend Munro-bagger. Sir Hugh Munro, a Victorian baronet and mountaineer, was the first to compile a list of Scottish mountains with a height of over 900 meters. In his honor, these peaks are now known as Munros. Ticking off these crests was a short-lived hobby, and I had all but forgotten those dawn rises and ensuing full-day workouts until I found out about a website devoted to helping hikers conquer the mountains of Indonesia, started by Brits Dan Quinn and Andy Dean, both former residents of Jakarta.

FROM TOP: At Rawa Pening Lake; volcanic ash powders the trail.

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Christened Gunung Bagging (gunungbagging.com), the online resource lists the 200 or so peaks in Indonesia that reach the impressive 1,000-meter mark. Each entry details a mountain’s elevation and location as well as a Google satellite image and practical information on how a hiker can go about “bagging” each one. That means everything from step-by-step tips on obtaining permits and finding suitable camping spots, to route suggestions and advice on public transportation and nearby hotels. “The website aims to give hikers the information they need to be able to organize a climb alone,” says Quinn. “Some people prefer to hire a guide in advance, especially if their Indonesian is not so good, but that takes away from the adventurousness of being a bit more

F R O M TO P : F R A N C I S C U S N A N A N G T R I A N A / G E T T Y I M AG ES ; FA JA R P R AS E T YO Y U WO N O

THE LIGHT AT THE END

independent. Simply turn up at the base of a mountain and you are generally good to go.” With this DIY ethos in mind, a friend and I set off from the obscure city of Semarang on our mission to scale Mount Merbabu armed with little more than some rudimentary camping gear, a screenshot from the website and a supply of dried fruit and nuts. Translated from Indonesian as the “Ashy One” due to its once-frequent eruptions, Merbabu is— along with nearby Mount Merapi—one of the most iconic peaks in Central Java. It is a hugely popular option for hikers due to the grandstanding views its lofty heights afford of the surrounding volcanic splendor and also for its easy accessibility and clearly marked route to the top, making it a logical choice for our gunung-bagging debut. Unfortunately, by the time we arrive in Kopeng, the little town closest to base camp, thick rainclouds have descended, making the Ashy One look decidedly soggy and ending our plan to start the ascent that day. We had intended to camp out just below the summit so we could make it to the top by sunrise the following day, but decide instead to stay put for the night and set up shop in the homely and adequately comfortable Kartika Wisata Kopeng (62-29/831-8355; doubles from US$15). Nobody could mistake quiet Kopeng for one of Java’s prime tourist hubs, but we intend to make the most of it. Hearty servings of soto ayam (chicken soup) in a local restaurant and an impromptu—and woefully extended—karaoke session at the hotel help while away the wasted hours. Indeed, amateur-hour warbling seems like it might be the highlight of the trip as we creak into 3 a.m. action. The mood is faintly upbeat as we obtain our permits at the national park office in Tekelan village, fuelling-up with sugary cups of instant coffee before we set out. But a fug descends over our fleeting optimism as cantankerous muscles refuse to engage and the lack of natural light renders everything opaque. Mercifully, sunrise puts a whole new perspective on the hike. Twists, turns and flaws in the path that had caused a number of unedifying stumbles become more interesting. All the while, the surrounding landscapes take on a sprawling cinematic quality as we follow the steep trail up the face of the mountain. That’s not to say that the climb ever gets easier. The website states that the route to Merbabu’s true summit from the Kopeng side is “gentle.” It sure doesn’t feel that way to me. A pretty plateau just below the first of Merbabu’s seven summits, which is inhabited by monkeys and a wealth of luminous butterflies, provides some respite. After that, >>

FROM TOP: Looking down from Watu Tulis, the second summit of Mount Merbabu; wild flowers add color to the climb.

however, it is a determined leg-straining trek all the way to the radio mast that marks Merbabu’s 2,900-meter second summit, known as Watu Tulis. Neither my hiking companion nor I fall into the spring-chicken category. Neither do we fall into the well-cared-for-older-chicken category. Nevertheless, our frequent stops at least give us the opportunity to recline in the meadow-like grass and watch as wispy clouds scud across the brilliant blue sky.

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One of the best things about gunungbagging, according to Quinn, is the scope it gives hikers to avoid the crowds: something to be savored on densely populated Java. Sadly today is national holiday, so we aren’t afforded this privilege. As we veer unsteadily onto the summit, we are immediately corralled into a nightmarish group photo. Freeing ourselves from the melee, we finally find a quiet spot to soak up the scenery and reflect. Our joy at scaling Watu Tulis is tempered by the fact that another four summits lie between Merbabu’s loftiest point, the 3,145-meter-high Triangulasi, and us. According to Gunung Bagging, the distance can be covered in two hours, but we have flights to catch later that afternoon so we err on the side of caution and decide to make this the end-point for the hike. It is disappointing to have to descend at this early stage. In fact, we are unclear about whether our achievement even amounts to a true “bag.” Nevertheless, in just 12 hours we scaled a height equal to Ben Nevis (the UK’s highest mountain), lingered over some of Java’s most spectacular views and murdered an eclectic mix of popular songs… all between dinner and breakfast. I hope Munro would approve.

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/ beyond / A D V E N T U R E

SON DOONG CAVE | Quang Binh, Vietnam

After a few hours of trekking through the darkness, we crested a pile of rocks and were greeted with brilliant sunlight. It poured through a wide gap in the roof of Son Doong, the world’s largest known cave, illuminating a carpet of vibrant green plants growing on limestone rock formations. We were among the first visitors ever to witness this magnificent scene. In 2010, British explorers Deb and Howard Limbert finished mapping the 3- to 5-million-year-old cave—which lies hidden below central Vietnam’s Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park—after a local man named Khanh Ho discovered the entrance while out hunting two decades prior. Oxalis Adventure Tours (oxalis.com.vn; six nights from VND64,500,000 per person) now operates 10-person expeditions developed by the Limberts themselves, and accompanied by guides, chefs and porters. They take travelers through Son Doong’s cathedral-like chambers, filled with dense jungles, river rapids and even white-sand beaches. — DAVID LLOYD

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CARSTEN PETER/GET T Y IMAGES

/ beyond /T H E M O M E N T

Skyline Studio

/ beyond / T H E T A K E A W A Y ACRYLIC CUBE

When I first saw this Takao Inoue sculpture, I was doubtful we could sell it, since it’s more objet d’art than functional item. But it’s so beautiful, I couldn’t resist. Somewhere Tokyo; 2-7-1 Ebisu-minami, first floor, Shibuya-ku; somewheretokyo.com; ¥35,640.

PENCIL SET

It looks like a train, but when you open it you find three pencils. The way it reveals itself is really fun. Trainiart; Atré Akihabara, 1-17-6 Sotokanda, second floor, Chiyodaku; www.atre.co.jp; ¥1,000.

HAMMER

It’s unusually light, and the Japanese markings add a bit of exoticism. Tokyu Hands; 12-18 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya- ku; tokyu-hands.co.jp; ¥1,500.

EMMANUEL PLAT | DIRECTOR OF MERCHANDISING, MOMA | Tokyo

In order to stock the New York and Tokyo locations of the Museum of Modern Art’s Design Store (momastore.org), Plat and his team spend two months a year on the road. “The majority of our items are imported from Japan, so it’s a big trip for us,” he says of his recent 10-day tour of the country’s capital. Plat shops with customers in mind, but he can’t resist picking up things for himself—like the items on this page—many of which make it into the stores. “We’ll buy things we like, and end up selling them because they’re relevant for our audience.” — R ACHEL FELDER

TOWEL

I love its delicate sophistication. I found it at Claska, a boutique hotel that has an on-site gallery and shop with quirky home accessories. Claska; 1-3-18 Chuo-cho, Meguro-ku; claska. com; ¥1,500.

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KNIFE

I bought this from a stall at the Tsukiji Fish Market early one morning. I admire the craftsmanship of the handle and the detailed engravings. Tsukiji Fish Market; 5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku; tsukiji-market.or.jp; ¥3,723.

YA S U + J U N K O

DOLL

The Dutch children’s book character Miffy has a cult following in Japan. I gave this stuffed animal to my five-year-old daughter, Violette. It immediately became her best friend. Kiddyland; 6-1-9 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku; kiddyland.co.jp; ¥1,862.

Your Perfect

COMBINATION OF HUA HIN HOLIDAY

DESIGN & CULINARY At Let's Sea Hua Hin Al Fresco Resort all aspects of the architecture and service have been carefully crafted to maximize your beach holiday leisure. Its famed dining destination beachfront restaurant incorporates a delicious blend of local and international avours, all prepared to make each meal an occasion and your holiday a celebration. Don’t miss the best oﬀers on

www.letussea.com

/ beyond /

spotlight

Japan

Singapore Hitachino Brewing Lab, in Tokyo.

Craft Draft

Artisanal ales are taking the region by sweet sudsy storm. Brian Spencer raises a glass to some of the most notable craft breweries, from Japan’s urban taps to Australia’s beachside brews.

Singapore microbreweries tend to veer towards the mundane, but in the past year a slew of new importfocused tap bars have helped compensate for the middling local brews. Just north of Orchard Road, Nickeldime Drafthouse (01-06 Novena Gardens, 273 Thomson Rd.; 65/6256-0261) brightened up residential Novena last October with 15 craft taps and a takeaway bottle shop. This May, Tap Craft Beer Bar (88-90, 1F Capitol Piazza, 15 Stamford Rd.; 65/6224-1607; tapthat. com.sg) opened with 20 taps and more than 80 bottles largely drawn from California breweries. It’s Druggists (119 Tyrwhitt Rd.; 65/6341-5967; facebook.com/DruggistsSG), however, that should top your Singapore craft crawl. Occupying a lovingly maintained Jalan Besar shophouse owned by the Singapore Chinese Druggists Association, this 23-tapper caters to craft fanatics with an island-best draft menu featuring outstanding ales from European breweries like Mikkeller and Brouwerij de Molen. >> Tap Craft Beer Bar, Singapore.

Nickeldime Drafthouse, Singapore.

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F R O M TO P : C O U RT ESY O F H I TAC H I N O B R E W I N G L A B ; C O U RT ESY O F N I C K E L D I M E D R A F T H O U S E ; C O U RT ESY O F TA P C R A F T B E E R BA R

Though still only a blip on Japan’s widening craft-beer map, Kyoto is finally starting to catch up with beer-loving cities like Tokyo and Yokohama. Tucked into a back alley of the vintage Furukawa-cho shopping arcade, intimate Beer Komachi (444 Hachiken-cho, Kyoto; 81-75/746-6152; beerkomachi.com) complements six draft brews with a small, well-curated list of bottled beers from mostly American craft breweries. Nearer to Kyoto Station, Beer House Craft Man (643-1 Nijohanjiki-cho, Kyoto; 81-75/3717676) is a modern, three-story beer bar and Italian-fusion restaurant with 25 taps, the most in the city. Expect a mix of obscure and well-known Japanese craft brews. In Tokyo, Kiuchi Brewery has expanded its on-site brewing program from Ibaraki Prefecture to the Hitachino Brewing Lab (N1, 1-25-4 Kandasuda-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; 81-3/3254-3434; hitachino.cc/ brewing-lab/en). Here aspiring brewmasters work in tandem with seasoned pros on their own beer batches, which staff bottle and ship anywhere in Japan after fermentation back in Ibaraki. This is also the best spot in town to sample Kiuchi’s range of Hitachino Nest beers: 10 are tapped, including a few exclusive to the lab.

central Bangkok

Bangkok is one of the world’s most dynamic destinations,

so why not start at the center of it all?

take a simple stroll through central Bangkok, the city’s heart of entertainment and luxury. Bordered By ploenchit, rama iV, wireless road and rajadamri road, the Bustling neighBourhood is less than two square kilometers, yet is home to Bangkok’s trendiest malls, Best restaurants, coolest hotels and chicest condominiums. the center has shifted from rattanakosin (known as old Bangkok) and its temples to central and all it has to offer. this is the hangout where Bangkok’s Brightest flock to shop, dine, meet friends and feel inspired. and here is the map that will unlock the neighBourhood for you. must Visits, tailored tours, a lifestyle directory and a Brand Breakdown are all included in one easy to u s e an d h an dy f o r m at. i f someo n e has alr eady snagged your map, please Visit t r aV e l a n d l e i s u r es e a .co m / c e n t r a l B a n g k o k

central Bangkok

泰国central

/ beyond /

spotlight

Sydney rivals Melbourne in beer, as in all other things Australian, but now beer enthusiasts have good reason to leave the city for a day and head to the Northern Beaches area. In Mona Vale, roughly an hour from Sydney’s CBD by bus, Modus Operandi Brewing Co. (14 Harkeith St., Mona Vale; 61-2/8407-9864; mobrewing.com.au) splashed onto the local brewing scene last autumn in scoring top honors at Australia’s Craft Beer Awards for its nuanced Former Tenant Red IPA—no small feat for a then threemonth-old brewery. Modus Operandi pours 10 draft beers at its working brewhouse and taproom, all available in one-liter takeaway cans sealed in a custom “CANimal” contraption. Just down the road in Brookvale, fellow newcomer Nomad Brewing Co. (5 Sydenham Rd., Brookvale; 61-4/ 1081-8084; nomadbrewingco.com.au) turned heads with a series of collaboration-brews with esteemed U.S. craft breweries Cigar City, Stone and Sixpoint. Sample these and other seasonals, like the Freshie Salt & Pepper Gose (a tart, salty beer brewed with Tasmanian peppers and saltwater from Freshwater Beach), at Nomad’s small tasting room.

Modus Operandi Brewing Co. Try a Gose at Nomad Brewing.

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Australia

REDISCOVERY OF LEGACY

OPENING SOON

J7 Hotel Road 6 Siem Reap, Kingdom of Cambodia www.j7hotel.com

info@j7hotel.com

Bar bites at Craft Brew & Co.

Hong Kong

A key figure driving Hong Kong’s rapidly maturing craft scene, ex-banker Rohit Dugar founded Young Master Ales brewery in 2013 and has now teamed up with other beer industry professionals on TAP - The Ale Project (15 Hak Po St., Mongkok; 852/2468-2010; thealeproject.com), which opened last December as the first, and still only, Kowloon taproom. Here brews from Young Master and other Hong Kong breweries flow from half of the bar’s 14 taps; the others pour BrewDog, Founders Brewing Co. and other quality imports. On Hong Kong Island, Craft Brew & Co. (17 Old Bailey St., SoHo, Central; 852/2885-0821; craftbrew. com.hk) has done so well since its mid-2014 debut in Soho that it’s already spawned a second outlet less than two kilometers away in Sai Ying Pun. The original venue has up to 15 beers on tap and around 25 bottles—look for special house beers like the Kung Fu Lager and Liberty IPA.

F R O M TO P : C O U RT ESY O F C R A F T B R E W & C O. ; C O U RT ESY O F B R E W E R K Z JA K A RTA

Indonesia

Singaporean microbrewery Brewerkz looked south last year to set up Brewerkz Jakarta (GF Crystal Lagoon at Senayan City, 19 Jln. Asia Afrika; 62-21/ 2923-5788), its only overseas brewpub. The sports bar currently serves Brewerkz’s signature oatmeal stout, IPA, golden ale and pilsner.

Quintessential Bali

Living the pure royalty where legendary holds its timeless beauty A Balinese royal service is a culture at Ayodya Palace. Featuring 79 of elegant rooms and suites, the Ayodya Palace is set in a tranquil corner of Ayodya Resort Bali, completed with a private swimming pool, a separate access to the beach, and an exclusive club lounge for you to relax and to experience more benefits of the Ayodya Palace including daily breakfast, refreshment throughout the day, afternoon tea, an evening cocktail, internet access, as well as an access to collections of our library. To add more conveniences, Ayodya Palace also offers an exclusive private check in and out, butler services, and complimentary daily mini bar during your stay. Experience the royal Bali hospitality, experience the Ayodya Palace at Ayodya Resort Bali.

Brewerkz Jakarta. www.ayodyaresortbali.com ayodyaresortbali

l info@ayodyaresortbali.com @AyodyaBali

@AyodyaBali

/ beyond /F I R S T P E R S O N

Slow Train Coming On an Amtrak from New York to Montreal, Gary Shteyngart relives a trip from his past, and rediscovers the pleasures of an 11-hour journey on the rails, Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich and all. ILLUSTR ATION BY EDUARDO RECIFE

WHEN I TURNED 30 , I decided to celebrate in the craziest way possible. I packed 11 of my best friends on an Amtrak train from New York to Montreal. We decided to do it up in style. Having just published my first novel and excited to finally have a positive checking balance at Chase, I forked over several hundred-US-dollar bills for a half-kilo of beluga caviar from a semi-trustworthy shop in Brighton Beach, New York City. Russ & Daughters it was not, but the taste was salty and grainy enough, and the grayish sheen of the caviar seemed to lie somewhere within the beluga range. To this we added toast points, some great charcuterie and what probably amounted to two jeroboams of champagne. My birthday falls around America’s birthday, in early July, and I always associate each additional year of my life with the season’s first burst of scorching heat. On that trip I remember the Canadian border guards jumping off the train after a two-hour inspection (this was 10 months after the attacks of 9/11) and throwing off their shirts, their white torsos glistening in the sun. I remember the trees rushing past as we seemingly levitated over the waters of Lake Champlain. I remember the arrival in Montreal, the

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momentary shock of a perfectly North American skyscraper city, but with a majority of inhabitants who happen to speak French. And afterward, I remember the rush to one of my favorite restaurants in the world, L’Express, for a late birthday dinner of bone marrow topped with tiny cabbage petals. The journey was long, and, yes, we were young and not exactly accustomed to first-class travel, but somehow I had spent 11 waking (albeit champagne-soaked) hours on our nation’s rails, and I loved it. Twelve years later, I told my Canadian publicist that I would like to take Amtrak for a reading in Montreal instead of the usual 90minute plane ride. “Just confirming that this is what you really want,” she wrote back, “11 hours, no business class, no checked luggage.” “Yup, that’s the stuff,” I wrote back to her. On a sunny November morning, I took my suitcase down deep into the bowels of New York’s most tragic bit of infrastructure: Pennsylvania Station. At Track 5, we were separated into two lines, one for passengers disembarking in upstate New York, the other for those headed to Canada. The Canada line was mostly composed of immigrants, with plenty of head scarves and salwar kameezes, as well as luggage large enough to shelter their owners. Everyone loaded up on Dunkin’ Donuts, but I thought—No! I want the entire Amtrak experience. This time, I will eat in the café car. The 8:15 “Adirondack” to Montreal pulled out only two minutes behind schedule. Like most train cars in the United States, this was a stainlesssteel Amfleet car, built during the 1970s or early 1980s. It’s neither a classic regional train chugging along the Liguria coastline nor a futuristic Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway train. It’s a distinctly American phenomenon, slightly utopian and largely outmoded. I have a strange love for Amfleet trains, the kind of love some

East Germans may feel for their concrete Plattenbau apartment buildings or their two-cylinder Trabant cars. In the café car, I ate a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich and guzzled Amtrak coffee. But what I was really devouring was the view of the Palisades, the cliffs across the Hudson running from Jersey City to Nyack, their bases studded with trees bearing the last of autumn’s leaves. Amtrak’s Wi-Fi service was spotty enough that during this trip I would finally finish Thomas Picketty’s 685-page Capital in the 21st Century, including the endnotes. Back in my seat, the train chimed with Urdu and Malay, many of the Canada-bound passengers surviving off towers of Pringles. There was a man in a leopard-print tank top—by his sartorial bravery I guessed he was Québécois. We started breaking the surly bonds of the New York metropolitan area. Familiar landmarks streamed by. The twin domes of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Then the stately gray presence of West Point, the United States Military Academy, high above the river. After Poughkeepsie, the Hudson widened and somehow became even more beautiful, lighthouses appearing between the shores, the broad blue outline of the Catskills framing the distance. We passed by the überhipster town of Hudson, with its cutting-edge restaurants, antiques dealers and art centers, like Basilica Hudson, founded by Melissa Auf der Maur, of the Smashing Pumpkins. We rumbled into Albany Station, then past the enduring strangeness of the capital city’s Empire State Plaza, a misconceived nod to Brasília with its barren plazas and eggshaped theater. The tree lines were losing their sparkle as we left Albany, dead leaves scattered along the tracks. It was genuinely sad to leave behind the Hudson, with the soft ripples of its waves and its endless procession of colorful working barges. We were now

entering a different New York State, far from the pull of the mighty metropolis. Dilapidated barns, weathered-down shacks—the full extent of America’s rural poverty emerged from behind the leafless November trees. By that point, I was starving. Let me impart an Amtrak strategy: do not eat the Caesar salad. Carnivores might be okay with the Hebrew National hot dog, which is what it promises to be, although in a soggy microwaved bun. What I’ve consumed on countless trips up and down the Northeast Corridor consists of a Dogfish Head brew and hummus with pretzels. It’s not beluga, but it’ll do just fine. As the train hugged the shores of Lake Champlain, it felt at times like we were out to sea, with only the distant silhouettes of the Green Mountains of Vermont to remind us that we were passing a finite body of

Central Station, its gorgeous basreliefs featuring the lyrics to “O Canada.” How’s this for an Amtrak miracle: We were a half-hour early. Now I couldn’t wait to rush out into the cold Montreal night and stuff myself with Schwartz’s smoked meat sandwiches and L’Express’s calf’s liver with tarragon and buttery bone marrow. I had traveled the length of New York State from south to north, just as I had on the day I turned 30. This had been a quieter journey, summer replaced by autumn in every sense, but there were far worse things than spending a day being handed over from the Hudson River to Lake Champlain, from the Palisades to the mountains of Vermont. As I write this, it has been two months since I boarded the train bound for Montreal. And unlike the 40 or so airplane trips I’ve taken this year, I actually remember every

I have a strange love FOR AMFLEET TRAINS, THE KIND OF LOVE some East Germans FEEL FOR THEIR two-cylinder Trabants. water. The track picked up altitude, and suddenly we were perched high over the lake, beneath us a series of tree-swaddled coves, the autumn tides smashing against the rocky beaches. The quartet of Malay grannies in front of me put down their cell phones to observe the wonders outside. We pulled into the pencil-thin Ticonderoga station house and headed for historic Port Henry, working-class Plattsburgh, and finally the Canadian border. A shack bearing the signs boutique and labatt’s light welcomes you to French Canada. A young woman in modest Canadian customs regalia rushed through the cabin directing a quick “bonjour, hi!” at each of us. The inspection took a mere 45 minutes, and an hour later the skyscrapers of downtown Montreal were within view. The six cars of the Adirondack pulled into Montreal’s Art Deco

moment of my rail journey. When I close my eyes, the sun slants through the window, hitting my book perched upon the café table. I hear laughter and French and the metronome beats of time regained. The slower the train, the stronger the sense of stopping time. All I can recall from last year’s high-speed 5½-hour sprint from Beijing to Shanghai is the gray-blue blur of the Chinese countryside. But on Amtrak, you can look out and see our country in real time. There’s the delicious wreck of Bannerman’s Castle moored in the middle of the Hudson like a piece of Scotland lost and found. There’s the low-slung skyline of historic, troubled Newburgh. And there’s a man by his boarded-up cottage wielding a leaf blower, looking up with half a smile at the heavily breathing train rumbling through his backyard, and, whether he knows it or not, looking up at you.

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Hungry for More

C H R I S T O P H E R K U C WAY

New and natty food courts across Asia. Museum restaurants where the dishes are objets d’art. Bars that challenge your two-beer brilliance. We’ve sipped and supped our way around the world to bring you the latest cuisines—and restaurants—worth traveling for now.

Snacking at Eathai food court in Bangkok. For more of our favorite new food halls—from Hanoi to Singapore— please turn to page 65.

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the

/ guıde /

DISHES WITHOUT BORDERS When ingredients and techniques migrate between

neighboring countries, the result is a whole new type of cuisine.

Mikla, in Istanbul. INSET: Chef Mehmet Gürs.

Once united under the Austro-Hungarian empire, the borderlands of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy and western Slovenia were split between Italy and Yugoslavia after World War II—and they’re known for hearty cooking and aromatic wines. On the Italian side, the haute-rustic La Subida (above; lasubida.it; entrées US$25–$39) serves updated comfort food like žlikrofi (potato dumplings) in a fairytale setting. To sample biodynamic wine made with fermented grape skins, don’t miss Slovenia’s Movia (movia.si; US$27 for wine tasting and snacks). About 50 kilometers north at Hiša Franko (hisafranko.com; tasting menus from US$48), chef Ana Roš fills pasta with sheep-milk cottage cheese; her husband is a biodynamic-wine connoisseur.

NEW ANATOLIAN IN TURKEY It isn’t every day you come across a restaurant with a full-time anthropologist. Then again, you don’t often meet a chef like Mehmet Gürs. The Istanbul-based former TV personality is known for his New Anatolian cuisine, inspired by the flavors, cultures and history of what was once greater Anatolia—Turkey, Syria, Greece, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Iran and Iraq—where his anthropologist sources ingredients. Tiny green halhali olives, cave-aged sheep-milk cheeses and sun-dried-fruit reductions are all used in Gürs’s tasting menu at Mikla (miklarestaurant.com; tasting menus from US$65). While Gürs takes a modern approach, he’s happy to see traditional preparations of Anatolian food mixing into the city’s culinary scene, especially in the Aksarai neighborhood, where Syrian refugees have opened restaurants. “Many good cooks come from Aleppo,” Gürs says. “We can learn a lot from the new arrivals.”

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TRENDING

PORRIDGE

Growing interest in gluten-free food and heritage grains has resulted in cereal-centric menus—and not just for breakfast. Porridge & Puffs (porridgeandpuffs.com), a nightly pop-up in L.A., serves savory congees like chicken with mushrooms. Porridge Bar (porridgebar.com.au), in Melbourne, has toppings like sweet miso and figs. At Copenhagen’s Grød (groed. com), mix-ins include skyr yogurt and cacao nibs.

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P R I G H T: C O U R T E S Y O F L A S U B I D A ; C O U R T E S Y O F M I K L A ( 2 ) . I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y C H O T I K A S O P I TA R C H A S A K

ITALO-SLOVENIAN COMFORT FOOD

MASTERPIECE MEALS

At these cultural-center restaurants, you’ll go for the food and stay for the art (or music, or garden tour).

ASIA SOCIETY HONG KONG CENTER Set in a former explosives magazine compound created by the British army in the mid-19th century, AMMO is both a cheeky reference to ammunition, and an acronym for Asia, modern, museum, original. Head here on Saturday to check out one of the thought-provoking exhibitions by Asian artists, then fill up on a set of tea, scones and bubbly to help you digest heady concepts. ammo.com.hk; afternoon tea sets for two HK$308.

LIQUID COURAGE Sometimes it takes a tipple to get those creative juices flowing. Here are three bars to inspire your two-beer brilliance. By Diana Hubbell

Paintbar, Bangkok

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F A M M O ; H U F T O N + C R O W/ C O U R T E S Y O F T H E B R O A D ; C O U R T E S Y O F PA I N T B A R ; C O U R T E S Y O F L O N G P L AY; C O U R T E S Y O F O S C A R Y W I N E & A R T; C O U R T E S Y O F T H E W H I T N E Y; C O U R T E S Y O F U N T I T L E D

Coax out your inner van Gogh or Rembrandt while drinking craft beers at this justopened hot spot, where two-hour painting classes cover subjects ranging from portraits to landscapes. paintbarbangkok. com; two-hour classes Bt1,200, including canvas and painting supplies.

BROAD MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES HARA MUSEUM, TOKYO The cakes at Café d’Art, are exhibitions in their own right, with a changing menu that reflects the museum’s current showcases. The giant glass windows overlook the inner garden, bringing culture and nature into visual harmony. haramuseum.or.jp.

Downtown L.A.’s much-anticipated Diller, Scofidio & Renfro–designed building is making news for both its stellar contemporary art collection and Otium, from chef Timothy Hollingsworth and hot-shot restaurateur Bill Chait of Bestia. Ingredients from its garden will be cooked simply, over fire. thebroad.org; entrées US$16–$32.

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEW YORK CITY Untitled, the Whitney’s original Danny Meyer restaurant, is the same in name only after moving to its new Renzo Piano downtown digs. Chef Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern turns out modern American fare—try the shrimp ravioli with nettles and mushrooms—amid sweeping views of the Hudson River. untitledatthewhitney. com; entrées US$23–$28.

LongPlay, Singapore Your musical input is, for once, welcome at this vinyl-only bar headed by Nicholas Quattroville, The Library’s previous mixology wizard. Sip cocktails like Lucille, made with Monkey Shoulder whiskey, espresso liqueur and a spray of vanilla essence, while you thumb through the evening’s carefully curated, rotating record collection. longplay.sg; drinks for two S$32.

Oscary Wine & Art, Hong Kong

The new Whitney Museum. INSET: Chef Michael Anthony

Whether you’re into acrylics or making urban-friendly gardens, this casual-cool joint is all about letting your imagination run wild. Painting workshops spotlight a variety of techniques, while terrarium classes encourage budding green thumbs. facebook.com/oscary.wine.and.art; classes from HK$150.

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the

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AFTER-HOURS EATS

These cities don’t shut down after dark and neither do some of their best places for grub. Pad your stomach after a night out on the town at these gastro-bars, which take their food just as seriously as their drinks. By Diana Hubbell

COPPER, SINGAPORE Good luck finding this gin-centric speakeasy, which oozes steampunk-cool from every burnished metallic, distressed wood and dark-leather surface. Houseinfused gins include flavors such as star anise, cinnamon and even tom yum, all the better to complement the eclectic culinary offerings. Bar snacks are heavy on the swine, whether it’s in the Filipino sisig crostini, the crispy pig’s ears with lime, or the Balinese babi guling tacos, while the elaborate degustation menus encompass everything from duck-confit ravioli with Jerusalem artichokes to venison tartare with waffle fries. coppersingapore.com; 65/6222-5565; five-course tasting menu S$128.

BRKLYN, TAIPEI

EDITION, HONG KONG The Korean-fusion wave that Roy Choi launched in L.A. may have passed, but that doesn’t mean we ever got tired of eminently craveable snacks like bulgogi sliders. After all, what better way to soak up the 15 types of houseinfused soju than with a pile of kimchi fries or incendiary chicken wings doused in gochujang? Wine, beer and the other usual suspects are available, but do yourself a favor and stick to Korea’s favorite spirit. edition37peel.wix.com/ edition; bar snacks for two HK$100.

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THE NEST, SHANGHAI One of the Bund’s buzziest new arrivals, this bar by the Rockbund Art Museum is a magnet for pretty young things. It could be the décor—luminous coils offset the tastefully understated space—or the drinks—try La Rouge with Grey Goose, goji berry liqueur, grapefruit and blueberry confit—but the kitchen certainly doesn’t slack on the quality of their seafood-heavy, Nordicinspired menu. 6F 130 Beijing Dong Lu, Huangpu Dist.; 86-21/6308-7669; dinner for two RMB430.

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F C O P P E R ; C O U R T E S Y O F B R K LY N ; C O U R T E S Y O F E D I T I O N

After one too many of the 20 craft brews on tap and the 100-plus in bottles, a light bite just isn’t going to cut it. That’s when Scotch eggs with house-made sausage, poutine with duck-fat fries, black-truffle mac ’n’ cheese, and an ample selection of steaks save the day. Sure, there are salads, but at this hour, who are you kidding? It doesn’t hurt that the beers here are chosen by Evil Twin, the cocktails are from Ounce’s former mixologist, and happy hours last until midnight. brklyn.tw; dinner for two NT$1,000.

Eathai at Central Embassy, in Bangkok.

FOOD COURTS ON STEROIDS The venerable covered market of yore has been

F R O M T O P : C H I S T O P H E R K U C WAY( 2 ) ; C O U R T E S Y O F S I N G A P O R E F O O D T R A I L

reborn as a 21st-century hub for omnivores.

EATHAI, BANGKOK

QUAN AN NGON, HANOI

Classic down-home dishes from the best vendors across Thailand are served up hot at this luxury food court within the slick Central Embassy lifestyle mall. It is street food given an upscale makeover with fresh ingredients and modern style. Don’t miss Som tam and grilled chicken or pork neck with a spicy dipping sauce at the Isan counter that will transport you to the northeast of the country in air-conditioned comfort. centralembassy.com/eathai.

This dining destination is a hybrid: the lovechild of a restaurant and an open-air market. The garden courtyard is decked out in hanging lanterns and lined in food vendors, but a waitress will take your order at your table. The food hails from across Vietnam, and the northern dishes are particularly delectable. Don’t miss The beef pho; it never fails to satisfy. ngonhanoi. com.vn.

ASIA CAFE, SUBANG JAYA, MALAYSIA Outdoor seating; almost 100 food vendors; neon signs promising plates of rice, grilled meats and noodles: this is your quintessential Asian food court. Set in Klang Valley, 20 kilometers west of Kuala Lumpur, it is a bit off the tourist trail but offers perhaps the country’s widest variety of dishes in a single setting. Don’t miss Bak kut teh pork-bone soup, rich from hours of simmering, served alongside oolong tea. asiacafe.com.my.

SINGAPORE FOOD TRAIL Take a step back in time at this 1960s-themed hawker center on the ground floor of the Singapore Flyer. Old-school local specialties like ais kacang (essentially a Singaporean snow cone) are right at home in the charming throwback setting. Don’t miss Ang Mo Kio Yong Heng friedbaby-squid Hokkien mee. The secret to these flavorful fried noodles is the broth, which starts cooking at midnight each day and bubbles for six hours before daybreak. singaporefoodtrail.com.sg.

REPORTED BY: Jay Cheshes, Howie Kahn, Carey Jones, Emily Mathieson, Shane Mitchell,

Pat Nourse, Matt Rodbard, Nate Storey, Anya von Bremzen and Merritt Gurley.

One of the most important companies in France and has forged a solid reputation around the world.

CINDERELLA MALANDAIN BALLET BIARRITZ, FRANCE Tuesday 13 October 7.30pm

Baht 3,000 / 2,500 / 2,000 / 1,500 / 800 Supported by Embassy of France & BNP Paribas

Mauro Bigonzetti perfectly plays with moods: and makes “Alice” into a festival of dance that despite its depth ends in party mood. Andrea Kachelriess, Stuttgarter Nachrichten

ALICE

Gauthier Dance,

GERMANY Friday 16 October 7.30pm

Baht 3,000 / 2,500 / 2,000 / 1,500 / 800 Supported by Embassy of Germany

Hotline 02 262 3191 www.thaiticketmajor.com (24 hrs)

www.bangkokfestivals.com

VENUE: Thailand Cultural Centre. Free shuttle from MRT station Thailand Cultural Centre, Exit 1, during 5.30-7.00pm

t r av el sm a r t er

Farecasting that Actually (Mostly) Works Predicting the ideal moment to buy a plane ticket has long been the holy grail of travel planning. Do you hold out for a price drop, or pull the trigger in case the fare rises? Three companies are claiming to hold the elusive answer, and T+L put them to the test. BY NIKKI EKSTEIN AND ERICA HO ILLUSTR ATION BY VALERO DOVAL

/ upgrade / SEARCHING FOR AIRFARE ONLINE is a special kind of torment. According to a

recent study by Google, the average person visits 15 websites, does seven research sessions, and takes three weeks to book a single flight. Now a crop of apps and websites, led by Kayak and followed by newcomers Hopper and Flyr, are promising to remove the doubt by delivering customized fare forecasts—letting you know, once and for all, when and if that price is good. Price forecasting is hardly an original idea. Note Microsoft Bing’s prediction tool, which folded last year. The trailblazing algorithm, originally developed by veteran airfare-intelligence company Farecast nearly a decade ago, used historical and active data to offer simple Buy or Wait recommendations for any given route. It was one of Bing’s signature features—until its primary data source was acquired by Google. Rather than paying monthly fees to its direct competitor, Bing abandoned the predictions. But another major player was ready to take the spotlight: Kayak. In 2013, a company-sponsored hackathon inspired programmers to develop a feature for the site called the price forecast tool, which gauges whether prices will rise or fall for a route within the next seven days and offers a corresponding percentage-based “confidence rating” for its predictions. (The price forecast, now available only on the Web, will be added to Kayak’s app later this year.) The tool draws proprietary data

from Kayak’s 1 billion annual user searches and historical trends from thirdparty provider ITA Software, and uses machine learning to identify patterns in airfare fluctuations. Currently, about half of Kayak’s routes offer predictions, depending on their popularity and whether the data is statistically sound. While Kayak makes farecasting only a small part of its offerings, a handful of other services are focused exclusively on using Big Data to deliver even better airfare intelligence. Founded in Montreal in 2007 but launched only in January of this year, the Hopper app searches for patterns across a vast amount of

How accurate are these airfareforecasting services? In our tests, they performed fairly well, but there’s room for improvement.

information: up to 20 million daily searches from most online travel agencies, as well as data taken from eight years of archived analysis, all gathered during the app’s lengthy development stage. As a result, Hopper can deliver incredibly precise forecasts for hundreds of thousands of routes around the world. It aims to tell you not just which prices will rise—but the exact date when they’ll start climbing. Flyr, meanwhile, understands that the cheapest price does not always make for the best flight. Originally founded in 2012 as Hubskip, it began offering its predictions late last year, before launching a standalone app this spring. Unlike its competitors, Flyr allows consumers to track specific flights rather than entire routes (which can include non-direct flights with inconvenient layovers). Such targeted results make Flyr the most ambitious prediction tool of the bunch, and the challenges show: though it has managed to build a comprehensive database of domestic U.S. routes, Flyr’s international coverage is still thin.

IN DEPTH: THE NEW FARECASTERS KAYAK How it works On supported routes, a graph shows up above your search results. It includes recent price trends, a seven-day outlook and even a confidence rating that reflects the site’s past predictive success. Pros A simple and streamlined presentation means you won’t feel overwhelmed with information. Cons The feature is limited to Kayak’s website (for now); a mobile version is coming soon.

FLYR How it works Search the app or site for a flight as you would anywhere else; once you find the itinerary that fits your schedule, you can access additional details, including anticipated fare fluctuations. Pros Predictions are hyper-specific, and include the probability that your preferred fare will increase, decrease or stay the same in the next 24 hours. Cons Supported international routes only involve major hubs such as Bangkok, Singapore and Tokyo.

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HOPPER How it works Plug in your dates and destination, and the free iOS app will suggest historically good prices, along with more forward-looking fare fluctuations. Pros Hopper pinpoints the date your fare will start rising, monitors the route and sends mobile notifications when it’s time to buy. It’ll also tell you if you can save on your fare by choosing alternate airports or different travel dates. Cons Alerts are helpful, but constant.

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Just how accurate are these services? In our tests, they performed fairly well, saving us nearly US$200 on one flight, but occasionally steering us toward higher prices on other routes. There’s definitely room for improvement—which should be coming. Kayak is considering broadening its forecaster tool even further to include hotel bookings. And more airfare predictors are on the horizon. “The potential for this technology is enormous,” says Azim

Barodawala, CEO of Volantio, the parent company of flexible fare-search engine Adioso, which has been developing its own tool for complex itineraries. Farecast founder Oren Etzioni, who is now CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, is not surprised to see so many new services picking up where he left off. “The pain point is still there: airlines’ prices are still fluctuating wildly—and consumers still want to save money.”

HOW FAR IN ADVANCE SHOULD YOU BOOK? Predictive tools can tell you when to buy, but you also need to know when to start your airfare search—and that depends on where you’re going. Kayak looked at data from its Singapore market to see how many weeks prior to departure prices were at their lowest.

REGION

WEEKS BEFORE DEPARTURE

AVERAGE SAVINGS*

ASIA

MIDDLE EAST

SOUTH PACIFIC

18%

AFRICA

22%

CARIBBEAN

20%

EUROPE

13%

NORTH AMERICA

CENTRAL AMERICA

28%

SOUTH AMERICA

43%

Sanur I Ubud I Nusa Dua I Jimbaran P. 62 361 705 777 F. 62 361 705 101 E. experience@kayumanis.com

*Compared to average flight costs when booked one month in advance.

www.thegangsa.com

www.kayumanis.com

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ROAD TEST | TRANSLATION APPS

DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT the traveler who told a Parisian waitress that he was pregnant instead of full? He could have used a good translation app. Here’s what Tom Samiljan uncovered while testing the latest tools throughout Asia and Europe.

GOOGLE TRANSLATE Free; Android, iOS

TRIPLINGO US$9.99 per month; Android, iOS

ITRANSLATE US$4.99; Android, iOS, Windows Phone

WAYGO Free; Android, iOS

HOW I T WOR KS Google will generate a written translation for anything that you type, speak, photograph or draw on your touch screen. For nearly half of its supported languages, it also offers audio translations— and the number keeps growing. Bonus: a new feature listens for two languages at once, providing the spoken and text translations for both sides of a conversation in real time.

F I EL D NOT ES The Good Google’s translations are incredibly comprehensive—if occasionally clunky. For example, a French sign saying “Cedez le passage” yielded the English “You do not have the priority.”

HOW I T WOR KS This voice translator piles on the bells and whistles, offering several translations for nearly any given phrase—including formal, casual and slang versions—as well as helpful phonetic guides. It also comes with instructional phrase books, audio lessons, and tip sheets on local etiquette. And if all else fails, it can connect you with a human translator for an extra fee (US$24.99 for five minutes).

F I EL D NOT ES The Good The phrase book’s varied translations give you a much more sophisticated sense of the language: French options for “I’m doing very well” ran the gamut from the formal “Je vais très bien” to the idiomatic “Ça roule” (literally “It’s rolling”).

HOW I T WOR KS Beyond translating typed and spoken phrases, this app lets you slow down (or speed up) the corresponding audio playback so that you can work on accurate pronunciation. You can also save translations for recurring reference by marking them as favorites or sending them to yourself in an e-mail. Tip: saving your translations in Evernote can help you create a personalized phrase book.

F I EL D NOT ES The Good Translations were accurate, and the time-saving ability to bookmark translations spares you from looking up the same phrase (e.g., “Make it spicy”) over and over again.

N U M BER OF L A NGUAGES 92 total, with 27 offering voice translations.

The Bad Phonetic English spellings for languages that don’t use the Roman alphabet— like Hebrew or Arabic, for instance—were nearly impossible to pronounce.

OV ER A L L ASSESSM EN T It is better for audio than text translations; too bad it doesn’t support a larger number of languages with text-to-speech and voice recognition.

HOW I T WOR KS Hold your phone’s camera up to anything written in Chinese, Japanese or Korean and it will produce an English translation on the spot. The app stores a history of your translations and saves your favorites, so you can retrieve the directions to your hotel for a local cabdriver. You’re limited to 10 daily translations with the free app; upgrade for unlimited use (US$6.99).

F I EL D NOT ES The Good The photo translation is the fastest and most accurate around. It had no problem identifying “eggplant with basil” on the same Chinese menu that stumped Google Translate.

N U M BER OF L A NGUAGES Three (Spanish and French are on the way).

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The Bad When it comes to Asian characters, results can be nonsensical: on a Chinese menu, “eggplant with basil” somehow became “nine eggplant.”

The Bad The cost. A free version exists, but it includes a mere 20 phrases per language so you’ll want the upgrade.

The Bad The interface is highly sensitive to movement and difficult to focus. Another annoyance: only being able to see a few translated words at a time.

N U M BER OF L A NGUAGES 90, with 38 offering voice translations (at last count). OF F-L I N E C A PA BI L I T Y Downloadable translation packs are available for 50 languages. OV ER A L L ASSESSM EN T It may not be perfect, but we love the number of languages— and the price. N U M BER OF L A NGUAGES 23, from Arabic to Vietnamese. OF F-L I N E C A PA BI L I T Y The phrase books and tip sheets work connection-free. OV ER A L L ASSESSM EN T It is a great tool for business travelers, who can summon live support for complex and nuanced translations in as little as 30 seconds.

OF F-L I N E C A PA BI L I T Y None.

OF F-L I N E C A PA BI L I T Y Everything but the supplemental language packs works off-line. OV ER A L L ASSESSM EN T Without the ability to translate English into any other language, you’ll need other apps.

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TURNING THE TABLES

IN ASIA’S CASUAL E ATERIES, LONG LINES are

common and reservations are rare. But a handful of services are changing that picture. Last year restaurant-booking app Chope (chope.co) bought Ticktok (ticktok.com.sg), a queue-monitoring service, to spare you the tedium of standing in line. Now powered by the time-saving tech, Chope lets you stroll, shop or grab a drink while you wait for your turn, and notifies you when your table is ready. Launched in January, loyalty program Chope-Dollars also gives its users incentive to reserve tables through their app: each completed booking amasses points and 1,300 points equal S$20. Similar point-redemption systems have sprung up across the region: Hungry Hub (hungryhub.com) in Bangkok; Qraved (qraved.com) and MakanLuar (makanluar.com) in Indonesia; and Dineout and EatOut Manila (eatoutmanila. com) in the Philippines all parlay reservations into dining discounts. And perks aren’t limited to cash value— MakanLuar treats its loyal customers to cheaper Grabtaxi rides and free drinks.

F R O M L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F T U M I ; C O U R T E S Y O F D E L S E Y; C O U R T E S Y O F R I M O WA . I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y A U T C H A R A PA N P H A I

E I G H T D I N I N G S E R V I C E S T H AT A R E C H A N G I N G T H E WAY W E B O O K R E S TAU R A N T S .

WHEELS UP

T+L’S FAVORITE NEW SUITCASES —IN WHATE VER SIZE YOU NEED.

T+L TIPS

When and where to use restaurant-booking services. BANGKOK Eatigo for discounts during off-peak dining hours in Bangkok, Pattaya and Singapore. Hungry Hub for points that can turn into future savings. INDONESIA Qraved for a large selection of Jakarta and Bali restaurants. MakenLuar for points and exclusive perks in Jakarta, Bandung and Bali. MALAYSIA Offpeak for 50-percent savings during restaurants’ less busy times. MANILA Dineout for webbased searching and freebies. Eat Out Manila for a database of over 100 restaurants. SINGAPORE Chope for reservations, rewards and convenient queuing.

Like snacking at odd hours? Both Bangkok-based Eatigo (eatigo.com) and Malaysian Offpeak (offpeak.my) fork out delicious discounts to downtime diners, which helps restaurants stay busy. When empty tables meet empty stomachs, everybody fills up. — MONSICHA HOONSU WAN

1. From Tumi, this limited-edition leather carry-on (US$1,895; tumi. com) meets all airline restrictions. 2. The Philippe Starck–designed La Habanack suitcase from Delsey (US$680; shop.delsey.us) makes the most of interior space, maximizing your 60 centimeters. 3. Rimowa’s 74-centimeter Bossa Nova (US$1,495; rimowa.com) protects belongings with its padded lining and polycarbonate shell.

T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M / J U LY 2 0 1 5

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THE LAUNCH OF THE TECH THIS APRIL HAS HOTELS, AIRLINES AND TRAVEL SITES CLAMORING TO BE AMONG THE FIRST WAVE OF COMPATIBLE APPS, MEANING SMOOTHER SAILING FOR GLOBETROT TERS. BY COLE PENNINGTON

The new Apple Watch app from Singapore Airlines tells you exactly when you can check in and even alerts you of gate changes so you can avoid having to ask other confused passengers, “Hey, is this the right gate?” singaporeair.com; free.

British Airways This handy app turns the face of your Apple Watch into a countdown timer to departure. It also displays the summary of your flight and its status, along with useful tidbits like the weather at your destination. Use it to download your mobile boarding pass, check in and choose your seat. Bonus: You’ll automatically be given the Wi-Fi passwords for British Airways lounges. britishairways.com; free.

EXPLORE TripAdvisor Walking aimlessly is great, but it’s also easy to stroll right by that cool little hole-in-the wall café. The useful new Tripadvisor app lets you know when you are approaching a point of interest, or, if you know where you want to go, it will guide you there with walking directions. tripadvisor.com; free.

The iPhone and iPad revolutionized the way we travel by allowing instant access to the services we need on the go. Now the Silicon Valley behemoth is taking the convenience of a handheld device in a wearable direction with the Apple Watch. Instead of constantly whipping out your phone, which is illegal at some immigration points, now your wrist is your command center. Book flights, hail cabs, find insider spots and get to the airport right on time with this glossy gadget. Did we mention it also tells time? STAY Starwood Join the SPG keyless program and you’ll never have to worry about losing your key or forgetting your room number again. In addition to keeping you updated on all the details of your stay, the Apple Watch also sends out alerts when your room is ready. You can even open the door simply by placing the watch near the lock. spgpromos.com; free.

Marriott Using location services, the watch delivers pricing and exact locations of Marriott properties closest to wherever you may find yourself. marriott.com; free. BOARD Singapore Airlines Have you ever arrived so early at the airport that the check-in counters aren’t even open? Or worse, only moments after the gates have closed?

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Citymapper Deciphering public transport in foreign lands can prove baffling. With Citymapper, you’ve got an atlas to the bus or the train systems, and you’ll never miss a stop because a gentle tap on the wrist reminds you when to alight from the vehicle. The app figures out the quickest way from point A to point B in a new city using only public transport and—the most reliable way of getting acquainted with a destination—walking. citymapper.com; free.

EXPERIENCE StopJetLag Discovering a new place can be a major drag if you’re operating on a foreign sleep schedule. This app allows users to input

their travel itinerary, and then creates a plan to start the sleep adjustment process during transit. StopJetLag will suggest the optimal time and levels for variables like meals, rest and even sun exposure so you get to your destination relaxed and refreshed. stopjetlag.com; free.

Day One When you’re traveling somewhere new, it’s all too easy to forget where you had that special meal, or where you took that stunning photo. Day One encourages users to record what they’re doing through voice dictation and location check-in; it even creates a “rich timeline” using media like pictures and movie clips from the users’ experiences so you never forget what a great time you had. dayone app.com; US$4.99.

WHY THE WATCH? The Apple Watch is more than just another fashionable tech toy. Here are a few reasons why you should add it to your ensemble. Safe It is secured to your body and thus difficult to lose and hard to steal. Durable The battery

lasts for 18 hours of mixed use, longer than around the eight hours you’ll get with an iPhone 5. Legal At the moment,

its use is not banned in airports. Practical It’s nearly impossible for notifications to go unnoticed, as they sometimes do in your pocket or purse. Apple’s Taptic Engine will “tap” your wrist so you’re always aware of important information.

C O U R T E S Y O F B R I T I S H A I R WAY S

CLOSER LOOK | THE APPLE WATCH

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DEALS | T+L READER SPECIALS

DINING MALAYSIA

The best journeys cater to both your body and mind. This month’s offers, from Vietnam’s World Heritage sites to an ayurvedic wellness retreat in Goa, are all about striking a balance between relaxation and education. Views from a guest room at Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside, in Malaysia.

Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Putrajaya, 25 kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur, is home to the country’s largest botanical park and a man-made wetland. Stay at this “resort within the city” for a complementary upgrade to a Deluxe room as well as sahur (pre-dawn meal) and Jom Balik Kampung festive dinner for two. The Deal Balik Kampung Room package 2015; a night in a Superior room, from RM420 for two, through July 14. Save 20%. pullmanputrajaya.com. SAMUI

Sheraton Samui Resort Stay at this 141-room new resort in Chaweng Noi Beach on Thailand’s second largest island and save 15 percent on food and beverages. The Deal Special opening offer; a night in a Deluxe Ocean View room, from Bt4,200 for two; book by December 23. Save 25%. sheraton.com/samui.

BEACH KRABI

SUPER SAVER The Oberoi, Dubai See the Burj Khalifa-defined skyline from the windows of your airy, timber-floored room and enjoy a 20-percent discount on spa treatments as well as food and beverages. The Deal Magnificent Dubai; two nights in a Deluxe City View room, Dhs1,600 for two, through September 15. Save 54%. oberoihotels.com.

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Sofitel Krabi Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort Its seaside setting and hint of French colonial elegance are a favorite for both families and couples. Special discounts for stays from three to seven nights let you enjoy more of Thailand’s largest lagoonstyle swimming pool, L’Occitane spa treatments, beachfront golf, and cave

F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F P U L L M A N P U T R A J AYA L A K E S I D E H O T E L ; C O U R T E S Y O F T H E O B E R O I , D U B A I

SINGAPORE

Parkroyal on Pickering This hotel, with its solarpowered, zero-energy sky garden, celebrates the country’s golden jubilee by rewarding all guests a daily S$50 credit applicable toward hotel dining and wellness services, and a chance to score a limited edition tote bag decorated with a watercolor rendition of the hotel’s façade. The Deal SG50 staycation offer; a night in a Superior room, S$325 for two, July 1-August 31. Save 22%. parkroyalhotels.com.

exploration. The Deal Stay Longer & Save; three nights in a Superior room, from Bt9,381 for two, ongoing. Save 2530%. sofitel.com/krabi. PHILIPPINES

Eskaya Beach Resort & Spa Indulge in a seaside welcome dinner surrounded by 600 meters of private beach, an hour of Swedish body massage, a sunset cruise, and tour of the Bohol countryside with Loboc River Cruise at this secluded retreat on Panglao Island, part of the Visayas archipelago. The Deal Romance package; three nights in a Garden villa, P75,600 for two, ongoing. Save 30%. eskayaresort.com. PHUKET

Kata Rocks This award-winning property provides daily breakfast and unlimited Wi-Fi, so you can upload as many stunning images of its acclaimed design, spa and restaurant as you please. The Deal T+L exclusive; three nights in a one-bedroom Sky Villa, from Bt67,200 for two, through October 31; book through Chic Collection for a special T+L readers’ discount. Save 30%. chiccollection.com.

CITY HONG KONG

The Upper House A curator of premium hotels, Kiwi Collection offers a complimentary second night, including breakfast for two at Café Gray Deluxe, to every reservation made through its website. The Deal Suite Luxury in Hong Kong; two nights in a suite, HK$18,000 for two, through August 31. Save 50%. kiwicollection.com.

meter Executive suite with a complimentary extra bed, minibar and Wi-Fi, as well as access to Regent Club benefits for the whole family. The Deal Family Getaway package; two nights in an Executive suite, from RM4,000 for two, through August 31. Save 20%. regenthotels.com. TAIPEI

features rooms inspired by indigenous longhouses and airy public spaces, surrounded by the park’s rare birds, wildlife and exotic plants. The Deal Opening offer; a night in a Deluxe Rainforest room, from RM870 for two, through December 31. Save 22%. marriott.com. VIETNAM

Royal Plaza on Scotts Business travelers will love this Orchard Road property, where unlimited high-speed Wi-Fi is complimentary for multiple devices; the minibar is restocked daily; the Nespresso machine is at your disposal; and high-fashion shopping is only a step away. The Deal SG50 room promotion; a night in a Deluxe room, from S$210 for two, through December 31. Save 33%. royalplaza.com.sg.

The Sherwood Taipei The city’s first five-star hotel opened doors exactly 25 years ago in the quaint Min Sheng area, surrounded by quirky boutiques, small artistic shops, and local eateries, and worlds away from the chaos of crowded malls. This anniversary package also comes with an Hermès amenity kit for the perfectly pampered weekend getaway. The Deal 25th Anniversary; three nights in a Junior suite, from US$500 for two, through September 30. Save 78%. sherwood.com.tw.com.

La Residence Hotel & Spa Take intensive tours of the country’s four unesco World Heritage sites: The Complex of Hue Monuments, Hoi An Ancient Town, My Son Sanctuary and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park; then unwind with a 90-minute treatment at the hotel’s awardwinning spa. The Deal The Wonders of Vietnam; five nights in a Superior River View room, US$2,500 per person, double; book by December 20. Save 22%. la-residence-hue.com.

BEIJING

CULTURE

Conrad Macao Get in shape this summer with complimentary access to the hotel’s Pool Deck, a complex of four 1.2-meterdeep pools and two spa pools, as well as entry to the health club and its fitness classes. The Deal Conrad Macao Getaway; a night in a Deluxe room, from HK$1,268 for two, through July 31. Save 45%. sandscotaicentral.com.

SINGAPORE

Regent Beijing In addition to convenient access to the city’s historical monuments and cultural attractions, you are guaranteed an upgrade to an 80-square-

MALAYSIA

Mulu Marriott Resort & Spa Situated near Sarawak’s unesco World Heritage site Gunung Mulu National Park, Marriott’s latest opening

WELLNESS MACAU

C O U R T E S Y O F L A R E S I D E N C E H O T E L & S PA

INDIA

A Superior room at La Residence Hotel & Spa, in Vietnam.

Alila Diwa Goa The new all-inclusive detox program at this beachside fivestar in south Goa is customized to each individual. You’ll start with an in-depth consultation on nutrition, health and stress that will dictate the types of diet, exercise and treatment you should follow, including prana healing, hypnotherapy, yoga, meditation and fitness sessions. The Deal Ayurvedic Detox Detour; five nights in a Diwa room, from US$4,936 for two, double, to September 30; quote ALTL-2015 for T+L exclusive discount. Save 20%. alilahotels.com. — M.H.

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! w e N

Our exclusive Digital Destination Guide covering the latest and the best of Phuket

FREE download available at www.travelandleisuresea.com/phuket

D AV I D H A G E R M A N

Try a seasonal ‘cooktail’ at Alancha Istanbul.

/ JULY2015 / The latest must-eat menus in Bangkok | When you need some food for your soul, order a bowl of Asian noodles | Eating is a sport in Singapore | Istanbul’s rich, seasonal kitchens | The new New Orleans

Pleasure CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

At the ornate Sra Bua; crab from Hokkaido at Ginza Sushi Ichi; Lady Brett mixologist Philip Stefanescu; at Namsaah Bottling Trust; a Pizza Massilia masterpiece; seafood paella at Vesper; lightly smoked sea bass and caviar, J'aime.

on a Plate Bangkok’s fast-maturing dining scene runs the gamut from obscure local delicacies to Michelin-rich magnificence from around the globe. Richard Mcleish goes on a mad-dash, belt-loosening glutton’s errand, eating his way through the city’s coolest new restaurants. Photographed by Christian Hogue

Famous for being a pleasure dome, Bangkok never the dining scene is growing up, too. Internationally independents all service the collective palate of chamuang curry, its Romana from its Napoletana. gastronomic delights, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve divided the current trends that capture their galvanizing spirits. Prime your list; youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sure to come away with a full-

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fails to engage the senses. As the city modernizes, lauded chefs, regional specialists and shrewd the city that now knows its massaman from its In the hopes of easing your navigation of the city’s best and brightest into bento box sections of key your palate to check each of these categories off bodied taste of the town. Michelin-Origin Masters

The stars have been raining down on Bangkok in the past couple of years, with chefs who’ve clocked Michelin acclaim elsewhere opening outposts in the city. Or, in the case of Dutch chef Henk Savelberg, closing up shop in The Hague in favor of the Thai capital as the sole home base for his modern, French-inflected haute fare (savelbergth. com; eight-course dinner Bt4,800). Here are four others that pay homage to the masters.

V O G U E L O U N G E : S T Y L I S T: S A R A N YA A R I YA K U L . M A K E U P : W I T T H AYA K A E O A I M . M O D E L : C H A N O K P O R N S AY O U N G K U L

L’ATELIER DE JOEL ROBUCHON With 28 Michelin stars in his trophy cabinet, Joël Robuchon’s arrival in Bangkok rippled through every tablecloth in the city. The words “no expense spared” come to mind as you take in the original Warhol prints and Swarovski crystals inside. The extravagance continues on the plates (worth US$1,000 each, incidentally), where delicate highlights include a sculpted toast tower constructed next to a quail-yolk-topped tartare and a lonely Hokkaido scallop bathed in a buttery kumquat reduction. The calm, precision action on display by the army of chefs in the open kitchen meets the huge expectations associated with the place (and price). While the décor, food and fuss aren’t for the fainthearted, it’s a compulsory outing for any curious purveyor of the pointy end of the dining scene. 5F Mahanakhon Cube, 96 Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Rd., Silom; 66-2/001-0698; robuchon-bangkok.com; lunch sets from Bt950 for two courses, dinner tasting menus from Bt5,000 per person for five courses.

VOGUE LOUNGE Culinary gods, forgive us for being skeptical. A themed café usually sets our gauche radar aflutter—but we needn’t have worried with the world’s most revered name in fashion backing a show run by a chef, Vincent Thierry, who has repeatedly raked in three Michelin stars for Caprice in OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A fresh Hong Kong. Much like the best trio at Ginza Sushi Ichi; designers, Thierry and his exec living up to the name at chef on the scene, Cyril Cocconi, Vogue Lounge; the deliver seasonal lines scoring unashamedly French high in both style and substance. dining room at J'aime.

On our visit, this meant royal purple leaves sprouting from a mussel-stocked grass-green courgette velouté, and fresh morels providing an earthy richness to their veal-loin headliner. With a fresh mixology menu slanted towards the light and fizzy, a prime location straddling the Silom and Sathorn strips, and a rotating roster of cool-as resident DJs, Vogue is hopping at happy hour— which extends to 9 p.m. What’s more, the lavender and golden hues, the Warhol- (yep, we’re right upstairs from Robuchon) and old-Vogue-cover-bedecked walls, and the tiled lantern-lit patio provide perfect backdrops for your own Instagram-worthy photo shoot. 6F Mahanakhon Cube, 96 Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Rd., Silom; 66-2/ 001-0697; voguelounge.com; dinner for two Bt2,000.

GINZA SUSHI ICHI Positioned in a basement under Ratchaprasong with a Tokyo-style tuck is the Bangkok branch of Michelinstarred Ginza Sushi Ichi. The two hinoki wood-lined rooms are overseen by sushi chefs with ninja-worthy professionalism reminiscent of documentary-star Jiro, who dreams of sushi. The savvy sushi selections are flown in daily direct from Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo— whenever it shuts, so does Ginza Sushi Ichi. The omakase-style service takes you through the best of the fish at the dedicated discretion of the chef—who, if you’re lucky, might be the founder and overseer of the entire operation, the beloved, artistic Masa. This is the place to trump your snobbiest of sushi-expert friends, nicely rounding out the high-end spectrum with Mugendai and Mikaku, along with newcomer Kom-ba-wa. The pinnacle of Japanese in an already Nihon-happy city. LG/F, Erawan Bangkok, 494 Ploenchit Rd. Pathumwan; 66-2/ 250-0014; omakase menu lunch Bt4,000, dinner Bt7,000 per person.

J’AIME Pipping Joël Robuchon at the post for being the first tristar awardee in town was Jean-Michel Lorain, known for La Côte Saint Jacques, in Burgundy. It takes the old-world French mantle established by Le Normandie and Le Beaulieu across town and turns it on its head, according to the restaurant’s “upside down” mantra. We counter that it’s not quite a full inversion, but pretty radical for such safe origins. It’s unashamedly French, propelled by

maître d’ Marine Lorain following her family tradition. The curious back-block location and ornate interior awash in violet and chartreuse standout, but the real marquee is the attention to detail on the plates. There’s pigeon, snail and foie gras, naturally, alongside some Asian accents too—razor clams are served with sea urchin cream. U Sathorn Bangkok, 105/1 Soi Ngam Duphli; 66-2/119-4899; jaime-bangkok.com; lunch sets Bt1,700, dinner sets from Bt3,199 per person.

New Classics

The right choice of restaurant can launch a memorable night out on the town. It’s less a common cuisine that binds these new favorites of ours than a familiar vibe; they are the answer to when someone says, “let’s go somewhere ‘nice.’” Whether it’s an upscale twist on the tavern or a modern Italian, these spots—like the older Quince, Sensi and Gaggan (just named Asia's best restaurant by San Pellegrino)—are all about classy, pomp-free bustle.

ASTON Sidle up to the bar in one of the 28 chef’s table seats and have a chat with Zra Jirararth, the rock star overseeing this open kitchen. This amiable, talented, Cordon Bleutrained Thai chef will inevitably effuse his passion for not just food but also its provenance. Dedicated to upping the quality of both local livestock and the livelihoods of the farmers who raise them, he regularly buys a collective’s entire season’s crop, serving the best portions to his customers and figuring out waste-not ways to dispense with the rest, such as creative staff meals. In this greenery-draped steel structure tucked down Sukhumvit 31, the food on the seasonal set menu is both fanciful and fun. Happily, the brilliance appears in the dishes you’d least expect, that is, in those overdone degustation must-haves: foie gras (at our tasting, seared, with cherries and pineapples, all atop a crunchy bed of gingerbread crumbs), Wagyu beef (two ways—slowcooked cheek and rare steak) and dessert (sweet corn concocted four ways—grilled, popped, ice cream and pannacotta). 68 Sukhumvit Soi 31; 66-2/102-2323; astonbkk.com; degustation Bt3,500 per person.

LADY BRETT Meat us at Lady Brett, the evening follow-up to the original Rocket coffee bar next door (not to be confused with nightspot craft-cocktail den U.N.C.L.E. upstairs), which has stepped out with a revamped menu strutting directly and unapologetically into the carnivore zone. The narrow, crimson-hued tavern now sets our hearts ablaze on a fire stoked by bamboo, hickory wood chips and Laotian charcoal. We assumed the Aussie black Angus sirloin would be the star, and it was divine, but do not overlook the unassuming pork neck, and be sure to top it with a combination of the spicy soy chili and spicy barbecue sauces—you will melt. Especially if you

accompany it with sultry sides of miso eggplant and truffle-and-sour-cream mashed potatoes. This is the part where we’re supposed to segue into dessert, but we think it’s best to backtrack and leave you with this kiss goodbye: the duck rillettes appetizer is perfectly pulled strips of garlic-and-chive-seasoned meat nestled in a crispy potato cradle. These are the glammest potato skins you’ll ever find, so even if you’ve got a Jake Barnes bank account, just order your own Lady Brett these and a rum-fortified red wine Conquistador cocktail, and settle into your banquette to the DJ’s late-90s grooves—you’re sure to lance her heart. 149 Sathorn Soi 12; 66-2/6350405; ladybrett.com; dinner for two Bt1,500.

VESPER It’s hard to sum up in a word exactly why we adore this perennially packed hotspot on Soi Convent, but let’s start with delightsome. Step inside and owners Choti and Debby Tang will welcome you warmly with a glass of bubbles, and maybe a pâté-licious amuse-bouche. Order some jamon iberico and a couple of platters of the city’s best meatballs, little spicy pork and fennel flavor-bombs, to start; there are huge plates of delicious meat mains but we always go with the homemade pastas. Chef Luca Appino will crank up the charm, lighting up your pici with duck ragu or risotto with homemade sausage with his 1,000-watt smile. Post-meal, retire to the bar for dangerously smooth barrel-aged Negroni, a gin-spiked Secret Earl Grey, a special request from genially accommodating barmaster Colin Tait—or a tipple off their brand-new botanical cocktail menu. Ah, let’s not kid ourselves: you paraded through a sampling of Colin’s concoctions pre and during dinner, meaning you’ll head home delighted and divinely drunk. 10/15 Soi Convent, Silom; 66-2/235-2777; vesperbar.co; dinner for two Bt1,400.

ABBOT Drawing its line in the sunny southern California sand against all the rich, stomach-swelling, Western fare in this town, Abbot stands alone in trying to bring light, healthful, but still full-on-flavor food to Bangkok’s often spice-jaded taste buds. We didn’t realize how accustomed we were to “good meal” referring to red meats, thick sauces and lots of carbs, until the first time we inhaled— we scoffed up everything set before us and then asked for more without a second thought—the breath of fresh air that this place dishes up on the regular. Among the candy-colored, avocado- and citrus-heavy California cuisine, the Venice Beach fish tacos, the roast tomato and lump crab salad, and the yogurt-marinated pork loin are favorites. The easy-breezy theme extends through the menu to the atmosphere of this sunny shophouse, nay, beach shack, filled with Midcentury Mod furniture, where you should definitely pop in on jazz nights, on booming Soi 31. Abbot likes to say their inspiration is from one City of Angels to another. We say, bless. 253/2 Sukhumvit Soi 31; 66-2/258-6250; abbotbangkok.com; dinner for two Bt1,500.

Putting the final touches on a colorful salad at Aston.

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Prepping tandoori jhinga prawns at Charcoal.

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Contemporary Casuals

It wasn’t too long ago that, in Bangkok, casual Western eating meant pub grub. A tip of the hat to places like Opposite Mess Hall and Rocket for schooling the town’s proprietors on balancing a laid-back scene with comfort food the chefs nonetheless take great pride in perfecting. The next generation of relaxed restaurants is blooming with more diversity of fare... some even too cool for a fixed address.

CHARCOAL You might like Indian food, but Rohit Sachdev is betting you’re over Indian restaurants in their standard Bangkok incarnation of curry house holes-in-the-wall assaulting you with fluorescent lights and Bollywood music. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to enter Charcoal, an airy room of warm woods and leathers lined on one side by tall windows and the other by a glassed-in kitchen filled with gleaming tandoor ovens. This is a sophisticated yet casual, new-school take on the best of Bombay, whose running theme is the dabbawalladelivered-tiffin system that feeds 200,000 some people home-cooked lunches daily. So that’s comfort food and kebabs—get the creamy chicken murgh malai, paneer tikka and tandoori malai broccoli—but, also, since Sachdev and his crew are the gents who brought us Above Eleven and Gramercy (our favorite classy-cool rooftop resto-bars, which are helpfully in the same building), royal Mughal fare and a cocktail-pairing menu courtesy of the city’s drinks master, Joseph Boroski. And not a curry in sight. Fraser Suites Sukhumvit, 38/8 Sukhumvit Soi 11, 5F; 66-89/307-1111; charcoalbkk.com; dinner for two Bt1,000.

PEPPINA We have to wonder if chef Paolo Vitaletti is homesick. Because here, he’s imported from the motherland everything from the flour to the impressive oven to the Neapolitan chef himself, who mills around the kitchen with appropriate swagger. We’ve always loved Appia, but this casual spot down the road feels truer to broadly grinning Vitaletti’s heart. The buzzy room turns tables of families, friends, colleagues over endlessly each night so that even the city’s glamor set leaves with full stomachs—possibly because they’ve been gorging themselves on the ever-enticing specials, such as the The Duke pizza that, on one visit, was upgraded with cheese

hand-carried from Italy by Paolo’s visiting mother. If that’s the cure for homesickness, vieni, mama Vitaletti. 27/1 Sukhumvit Soi 33; 66-2/119-7677; peppinabkk.com; dinner for two Bt1,200.

NAMSAAH BOTTLING TRUST Take Thailand’s biggest celebrity chef, add a deep pocket and a burgeoning food scene and the result is the richly adorned Namsaah Bottling Trust. It’s the contemporary chapter of Thai culinary powerhouse Ian Kittichai, who doesn’t need a Michelin star to fill tables (and, in fact, will help you fill your own at his new, sparkly Issaya Cooking Studio). If his Issaya Siamese Club is for grown ups, Namsaah is for the adventurous millennials, with its hot pink exterior and provocative menu. Sip on a caramel Sang Som whiskey sour at the ground-level bar or in the serene front garden. Then progress seamlessly from playful popcorn shrimp to pad Thai with foie gras, in full embrace of the Kittichai kaleidoscope. 401 Silom Soi 7; 66-2/636-6622; namsaah.com; dinner for two Bt1,300.

PIZZA MASSILIA We might have mentioned it before, but Bangkok is now bumper to bumper with food trucks. So many have rolled onto the scene in the past year that it’s hard for us to remember all of their names, let alone at which temporary truck stop our favorites will be parked on any given weekend. The burger wars rage on to delicious effect and there are surprisingly well-done pastas and deli sandwiches, but our favorite meals on wheels are the blackened-bubbled pizza pies—particularly the scarmorza and sausage one—dished up by the chefs at Massilia, whose lightbulb sign on a cerulean truck with its sides flung open into a hidden garden littered by checkered-cloth tables evokes a movie set. A charming movie in Marseille... filmed in the heart of Silom. MK Gold Parking Lot, Soi Sala Daeng; 66-94/552-2025; pizzamassilia.com; dinner for two Bt1,000.

Crowning Thai

It’s tempting to say Thai is among the world’s favorite cuisines, but that’s an oversimplification, what with all the internal variations, from regional to royal. Five years ago, David Thompson splashed into town with Nahm, which codified the traditional Thai shared dining into a “tasting menu,” quickly adopted by other upscale places like the beloved Bo.Lan (which recently reopened

OUR FAVORITE MEALS ON WHEELS ARE THE BLACKENED-BUBBLED PIZZAS— PARTICULARLY THE SCARMORZA AND SAUSAGE—DISHED UP AT MASSILIA

in a gorgeous new garden in Thonglor). Meanwhile, a cult of the casual was developing following the successes of the still-packed, street-food-inspired Soul Food Mahanakorn and its newer neighbor, Supanniga, serving authentic Trat and Isan food. The following six run the same spectrum, from degustation to chill, but are tied together by, well, chili and excellent Thai.

BENJARONG Steeped in royal traditions with contemporary frills, Benjarong is the latest playground for Danish chef Morten Bojstrup Nielsen of Nahm in London. Here, royal recipes are given room to move through innovative reimaginings of flavors and presentations. A recent highlight was the chili popcorn, followed by a 24-hourcooked lamb massaman to die for. It sits in the Dusit Thani—a famed throwback to the origins of modern Siam, presenting a welcome challenge for the traditionalists looking for new takes on their old favorites. Dusit Thani Hotel, 946 Rama IV Rd., Silom; 66-2/200-9000; lunch sets from Bt650, dinner sets from Bt1,700, per person.

SRA BUA This place—straddling two categories here, as its boldness was grounded in its Michelin-rated origins in Copenhagen—has led the innovation in a local context. Continually daring to reinvent the Thai flavor palate, Sra Bua has recently revamped its menu. The fare is pure Bangkok: Thai food through the fusion filter. The molecular approach still holds its ground as the traditionalists and purists grapple with the true definition of a cuisine. Shelve your expectations and buckle up for the ride that will take you on a crosscountry journey through quirky reinterpretations of street food—pomelo salad in a crisp fried cone had us wanting more, but it was only the beginning of an 11-course meal—to temperature-defying curries. Exercise for the imagination and stomach alike. GF Siam Kempinski Hotel, 991/9, Rama I Rd., Pathumwan; 66-2/ 162-9000; 11-course dinner set Bt2,700.

PASTE (GAYSORN) Bold and on point, Paste (Gaysorn) is the second outing for chef Jason Bailey, another Australian chefs pushing the contemporary canon. For this outing he has teamed up with an aristocratic Thai family with royal connections and old recipe books. Dedications on the

menu include the sous-vide duck, rubbed with northern makhwaen pepper. Another barometer of how much the royal flavors and descendants will move with the times. 3F Gaysorn Plaza, 999 Ploenchit Rd., Lumpini; dinner sets from Bt1,600 per person.

LE DU French refinement meets youthful confidence at daring newcomer Le Du. The menu is the boldest fusion of the city, with lots of play at work by the enthusiastic youthful kitchen. With a name meaning “season” in Thai, the flavors revolve accordingly. The current seven-course tasting menu features khao chae, a pork and shrimp ball with roasted chili, pickled radish and jasmine ice cream—typical of the texture and flavor cacophony. Known for being daring, it hints at a city ready for more. 399/3 Silom Soi 7; 66-92/919-9969; ledubkk.com; sevencourse tasting menu Bt2,300 per person.

HOT ROD With cinematic mise-en-scène and manicured plates of goodness, it’s a quick and willing seduction of guests at Hot Rod. Clearly the work of designer Ashley Sutton, the jungle-tinged sci-fi-inspired room rings around a counter for 12 to sit up and watch the wielded wok. On the handle is partnering chef Peter Pitakwong. And suddenly tapas-style service makes perfect sense. That means shared plates of fried chicken, creamy crab curry on noodles and tom yum haeng seekrong moo—a sleek plate of fleshy baby back ribs coated with lemongrass, galangal and chili. A few more Hot Rod-style eateries and this town may soon rival Tokyo in the cool cuisine stakes. GF Park Lane, 18 Sukhumvit Soi 63; 66-2/714-2575; fb.com/ hotrodbangkok; dinner for two Bt900.

THAI LAO YEH Representing forgotten corners of the Kingdom’s vast culinary range are a growing number of regionally focused eateries. For its part, Thai Lao Yeh chimes in with northeastern and Laotian dishes. Delicacies such as frog’s legs, chicken feet and even the seasonal but popular ant eggs accent the adventurous spirit of the OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE traveling menu. Celebrate FROM TOP RIGHT: Asparagus at Vogue regional cuisine, we say, before it Lounge; the Pizza gets lost in the big city. GF, 14/29 Massilia truck; ribs at Sukhumvit Soi 45; 66-2/259-2871; Hot Rod; a taste of Italy cabochonhotel.com; dinner for in Peppina; diners at Lady Brett. two Bt1,000.

SHELVE YOUR EXPECTATIONS AND BUCKLE UP FOR THE RIDE THAT WILL TAKE YOU CROSS-COUNTRY THROUGH QUIRKY REINTERPRETATIONS OF STREET FOOD

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FOR THE LOVE OF NOODLES What strange elixir in noodle soup makes it so good for the soul? stephanie zubiri takes stock of why this staple, in its many forms, warms the heart of Asia. Photographed by supachat vetchamaleenont

T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M / J U LY 2 0 1 5

Udon soup, with its savory stock and ropey noodles, is a Japanese staple, predating the cult of ramen.

I LOVE THE WAY THE STEAM FROM NOODLE SOUP INTOXICATES ME WITH ITS AROMA. 90

I love the way the long strands slip into my mouth. I love the way the hot broth floods me with happiness. Sound odd? Well I’m in good company—this is a feeling I share with billions of other people throughout Asia. And, it’s not too much of a leap to say that all of it can be traced back to the well-preserved 4,000-year-old bowl of noodles unearthed just a decade ago at the Lajia archaeological site in northwestern China. My taste for history—and noodles—inspired a pilgrimage to uncover not only how soups evolved into their various incarnations, but also what carried them through the ages. So I traveled

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across Asia to get to, well, the bottom of the bowl. The earliest strand, if you will, of this tradition in China was actually a different drenched carbohydrate, points out Jen Lin-Liu, in her book On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome with Love and Pasta: “The first noodles in China were called tang bing, or soup bread.” This predecessor was bits of bread dropped into soup, which then developed into their current form to hold up better against the broth. In a climate that favored cereal crops, bread- and then noodle-making flourished fast in ancient China. Large-scale commercial production

was already well under way by 100 A.D., following the introduction, probably thanks to trade with the Middle East, of wheat milling technology—a concept that adapted easily to whatever crop was available: wheat, millet, rice, barley, mung bean, egg or soy. By the Nara period (710-794 A.D.), the Japanese word menrui appears, an adaptation of the Chinese mian, which found its way to the Nippon archipelago via imperial envoys sent to the Tang court in the hopes of absorbing Han culture. The first noodles in Japan were wheat udon and buckwheat soba. Only after World War II did the cult of ramen take off. Whether it’s soba in Tokyo, pho ga in Saigon, dumplings in Wanchai or a cup of instant tom yum spicy noodles from a Bangkok 7-Eleven, I’ve got great memories of noodle soup. As long as the broth is hot and tasty, and the noodles have the comforting combination of bite and slither, a steaming bowl of noodle soup can always lift my spirits.

IN THE PHILIPPINES, where I’m from, noodles are generally referred to as pancit, derived from the Hokkien Vietnamese pho noodles should be cooked a little past al dente and the broth should be fragrant and clear.

expression pian-e-sit, meaning something conveniently cooked, and the earliest recorded name for restaurants in the Philippines was panciterias, a further linguistic twist courtesy of Spanish colonials. Today, the different varieties are still known by their Chinese names: bihon (thin rice vermicelli), misua (extremely fine, dried wheat noodles), and the mung bean-based sotanghon. There’s the egg- and wheat-based miki used in the most famous noodle soup La Paz batchoy from Iloilo. That city is also the birthplace of pancit molo, a wonton soup, which is considered a type of noodle in the same sense that tortellini or ravioli are both a pasta and a noodle. In ribbons, hand-cut strips, pulled strands, shaved, small bitesized bits, or stuffed, noodles long have been an easy way to turn a simple broth with frugal ingredients into a filling meal. Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-Japanese inventor of instant noodles, believed that “peace will come to the world if people had enough to eat,” and his solution in 1958 was the inexpensive, practically imperishable cup-noodles.

So why is something as simple as noodle soup so comforting? In a word, Filipino restaurateur, ramen aficionado and co-owner of Manila's Mendokoro Ramenba Elbert Cuenca says: umami. “When you have an overload of umami and it melts together, it can really spark an emotional response. It’s almost like endorphins; all those feel-good chemicals in your body are activated from the flavor, the temperature and the texture of the noodles.” Almost all noodle dishes, regardless of the quality of the other ingredients, succeed or fail based purely on the noodles themselves and the broth in which they swim, says Cuong Huynh, founder of lovingpho.com. California-based Cuong points to pho—with its light yet flavorful broth, bright herbs, barely cooked slivers of meat and tumble of white rice ribbons—as the exemplar of a dish that must perfect this combination or die trying. “The pho noodle must be cooked a touch beyond al dente, and the broth should have the proper spiced fragrance, clearness, and uniquely delicious pho taste right out of the pot without any need for additional

enhancing sauces, seasonings or condiments.”

IN OTHER PARTS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA,

namely Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, rice noodles are the classic companion to the richer coconut- or peanut-based soups. They cook quickly and turn to a mush when overdone, so extreme care must be taken. Though tasteless plain, when prepared properly the noodles are firm as opposed to springy or chewy, and have a solid, slippery feel in the mouth, all very different from the wheat or egg varieties. Then there’s Japan, taking noodle precision to the next level. The quality of the noodles and of the soup is one thing, but there’s also an ideal eating time. “There is a window of ramen at its peak,” says Ryan Cruz, co-owner of Mendokoro. “Japanese can slurp a bowl of ramen in eight minutes or less. After those eight minutes, your ramen has started to deteriorate, the broth slowly becoming lackluster and cold, the noodles losing their bite.” How do you eat an entire scalding bowl without burning your palate? Take a tip from the Japanese: zuzutto, the

Heaps of seafood, spicy curry broth, thick rice noodles, egg wedges: fiery Singaporean laksa soup is all about balancing tastes.

act of slurping and inhaling both soup and noodle in one go to aerate the hot broth, achieving the perfect combination of the two key elements. In some of the best noodle joints across Asia—think your corner pho lady or the next-door shophouse dishing up your favorite Taiwanese beef rib soup—a continuously heating pot of stock, where more water is added every day, is not uncommon. Whether crystal clear sotanghon or murky tonkotsu or creamy coconut khao soi, the best broths are made from hours of simmering and stewing. “Even the best noodles will be disappointing if they’re in a bowl of badly made soup,” Hong Kong-based food writer Janice Leung tells me. “I love the sensation of slurping the noodles, with the soup just coating the strands, and the delicious steam of hot soup wafting above the bowl. The broth is probably the most important thing for me.” Founder of the globally present Japanese ramen chain Ippudo and crowned “Ramen King,” Shigemi Kawahara leaves his shiromaru tonkotsu to simmer for more than 18 hours. The stock is then reduced

three times. He recommends sipping the soup first to honor it before downing the noodles. Hideaki Aoyama, who works with Cuenca in Manila, simmers his beef stock for 14 hours. And that’s only after the crazy mise-en-place that takes place before loading all the ingredients into the big pot. However, despite all this effort put into the broth he believes it is about balance. “Even the toppings are very important,” he says. That sentiment extends all the way to Chiang Mai, home to food writer and editor Pim Kemasingki. “Like most Thais, I am constantly on a quest to find a great bowl of noodles,” she says. “This lifelong odyssey has brought some remarkable flavors to my mouth but the secret to a perfect bowl of noodle soup is that it is completely personal. You flavor it yourself.” “It’s the whole concoction,” says Singaporean food blogger Dr. Leslie Tay, of ieatishootipost.sg, wistfully about a highly charged bowl of fiery Singaporean laksa. “It’s a very tasty thing. So perfectly balanced, spicy, sweet, everything you ever wanted from a dish.”

The northern Thai khao soi soup simmers for hours, sometimes days, to fully achieve its flavor potential.

THE DETAILS

RESTAURANTS Deco’s La Paz Batchoy La Paz Public Market, Huervana Street, Iloilo City, Philippines; special batchoy soup for two P134. Ippudo 1-13-14 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka, Japan; 81-92/771-0880; shiromaru ramen for two ¥1,500. Janggut Laksa This little kiosk has been serving original Katong laksa since the 1950s. 01-59 Queensway Shopping Centre, 1 Queensway, Singapore; 65/96221045; laksa for two S$8. Khao Soi Lam Duan Faham The 70-year-old joint is the local's go-to for northern Thai staples. 352/22 Charoen Rat Rd.; Chiang Mai, Thailand; 66-53/243-519; khao soi for two Bt100.

Mak’s Noodle Their springy, thin noodles have impressed Chiang Kai-shek and Anthony Bourdain. 77 Wellington St., Central, Hong Kong; 852/2854-3810; wonton noodles for two HK$70. Mendokoro Ramenba GF, V Corporate Center, 125 L.P. Leviste St., Salcedo Village, Makati City, Philippines; 632/215-1751; shoyu tonkotsu ramen for two P800. Pho Tin 13 Lo Duc, Pham Dinh Ho, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi; 84-43/8212709; pho for two VND100,000. Taishoken Here try the tsukemen dished out by its "Ramen God" Kazuo Yamagishi. 2-42-8 Minami Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo; 81-3/3981-9360; tsukemen ramen for two ¥1,400.

Yong Kang Beef Noodles Their braised beef noodles with beef tendon is the city's favorite. 17 Lane 31, Jinshan S. Rd., Taipei; beef noodles for two NT$360. ACTIVITIES Black Sesame Kitchen, Beijing Owned by author Jen Lin-Liu, it offers private dining experiences and, by request, can organize cooking classes and market tours. blacksesamekitchen.com. Taiyuan Noodles Festival Every year around September, the world’s top noodle chefs come together in the capital of Shanxi Province to compete, perform and showcase the best noodle dishes from around the globe.

'J APANESE CAN SLURP A BOWL OF RAMEN IN UNDER EIGHT MINUTES'

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TH E

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

A dessert of burnt lemon sorbet, blueberry, bergamot meringue and lemon verbena at Burnt Ends; beneath a mural at Izy by Singapore illustrator Ben Qwek; wine dealer Henry Hariyono ponders a course during dinner at Shinji by Kanesaka; the Singapore skyline with Marina Bay Sands on the left; chef Ryan Clift plating a dish of foie gras at the Tippling Club.

H U N G E R

Eating is a sport in Singapore, a place of unusually informed diners who take great pride in the melting-pot cuisine of their homeland. HOWIE KAHN reveals why the city-state, and its insatiable residents, keep drawing him back for one more meal. Photographs by

DARREN SOH

GAMES

WE WERE FOUR COURSES INTO DINNER in the private room of Shinji by Kanesaka, an omakase restaurant in the arcade behind the stately Raffles hotel. Already we’d been served bioluminescent squid; hirame, conjugally wrapped around morsels of uni; and glass fish, tiny and transparent except for the blacks of their eyes. Now it was time for the abalone, which had been soaking up mirin, soy and bonito broth vapors for the past five hours. As our host, Chris Lee, a 45-year-old local designer wearing a Kanye West–style man-skirt, lifted the first mollusk to his mouth, he asked the table, “Is it male or female?” He chewed ruminatively, then answered his own question. “Male. Texturally, it’s more dense, more like the sea. It’s more comprehensive.” “You have to chew it twice as long as other foods,” chimed in Henry Hariyono, 43, the general manager of Artisan Cellars, a dealer of rare wines. “But it’s twice as rewarding.” As the meal progressed, Lee, Hariyono and Teng Wen Wee, a 33-year-old restaurateur, competed to drop the most food knowledge. They debated the merits of bafun uni (richer) versus murasaki uni (sweeter). They informed me that our squid, flown in from the Toyama prefecture of Japan, is in season for only three weeks. When the sushi courses began coming over the counter, the chef—Shunsuke Kikuchi, one of founder Shinji Kanesaka’s protégés— sent out multiple cuts of otoro, or tuna belly, each sliced through with a S$4,000 knife. “The middle cut,” Hariyono said, “should look like the first day of snow.”

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Though this epic feast (stats: 17 courses, eight bottles of wine) was especially decadent, it was also characteristic of the way devotion and scholarship amplify the pleasures of food in this cuisine-obsessed 5.5 million-person city-state. Eating here also means constantly talking about eating—passionately, proudly and knowledgeably. Ask any Singaporean stranger—cabdriver, store clerk, bank teller— about where and what they most like to eat, and you are likely to end up with a friend for life. Foodie-ism is a national religion, and the melting-pot dining culture, with its innovative, critically hailed restaurants and habit-forming street food, undercuts the notion that Singapore is, as some call it, “Singa-bore”—a hypersanitized snooze fest long on global financial services and short on fun. For a culinary adventurer like me, the place is simply irresistible. I started eating before I’d even left Singapore Changi Airport. Minutes after deplaning, just past midnight on a balmy, tropical evening, I headed to the Killiney Kopitiam kiosk to marvel at the simple, craveable wonder of kaya toast. Killiney, which opened in 1919 and became a chain in 1993, browns its toast evenly on a grill, then slathers it in butter and kaya, a stickysweet coconut jam. The bread is then assembled like a sandwich and served alongside softboiled eggs in a small ceramic bowl, the yolks serving as a dip. I was jet-lagged and needed a shower, but couldn’t help downing a second order while catching up on Hariyono’s Instagram feed, which featured glossy, alluring, Helmut Newton–style close-ups of local dishes. At home in New York, these images had only provoked wistful fantasy. But now I was back for my third visit in the past year (that’s about 144 hours of transit time and more than 60,000 air miles, if you’re counting) for around-the-table camaraderie and around-theclock caloric indulgence with my newfound comrades in food.

CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: Koichiro Oshino,

the master chef at Shinji by Kanesaka; a diner at Shinji by Kanesaka snaps a picture of a cut of tuna belly; grilled horsehead fish with marinated rice malt at Shinji by Kanesaka.

he next day didn’t really get going until I was served a fish head. Specifically, a kingfish head, prepared by David Pynt at his restaurant, Burnt Ends. After a restorative morning round of more kaya toast at my hotel, I found myself sitting at a long, boomerang-shaped bar watching Pynt cook on the other side. Sporting a dark, burly beard and a leather apron that resembled body armor, the 31-year-old Australian worked the three elevation grills and the 3.6-tonne brick, steel, and concrete oven he built himself, which stands over two meters tall and reaches a temperature of more than 900 degrees Celsius. “I just call it my baby,” Pynt said. For the next several hours he worked his creation with paternal tenderness, manipulating fire to get all the delicate bits of meat cooked and smoked just right for me and my dining companion—Loh Lik Peng, the co-owner and one of Singapore’s most prominent restaurateurs. Lee had told me that Loh possessed a tremendous appetite, something Loh immediately confirmed: “I ordered half a baby goat last time I was here,” he said. This time we started with smaller cuts of meat and seafood—quail with salsa verde and aioli; marron, a freshwater Australian crayfish, sprinkled with capers and parsley; lamb loin with carrots. Then came the fish head. Enormous, spadeshaped and thatched with swaths of lemongrass and a mortar of miso, the dish was the embodiment of the country’s eclectic taste in food. Cooked by a progressive Aussie, it combined Chinese, Malaysian and South Indian culinary techniques that were in play here long before Singapore became a sovereign nation half a century ago. We ate with our hands. Eventually, Loh brought part of the skeleton to his lips, corn-on-the-cob-style. “I’m eating the brain and the eye,” he said with a grin. “Who says Singapore is so clean?” Pynt laughed, plating a series of smoked ice creams and pastries. “It’s all pleasure here,” he said as Bob Dylan crooned over the restaurant speakers: your next meallllll. A few hours later, Hariyono texted to tell me it was dinnertime. We met at Izy, a bustling izakaya in Chinatown that his company has a stake in. An IT professional turned wine savant, he was wearing hip, frameless glasses and a woven porkpie hat. Understanding I had come from a big lunch, he recommended a bottle of champagne as a digestive aid. “Champagne really works well with everything,” he said, “including a full stomach.”

CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT:

The wine selection at Burnt Ends, which emphasizes small Australian growers; a salad at Izy; leeks with hazelnuts and brown butter at the restaurant; its chef David Pynt (left) and sous-chef Manuel Liebaut behind the counter.

The bartender filled our glasses with a 2008 Chartogne-Taillet and set them on colorful coasters printed with a kaleidoscopic blossom of samurais, luchadores, cigarettes, soda bottles and tattooed arms holding swords. A mural in the same maximalist, pop-iconographic style was on the back wall. The dishes, from a menu that executive chef Kazumasa Yazawa devised in consultation with Japanese star Yoshihiro Narisawa, were more restrained. “This is Narisawa’s influence right here,” Hariyono said as he plucked a lobster claw from beneath a small mound of wasabi sprouts, okra and kai-lan flower, one of our 12 courses. “You can taste the green, still alive. But what’s more amazing is that Yazawa used local vegetables, which is unheard of here.” Farm-to-table eating isn’t yet a driving force in Singapore the way it is in the West, but its slow emergence shows a desire to stretch the boundaries of menu-making and cooking. It also underscores Singapore’s growing pride in both its homegrown products and its local kitchen talent. At the just-opened Sorrel, instead of importing a foreign chef, as is the common practice, Loh Lik Peng turned over the reins to a pair of talented young Singaporeans: Johnston Teo, 24, and Alex Phan, 27. For the first time, Singaporean style sensibilities are being exported, too: Loh has opened hotels and restaurants in London, Shanghai and Hong Kong; this month he opens his latest property, the Old Clare Hotel, in Sydney. Lee has commissions throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. All of this industry was sensationalized by Kevin Kwan in his international best seller, Crazy Rich Asians, which is being turned into a movie by a producer of The Hunger Games. “People follow passion here and the rest of the world is responding,” Hariyono said before suggesting an excessive (but not unexpected) nightcap. We walked around the corner to Luke’s Oyster Bar & Chop House, an elegant, low-lit, New England–style place whose chef Travis Masiero hails from Boston. Singapore may be finding its own voice, but it’s also still a place where tried-and-true dining concepts from around the world are executed to perfection. “When people like food this much,” Masiero told me, “it makes cooking classics from anywhere a lot of fun.” Teng Wen Wee’s new restaurant, the Black Swan, is another irresistible foreign import. It serves timeless bistro fare, from beef tartare to oysters, in a beautifully renovated three-story Deco building, formerly a bank, tucked among the skyscrapers of the Central Business District. “Burnt Ends is also like that,” Masiero T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M / J U LY 2 0 1 5

said. “It’s an Australian concept made better here. And Shinji by Kanesaka. Every time I go in there, I think, Man, this is the best omakase in the world.” He set a tin of caviar and a couple of mother-of-pearl spoons on the bar. “Just go for it,” he said, looking in my direction. “Finish it.”

y the time I met Cynthia Chua, the following morning, time as I knew it had collapsed, the hours, minutes and seconds replaced by a looping circuit of big meals, small meals and snacks. In other words, “you feel like a local,” suggested the diminutive 42-year-old restaurateur. She piloted me through the village-like enclave of Tiong Bahru in her chocolate-colored Porsche convertible. “Everybody wants to live in this neighborhood,” she said. In part, that’s because of its distinctly desirable 80-year-old Deco housing blocks, which look like they could have been airlifted in from Miami. But it’s also because this is the area where Singapore’s diverse traditions mix so thrillingly with a sense of cutting-edge entrepreneurship. Four of the nearly 20 restaurants and coffee shops Chua owns in Singapore are here. As the afternoon passed, she shared her future ambitions: an artisanal butcher shop, a charcuterie, a rooftop farm. (She has since opened two urban farms.) At Tiong Bahru Bakery, one of her first investments, we sampled salted-caramel pastries known as kouign amann and smoked-salmon sandwiches on supple squid-ink buns. “I want to curate entire streets,” Chua said. This is a longstanding impulse in Singapore, epitomized by the centralized hawker centers that were set up for street vendors all the way back in 1971. At their best, these clean, orderly rows of stalls feel like personal invitations into the homes of aunties and uncles who want to serve you delicious family recipes. There’s concern about the long-term survival of these businesses, since young culinary entrepreneurs seem inclined to aim for higher profit margins than three-dollar chicken dishes—no matter how sublime—can provide. As we sat in Tiong Bahru’s own hawker center eating jian bo shui kueh—tiny steamed rice cakes with radish chili and shallots, sold four for a dollar—Chua explained how she matches buildings with big ideas. Recently, in a duplex on nearby Martin Road, she launched Common Man Coffee Roasters, a third-wave espresso joint with a stellar menu of comfort foods, and Bonchinche, a clubby

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CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: Chef Ryan Clift

and developer Cynthia Chua, upstairs at the Tippling Club; servers at the bakery; lava cake, ham foccacia with arugula, and pandan flan at Tiong Bahru Bakery; in the pastry kitchen of the Tippling Club.

meat-and-cocktail-driven Argentineaninspired establishment. “Every time I stand in front of a vacant shop here,” she said, “people think I’m taking it.” On my last day, Hariyono and I visited a food stall on a working-class street in the area of Jalan Besar to load up on laksa, the silky, briny noodle soup beloved by locals. Then, already full, I met Chua at Tippling Club, another of her restaurants, for a 22-course send-off dinner prepared by the 36-year-old British chef, Ryan Clift. Chua lured Clift to Singapore in 2008, promising him his dream kitchen. “Once I get somebody here,” she said, “they stay.” When I had last visited, the restaurant was operating in a former army barracks, but it was now located in an elegant, central, two-story shop-house. Working fast in the bright, open kitchen, the chef sent out courses in sealed jars, test tubes and pill bottles, but they were anything but clinical. Clift lives to misdirect and surprise. Traditional chicken curry came in a combination of white crisps—like small packing peanuts—and flavored foam. Sweet bell peppers had become carbonized lumps. Clift had tenderized the Wagyu beef by placing slices between kombu leaves and zapping them with sound waves. Small bites carried huge flavors. Large ones were unexpectedly subtle. All was engineered to provoke excitement through complexities that weren’t obvious to the eye. The meal represented the ambitions of Clift’s adopted country well, and he knew it. “Things have been bubbling up around here for a long time,” he told me. “But now Singapore is finally hot. Singapore is boiling.” Leaving town, I began scrolling through Hariyono’s Instagram again. There were cuts of fish I hadn’t tasted; chili-spiked breakfast noodles I hadn’t slurped; plate-crowded tables my friends had not yet suggested. There would be a last snack of sweet kaya toast in the airport, and eventually, a return ticket to book.

Uni prepared by Ohino. THE DETAILS

RESTAUR ANTS Black Swan Set in a historic Art Deco building with a stunning interior to match, this spot adds Asian twists to Continental favorites (try the calamari with Kaffir-lime sauce). theblackswan. com.sg; entrées S$30–$98. Bonchinche Argentine chef Diego Jacquet serves creative riffs on his country’s beef-driven cuisine—everything from empanadas to asado. bonchinche. com.sg; entrées S$23–$77. Burnt Ends At this temple to barbecue, all the meats are smoked, roasted, baked and grilled in a bespoke oven. burnt ends.com.sg; entrées S$20–$76.

Common Man Coffee Roasters Modeled on the cafés of Melbourne, this spot has expert baristas, a variety of roasts, and a full breakfast and lunch menu (order the popular eggs Benedict). commonmancoffeeroasters.com. Izy A contemporary take on the Japanese izakaya, serving Wagyu beef with truffles and fried chicken glazed with balsamic and soy. izy.com.sg; omakase menu from S$95. Killiney Kopitiam This venerable chain is a testament to Singapore’s long-standing coffee culture. It also serves kaya toast, one of the city’s many affordable delicacies. killiney-kopitiam.com.

Luke’s This chophouse and oyster bar by Boston-born chef Travis Masiero outperforms similar New England establishments. lukes.com.sg; entrées S$15–$110. Shinji by Kanesaka The sushi, sashimi, and omakase meals by master chef Koichiro Oshino are among the most sought-after in the world. shinjibykanesaka.com; sushi from S$225 for 15 pieces; omakase menu from S$300. Sorrel Ambitious, modernist fare by twentysomething chefs Johnston Teo and Alex Phan, in a casual, bistro-style environment. sorrel.sg; tasting menus from S$88. Sungei Road Laksa A laksa noodle soup joint popular with locals and hidden inside a coffee shop. Block 27, Jalan Berseh; no phone. Tiong Bahru Bakery Queue up with locals for masterful French pastries, coffee and smokedsalmon sandwiches on squid-ink buns—all of it worth the wait. tiongbahrubakery.com. Tiong Bahru Hawker Center Of the island’s many famed

hawker centers, this one is the most architecturally interesting. Tip: make a beeline for Jian Bo Shui Kueh (stall 02-05), which churns out the best steamed rice cakes. 30 Seng Poh Rd. Tippling Club This shop-house in the Central Business District is the backdrop for award-winning tasting menus by English chef Ryan Clift. tipplingclub.com; tasting menus from S$163. HOTEL S Four Seasons Hotel A prime location near Orchard Road shopping, with cocktails by mixologist Javier de las Muelas and excellent Cantonese dining. fourseasons.com; doubles from S$366. New Majestic Hotel The 30 design-focused rooms have original artwork and Kiehl’s bath amenities. newmajestichotel.com; doubles from S$266. Raffles Hotel Everything at this 128-year-old grande dame feels dignified but relaxed, from the uniformed staff to the high-ceilinged suites. raffles.com; doubles from S$808.

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Fennel bulb with smoked bonito and ringa fish, at Karaköy Gümrük. OPPOSITE: Nicole boasts gorgeous views to the Sea of Marmara.

More than Meze

Long at a crossroads, Istanbul offers cuisine to surprise every palate, provided you know where to look. Robyn Eckhardt offers a glimpse of some of her favorites in a city that is evolving towards freshly foraged seasonal produce. Photographed by David Hagerman

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Alancha’s deconstructed baklava sandwiches. Like the original version, eaten in one bite.

In Turkey, spring means fava beans and otlar (foraged herbs and greens). Autumn brings quince, winter welcomes enormous orange pumpkins and anchovies caught off Turkey’s Black Sea coast. The Turkish kitchen is one of the world’s richest and most seasonal, yet you’d never know it from the culinary itineraries trod by many visitors to Istanbul. I was one of those tourists. My earliest Istanbul food memories, dating from the late 90s, are of meats, sweets, ersatz Ottoman cuisine and unfortunate “Western” meals. Back then travelers to Turkey’s cultural capital didn’t have much choice. “When I started cooking in Istanbul in 2003 ‘international cooking’ —pizza, pasta, beef and salmon—dominated,” remembers Didem Şenol, chefowner of Istanbul’s Lokanta Maya restaurant. But that’s no longer the case, thanks to a growing number of Istanbul chefs tapping Turkish ingredients to devise seasonally driven menus. When I visit Istanbul these days I plan my gastronomic forays around what’s on offer at the farmer’s market. Here, in my favorite city in the world to eat, are some of my favorite spots to taste Turkey’s bounty.

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Kantin

Semsa Denizsel is so enamored of seasonal produce that she’s been known to return from road trips to Ayvalik, a small Aegean town seven hours south of Istanbul famous for its otlar, with a trunk spilling spindly wild asparagus, pungent chicory and other foraged greens and herbs. “What most people think of as ‘Istanbul food’—grills and doners—is actually the result of migration from Anatolia and eastern Turkey. I grew up in Istanbul, and we have always eaten according to the season,” says the chef-owner of the 15-year-old Kantin restaurant. Denizsel’s Alice Waters-style focus on local and seasonal foods has inspired younger chefs like Lokanta Maya’s Şenol and Stavriani Zervakakou of newcomer Karaköy Gümrük. At Kantin, spring means sautéed çağla (green almonds) on a bed of drained yogurt drizzled with olive oil and pomegranate molasses, while summer brings cold asparagus soup, and autumn’s zeytinyağli (olive-oil stewed) green tomatoes gives way to haslama, a Turkish-style pot-au-feu, in winter. Kantin’s pastel walls and crisp white tablecloths lend it the air of a French brasserie. On a fine spring day the best seats in the house are the ones on the tree-shaded rear terrace, where you might start with çitir, a crispy flatbread topped with whatever’s good at the market, and move on to Denizsel’s refined version of street-food favorite kokoreç, spit-grilled lamb intestines filled with wild thyme-scented lamb meat. Don’t pass on the delicious sourdough bread, the result of two years of experimentation and made with flour ground from heirloom Turkish wheat.

FROM TOP: Dining at

Kantin; Semsa Denizsel’s fresh take on fattoush at the restaurant.

Lokanta Maya

“It was boring to be cooking the same thing for six months,” recalls Lokanta Maya’s Şenol, of her time as a line cook in New York. “It’s much more fun to change the menu depending on what you find at the market.” Before opening Lokanta Maya in 2010, Şenol trained at Manhattan’s French Culinary Academy and headed a resort kitchen in Marmaris, at Turkey’s southwestern tip. Gram, a tiny Beyoğlu café with an abbreviated daily menu of mezes, salads and mains, as well as a mouthwatering selection of sweets and ice creams, is Lokanta Maya’s younger sibling; a second Gram opened this year in the business district of Macka. Mediterranean in spirit—“I love to work with seafood and citrusy things, olive oil and herbs,” she says—Şenol’s menu draws inspiration from produce sourced at once-a-week markets in the Fatih and Ferikoy districts, as well as foodstuffs sent from small producers from Hatay province in Turkey’s southeast to Denizli in the Aegean region. Şenol seasons offal with zahter, fresh wild thyme from the southeast that is reminiscent of rosemary, and artichoke-flavored confit with orange juice. Not content to rest on Lokanta Maya’s laurels, Şenol and her staff continue to experiment, recently introducing house-cured spicy-salty pastirma. Hung on one wall of the restaurant is a slab of glass etched with Şenol’s recipe for mucver, the zucchini fritters that have become her signature dish. Lunch runs to 5 p.m., making Lokanta Maya ideal for a lingering late-afternoon meal.

House-cured pastirma at Lokanta Maya. TOP LEFT: The restaurant’s chef Didem Şenol.

Alancha Istanbul

A wall of wine at Alancha Istanbul. FROM BELOW: The chef’s table at the restaurant; chef Kemal Demirasal.

Since opening his celebrated restaurant Alancha in Alaçati, an historic resort town on Turkey’s Cesme Peninsula, in 2012 young chef Kemal Demirasal has morphed from a Noma-style champion of local, seasonal and often-foraged ingredients to a proponent for food as a transmitter of culture. At his Istanbul outpost, home to a new test kitchen, seasonal ingredients and modern techniques are employed in the larger effort to convey Turkey’s diverse cultures and cuisines in one menu. “I no longer believe that a chef must be in his kitchen 24/7. Half our time here is spent reading history books. We like creating something and our tool is food,” Demirasal said as we sat down to a four-course lunch in front of double-story windows overlooking a terrace in the restaurant’s casual ground-floor dining room, called Beets. (Dinner, which can run to 18 courses, is served upstairs.) In recent years, much has been made of Istanbul’s “New Anatolian” cooking, which claims to modernize traditional Turkish dishes. Yet too often the concept fails to deliver on execution. Thanks perhaps to his test kitchen where, says Demirasal, “we make the foods we’ve created delicious,” Alancha Istanbul succeeds where others have failed. Take, for example, Alancha Istanbul’s version of ayran aşi, a cold yogurt soup with grains, legumes and herbs that’s often served with ice in Turkey’s southeast. Here, it’s served in a bowl made of ice so as not to dilute the soup and features extra-sour yogurt, smoked barley and chickpeas, crunchy hopped wheat and mint-cilantro-arugula oil in place of chopped herbs. It’s refreshing and intense, a burst of deep flavors and texture. A raw dish composed of thin planks of Cretan zucchini rolled and stood on end with tiny shrimps in spring-onion cream dabbed with arugula oil tells the story of Cretans who migrated to Turkey’s Aegean region in the early 20th century. It’s also delicious. At Alancha Istanbul fruits fermented in the style of şalgam, an Anatolian beverage reminiscent of pickle juice, make for bracing juices served straight or mixed into ‘cooktails’, and the classic Turkish pairing of watermelon and feta cheese is transformed into a savory ice cream. T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A . C O M / J U LY 2 0 1 5

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Nicole

In late 2012, chefs Kaan Sakarya and Aylin Yazicioğlu, veterans of Michelinstarred kitchens in Europe, and of their own well-received Istanbul pop-up, returned to redesign the menu at the penthouse restaurant atop luxe boutique hotel Tomtom Suites. The renamed Nicole is now one of Istanbul’s most exciting and, inexplicably, under-the-radar places to eat. “We can call it a Mediterranean influence—some French, sometimes Spanish or Turkish. A mixture of what I’ve learned cooking in other places, influences from my journeys,” says Sakarya, explaining the inspiration behind dishes like artichoke with baby herbs (nettles, chickweed) and umamirich fish roe mayonnaise drizzled with a vinaigrette that he makes from preserved Turkish grape leaves. Over the last two years Sakarya and Yazicioğlu have worked to build a network of Turkish suppliers; they continue also to develop their own skills. As we spoke in April, Sakarya was preparing for a trip to the Mediterranean province of Alanya to meet with a maker of aged goat cheese while Yazicioğlu, who handles Nicole’s breads and desserts, was heading off for a stint at Spain’s Asador Etxebarri. A wall of windows overlooking treetops, mosques and the Bosphorus, plus a retractable roof that opens in fine weather, give Nicole a certain wow factor. Yet Sakarya’s refreshingly down-to-earth creed—“Nothing too fancy, nothing pretentious”—is evident in dishes like baby potatoes poached in morel stock with asparagus and aged tulum cheese, and shockingly tender kid (modeled after Turkey’s traditional tandoor-cooked meats) with purslane, snow peas and crocus flower. Even Yazicioğlu’s beautiful desserts—in April, blood orange ice cream alongside tangerine cream gianduja with praline crunch—invite devouring as much as they do admiring.

Chefs Kaan Sakarya and Aylin Yazicioğlu of Nicole. FROM TOP: Tangerine cream gianduja; a warm salad with mint, parsley, purslane and snow peas.

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Open all day, Karaköy Gümrük lures lateafternoon diners with small plates.

Karaköy Gümrük Most mornings find Gümrük chef Stavriani Zervakakou at the fish market in Karakoy district, which sits beside the Galata Bridge four blocks from her restaurant. “I’m obsessed with seafood,” says the Athens native, who says her fondest childhood memories are of fishing with her aunts off the Mani Peninsula in Peloponnese. After gaining a degree in international relations, she went to Istanbul and worked a number of odd jobs before following her heart to Istanbul Culinary Institute. A connection with Kantin’s chef Semsa Denizsel led to Gümrük (Turkish for “customs house”), which opened last summer in a sensitively refurbished Greek architect-designed building dating to the late 19th-century. “If you keep a dish stable you miss the chance to experience another,” she says, explaining Gümrük’s daily menu of five starters and five mains. Working with seafood usually eschewed by Turkish chefs (stingray, ringa, clams) and farmed and foraged produce that she orders directly from village women near the interior Aegean town of Tire, Zervakakou crafts beautiful but unaffected dishes like earthy pink beetroot-marinated John Dory with fresh parsley, garlic and green-oliveoil dressing and open-faced balik ekmek, a play on Istanbul’s iconic fish sandwich that layers pastirma and a charred fillet of what’s best that day atop a slice of caramelized onionlacquered sourdough. Offerings like saffron-stewed chicken and tabbouleh and homemade pasta with broad beans and goat cheese keep fish-phobes happy.

Meze at Cunda Balik includes fava beans, wild parsley and raw artichokes, with olive oil.

Cunda Balik

Meyhane, the restaurants in which Istanbullar gather to while away an evening over rounds of meze and glasses of raki, Turkey’s anisescented liquor, are integral to the city’s dining culture. When I want a meyhane fix I skip the tourist traps that line the warren of streets around Beyoğlu’s fish market and hop a ferry over to Bostanci, on Istanbul’s Asian side, where the welcome is warm and the meze are made with care. “My wife and I would go to Cunda to eat meze. We love it,” says owner Özgür Bayrak, explaining his decision to ditch a career in electrical engineering in 2003 to run a restaurant. Just as on its island namesake, Cunda’s meze—some five or six dozen nightly—are displayed in a refrigerated case from which diners order before they sit down. Point to more meze than you could possibly eat and your waiter will gently advise “yeter” (enough). Look for foraged vegetables like nettles, cilbiz (small cabbage similar to baby gai lan), wild chicory and radish, watercress, samphire and sea beans dressed with Ayvalik olive oil and lemon or garlic sauce. There’s light, airy wild herb and white cheese fritters served with yogurt, fava-bean and black-bean salads and squash blossoms filled with seasoned rice too. Bites from the sea include anchovies smoked and preserved in olive oil, cheese-stuffed calamari, grilled octopus so tender it cuts like butter and, in August, sardines wrapped in grape leaves and grilled. Decked out in bright white with splashes of sea blue, Cunda is crowded, noisy and convivial. On a Friday night the restaurant feels like one big party at a seaside restaurant in an Aegean resort town—just the way a meyhane should.

THE DETAILS RESTAURANTS Alancha Istanbul Maçka Residences, Husrev Gerede Caddesi, Sehit Mehmet Sokak No. 9, Maçka; alancha.com; lunch from TL110 for three courses, dinner from TL 160 for four courses. Cunda Balik Köy Yolu Sokak No. 6/1, Bostanci; cundabalik.com.tr; TL160. Kantin Akkavak Sokak No. 30, Nişantaşi; kantin.biz; TL150 for two.

Karaköy Gümrük Gümrük Sokak No. 4, Karakoy; karakoygumruk.com.tr; TL190 for two. Lokanta Maya Kemankes Caddesi No. 35A, Karaköy; lokantamaya.com; TL220 for two. Nicole Tomtom Suites, Boğazkesen Caddesi, TomTom Kaptan Sokak No. 18, Tophane; nicole.com.tr; dinner TL150 for five courses or TL175 for seven courses.

At Lokanta Maya, the menu on a mirror. FROM TOP LEFT: At Karakoy Fish Market; mornings find chef Stavriani Zervavakou of Karakoy Gumruk at the market.

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THE Y S A E BI G T I S E DO

and regrouped, ilt u b re st ju t n' eans has mers and Katrina, New Orl one where drea r— e th e g o lt a A decade after e ew kind of plac normal. it’s become a n to anything but k ac b ty UFF Y ci e th g BY BRYCE D ripe are bringin st OTOGR APHS y H P er | ev Z T of R A rs doe BY MIMI SW

A seafood platter at Pêche. Opposite: A riverboat paddles down the Mississippi.

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THE K ATRINA CROSSES can still be found all over New Orleans.

They first appeared as soon as rescuers could make their way into the city, after the 2005 hurricane and ensuing flood caused by collapsing levees. Rescue teams spray-painted X’s on homes from Gentilly to Mid City, from Lakeview to the Lower Ninth. That graffiti told a bleak story, revealing when each house was searched, the team that searched it and how many bodies had been found inside. As time passed, and New Orleans began the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding itself, the crosses did not disappear. Yes, some of them were lost to bulldozers, others to speedy, determined renovations. But this is a city that has always been hell-bent on preservation—sometimes to its detriment—so it seemed perfectly normal that the crosses would become part of its layered historical landscape. And so, when owners applied fresh coats of color to their camelback cottages and fragile frame bungalows, they sometimes chose not to paint over the crosses, but to paint around them instead. Or to reapply the crosses, once the restoration was done. Or even to give them a more permanent life in wrought iron, affixing the 3-D version to the spot where the painted cross had once been. New Orleans is not about to forget the nightmare that was Katrina—not that it could. Ten years out, along with the swamp tours, cemetery tours, plantation tours, French Quarter tours, food tours, riverboat tours and haunted tours (attend a voodoo ritual!), tourists can view, for a fee, what remains of the devastation. “People want to do [those tours] and they should,” said John Pope, part of the Times-Picayune team that won two Pulitzers for its Katrina coverage in 2006. Pope is a tall, thin, decorous man who seems born to wear a bow tie. He’d invited me to a restaurant called the Upperline, a New Orleans institution run by JoAnn Clevenger, an indomitable septuagenarian with a Gibson-girl do who has served as a muse to countless local artists (their work covers every centimeter of her restaurant’s walls). A classic Uptown crowd had filled the myriad rooms of the converted 1877 town house by the time we arrived; most of the patrons were white and prosperous, but also radiated, along with Clevenger, that seductive mixture of Southern gentility and florid eccentricity so unique to New Orleans. Clevenger and Pope are two of a kind, gracious survivors of something they are still trying to comprehend. “We all came up with PTSD,” Pope tells me, reaching for a second French 75. “I still get worried when I see rain.” Like so many people from New Orleans, he cannot describe the days following Katrina without weeping. More than 1,800 people died and nearly 80 percent of the city was underwater; estimates of the damage hover at around US$120 billion. The levees failed to hold back the flood, not because of heavy rain, but thanks to years of bureaucratic indifference. “People realized every level of government had let us down,” Pope explained, his eyes welling again. And so, in the wake of what he calls “the biggest most terrible transcendent event” in New Orleans’ history, its citizens decided to save their city themselves.

THE VIEW FROM Piety Bridge in the new Crescent Park is both

hypnotic and inspiring, providing, as it does, a panoramic perspective of New Orleans old and new. The park, which opened last year, stretches along the waterfront for nearly two-and-a-half kilometers, with the bridge’s soaring steel arch giving a nod to the railroad tracks below. It’s a thoroughly modern venue, accessorized with native shrubbery, hiking and biking trails, and a performing arts space carved from an aged warehouse. Crescent Park is also one

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of the few places in town where a visitor can stand along the Mississippi—there’s no levee here to block the view of the mighty river that gave birth to this port city in the 18th century. While the downtown towers gleam upriver, barges, tankers and cruise ships parade regally by, escorted by teams of chatty gulls. Turn around and look north—Lakeside, as they say here—and there’s the Bywater, a district that today can give any gentrifying neighborhood a serious run for its money. Just across Chartres Street, for instance, sits Elizabeth’s Restaurant, nestled in an adapted Victorian, adorned inside with murals painted by a local folk artist by the name of Dr. Bob. The menu is an homage to New Orleans’ Southern past and current artisanal trends: praline bacon, foie gras truffled aioli baked oysters, and a spinach salad with crispy hog jowls. Hipsters and tech-moguls-to-be hunch over their laptops, drinking Sazeracs and NOLA Hopitoulas beer. It’s a perfect spot to bear witness to a city in transition. In fact, New Orleans has become something its citizens could scarcely imagine before 2005: a laboratory for everything from architecture to education, from food to the arts, from music to medicine—to the very nature of progress itself. Crescent Park, for instance, was designed by a global all-star team that includes George

Clockwise from top left: Crescent Park; the bar at D.B.A.; Pêche co-owners Ryan Prewitt (left) and Donald Link; a mural in the Bywater neighborhood; City Park.

Hargreaves, Michael Maltzan and David Adjaye, in conjunction with the New Orleans–based Eskew, Dumez & Ripple. The reconstruction of the Lower Ninth Ward was famously instigated by the Brad Pitt-sponsored Make it Right Foundation, with new homes constructed by the likes of Frank Gehry and Shigeru Ban. The art scene, once an afterthought here, is also coming into its own. The French Quarter still has its Blue Dog tourist venues, but Prospect New Orleans, the city’s biennial, has attracted worldwide attention with some 58 artists showing at 18 venues. “A lot of the

'PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TAKE IT EASY AND HEAR MUSIC GO TO FRENCHMAN' galleries have had some of their best years post-Katrina,” Ginette Bone, co-owner of the Boyd/Satellite gallery, told me. The Warehouse District, established in the 1970s as a tentative SoHo south, has now blossomed with galleries, institutions like the National World War II Museum and restaurants to serve the boom. City Park was underwater during Katrina; on a recent sunny Saturday, it was brimming with life again, thanks to, among other things, the newly restored sculpture garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Tourists and locals vied for outdoor tables at the three-year-old outpost of the Morning Call café; the air carried the happy cries of children from the rescued Storyland, where generations of New Orleans kids have ridden in Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage and joined Pinocchio atop the famous blue whale. Along with restoration has come reinvention.The city that once profited so much from its past has become a magnet for start-ups. Forbes labeled New Orleans the No. 1 “Brainpower City” in the U.S. last year, and has ranked it behind only San Jose and San Francisco for tech expansion—no small source of civic pride. The rate of new businesses launching here is 56 percent higher than the national average, with software, gaming and film production companies leading the way. Major corporations like GE and the communications firm Globalstar have settled in, too. Tulane University, threatened with obliteration post-Katrina, now has a center for public service; LSU has built itself an enormous medical complex. The public school system is in the middle of a vast and radical experiment—all charter schools, all the time—that could change America’s education system. (In pre-Katrina 2005, 62 percent of New Orleans children went to failing schools. That number is now down to 7 percent.)   Most important, perhaps, for visitors, there are more restaurants in town now than there were before the storm. Places like Pêche and

Clockwise from right: An oyster shucker at Pêche; spectators at the Super Sunday parade; foie gras and truffled aioli baked oysters with praline bacon at Elizabeth’s; a Big Chief in the Mardi Gras Indians’ Super Sunday parade; the park’s Piety Bridge; nighttime on Frenchmen Street.

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Herbsaint, along with the empire of Food Network star John Besh, have rewritten the rules of New Orleans cuisine. “There’s been a renaissance in the way people are cooking here,” Donald Link, the chef-owner of Pêche, told me, adding that New Orleans cooking can no longer be defined by standbys like shrimp creole. “We can still be a Louisiana restaurant and grow that tradition,” he explained. In other words, the best New Orleans restaurants—and the best of New Orleans, in fact—reflect the global mix that is reconstituting this city. In fact, there is so much more to do and see today that people sometimes, under their breath, whisper that, maybe, the storm made New Orleans a better place. It’s a bitter irony, but an unavoidable one. Few would argue that New Orleans before the storm was an island of unbeatable tourist attractions surrounded by archipelagoes of atrocious poverty; it was a city riddled with crime, featured the highest

incarceration rate in the country, and was hooked on municipal corruption. Tradition— good, bad or irrelevant—always trumped ambition. But then came Katrina, and suddenly, change looked like the only route to survival. Scott Cowen, who wrote a book about his post-Katrina experience called The Inevitable City, told me, “Katrina created an obligation to rethink the future of the city and all the issues we had that we’re now seeking to improve. What’s different today is this notion of civic engagement. When we almost lost the city we all loved, people said, ‘If I don’t roll up my sleeves, nothing will get done.’ ” So there is now Women of the Storm, a culturally, socially and economically diverse group that essentially shamed the federal government into attending to New Orleans’ victims, as well as Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, which spurred reform of the city’s levee boards. But it wasn’t just the locals who

were galvanized by the disaster. My lunch companions one Sunday afternoon at Pêche were Andrew Strenio and his partner, Erin Zimmer. Both are in their early thirties—he a documentary filmmaker and she a marketing executive with Good Eggs, an online delivery service that links farmers’ markets with consumers. The couple moved to the South from New York City, and Zimmer went to work for her company’s year-old New Orleans branch. Fresh-faced, ambitious and entrepreneurial, the couple represent the new New Orleans. The city’s population is down about 100,000 people since 2005, and as predicted, many of those no longer here were poor. It now has fewer African Americans, more Latinos and a lot more young people with college degrees. According to Cowen, the newcomers were drawn to New Orleans just like any other tourists. “Food, music, language and architecture have made us an iconic city,” he told me. But now, they are also “seeing employment and other opportunities they didn’t see before Katrina.” So they’ve stayed, opening businesses, restoring homes and learning to argue about who has the best biscuits in town.

BY CONTRAST, ERIK A LEWIS has been in New Orleans for a decade. A pretty young woman with a deadpan stage demeanor, she came from upstate New York in 2005, drawn to the city’s music scene. Like a lot of musicians here, Lewis started out busking for change in the French Quarter. (Thanks in part to David Simon’s excellent depiction of post-Katrina New Orleans in Treme, there now seems to be a musician on every corner.) Lewis quickly made friends and connections, and is now the lead singer of a group called Tuba Skinny, which plays traditional New

Clockwise from top left: A brass band on Frenchmen Street; the World War II Museum; the line for brunch at Elizabeth’s; one of the Katrina crosses, rendered in steel; grilled trout at Pêche. Opposite: Super Sunday parade attendees.

Orleans music—spirituals, ragtime, blues and jazz—with a modern twist, albeit one that includes a washboard player. I caught up with the band on a Friday night at a club called D.B.A. on Frenchmen Street, where their music was already inspiring more than a few couples to show off their moves. Frenchmen is just downriver from the Quarter in another gentrifying neighborhood, the Marigny, and is the anti–Bourbon Street, a place less devoted to drinking and partying than to savoring music, whether it’s jazz, reggae or blues, Kermit Ruffins or the Ellis Marsalis quartet. “Bourbon is the place to go if you want to party in an intense way,” Lewis told me. “But people who want to take it easy and hear music go to Frenchmen.” Of course, there are a lot more people here than there used to be, especially since Frenchmen, once obscure, is now included in so many travel guides and city bus tours. In this way, someone like Lewis is both a harbinger of change and a passionate preservationist; her work is a tribute to a bygone era, but her presence suggests that time, and New Orleans, won’t stand still. Change—which once occurred glacially or not at all here—is now coming furiously, and it’s impossible not to worry that the ease and authenticity of a place like Frenchmen will

disappear. The same might be said of New Orleans itself. Already, the earlier waves of newcomers can be heard to complain about rising rents and home prices, as developers have moved in on once-affordable neighborhoods like the Bywater and the Marigny. And if public housing was once a blight on some stretches of New Orleans, the destruction of those buildings to make way for new developments prompts other questions. This was brought home to me most clearly the day I visited Ronald Lewis, a 63-year-old native of New Orleans who gained local fame as a designer of Mardi Gras Indian costumes, those beaded and feathered Native American– ish ensembles worn by members of old black families in various local parades. Lewis has spent his entire life in the Lower Ninth, and lost most of his memorabilia in the flood. In 2006, architecture students from the University of Kansas built him a new studio, which is the size of a freight car and crammed full of brilliantly colored headdresses, sequined high heels (they are thrown, carefully, from parade floats), books on Mardi Gras history, and even a tzedakah box for donations, a nod to Lewis’s

long association with some of New Orleans’ oldest Jewish families. (He brings the brisket to the seders.) Lewis is a stocky man but a little stooped, with weathered skin the color of chicory-laced coffee. “When we had white flight in the sixties, our family helped rebuild this city,” he said. “After Hurricane Betsy, in the 1960s, people came back and rebuilt. Then with Katrina lots of people were too old to come back, or a lot of our people came home to be reburied. Every time the phone would ring, it’d be, ‘Oh, they’re bringing him back from Katrina.’ ” Today, however, he spends time warring with antidevelopment neighbors in the Lower Ninth over a new mixed-use project to be called Holy Cross. Lewis wants the economic uplift that Holy Cross would likely bring, but some of his neighbors (both old and new) don’t want the big-box stores and cookie-cutter housing that are part of the plan. “Let’s talk about how we can really rebuild this city,” Lewis told me. “We’re on life support here because of the lack of economic development.” In the next 10 years, those kinds of arguments are likely to be heard more often in New Orleans, as the city continues to be remade. No one knows what will be lost and what will be gained in the process, and where the boundaries will be newly set between old and new. Lewis, however, knows where he stands. He’s tired of paying ever-rising prices at local stores for his Mardi Gras supplies. “Places like Jefferson Variety are killing us,” Lewis said, harrumphing at the explanation he recently got for an uptick in feather prices. “They said the ostriches had the bird flu.”

THE DETAILS NEW ORLEANS

Elizabeth’s Restaurant

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wish you were here

Shinsuke Matsukawa Nishiki Market KYOTO What is nukazuke? Nukazuke is an important staple of the Japanese diet, and dates back to a time

when bitter winters afforded few opportunities to eat vegetables. Families would pickle the produce they grew by fermenting them in rice bran (nuka), so they would have a store to last through the season. Traditionally every Japanese family would have their own “nuka bed” in their home which would include the rice bran and other seasonings such as salt, chili, ginger and dried kombu seaweed. Every recipe would be a little different based on what the family put in their “nuka bed” and how long they left it to pickle. The nukazuke provided much-needed vitamins during the long Japanese winter, but now they are eaten out of an appreciation for the taste rather than neccessity; the rich umami flavor is delicious alone or as a complement to other dishes. Each region has different types of nukazuke, but some of the most famous come from Kyoto.

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SOUTHEAST ASIA / JULY 2015

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F R O M T O P : N A P AT R A V E E W AT; M O R G A N O M M E R

Christopher Kucway

YOU’VE LIKELY BEEN TO PHUKET, but the real question these days is have you been lately? As the Thai island’s popularity continues to grow, the established lures of cutting-edge resorts, restaurants with delicious menus and beachfronts that define tropical Asia all face more competition. So, they do the only thing they can do: innovate. Where a decade ago, a design-centric resort on Phuket was in a league of its own, today there are several to choose from. If it’s authentic Thai cuisine—in other words, where locals go to eat—you’re after, then you are spoilt for choice in today’s Phuket. Need little more than to chill? There are still quiet beaches to enjoy around the popular island, an array of shaded poolside beds begging for occupants, and innumerable spas where tranquility is the only aim. Yet, Phuket is a destination that offers it all, so why not start with an adrenaline boost in a two-man gyrocopter? Most likely, you’ve never seen the island in this light or from this height, and writer Paul Ehrlich is your guide in “Flights of Fancy.” This being Thailand, a good meal or three is never far off. In “Phuket on a Plate,” there’s a small cross-section of what’s on the island’s menu, which these days is just about any cuisine you can imagine. From families to fitness junkies, traditional Thai-food lovers to romantic diners, it’s all here. As mentioned, this is an island that is continually improving, so “Our Definitive

Guide to Phuket” proves both timely and indispensable. Aside from a breakdown of the best beaches, it takes you to Phuket Town, where dining and shopping have experienced a rebirth, and also offers the lowdown on what three locals love about their home. Reason enough to plan your next visit, along with this handy e-guide. Beet salad gets a new spin at Thanyapura.

The T+L Code While on assignment, Travel+Leisure editors and contributors travel incognito whenever possible. They also generally do not accept free travel or take press trips; we will clearly identify any instances in which we’ve made an exception to this policy.

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Deals

T+L RE A D E R S PECI A LS

THIS MONTH’S BEST DEALS From a personal barbecue party to a gourmet seafood dinner, these offers turn a Phuket trip into the perfect beachside blast.

CMY

South of Phuket, The Racha.

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ROMANCE The Deal Time for Love by Pullman Phuket Arcadia Naithon Beach (pullmanphuketarcadia. com), perched atop a headland with direct access to the beach and a contemporary, urban feel. Stay Three nights in a Deluxe room. The Highlights Daily inroom breakfast for two; a bottle of champagne; and late checkout. Cost From Bt17,190 (Bt5,730 per night), double, ongoing. Savings 40 percent. BEACH The Deal Pool Villa Free Night from The Racha (theracha.com), an eco-friendly oasis on quiet Koh Racha Yai south of Phuket. Stay Three nights in a Grand

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Deluxe Pool room. The Highlights A complimentary third night for every two nights booked, with breakfast. Cost From Bt29,200 (Bt14,600 per night), double, through October 31. Savings 33 percent.

DINING The Deal Escape to Phuket from Regent Phuket Cape Panwa (regenthotels.com), home to seaview rooms with private balconies, on Phuket’s southeastern tip. Stay Three nights in a Sea View Cape suite. The Highlights A Seafood Gastronomic set dinner for two; a 60-minute Thai massage for two; and a complimentary room upgrade when available. Cost

Bt22,900 (Bt7,633 per night), double, through July 31. Savings 55 percent.

FAMILY The Deal 2015 Summer Family Promotion from Laguna Phuket (lagunaphuket.com), Asia’s first destination resort featuring several upscale properties. Stay A night in one of the hotels’ standard rooms. The Highlights Free dining and drinks from kids’ menus; a nineor 18-hole round of kids’ golf per paying adult; an extra bed per room; and complimentary Laguna Tours speedboat excursions for children. Cost From Bt4,000, double, through October 31. Savings 60 percent. +

COURTESY OF THE R ACHA

CULTURE The Deal Destination Trisara package from Trisara (trisara. com), the perfect venue for a sunset sip. Stay Three nights in a two- to six-bedroom Trisara Residential villa. The Highlight A private poolside barbecue dinner prepared in-villa by a personal chef; a personal shopping assistant who takes you to the best boutiques for authentic Thai crafts and helps you bargain; and a full-day private cruise to Krabi and Phi Phi Islands on a sport cruiser yacht or flybridge yacht. Cost From US$878 (US$293 per night) per person, for eightpeople sharing, through October 31. Savings 30 percent.

Radar

Spaceship or luxury villa? Iniala will keep you guessing.

hotels

PRET-A-PHUKET Simon Ostheimer checks out the island’s newest design-centric hotels.

Three new resorts are giving the island’s shoreline a run for its money when it comes to jaw-dropping beauty. Travelers looking for their own private patch of Phuket will appreciate the intimacy afforded by these stylish retreats. Here we get the backstory and inspiration behind the bold and spectacular designs. Iniala Beach House

Lobster traps become lights at Point Yamu.

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Looking for a boutique stay? You’d be hard pressed to find a more superlative example than this 10-room property crafted by 10 different designers to create 10 very different bedrooms and living spaces. Located just north of Phuket, on sunny stretch Natai beach in Phang Nga, Iniala brings together design, art and gastronomy. According to the founder and owner, Mark Weingard, the vision was to build something completely unique, to “reflect some of the best design in the world, from some of the most inspirational architects and craftsman of our age.” He raves about how the different contemporary designs from all over the globe—including Spain,

Ireland, Russia, Brazil, the U.K. and the U.S. (Weingard is especially pleased with the work of Irish wood craftsman Joseph Walsh, and the Brazilian Campana Brothers)—work together in harmony. Speaking of mellifluous blending, Aziamendi, the signature restaurant from Basque-born, threeMichelin star chef Eneko Atxa, mixes traditional Spanish techniques with Thai ingredients. In another Thai touch of hospitality, every villa comes with a built-in spa room and therapist. Says Weingard, “It is a truly bespoke holiday experience.” 40/14 Moo 6, Baan Natai, Khok Kloi, Takua Thung, Phang Nga; iniala.com; deluxe suites from Bt26,758 a night, three-night minimum. Point Yamu by COMO

Perched high on a peninsula in the northeast corner of Phuket with 360-degree panoramic views of Cape Yamu bay and the unesco World Heritage Site of Phang Nga Bay, the Point Yamu by COMO features a COMO Shambhala Retreat spa, as well as the Italian restaurant La Sirena and its Thai counterpart, Nahmyaa. The P HOTOG R A P H ED BY BREN T T. M A DISON

interiors are the work of renowned Italian designer, Paola Navone, who brings contemporary aesthetic to the distinctive elements of Thai culture, heritage and design, while simultaneously reflecting the immediate rustic locale, still home to traditional villages. Ascribing the resort “a different, fresh aesthetic,” James Low, general manager of Point Yamu, explains that “throughout the whole design project, Paola’s approach has been very thoughtful and sensitive to the destination, while retaining the signature style she is known for.” Taking inspiration from the dramatic setting among the bay’s famed limestone karsts, Navone has peppered many Thai aspects throughout the property, using shades of orange taken from a monk’s robes and repurposing elements of lobster traps to fashion light fixtures in the lobby. 225 Moo 7, Paklok, Thalang; comohotels.com/ pointyamu; doubles from Bt10,000.

A curved wooden bed at Iniala, inspired by seashells.

Private dining, Point Yamu.

The Naka Phuket

Want to prop up your pillow in the clouds? Cantilevered out over the hillside, every room in The Naka Phuket has a “matchbox-style structure [that] offers our guests the ultimate experience of sleeping in the air,” says general manager Sawai Sombat. The entire resort revolves around a philosophy of equilibrium, where two natural settings, beach and hill, are in complete balance with one another. The property was designed inside and out by award-winning Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag, resulting in modern and stylish spaces with character: the open-air lobby and restaurant make use of the natural ventilation of the mountainous location. Aside from the 94 pool villas, there are four public buildings that house the lobby, restaurants, wedding chapel and spa. “They share one crucial character in their architecture,” Sawai says, “that is to bring exclusivity and privacy to guests and have the resort be the destination itself.” That said, if you do need a taste of nightlife, Patong is just 10 minutes drive on the other side of the bay. 1/18, 1/20 Moo 6, Kamala, Kathu; 66-76/337-999; thenakaphuket. com; villas from Bt9,250. +

“Matchboxes” at The Naka Phuket.

Blending with the scenery at The Naka Phuket.

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escape

FLIGHTS OF FANCY Sometimes great adventures come in small packages. Paul Ehrlich boards a pint-sized gyroplane to experience the newest way to see Phuket. I am 300 meters in the air in a gleaming, canary yellow, outsize toy plane. Below, the scenic scope of Thailand’s largest island, Phuket, is spread out in spectacular views of stately villas, luxury resorts, sun-glinting swimming pools and green hillsides. “Even the party town of Patong looks good from this height,” quips the pilot. We now cruise at a slow speed along a soft-sanded beach low enough to look right into sunbathing faces, and then take a graceful turn out over the aquamarine Andaman Sea. The view is arresting, spectacular. By The Air, the country’s sole distributor of the German-import AutoGyro Cavalon, provides 30-minute trial flights over Phuket and 60-minute flights to the nearby islands, including Khao Phing Kan, better known as James Bond Island, where it just so happens that 007 flies an autogyro nicknamed Little Nellie in the movie You Only Live Twice. The diminutive craft can fly up to five hours—or

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650 kilometers—on a full tank of gas, so it also can be booked for longer aerial adventures, such as to Koh Samui or any nearby island with an airport, but since you can’t bring any luggage, it is better suited to sightseeing tours than practical transport. Also called a gyroplane or gyrocopter, the two-seats-side-by-side, high-tech Cavalon, winner of the 2012 Red Dot Design Award and 2014 German Design Award, is a hybrid helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, using an unpowered rotor to develop lift and an engine-powered propeller to provide thrust. The Rotax engine is considered more environmentally friendly than some other types of engines and can reach maximum speeds of 160 kilometers per hour. The sensation? It’s like riding on waves of wind, or astride a big, sexy motorcycle on a road of air. While the Cavalon, the craft I flew in, has no doors, the tandem MTOsport,

another model in their fleet, also has no roof, just a windshield in front for the ultimate one-with-the-sky experience. The adrenaline-fueled, extreme-sport rush is sky high, so for those who find the flight addictive, By The Air has an aviation school for full gyro pilot licenses and a mini starter course that can be continued. Who says only Bond gets all the great gadgets? T+L TIP Everything is photogenic, so go fully charged with extra camera batteries and memory-card space. Or even better, ask By the Air to add a GoPro Hero camera to video your flight, at no additional cost, freeing you for heavenly views. + By the Air; 66-93/592-7558; facebook.com/ bytheair; 30-minute flights Bt9,000, 60-minute flights Bt14,000; gyro pilot aviation starter courses from Bt28,000.

P HOTOG R A P H ED BY JOH N H .

PHUKET BY COMO

means experiencing Thailand’s favourite island from a new perspective Point Yamu by COMO on Phuket’s east coast is among Asia’s hottest resort openings. Italian designer Paola Navone has injected bolts of turquoise and purple into the all-white interiors, creating a spectacular world-class retreat for the world’s most discerning travellers. Views over Phang Nga Bay will punch the air from your lungs, while the refined spirit of the resort – reflected in both La Sirena and Nahmyaa restaurants – make Point Yamu into a unique excuse to disappear for a few days with family and friends. Add in the villas with large private pools, one of COMO Shambhala’s award-winning wellness retreats, daily yoga, a dive centre and the opportunity to dart about Phang Nga Bay’s hidden coves and beaches, and you’ve found your own private heaven where you can count on COMO’s passionate, pin-sharp service.

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PHUKET ON A PLATE This Thai island is elevating resort cuisine, with kitchens producing culinary feats as diverse as the travelers that frequent its sandy shores. By Diana Hubbell for the traditionalist Ruen Thai, Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket

The sprawling Laguna complex was one of the first places to put Phuket on the global tourist map, and it’s still going strong today. At the venerable Dusit Thani, the service is still friendly, and the signature restaurant, Ruen Thai, still offers a solid selection of local favorites. The dishes, while familiar, are executed with care. A yam som-o with juicy pomelo and shrimp proves the kitchen isn’t afraid of a few chilies, and chunks of fresh seafood float in creamy hor mok soufflés. For more special-occasion-worthy fare, the chef will ignite a whole Phuket lobster tableside. Once the flames subside, guests can pry the tender meat from the shell and slather it with curry-spiked coconut sauce. Taken in combination with the restaurant’s lakeside setting, it’s easy to understand how this comfort cuisine has stood the test of time. 390 Moo 1, Srisoonthorn Rd., Cherngtalay, Talang; 66-76/362-999; dusit.com; dinner for two Bt2,700. for the romantic The Grill, Regent Phuket Cape Panwa

The finishing touch on Phuket lobster at Ruen Thai.

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Like the rest of the Regent Phuket, The Grill is all about understated elegance, with soft lighting and subtle gold accents. Looks alone could sell this place, but what really sets it apart is the impeccably sourced food. Ask which farm your Wagyu steak came from, and there’s a ready answer. Just about everything that can be made from scratch is, from the smoked salmon and the bacon, to ice cream, yogurt, bread and, in the future, mozzarella. Even the butter is house-churned, herb-flecked, truffle-infused and dusted with two varieties of volcanic P HOTOG R A P H ED BY BREN T T. M A DISON

Beet salad gets a new spin at Thanyapura.

Chef Matteo plates an appetizer at Mare.

salt. All these fastidious details happen behind the scenes though, and the resulting dishes feel surprisingly unfussy. More importantly, while chef Justin Baziuk is comfortable with occasional molecular-gastro flourishes, he isn’t afraid to let the ingredients shine through simple preparations. A blood-rare rack of New Zealand lamb, seasoned only with a bracing mustard rub and served with crisp, buttery baby potatoes is good enough to stop a conversation cold. 84 Moo 8, Sakdidej Rd., Vichit, Muang; 66-76/200-800; regenthotels.com/ phuket; dinner for two Bt5,000. for the design fanatic Black Ginger, Indigo Pearl

Much has already been said about the Indigo Pearl’s brooding, steampunk aesthetic and quirky Bill Bensley design. It should come as no surprise then that the self-consciously stylish hotel’s signature restaurant, The Black Ginger, resides in the middle of an artificial lake, complete with torches, a fog machine and a raft to ferry guests across. Once inside the darkly intimate interior, the mood is more subdued, though no less theatrical. Waitresses decked out in slinky black silks offer

The Black Ginger by torch light.

A palate-cleansing sorbet at The Grill.

up Thai staples augmented by superlative ingredients like fine de Claire oysters and imported U.S. rib eye. A mammoth prawn rises from the tom yum goong and the roll-your-own springrolls come with a rich crab-andpork filling. For dessert, try the black sticky rice pudding with jackfruit. Nai Yang Beach and National Park; 6676/327-3389; indigo-pearl.com; dinner for two Bt4,000. for the fitness junkie DiVine, Thanyapura Phuket

While most resorts aim to provide a leisurely holiday, Thanyapura caters to a much more active crowd. Until the addition of a hotel in 2012, this sprawling complex in the midst of Phuket’s jungle was primarily for serious athletes. The emphasis on wellness goes from the fitness facilities all the way to DiVine, the property’s low-key eatery, which serves a variety of healthful foods like quinoa-crusted chicken. The global cuisine here is far tastier than your standard spa fare. An inventive salad of beet “ravioli” consists of ruby-red slices wrapped around tangy feta and sprinkled with pistachios. After a well-balanced meal, guests can

indulge in a whey-protein-spiked vitamin-rich smoothie, or a more hedonistic cocktail. 120/1 Moo 7, Thepkasattri Rd., Thepkasattri; 6676/336-000; thanyapura.com; dinner for two Bt2,000. for the family Mare, Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket

A coral-pink palace set directly on a white stretch of sand, the Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket is all beach breeze and charm. The easygoing ambience extends to Mare, the resort’s airy Italian restaurant. Kids can watch the cooks in action in the open kitchen while parents sip something from the reasonably priced wine list. Hailing from Genoa, chef Matteo Verini whips up a menu of dependable crowd-pleasers using mostly imported ingredients. All the requisite items are here, from smoky carbonara to seafood pasta. You’ll find no surprises, but with little ones in tow, that can be a relief. Take a bite of the excellent tiramisu, sip an espresso and watch the kids play in the surf. 683 Patak Rd., Karon Beach, Muang; 66-76/ 201-234; centarahotelsandresorts.com; dinner for two Bt3,900. + T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M

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PHUKET BY THE DOZEN Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s popular getaway offers resorts of every description and for every budget. Simon Ostheimer heads off in search of 12 top addresses and comes up smiling. PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRENT T. MADISON

Getting away from it all at The Racha.

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IDER THAT ONCE YOU CONS ith less than Phuket, an island w ents, attracts half a million resid each year, it’s millions of tourists a tourism easy to see why it’s ailand. That poster child for Th ever y type of also means there’s gine under the resort you can ima oosing one for tropical sun, so ch ’t easy. Here, n is k a re b t ex n r u yo ifferent locales, we break down 12 d t most needs. a list that should fi

Clockwise from above: The main pool at Andara; a towel at the ready at Trisara; The Naka Island; arriving at The Naka; Trisara and a leisurely lunch; a large guest room at the resort; gourmet cuisine is never far away at Phuket’s resorts.

lu xury

THE NAKA ISLAND The all-villa Naka Island is one of Phuket’s most sought-after sanctuaries, right in line with its previous incarnation as an ultra-vegan fitness retreat. These days, the menu includes meat and you’re welcome to not work out—but it’s still a perfect destination if you’re looking for a little privacy, are uninterested in Patong’s nightlife and are content to spend your vacation in quiet reflection. The villas embrace the outdoors—we’re fans of the standalone bathrooms, connected to the bedrooms by latticed walkways—and are surrounded by lush gardens. In the evening, take a stroll through the resort to Z Bar, and toast the views of Phuket and Phang Nga Bay. 32 Moo 5, Paklok, Naka Yai Island; 66-76/371400; nakaislandphuket.com; villas from Bt9,250.

ANDARA RESORT & VILLAS The vision of Hong Kong businessman Allan Zeman, who built the resort after completing his own holiday home Chandara on the next headland, Andara cascades down the hillside above Kamala beach on Phuket’s west coast. A mix of residential suites and pool villas, all accommodation comes decked out with full kitchens, Bose sound systems and silk linens designed by Jim Thompson. Want to follow in Zeman’s footsteps? Buy your own villa, and the resort can rent it out when you’re not there. The private Kamala Beach Club and Lounge, with its full-size beds in the sand, provides a sunny home away from home. 15 Moo 6, Kamala Beach, Kathu; 6676/338-777; andaraphuket.com; villas from Bt64,050 per night, three-night minimum.

REGENT PHUKET CAPE PANWA The Regent Phuket is all about subtle splendor, sitting cliffside overlooking its own private beach at the end of the quiet Cape Panwa. All rooms are fitted with iPads; the villas have their own plunge pools, butlers and access to the Regent Club for complimentary breakfast and cocktails. The 60-meter infinity pool is inviting, though just as attractive is the Regent Spa—one of the few places in Phuket where you can treat yourself to an Intraceutical Infusion facial, a treatment that uses pressurized-oxygen to enhance skin hydration and combats the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. 84 Moo 8, Sakdidej Rd., Vichit, Muang; 66-76/200-800; regenthotels.com/en/phuket; villas from B4,960 per night, two-night minimum.

TRISARA Meaning “Third Garden of Heaven” in Sanskrit, Trisara sets expectations high. You won’t be disappointed: all rooms and villas come with infinity pools overlooking a private beach. Charter one of the luxury yachts if you want to cruise the high seas, though once you check in, you might never want to leave the resort. The chilled-out vibe is taken up a karmic notch by the option of holistic healing sessions in a private seafront sala (or in the comfort of your own villa), which are dedicated to helping you find inner peace. As if you needed any assistance. 60/1 Moo 6, Srisoonthorn Rd., Cherngtalay, Thalang; 66-76/310-100; trisara.com; doubles from Bt18,412. T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M

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W E STIN SIR AY BAY R E SORT & SPA Parents and kids alike will be won over by this Westin, out alone on eastern Siray Island, because of its family focus. There are three main pools and various offshore water activities to sign up for, and children of Starwood Preferred Guests can eat all day for a flat daily rate. The Kids Club has a menu for little ones, and provides an activity packet as well as staff on hand to teach them how to print batik, make wind chimes and even speak a little Thai. How do you say, “Now, that’s a play-cation”? 21/4 Moo 1, Siray Island, Rasada, Muang; 66-76/335-600; westin.com/ siraybayresort; doubles from Bt3,402.

ANGSANA LAGUNA PHUKET At this huge new west coast spot, bigger really is better. We’re talking about a 323-meter resort-wide lagoon pool; the expansive kids’ club featuring a jungle gym, spa and resident baby elephant. The Kids Café serves up burgers, hot dogs and fries, though parents will probably prefer the fare at the hotel’s signature Thai and Italian restaurants, followed by a few sundowners at Xana Beach Club, for which international DJs are regularly flown in to spin for the island’s party crowd. 10 Moo 4, Srisoonthorn Rd., Cherngtalay, Thalang; 66-76/324-101; angsana.com/en/ phuket; doubles from Bt3,625.

PULLMAN PHUKET ARCADIA NAITHON BEACH Despite all the development, there are still patches of lush, unspoiled scenery left on Phuket. That’s what makes the pristine headland on which the Pullman sits so special. The 277-room property with a family focus is beautifully integrated into its verdant surroundings. For the family that likes to play separately, there are adult- and kid-only pools, Smart TVs in every room preloaded with video games and, in fact, an entire gaming room. Combined with a babysitting service and four children’s clubs—one for each age group— moms and dads will be able to make the most of the resort’s upscale Italian restaurant or the live music at the Access lounge. 22 2 Moo 4, Saku, Thalang; 66-76/303-299; pullmanhotels.com; doubles from Bt4,321.

THE VIJITT RESORT This family-run resort is unusual on an island dominated by global chains, and as recently as 2006 consisted of only thatch-and-bamboo bungalows. Eschewing the international management route, the Thai owners decided by the family was the best approach for the family. Witness: the colorful Kid’s Club with its own pool, ice cream stand and all-day organized activities. A simple yet luxurious resort with traditional Thai design touches, it has an enviable perch right on the southern coast of Phuket. The Vijitt’s kitchens use organic produce where possible, including herbs and fruit from the resort’s own gardens and orchards, while the Sunday brunch is popular with islanders. Hard to believe the backpackers had the place all to themselves for so long. 16 Moo 2, Viset Rd., Rawai, Muang; 66-76/363-600; vijittresort.com; villas from Bt9,000. 16

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Clockwise from top left: Some tropical color at the Dusit Thani; a pool villa at the Pullman; Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa; Phuket is a perfect playground for kids; a deluxe pool villa at the Vijitt Resort; the welcome area at the Westin. Middle: Kicking back on the beach.

Clockwise from above: The Rachaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s natural side; at Twinpalms; a shrimp dish at The Surin; the tropical grounds at Twinpalms; Paresa specializes in fresh cuisine; arriving at Twinpalms; Paresaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wine cellar. Middle: At Paresa.

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PARESA RESORT There’s no place like Paresa in the springtime… or summer or autumn or winter, for that matter. With a distinctly southern Thai design—picture pavilion-style ceilings and Chinese-influenced furnishings—the resort is a parry to the omnipresent northern Lanna style. Rooms are open and spacious, all villas and suites have ocean views and the signature restaurant, Talung Thai, is shaded under the canopy of several large banyan trees, preserved during construction. Nearby is the resort’s beach club in Kamala, though for us the clincher is an “Infinity Experience” meal, where diners sit on floating decks in the fiber-optic-lit pool. 49 Moo 6, Layi-Nakalay Rd., Kamala; 66-76/302-000; paresaresorts.com; villas from Bt18,390.

THE SURIN PHUKET A major renovation by Paris-based architect Ed Tuttle rechristened the much-loved, if well-worn property as The Surin, a geometric gem nestled in the small but idyllic Pansea beach. Whether you choose a cottage or suite, you’ll enjoy private sun decks, teak floors and organic toiletries. If you stay during October through May, you can dine alfresco at The Beach and watch the sun go down while enjoying a meal of fresh seafood. Some things, at least, never change. 118 Moo 3, Pansea Beach, Cherngtalay, Thalang; 66-76/621580; thesurinphuket.com; doubles from Bt6,032.

TWINPALMS PHUKET RESORT The coolest property on this list, Twinpalms attracts international glitterati, and the lodgings alone help explain why: the smallest room is 51 square meters and the Presidential Penthouse is nearly 10 times bigger. Black Card membership brings benefits including unlimited stays and spa, and a 20-person, three-day yacht cruise—all for a cool million baht a year. Feeling less flush? You can still revel in the resort’s minimalist style, rich local artwork, cuttingedge audiovisual gadgetry and 3,000-bottle wine cellar. And then there’s Catch Beach Club, where Twinpalmsguest privileges include all-day eating and imbibing, discounts on sun beds, and the chance to mingle with the planet’s rich and famous. 106/46 Moo 3, Surin Beach Rd., Cherngtalay, Thalang; 66-76/316-500; twinpalms-phuket. com; doubles from Bt4,550.

THE RACHA For true tropical remoteness, island hop down to The Racha, due south of Phuket. You’ll gain immediate access to the stunning sea life—which this eco-chic resort is helping to protect via a coral-preserving floating pontoon jetty and a ban on motorized water sports. Other admirable policies include planting two trees for every one removed for building and an island-wide organic waste recycling program. Villas—where you can customize scents with jasmine, lemongrass or lavender—are understated but elegant, though The Lighthouse, a five-story replica, offers 360-degree views of the Andaman. Racha Yai Island, Rawai, Muang; 66-76/355-455; theracha.com; villas from Bt9,270. + T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M

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Phuket Our Definitive Guide to

Serenity-minded hoteliers and urbane entrepreneurs are helping Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tropical playground usher in a cultural renaissance. Resident Simon N. Ostheimer takes the pulse of the island and its neighbors. Photographed by Pornsak Na Nakorn

Kata Beach, one of the best surf spots in Thailand.

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PHUKET

From left: The pool at Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort; it’s all mod at Point Yamu by COMO.

Lay of the Land Old Town This historical district’s century-old Chinese shophouses and tin-baron mansions house a variety of cafés, creative restaurants, cool bars and hip hotels. Patong Phuket’s party central needs little introduction, but beyond the dubious delights of Bangla Road, you’ll discover an emerging culinary scene and good tourist shopping. Chalong This waterfront is the main launching point for boats to the offshore islands. Grab a drink at one of the laidback bars that line the roads by the pier. Kathu Earmarked as the island’s new CBD, this area is booming with huge developments that will add more malls and attractions. Surin Of the half-dozen beach towns that line the sun-soaked west coast, Surin is the chicest, with boutique resorts, beach clubs and some of the island’s top-rated eateries. Getting Around Phuket’s many taxis and tuk-tuks are exorbitantly priced. Instead, rent a car or motorbike.

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Stay From tropical to trendy, here are seven of the island’s hottest retreats. THE NAKA PHUKET

The 94 pool villas in this striking west coast resort sit on a hill overlooking a private beach. Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag embraced the topography by designing cantilevered buildings that seem to hang in the air. 1/18, 1/20 Moo 6, Kamala, Kathu; 66-76/337-999; thenakaphuket.com; Bt9,250.

HYATT REGENCY PHUKET RESORT

Located at the start of “Millionaire’s Mile,” home to some of the island’s most expensive resorts and residences, the Hyatt offers luxurious lodgings, including 12 expansive Regency suites. 16/12 Moo 6, Kamala, Kathu;

66-76/231-234; phuket. regency.hyatt.com; Bt3,730.

INIALA

This one-of-a-kind property is the brainchild of philanthropist Mark Weingard. Each of the 10 suites are the creation of different designers from across the globe. All guests have a driver, butler, chef and masseuse at their beck and call. 40/14 Moo 6, Baan Natai, Phang Nga; 66-76/451-456; iniala. com; Bt26,758.

POINT YAMU BY COMO

The first top-flight resort set up in the island’s rural northeast is sleek and modern with star Italian designer Paola Navone’s interiors partly inspired by the waters of

the Andaman Sea. 225 Moo 7, Paklok, Thalang; 66-76/360-100; comohotels.com/ pointyamu; Bt10,000.

LE CORAL HIDEAWAY BEYOND PHUKET

Picturesque Natai Beach is rapidly becoming the go-to destination for those in the know. This small, smart resort is the latest addition to the area’s upmarket offerings, featuring well-appointed rooms with beach-house touches like distressed wood furnishings. 9/9 Moo 8, Na Toey, Thai Muang; 66-76/679-888; coralhideaway.com; Bt6,075.

ANANTARA PHUKET LAYAN RESORT & SPA

The soft beach, shallow tide pool and offshore rock formations set a scene so serene you’ll have no idea you’re a stone’s throw from the lively Laguna complex. 168 Moo 6, Layan Beach Soi 4, Cherngtalay, Thalang; 66-76/317200; phuket-layan. anantara.com; Bt13,750.

U ZENMAYA PHUKET

This Old Town-inspired property is the newest rollout for the überpersonalized Thailandbased U Hotels & Resorts. 6/181 Moo 6, Kamala, Kathu; 66-76/ 336-888; uzenmaya phuket.com; Bt2,719.

Hotel prices represent starting rates for double occupancy.

ONE TO WATCH Kata Rocks At this stunning, long-awaited, cliff-top resort, the villas are all heavy on Andaman views and the wellness bent is downright fun—think: sleep-pod napping therapy and an in-house expert at Feldenkrais, a practice focusing on the symbiotic relationship between movement and thought. 186/22 Koktanode Rd., Karon, Muang; 66-76/370-777; katarocks.com; villas from Bt21,270.

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Shop

Three stylish stops for beach buys.

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Lemongrass House This Phuket success story founded by a former film executive in the U.S., Bobby Duchowny, sells 100-percent handmade, natural spa products and teas in his scent-filled shop—and to top hotels around the world. 10/2 Moo 1, Srisoonthorn Rd., Cherngtalay, Thalang; lemongrasshouse.com.

Paul Ropp Another American, this designer displays his easy-breezy, wildly chromatic, handwoven, handembroidered cottons and silks at his eponymous shops across the island. Get decked out head-to-toe with his locally inspired clothes, shoes and accessories. Flagship shop at Surin Gallery, Moo 3, Cherngtalay, Thalang; paulropp.com.

From top: Handmade spa products at the fragrant Lemongrass House; tropical fashion at Re Ká Ta.

Re Ká Ta If you’re looking to make waves fashion-wise during your visit to the beach, visit the smart boutique inside this beach club on Kata Beach, where you can pick up Vilebrequin swimming trunks, Heidi Klein’s espadrilles and barely there swimwear by Princesse Tam Tam. 182-184 Koktanode Rd., Kata, Muang; rekataphuket.com.

See Do L ARD YAI SUNDAY WALKING STREET

Chinpracha House. Patong Boxing Stadium.

There’s more to do than tan on these sunny shores.

SURF HOUSE

This assembly of locally made handicrafts, traditional southern Thai snacks and cultural performances was launched in September last year. An excellent way to spend a Sunday evening, it also serves to highlight the historic charms of the revitalized Old Town. Thalang Rd., Old Town; every Sunday 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The island’s so-called low season (May through October) is the best time of year for surfers to visit, with a beach break at Kata rated the best in the country. But for days when the swell is flat there’s this artificial wave for non-stop bodysurfing. 4 Pakbang Alley, Karon, Muang; 66-81/9797737; surfhouse phuket.com; from Bt1,000.

SOI DOG FOUNDATION

PATONG BOXING STADIUM

Since it was founded in 2003 to tackle Phuket’s stray pup epidemic, this remarkable charity has sterilized more than 60,000 dogs and cats. Learn more about their worthy work and meet some friendly animals on a facility tour. 167/9 Moo 4, Soi Mai Khao 10, Mai Khao, Thalang; 66-81/788-4222; soidog.org.

Organized by famous former muay Thai champion Num Noi Singpatong, the Saturday Fight Nights feature the best combatants to come out of his Patong gym— including Frenchman Damien Alamos, the topranked foreigner in the sport. 2/59 Sainamyen Rd., Patong, Kathu; 66-76/ 345578; patongboxing stadium. com; from Bt1,300.

CHINPRACHA HOUSE

Phuket was once known for tin mines, a hugely lucrative, if destructive, industry that led to the emergence of the island’s mining barons, who built grand mansions in their own honor. One of the best preserved is this century-old Sino-colonial home in the Old Town. 98 Krabi Rd.; 6676/211-167; Bt200 entry, daily 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

THE KIDS CLUB

Sure, most top resorts boast children’s centers, but for a change of scene, this offsite romper room has a ball pit, playgrounds, painting, clowns, cartoons and superheroes—all the fun needed to wear out the wee ones. 2F Promenade Mall Patong, 70/1 Bangla Rd., Patong; 6676/341-310; thekidsclub phuket.com; Bt150 per hour for kids older than one.

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PHUKET

Expect Basque flavors with Asian ingredients at Aziamendi. From left: Southern style curry at Nahmyaa; Mirror Mirror blends clever décor and French comfort food. Bottom: A tipple or two at Rendez-Vous.

Eat Where to dine in Phuket now. AZIAMENDI This groundbreaking restaurant is headed by Michelin three-starred chef Eneko Atxa, who has combined his Basque heritage with Asian ingredients to come up with dishes such as suckling pig with pumpkin noodles and dashi. 40/14 Moo 6, Baan Natai, Phang Nga; 66-93/779-2312; aziamendi.com; set menus from Bt5,500. MIRROR MIRROR Playing a big part in Old Town’s emergence as a dining destination, this Gallic-inflected spot has a woodpaneled, mirror-lined interior and a modernFrench, comfort-food menu—featuring, for example, whole rack of lamb—created by its

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Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef. 31 Dibuk Rd., Old Town, Muang; 66-76/ 355-914; mirrormirror phuket.com; Bt1,300. NAHMYAA Though yet to garner the fame of its sister restaurant—Nahm, at the Metropolitan by COMO in Bangkok— this koi-tiled, new addition to Phuket’s dining scene deserves some recognition. Under the expert eye of chefs Daniel Moran and Thirawut Na-udom, it serves up classy twists on southern Thai street food, such as an unbeatable steamed whole fish topped with catfish floss. 225 Moo 7, Paklok, Thalang; 6676/360-100; comohotels.com/ pointyamu; Bt2,900.

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NIKKI BEACH PHUKET The newest branch of this glam global beach club chain sashayed up to the northern end of unspoiled Layan Beach earlier this year. Join the well-dressed crowd sipping champagne and knocking back oysters as the day fades to dusk. The raucous Sunday brunch is mustbook-ahead. 62/11 Moo 6, Cherngtalay, Thalang; 66-76/681161; nikkibeach.com/ phuket; Bt3,500. GALLERY CAFE BY PINKY Long a mainstay of expats in search of a sandwich, salad and smoothie, Pinky’s—as

locals know it—recently moved into swanky Old Town digs, where the food and drinks are as good as ever. 19 Yaowarat Rd., Old Town, Muang; 66-83/1037000; gallerycafephuket.com; Bt800. 360° BAR & GRILL Wine and dine your date atop The Pavilions, an adultsonly resort whose bar offers romantic views of the Andaman, creative tapas, and a range of “love potions” such as the Hex Appeal, an elixir of kaffir lime leaves and vodka. 31/1 Moo 6, Cherngtalay, Thalang; 66-76/317600; thepavilions resorts.com; Bt1,900.

Restaurant prices represent approximate cost for dinner for two, unless otherwise noted.

Meet up for a glass of red at Rendez-Vous (facebook. com/phuketrendezvous), with generous owner Khun Ae, before strolling up the road to The House (thehousephuket.com) for a Japanese Hitachino Nest beer. Next: longtime favorite Sanaeha (facebook.com/ sanaehaphukettown) for a little live jazz, before a short walk to Wonderland (wonderlandphuket.com), where waiters in top hats serve cocktails made with Phuket’s own Chalong Bay Rum. If you’re still standing, head due north to rock out the evening in style at Timber Hut (66-76/211839). Whiskey mixers and a rollicking time—that’s why Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler partied here last year.

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Imbibe in Old Town

From left: The covesheltered Naiharn Beach; deep fried soft-shell crab; Mr. Zen, the owner of Wua Art Gallery.

Local Take

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: © J O H N H A R P E R / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; © A K E E R I S / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M ; C O U R T E S Y O F M R . Z E N . I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y W A S I N E E C H A N TA K O R N

Three insiders share their go-to places on the island.

TIM CAMPBELL

ALICE NA

Co-owner of Stand Up Projects

TAKUATUNG

LUCCHINI

TV host of Phuket News TV

Co-owner of Chalong Bay Rum

Phuket has many stunning beaches. My favorites are Naiharn, tucked in a cove with incredible surroundings, and Bangtao, where long and peaceful waves make it ideal for learning to surf at Skyla’s Surf & SUP Club (surf-sup.asia). I like to eat at Sunset (100 Cherngtalay Baadon Rd.), for delicious Thai served in a warm, simple setting. I’m also a huge fan of Flavor (facebook.com/ flavorphuket) in Phuket Town—its fresh ingredients are magically put together. For drinks, my favorite hangout is Ploenchit (facebook.com/ ploenchit.phuket), with its winning combo of retro kitsch and rustic vibe.

Island Hop

My favorite spot to eat in Phuket is Bang Mud (66-81/273-2367) floating restaurant, for its deep fried soft-shell crab and clams with lemongrass. Adrift between the mainland and Coconut Island, it is a 10-minute boat ride from Laem Hin Pier to the oceantop eatery. If you’re dining, the longtail taxi is free; visit around 4 p.m. so you can enjoy the sunset ride back to Phuket. For bars, my top choice would be Sanaeha (facebook.com/ sanaehaphukettown). When I’m not working, I often visit Ao Yon Beach near my home down Cape Panwa. All I need is a beach mat, a book and good company: it’s my own slice of paradise.

MARINE

I love the 15-course Sunday brunch of fresh delicacies prepared by the chefs at Breeze (breezecapeyamu.com). I appreciate the caring service, the family atmosphere and the beautiful views of Phang Nga Bay. My favorite bar is Wonderland (wonderland phuket.com), where they serve amazing cocktails in a magical setting that conveys of the unexpected nature of Alice’s journey. During the day, I like to wander the streets of blooming Old Town, where there always are new places to discover, such as Mr. Zen’s Wua Art Gallery (wua-artgallery. com). This historic area is authentic, diverse and original.

While it may seem odd flying onto an island resort only to board a boat to yet another, the dozens of small isles dotted around Phuket are sure to beckon from the horizon. Just a 15-minute speedboat ride (or slightly longer by longtail) from Phuket, pay a visit to Koh Bon, where Brit Dawn Farrell (bonislandphuket.wordpress.com) serves up fresh seafood right on the beach, or to the mostly undeveloped Coral Island—also known as Koh Hae—which features pristine reefs for snorkeling and sandy beaches for sunning. To avoid the crowds, skip Long Beach and head to Banana Beach instead. Mainly rural Koh Yao Yai, where the locals still harvest rubber and coconuts, is off the east coast. Due to the infrequent ferries, it’s worth staying overnight, perhaps somewhere such as the Koh Yao Yai Village resort (kohyaoyaivillage.com). To really get away from it all, check into the Tenta Nakara (tentanakara.com) on Koh Naka Yai, where you can glamp it up at a resort that encourages skinny-dipping! Nothing like getting back to nature.

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The Surin Phuket is an exclusive beach retreat for discerning travelers, families and couples seeking relaxation and indulgence in a serene beachfront setting. Hotel is located on the tranquil Pansea Beach on the west coast of Phuket Island, Thailand and a member of Design Hotelsâ&#x201E;˘.