View from the top, at Wooloomooloo Prime
From zero to go, Hong Kong has seen a remarkable proliferation of alfresco bars since smoking was banned inside venues nearly 18 months ago. Anyone who’s been to Asia in the summer will know however, that humidity, martinis and those wispy Derek Lam crepe de chine numbers (hello, clingy!) simply do not go together. The clued-in cocktail clique know that the time to go lounging in the open is in autumn and even winter, and this year, there’s a bevy (geddit) of eye-popping new spots to try, from sky-high terraces with sock-knocking views, to expansive decks nestled in the middle of the bustling metropolis.
As Regional Chairman for The S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants‘s Academy (and Founder and Publishing Editor of LUXE City Guides), Grant Thatcher writes a word about Hong Kong‘s gastronomic delights for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Regional Spotlight.
Find your room with a view at Palazzo Guadagni
Thanks to Merchant & Ivory, legions of travellers still flock to Florence in hope of finding their hotel room with a view, some 25 years later. Well, guess what poppets, there’s a lovingly restored inn, Palazzo Guadagni, which gives you THAT view, in comfort, and what’s more, it’s terribly affordable.
Happy diners at Da Lucia
When in Rome, we’re constantly to be found gorging on Roman fare in one of the many terrific, inexpensive restaurants around town, where a bowl of pasta averages 10-12 euros, secondi no more than 20 euros and decent house wine barely costs more than water. Spaghetti cacio e pepe, fettucine carbonara, carciofi alla giuda, abbacchio alla romana, even trippa alla romana – these are a few of our favourite things and here are three stalwarts to enjoy them.
Lights are on at Bar del Fico
Rome may be teeming with bars and aperitivo hour is a joy, but it’s not exactly awash with hip new openings, so we were off like a shot when news came through of the (re)opening of Bar del Fico, in a molto simpatico side street just moments from Piazza Navona.
Sheets to the wind
You can never have enough sheets, which is just as well when you clap your peepers on the piles of gorgeous buy-me linen for bed, bath and table at the stylish Rome store of northern Italian textile wizards Society, just a block back from the tourist tat of Piazza Navona.
Hello good lookin'
Hotelier and restaurateur Yenn Wong, founder of highly-styley JIA Boutique Hotels in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and hot-right-now Italian stallion 208 Duecento Otto in Hong Kong, and Graze and Kha restaurants in Singapore, shares some tidbits on travel and hospitality.
Get hip to the sip at Moon Jar
Soju (Korean distilled spirits), the social lubricant favoured by Seoul’s businessmen, can taste like jet fuel to the uninitiated. The city’s hipsters however, are turning to something a little easier to swallow – makgeolli, a sweet, milky rice wine that comes in different flavours and with purported health benefits, and the place to imbibe is at Moon Jar.
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The LUXElife Travel Q&A
Fashion's prima donna - Anna Dello Russo
The common obsession of style bloggers, Editor At Large and creative consultant for Vogue Japan Anna Dello Russo is one of the biggest fashion icons today. As a self-professed “passionate fashionista” and one of the most sought after stylists in the world, she’s been asked by Hong Kong‘s Lane Crawford, the benchmark of global fashion and lifestyle retail fabulousness, to customise a classic Burberry trench as part of the store’s 160th anniversary Heritage 160 celebrations (that’s a long time to be fashionable).
While lounging poolside with her pooch Cucciolina, the venerable stylista tells us about some of her favourite things.
Ethnic snoozing
Sienna Miller ain’t the only girl rocking boho in Hollywood, Los Angeles nightlife king Sam Nazarian is too. No silly, he hasn’t traded in his bodyguard suits for beaded sandals, it’s his newest hotel, The Redbury, and given his glamazon track record – restaurants Katsuya, XIV, Bazaar et al. – the celebs will be flocking in before you can say “paparazzi”.
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