An enLIGHTening experience, indeed. [Photo: Stijn Coppens/Huffington Post]

Welcome to our weekly LUXE Links, in which we source some of the week’s best reads from around the web and around the world. In our inaugural week, we bring you food porn, a light festival, and an outer-space themed hotel room. Get clickin’, chickens!

A peek inside the heavenly home of NYC-based jewellery maestro Eddie Borgo [The Coveteur]

The five best restaurants in Amsterdam, according to a Dutch foodie [Dutch Grub]

A fiber-optic ceiling of stars, a.k.a. the outer-space themed room at Singapore’s Wanderlust Hotel [Hotel Chatter]

LED cathedral in Belgium made from 55,000 lights is divine indeed. [Huffington Post]

Bourbon cheese balls, black truffle onigiri, and Dungeness crab arancini. Need we continue? [Foodspotting]

Canal House in arty, boho Jordaan

Dear globetrotting hearts, LUXE has partnered up with the lovelies at Singapore Airlines to bring you a travel column on their brand spankin’ new silverkris.com website as well as the inflight mag (which can also be viewed in full on the website). Each month, we’ll be sharing how to spend 24 LUXE hours in some of our favourite cities.

First up, we uncover Amsterdam, the beautiful canal capital charmer that blends urban smarts with a village vibe, with plenty of retail, dining, nightlife, sights, museums and culture, not to mention its UNESCO World Heritage-listed canal ring, in one compact, easily navigable area all in one day. So what are you waiting for? Put your clogs aside and come tiptoe through the tulips with LUXE.

What’s more, silverkris.com readers get an exclusive promo code to score 15% off LUXE guides and boxsets. Jet set go!

LUXElife Q&A

Valerie, your guide to all things fab in Amsterdam

Last week, we lifted the veil on LUXE Stockholm’s resident editor, now meet Valerie van der Meer, LUXE Amsterdam’s resident editor and the go-to gal for all things fabulous in the city. A former advertising and TV production creative, Valerie made the switch to freelancing 3 years ago and hasn’t looked back since, keeping busy with copywriting, interior styling, photo shoots and graphic design as well as being a super mum to 2 little boys, phew! She’s also recently co-launched 9straatjesonline.com, putting the stylish Nine Streets retail nirvana online so stylistas across the world can shop for independent Dutch brands, jewellery, lifestyle and more, 24/7, come rain or shine. Ace! With her finger on the pulse of what’s hot, Valerie floats from shop to restaurant to bar to party, so you know that she’s in the know. In this interview, Valerie shares her personal picks for Amsterdam, her essential addresses, and her opinions on what the city’s most famous for…

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People in glass houses eat very well indeed

Have you heard the joke about Dutch cuisine? Unfortunately, there are too many, but things are a-changing. Once upon a time, a farmer didn’t eat what he didn’t know, but the days of ‘Wat de boer niet kent, vreet hij niet’ are fast disappearing and the city’s savvy denizens embrace Amsterdam’s fab multicultural melting pot of flavours. French, Euro and ethnic cuisines rule, especially Turskish and Senegalese, and if you know where to look, there’s plenty of toothsome dining to be had. If you want delicious Dutch food however (no, it’s not an oxymoron), no need to befriend a farmer, simply take yourself off to…

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