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Step up to the plate

Welcome to Monocle’s very first survey on hosting at home (don’t worry about wiping your feet on the way in). Over the coming pages you’ll learn about everything from diplomacy in the dining room to a few fail-safe recipes and tips from the food folk we admire.
Conversation starters

Whether it’s picking the perfect mealtime music, learning how to drink a potent muscle relaxant with prime ministers or promoting parliament with regional produce, this rundown guarantees you’ll have something to talk about at even the most formal of dinner parties. And if all our help fails you can always resort to a stiff drink to encourage the chatter to flow.
Pull up a chair

A Kiwi chef, a restaurant owner in Monaco and a design-shop duo in Ontario invite you into their abodes for some home-cooked goodness – with a liberal sprinkling of hospitality advice.
Host with the most

Eating together is a primal pleasure but the dinner party has never been as loosely defined as it is today. We took a wholly unscientific sample from among our favourite culinary contacts to hear what’s changed and how to get the chemistry just right.
Dinner is served

Whether you’re cooking for an intimate meal or playing host to a lively bunch of friends, the perfect recipe will ensure your table is set for a memorable evening. We’ve selected three favourites from the Monocle menu, plus some smart starter ideas to prep your guests’ palates.
Best behaviour

We turn to Monocle’s all-knowing agony uncle – and his faithful feline sidekick, Mr Tiddly – for the lowdown on the do’s and definitely don’ts of hosting and attending a dinner party. Here our hero tackles a few reader’s questions.
Food for thought

Scant service in Scandinavia, obsolete kitchenware and what recipe books reveal about times past: our writers give tasty views on the topics that should matter to good hosts everywhere.
Join our club

All over the world canny chefs and cooks are rethinking the formula for eating out. From changing restaurant residencies for visiting chefs to opening up farm tables to homes or backyards, such supper clubs offer intimacy, discovery and plenty of new dishes to try. We head to Arles, Rome, New York and London to meet the food folk rethinking the restaurant and the diners hankering for new experiences.
Roll out the barrels

Let’s start with some advice: don’t drink a light wine with heavy food, a burgundy goes great with roast lamb and make sure your dessert wine is sweeter than the pudding you serve (or your mouth will pucker). Above all, experiment and explore. Here are a few more tips.
All you can eat

Expecting guests? Then you’ll want to impress them with something unique. You don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen: get a taste for food retail instead. Here are some shops for starters.
What’s on the menu?

Design firm Family Brothers has defined the look of Atlanta’s culinary scene. Now it’s tucking in elsewhere.
Food & Drink Briefing

Two Swiss openings, a recipe from our in-house team and food finds from Japan to France. Tuck in.
Kenzo Takada

The Japanese fashion designer, best known for his eponymous label Kenzo, puts his success down to happenstance – but he’s being modest. Instead he should claim innovation and a sense of fun as the elements that have made him a Paris icon in his own right.

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Shopping / Global

Interior elevation

Thinking big is all part of designing statement buildings but plenty of architects dabble in more domestically scaled pieces too. We’ve assembled the pick of those objects that bring a little structural savoir-faire to even the humblest home.

Lamp *Charlotte Perriand* *nemolighting.com*

Cafetière *Aldo Rossi alessi.com*

Wooden blocks *Arne Jacobsen designletters.com*

Ceramics *Vincent Van Duysen whenobjectswork.com*

Salad servers *John Pawson whenobjectswork.com*

S+ark with Olt beer *Philippe Starck starck.com*

Coffee mug *Alexander Girard* *vitra.com*

Lamp *Arne Jacobsenlouispoulsen.com*

Wooden dolls *Alexander Girardvitra.com*

Candle holder *Mogens Lassen* *bylassen.com*

Lamp *De Pas, D’Urbino and Lomazzi* *stilnovoitalia.it*

Vase *Mogens Lassen* *bylassen.com*

Cutlery *Grethe Meyer* *georgjensen.com*

Vase *Alvar Aalto* *iittala.com*

Champagne coupe *Vincent Van Duysen* *serax.com*

Milk and sugar pots *John Pawsonwhenobjectswork.com*

Coffeemaker *David Chipperfield* *alessi.com*

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15

Live

Schedule

00:0001:00

The Menu

Editor’s letter

The opener

Dream on

Dab hand

My cabinet

Cosy corner

Building up hope

Band of brothers

Politics Briefing

Diplomacy Briefing

Defence Briefing

Cities Briefing

Leading the charge

Open book

Phoenix rising

Close to home

Business Briefing

City limits

Holding the stage

On the right page

The Ten

It’s a small world

Grand scale

Sitting pretty

Slide away

Labour of love

Great indoors

Work in the living room

Big interviews

Step up to the plate

Conversation starters

Pull up a chair

Host with the most

Dinner is served

Best behaviour

Food for thought

Join our club

Roll out the barrels

All you can eat

What’s on the menu?

Food & Drink Briefing

Kenzo Takada

Earning its stripes

Mass movement

Digital native

Fashion Briefing

Keep your cool

All worked up

In its element

The fab four

Come together

On a higher plain

Interior elevation

The last detail

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