Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

This year marks the ninth edition of Peixe Em Lisboa, Lisbon’s fish festival. It’s an 11-day affair that celebrates local cuisine as well as experiments beyond the national borders. Serving fish by a selection of 10 of the best restaurants and chefs in the country, the 2016 edition has seen the launch of Japanese and Mozambican interpretations of the Portuguese favourite. This year sees the debut of IBO restaurant, a new seafood spot based in the neighbourhood of Cais do Sodré that offers Portuguese dishes with influences from the north of Mozambique. Meanwhile, Japanese-Portuguese chef Tomoaki Kanazawa's new restaurant is also making its debut at Peixe 2016 – and the venue itself has just opened in Belém. Just eight customers at a time can enjoy kaiseki fish at Kanazawa, which is the sister restaurant to Tomo in Algés. The festival, which runs until 17 April, is held in the monumental Pátio da Galé palace on the sea, overlooking Terreiro do Paço. It’s a fish-lover’s feast – all duly accompanied by Portuguese wine.

Have your violin fingers stiffened? Could your French horn lip do with some limbering up? A branch of Toronto's public-library system is here to help. The building in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood this week became home to a collection of 100 instruments – from trombones to ukuleles, violins to clarinets – that are all available to loan for those wanting to sharpen their musical skills. The programme is in partnership with the Sun Life Financial life-insurance group but the library has now broadened its call to residents across the city for donations of "gently used" instruments. The musical library is just the latest addition to Toronto's evolving offering: the Toronto Tool Library opened in 2012 and a Library of Things, which will allow members to borrow anything from a tent to a deck of playing cards, will debut this summer.

Airline cuisine, whether it’s great or dire (and it’s often dire), is far different to that served on the ground. As such, a new documentary is in the works to explore the vast world of in-flight food around the globe. Nikos Loukas, who's worked in the industry for more than 15 years, has already dedicated an online journal to observations and research into airline catering. "I started getting noticed for my obsession with airline meals: people started asking me to write articles and airlines started inviting me to their catering facilities to test out meals," he says. Fundraising for the film is ongoing and cameras start rolling in August. The documentary will include taste tests at Air France's catering kitchens in Paris, an in-flight taste test on a journey from London to Istanbul and a visit to Cathay Pacific’s First Class catering headquarters in Hong Kong.

Whether it’s furniture, art or magazines, collecting has seen an explosion in recent years – and thanks to innovative galleries and outward-looking auction houses, the market is still expanding. But how do we ensure that what often begins as a passion remains that way, instead of giving way to pure investment? That’s just one of the questions Monocle will be exploring at the Quality of Life Conference, on from Friday 15 to Sunday 17 April in Vienna. Also weighing in on the collecting debate will be Lilli Hollein, the co-founder and director of Vienna Design Week; artist Martin Guttmann; and Clemens Gunzer, the founder of Galerie Clemens Gunzer. Want to join in? The last few tickets are available here.

Director Roberto Minervini discusses his Texas trilogy and how a youth spent in Italy informs his films. We also hear from Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons regards cinematic mathematics in The Man Who Knew Infinity and celebrate the 21st birthday of 1995’s Clueless.

We’ve handpicked the best cooking schools from around the world, including a Tasmanian cook leading guests from garden to kitchen and a chef’s guide to the markets of Israel.