Monocle Weekend
Edition: Sunday

On the hunt for a good coffee and a bite to eat? Come with us to a riverside bakery in Mainz that is attracting a loyal fanbase. Hungry for more? Discover the hidden culinary charms of the Swiss Jura, a small canton that punches well above its weight, or rustle up a spicy flatbread with a twist. Plus: meet the Lebanese designer reimagining Dubai’s skyline. But first, Tyler Brûlé has a few dates for the diary (or, perhaps, the wall calendar)…

Liesbeth, a bakery-cum-restaurant in Mainz, Germany, has single-handedly catapulted the city onto the culinary traveller’s itinerary (writes Stella Roos). The venture was opened in the city’s port at the start of 2023 by the owners of Pankratiushof, a nearby farm shop and fine-dining restaurant. “Mainz didn’t have the kind of bread, cheese or even coffee that I liked,” says co-owner Paul Schmiel, who trained as a chef in Stockholm and London. “We had to start making it ourselves.”

During the day, Liesbeth offers up freshly baked goods such as sourdough bread and croissants, which are made using locally grown milled wheat. Come dinnertime the space transforms into a trattoria, serving Neapolitan-style sourdough pizza topped with homemade mozzarella and sauce made from tomatoes grown by Schmiel’s uncle. “We thought about what we could do with our products and what would make us happy,” says Schmiel. “Everybody loves pizza.”
pankratiushof.de

Beirut-born designer Nada Debs was raised in Japan and studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (writes Liv Kessler). Now based primarily in the UAE, she’s focused on bringing influences from the country’s architectural past back to modern high-rise buildings in Dubai. Here, she chats to us about her favourite French concept store in Dubai, adopted cats and newfound penchant for Indonesian coffee beans.

Where will we find you this weekend?
In Dubai, watching kite surfers in the sea. It’s a must on a Sunday.

Ideal start to a Sunday? Gentle or a jolt?
I like to do a workout or go for a swim at the beach, which is accessible and empty early in the morning.

What’s for breakfast?
A smoothie with berries. I often go to Comptoir 102, a cool concept shop founded by French curator Emmanuelle Sawko.

Walk the dog or downward dog?
Downward dog. My golden retriever, Fifty, lives in Beirut but I have cats in Dubai. The weather gets too hot for dogs to roam around the city here.

A Sunday soundtrack?
Soft jazz. I also love to listen to the radio station Vibe FM when I’m driving, which plays everything from Bollywood-style music to spiritual Indian songs.

Sunday culture must?
I often have friends over. My garden is a haven away from the busy life of Dubai.

News or no news?
I go straight to The New York Times culture pages and then play Wordle.

What’s on the menu?
Light bites that are gluten- and dairy-free. I’m obsessed with having a healthy lifestyle. Good coffee from around the world is also important. I have recently been enjoying beans from Java in Indonesia.

Sunday evening routine?
Yin yoga or a film.

Will you lay out an outfit for Monday?
I think of which colours I’m inspired to wear instead. I usually start with what mood I’m in and the outfit follows.

If you find the idea of making pizza dough daunting, then these flatbreads offer a simple alternative to achieving its signature crispy texture. Monocle’s Japanese recipe writer suggests topping yours with spicy chunks of chorizo and crunchy tufts of tenderstem broccoli. And don’t hold back on the mozzarella.

Serves 2

Ingredients
250g jar of passata
2½ tbsps olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
¼ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp anchovy paste
125g tenderstem broccoli (halved lengthways if the stems are too thick)
2 flatbreads
150g fresh mozzarella, roughly torn
100g cooking chorizo, skin removed and crumbled into small pieces

Method

1
Preheat oven to 200C.

2
Place 1½ tbsps of the olive oil, garlic, chilli flakes and anchovy paste in a small pan and cook over medium-low heat until the garlic turns golden. Add the passata and cook for another 15 minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken a little.

3
In a separate medium-sized pan, bring the water to a boil and add some salt. Add the broccoli and cook for 1-2 minutes until it turns bright green but still has a bit of a bite to it. Drain and set aside.

4
To assemble the pizza, divide the sauce between the two flatbreads and spread it up to 1cm from their edges. Arrange the torn mozzarella, cooked broccoli and crumbled chorizo on top. Drizzle with the rest of the olive oil and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.

5
Bake the flatbreads in the oven for 13-15 minutes, until the sausage browns and the cheese melts. Serve warm.

Even though the Swiss canton of Jura was founded in 1979, the area has a long history (writes Petri Burtsoff). The region is peppered with pretty towns, intimate hotels in period buildings and a culinary tradition that draws influences from neighbouring France as well as its own heritage, which dates back to the Holy Roman Empire. Jurassians are known for being hardy and proud folk with a distinct way of doing things. No one exemplifies this better than the Blattner family. Olivia Hänggi-Blattner runs Domaine Blattner, a seven-hectare estate near the town of Soyhières, with her partner, Sven Hänggi. Jura is not renowned for its wine but the estate’s work has taken on newfound importance as climate change affects traditional wine regions in Italy and France. “You could say that you can taste the wines of the future here,” says Hänggi-Blattner.

This part of Jura has a terroir that is rich in limestone, giving its wines a characteristic minerality. Its wealth of land and unspoiled nature means that you can find great produce here, from the trout in the Doubs river to herbs such as elderflower and sweet woodruff. Small-scale agriculture is still very much in vogue in this part of Europe and visitors should try local specialities such as tête de moine cheese and saucisse d’Ajoie. Many head south to Neuchâtel but Jura’s rustic inns and smaller hotels offer a warmer and more intimate experience. In the town of Porrentruy, the 12-room Auberge du Mouton is a mix of old and new, all exposed brick walls and stylish bathrooms. Rebecca Leaver and her partner, Samuel Tobler, took over this protected 18th-century building in 2023, attracted by its historic charm and the region’s appeal as a destination. Despite hailing from Zürich, the couple had no qualms about relocating. “Jura is largely undiscovered by the outside world, yet it has immense potential,” she says. “There is an authenticity here that is hard to find elsewhere.”

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Berlin-based drinks brand Ode’s aperitifs are a good accompaniment to the approaching warmer evenings (writes Julia Lasica). For founders Stefan Becker and Thorsten Konrad, Ode attempts to revolutionise alcoholic drinks, from their taste all the way down to their bottle design. “The aperitifs served in restaurants are generally no more than a mixture of cheap alcohol, water and artificial flavours and colours,” says Konrad.

Ode bitters, however, are blended with premium Rheinhessen riesling created for the brand by German winemaker Nico Espenschied, making for an exquisite summer tipple that’s delicately dappled with notes of orange, vanilla bean and apricot. The drinks also come in chic, brown glass bottles with colourful, round wooden tops. “We wanted the carafe to be so beautiful that no one would want to throw it away,” says Konrad.
ode-aperitif.com

Historically, the city of Arnhem was known as an industrial centre and a focal point for Dutch-German grain trading (writes Claudia Jacob). But more recently the city, in the east of the Netherlands, has blossomed into a creative hub. For designers Sjaak Hullekes and Sebastiaan Kramer, Arnhem’s compact size and sense of community offered an opportunity to return to traditional ways of making clothes. Hullekes and Kramer founded their label, Hul le Kes, in 2018 with the goal of returning to the basics. “The Hul le Kes style is informed by an antiquarian aesthetic, reminiscent of the old-money style of dressing but reimagined for the contemporary wearer who seeks practicality,” says Kramer.

In a small workshop in the Van Oldenbarneveldtstraat area next to the Rhine, the duo is committed to producing every piece within their atelier’s four walls. Inside the workshop, sewing machines hum with activity as the team of 50 tailors, pattern makers and apprentices painstakingly sew, stitch and steam natural and recycled fabrics. Once the materials are secured, a natural dyeing process follows, using onion peel, avocado skins and walnuts collected from forests and restaurant kitchens. “We wanted to get back to the knowledge of manufacturing that is almost non-existent in the Netherlands,” says Kramer. “Arnhem doesn’t traditionally have a strong textiles know-how. The city is known for its fashion and design prowess but not for manufacturing. This is the craft that we’re trying to renew.”
hullekes.com

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