Monocle Weekend
Edition: Sunday

This week we head to a listening bar in São Paulo that has created a buzz with its vibrant Asian-Brazilian fare and spend a night in a low-slung villa along a remote stretch of southwestern Sardinia. Plus: the smart swimming goggles to pack for your summer holidays and the promise of a Provençal feast from an American in Paris. Kicking things off is Tyler Brûlé, with a little bit of hospitality news from Zürich…

If you happen to be along Zürich’s ‘Gold Coast’ this weekend, you might just spot me zipping back and forth on foot, on bike and in my little Jimny as Monday evening marks the official unveiling of the first Monocle apartment. As of Saturday afternoon, I’m still on the hunt for a modernist Swiss 1950s coat rack, a selection of chunky 1970s German ceramics and metal bathroom stands. I’m confident that I’ll find everything I need at my little vintage joint down the lake but if you live close to Zürich and have any such objects collecting dust in storage, please let me know.

Since we first mentioned the launch of our apartment at the Oxen in Küsnacht, the bookings have been coming in at a steady clip. We’re set for a busy summer of guests looking for a bit of orderly village life, lake dips, strong flat whites, morning papers from across Europe and tasty bites from our talented chef, Reuben.

To be clear – and to plant a bit of a disclaimer – this is something of an experiment as we expand the hospitality side of Monocle. We think that we’re doing a decent job with our three cafés (there are another two in the works) and starting with an 80 sq m apartment feels as though it’s a manageable next step. It’s not five star but more of a personal affair, complete with our own publications, work from our favourite artists, furniture from my own collection, crisp linens from Fischbacher, blankets from Burel Factory, pillows and prints from Johanna Gullichsen and new pieces from Hakola, USM, ASL and Tiptoe.

We have designed the apartment for a Monocle reader who wants to be close enough to Zürich (three stops on the train gets you to the tram in seven minutes) to make the most of what the city has offer and have the freedom of an apartment but also to enjoy a perfect kiosk and a proper restaurant directly below. There is much that we’re already learning and there will be plenty of lessons after our first guests check in but it’s getting exciting and we’re fully geared up to host 150 readers on Monday evening. If you’d like more information or to book, then please drop a note to my assistant, Izumi, at id@monocle.com. And, while we’re on the topic of events, we have two dates for the diary. From 10.00 next Saturday, our Swiss Summer Market will be held at Midori House in London and, on Saturday 6 July, we’ll be hosting our annual summer party at our shop in Merano. Linda looks forward to seeing you!

Domo, a listening bar in São Paulo’s central Vila Buarque, combines first-class hospitality with a sophisticated musical experience (writes Liv Kessler). Designers Flávio Seixlack and Rodolfo Herrera, whose coffee shop Takkø Café is just down the road, opened Domo last year. Since then the bar has earned a reputation for its Asian-Brazilian menu, which features fresh takes on classic dishes such as pulled-pork sandwiches with gochujang sauce, as well as creative cocktails and an eclectic music selection comprising Brazilian funk, bossa nova and Japanese jazz.

The duo tapped design studio Nina Morelli to work on the interiors, where soft lighting is paired with wooden accents to create an intimate, record-filled space. “Opening Domo was a natural next step for us, especially after visiting similar places in Japan, London and Los Angeles,” says Seixlack. “Something that always bothered us about our native city was that there was nowhere you could listen to good music and talk at a lower volume. Domo is our solution to that.”
Rua Major Sertório, 452, Vila Buarque, São Paulo 01222-000

Marine Tanguy is a French art entrepreneur and CEO of MTArt Agency, a London-based company that represents some of the world’s leading contemporary visual artists (writes Gabrielle Grangié). Here, she tells us about finding fresh produce at Marylebone’s farmers’ market, where she gets her culture fix and her childhood on the Île de Ré.

Where will we find you this weekend?
Making the most of the creative chaos that central London offers.

Your ideal start to a Sunday? Gentle or a jolt?
My children wake me up at 05.00 every morning – and that includes weekends.

What’s for breakfast?
I usually have two breakfasts. My 05.00 one consists of porridge with blueberries and bananas, and then, at about 09.00, I’ll have a pastry or some poached eggs.

Lunch in or out?
I love going to the farmers’ market in my neighbourhood and then using the produce to make a wonderful lunch at home. If the weather is nice, we’ll go for a picnic in the park. We’re truly spoiled for choice in this city.

A Sunday soundtrack?
“Una Mattina” by Einaudi or “Jump” by Van Halen, which is my son’s favourite.

Your Sunday culture must?
Watching an Arte documentary. I’m probably one of its most active audience members. The films delve deeply into the subjects that they explore, which I love.

News or no news?
There isn’t a day when I don’t read the news but I am very conscious of how I consume it. I prefer listening to the radio or watching TV.

What’s on the menu?
I usually cook a simple and comforting dish with lemon sole. I use my grandmother’s recipe, which brings back memories from my childhood on the Île de Ré.

Your Sunday-evening routine?
Learning ballet has pushed my body in all kinds of ways, so I have recently discovered the wonders of stretching.

Will you lay out an outfit for Monday?
Never. Since my work week is so structured, I try to leave other areas of my life to my intuition.

Monocle’s Japanese chef whips up an imaginative take on an English dessert with fresh strawberries, slices of orange and pistachios.

Serves 6

Ingredients

For the custard:
300ml whole milk
150ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into half lengthways with the seeds scraped out
4.5 tbsps caster sugar
A large pinch of sea salt
4 medium egg yolks
3 tbsps corn starch

For the rest:
450ml double cream
2 tbsps caster sugar
12 sponge fingers
2 large oranges, squeezed to extract the juice
400g strawberries, cut into halves or quarters, depending on size
40g pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

Method

1
Pour the milk, cream and vanilla pod and seeds into a saucepan and set over a low heat. Bring it to just below boiling point.

2
Place the caster sugar, salt, egg yolks and cornstarch in a bowl and mix well. Add one ladle of the milk combination to the egg mixture and stir. Then, gradually add the rest of the milk, mixing continuously.

3
Tip the combined custard mixture into a saucepan over a medium-low heat. Take care not to boil the custard; you’ll need to keep stirring until it thickens. It will be ready when it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove the vanilla pod and discard. Cover the surface of the custard with cling film to prevent it from developing a skin. Set aside to cool.

4
Once the custard is cool enough to handle, assemble the trifle. You’ll need a deep glass or ceramic dish for this. Mix the 450ml of double cream together with 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and whisk until it forms soft peaks.

5
To assemble, pour half of the custard into the dish. Dip 6 sponge fingers in orange juice and layer over the custard. Cover this with half of the whipped cream, then scatter half of the chopped strawberries on top. Add another layer of whipped cream and then sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and the rest of the strawberries. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for at least two hours in the fridge before serving.

With its long stretches of sandy beach and some of the highest dunes in Europe, Sardinia’s Costa Verde coastline provides a serene, oasis-like setting for Le Dune Piscinas, an upscale new hotel that sits at the water’s edge (writes Ivan Carvalho). A 90-minute drive from Cagliari, the property, whose interiors underwent a three-year transformation overseen by Brescia-based PL-AG Studio, offers 28 guest rooms and suites. Its main structure was once used as a warehouse for a nearby mineral mine and the entrance hall was carved out of a tunnel previously used for the mine’s trolleys. The outdoor lounge, meanwhile, doubles up as an open-air cinema in the evening.

Today the interior design brings together Orosei marble from Sardinia, cast-iron and wooden furnishings, many of which were made by local artisans. The guest rooms are rustic and cosy, with floors in weathered marble and whitewashed wooden beams above to create a soft sanctuary after a day spent in the sun.
ledunepiscinas.com

When food writer and stylist Rebekah Peppler was deciding what to cook up for her latest book, the American in Paris turned to the bounty of the Côte d’Azur (writes Katharine Sohn). Published by Chronicle Books, Le Sud is a love letter to the Riviera’s culinary creations. Using locally sourced ingredients, Peppler creates fragrant plates of pâtes au pistou, humble haricots verts with shallots, capers and preserved lemon, and a wonderfully light tarte tropézienne.

Punctuated with the author’s postcards from the Luberon mountains, a holiday home in Grasse and picnics in Marseille, Le Sud immerses the reader in the Provençal good life. chroniclebooks.com

These goggles from Form have an illuminated display that shows you statistics such as your pace, distance and heart rate (writes David Phelan). Meanwhile, its digital compass will keep you heading in the right direction when you’re open-water swimming.
formswim.com

For the latest ideas, innovations and opinions on everything from diplomacy and design to hospitality to fashion, subscribe to Monocle magazine today. Have a super Sunday.