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This week we stop by Paris’s takeaway bouillon for on-the-go French fare and take a roadtrip to Tomales Bay near San Francisco to sample its fine food and hospitality. Plus: a no-nonsense ode to natural wine and a red-berry pudding to make use of the final yield before the season draws to a close. Here to get us off the mark, Tyler Brûlé is in Lisbon on the lookout for some homegrown finds.
The Faster Lane / Tyler Brûlé
You might have noticed we’re in the middle of the fashion, art and design trade-fair season. Frieze Seoul has already wrapped; the London Design Festival concludes today; Milan Fashion Week comes to a close tomorrow; Paris’s turn on the runway is next, followed shortly after by Art Basel Paris in the newly renovated Grand Palais. One fair that didn’t make it onto many international schedules was a small Lisbon exhibition I stumbled upon late Friday afternoon – but I’m glad I did.
For the better part of six months I’ve been working on a renovation project atop a modern apartment block not far from the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in the Portuguese capital. (Newsflash: the new Kengo Kuma addition officially opened last night and it’s a stunning intervention in the middle of the Gulbenkian’s dense parkscape.) It’s been somewhat slow going but this recent visit marked real progress and I got a proper sense of the volumes in the kitchen since the cupboards were pulled out, plus the possibilities for the terrace and how many people I could comfortably invite for a Christmas cocktail. With mom and Mats on hand with the tape measure and rolls of masking tape, we set about marking positions for beds and sofas, tables and carpets. At the start of this project we set ourselves the task of making the finished product a 100 per cent made on the Iberian Peninsula affair – with a few exceptions. For the kitchen we’re keeping things sleek and Swiss by going for V-Zug, and as it’s almost impossible to work on any residence without the ghosts of Josef Frank and Estrid Ercison looking down on design choices – there’ll also be a few moments of Svenskt Tenn here and there.
During this past weekend’s spin through Stockholm we had a few weak moments when we considered going Swedish for rugs, Finnish for beds and Danish for the terrace as we felt comfortable with many of the companies’ classic designs. While taping out where a pair of sofas should go we were definitely thinking Danish because little had caught our eye from Portuguese and Spanish makers; and having made a few enquiries with rug manufacturers in the north of Portugal, without much in the way of results, we were definitely considering Vandra or Kasthall from Sweden. I was on the verge of abandoning the 100 per cent Iberian-made straitjacket we’d created for ourselves when I noticed a small trade fair listing on rug brand Ferreira da Sá’s website – Homeing, 19 to 20 September, Pavilhão Carlos Lopes, open Friday till 20.00. I clicked on the link as I’d never heard of the fair and after reading the brief intro about its focus on design, the hospitality trade and Portuguese brands I was already prodding mom and Mats out of the pool, into sensible footwear for walking around an exhibition space and into a cab.
Thirty minutes later, with just over 90 minutes to walk Homeing’s halls, we got our badges and were assessing whether our made-in-Spain-and-Portugal parameters could be salvaged (by the way, the Lapa Palace is an absolute gem at this time of year). We hadn’t walked more than 15 metres when we were trodding over a lovely herringbone-weave rug in welcoming tones of caramel and dark brown. The sunny decorator responsible for the stand came up to see if we had any questions and I immediately asked about the chic fibres underfoot. “Is this one of your brands?” I asked. “Made in Portugal?” – “Not one of my brands,” she said. “I just designed this part of the exhibition but the rug is definitely Portuguese-made. The company is just over there, in the main hall.”
As interior trade fairs go, Homeing is positively tiny but it only took a trot down half an aisle before I could feel that giddy sense of light-headedness coming on. Beds, towels, blinds, sofas, tiles, lamps, rugs, more tiles and plenty of cork were all on offer and all mostly made in and around Porto. After a few chats with eager and informed brand owners I was further elated when told a custom bed might take a week and would be priced in the hundreds of euros. Ditto on the delivery time for the herringbone rug I spotted on arrival. When I spoke to the maker of the rug he said that he used to be the biggest manufacturer of sisal rugs in Europe but Ikea, his biggest customer, all but changed this when it opted to move manufacturing to China and elsewhere. “You simply can’t compete,” he said with a shrug. Or can you? In a moment when Europe and many others are worried about e-vehicle imports, perhaps it’s time for a fresh push to encourage made in Europe – not just to protect trade but to shore up skills and traditional manufacturing techniques. Brand Portugal (Spain too) has a huge opportunity to build on its evolved manufacturing base but it needs retail clients and consumers to be educated about the value of supporting local players and keeping looms and fingers busy. Portugal needs to step up and not only challenge the Swedes with a homegrown retail brand but also its neighbours up at Zara Home HQ in A Coruña.
New opening / Bouillon Service, Paris
Bouillon Service, a new takeaway-only restaurant from Paris institution Le Bouillon, has opened in Pigalle (writes Claudia Jacob). Paris’s bouillons – former working-class canteens that entice eaters of all stripes from midday to midnight – are a fixture of the city’s restaurant scene. While it might seem strange that an establishment notorious for its waistcoat-clad garçons, crisp white tablecloths and art deco interiors would do away with table service, customers are queuing out the door for their latest offering.
It’s Le Bouillon’s first opening in seven years and an extension of the delivery system that it established during the pandemic. Located in the 18th arrondissement, 50 metres away from its Pigalle restaurant, the deli and takeaway space prepares the establishment’s hero dishes and is open until 03.00. Think egg mayonnaise, a trusty jambon-beurre courtesy of the on-site bakery and even a hearty canard confit to go.
bouillonlesite.com
Sunday Roast / Julie Quottrup Silbermann
Copenhagen-based Julie Quottrup Silbermann is the director of Denmark’s annual Chart art fair, hosted every August by a non-profit foundation that seeks to expand and connect the Nordic arts (writes Rory Jones). Here, she tells us about the Polish piano music on her playlist, sculptures at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and gives us a tip-off to a new Copenhagen opening.
Where do we find you this weekend?
At the Wanås Restaurant Hotel in the middle of Wanås Sculpture Park in Sweden, a two-hour drive from Copenhagen. It’s an amazing place that seamlessly blends contemporary art installations by artists such as Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono, Marina Abramović, Per Kirkeby and Klara Kristalova with nature.
Your ideal way to begin a Sunday – a gentle start or a jolt?
My work schedule is busy, so Sunday starts gently with a morning swim in Øresund. After that, I have a coffee on the bridge.
What’s for breakfast?
Weekends call for a little extra time in the kitchen, with scrambled eggs and toast, and grapefruit on the side. On weekdays, I often end up having just a bowl of skyr yoghurt.
Lunch in or out?
In the rooftop lounge at Hotel Sanders. But soon, Café Sommersko will open in a new setting. It was frequented by artists from the mid-1970s until its closure in 2017, and I imagine that it will be my new favourite.
Walk the dog or downward dog?
Downward dog in a Vinyasa flow.
Your Sunday soundtrack?
I’ll start the day slow with Polish pianist Hania Rani and then move on to French electro group L’Impératrice. I’ll finish the day with a beautiful ambient mix by Tony Anderson.
A Sunday culture must?
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. There are always several exhibitions on, plus an outdoor sculpture park featuring works by Not Vital, Alicja Kwade and Richard Serra.
News or not?
The business news and the travel sections of the Børsen Weekend.
What’s on the menu?
Moules marinières. It’s simple and delicious, with a perfect combination of fresh mussels, white wine, garlic and herbs. Plus, it evokes memories of joyful summer gatherings with friends in the south of France.
Your Sunday-evening routine?
Dinner on the terrace, a long walk and maybe a game of tennis – or an episode of my favourite series, The Parisian Agency: Exclusive Properties.
Do you lay out an outfit for Monday?
Never. But my outfit often consists of a white T-shirt and a blazer.
Recipe / Ralph Schelling
Use up the last of the summer fruit with this simple berry dessert, which is known as rote Grütze in northern Germany. The berry mix is thickened with cornflour, which then sets to create a wobbly pudding. Serve warm and let the cold ice cream melt into the berry sauce.
Serves 4
Ingredients
300ml red wine
300ml water
1 orange, juice and grated peel
1 lemon, juice and grated zest
110g cane sugar
2 vanilla pods
1 tsp cardamom
½ cinnamon stick
500g mixed berries (red and blackcurrants, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries)
40 g corn flour
For the vanilla ice cream
200ml semi-stiff whipped cream
Seeds of ½ vanilla pod
1-2 tbsps cognac or armagnac
Method
1
Mix the red wine with the water and juice and zest of the citrus fruit in a saucepan.
2
Stir in the sugar, add the spices and bring to a boil.
3
Mix the cornflour with a drop of the red wine and add to the citrus fruit to thicken the mixture. Leave to cool and fold the berries into the jelly-like mixture without crushing them. Pour into glasses.
4
To make the ice cream, mix the cream with the vanilla-pod seeds and cognac, and whip it until semi-stiff to serve.
Bottom’s Up / Galipette Cidre, France
Galipette launched in 2017 with a mission to champion the illustrious Cidre apples of Northern France (writes Gabrielle Grangié). “In a world of one-dimensional industrial ciders, we look for diversity and flavour,” says co-founder Antti Laukkanen. The company honours the cider-production traditions of France’s northwestern regions by creating a version made from bittersweet apples harvested from Normandy and Brittany.
Here, mild temperatures and plentiful rainfall make orchards ideal for cultivating flavourful crops. The brand’s newest cider, Galipette Doux, has undertones of toffee, thanks to a shorter fermentation process that keeps the natural douceur, or sweetness, intact.
galipettecidre.com
Weekend plans? / Tomales Bay, California
The enclave of Tomales Bay is only a 90-minute drive from San Francisco but it has a totally different state of mind (writes Christopher Lord). There are no tourist-trap hotels, few estate agents’ signs and dining is low-key (but great). A gentle process of rediscovery is under way as a new generation arrives seeking inspiration. Nick’s Cove, one longstanding restaurant that draws in fans from the city, has turned its row of waterside cottages into short-term lets.
A single two-lane road follows the gently lapping bay, which disappears in sea fog in the early mornings. To drive it is to circumnavigate an awe-inspiring geography. On the banks of the bay, Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic, who run homeware brand Heath Ceramics in Sausalito, have restored a fishing cottage for their own weekend retreat and have begun opening it to guests over the past year. The couple’s restoration has turned what was a fishing cottage with poky windows into a cosy hideaway with broad views of the water and the windsurfers carving up the waves.
The bay’s most sought-after bounty is its oysters. Shellfish that have grazed on this seabed are now shucked all over the state. One custodian of that brood is the Hog Island Oyster Company. Its co-founder, John Finger, came out to Tomales Bay expecting to return to the East Coast after a few years but he fell in love with the area and decided to stay. From a tiny shack, Hog Island has expanded its operations to several restaurants, a hatchery and saltworks dotted around northern California.
Two miles along the coastline, the Lodge at Marconi is a hotel that sits on a forested hillside of national parkland. The building, once a radio outpost of the Marconi company, was built in the 1930s to receive telegraph transmissions from across the ocean. The masts have long since come down but the estate remains mostly intact having had a bucolic redesign by New York-based Home Studios. It’s proof that getting out of the city has the potential to reframe one’s creative endeavours. Nothing offers perspective like a little distance.
Cooking the books / ‘Natural Wine, No Drama’
Sommelier and restaurateur Honey Spencer’s new title Natural Wine, No Drama, is an easy introduction to the world of natural wine and a colourful addition to your coffee table (writes Amy van den Berg). After curating wine lists at the likes of Sager + Wilde in London and Noma in Mexico, Spencer has become a reliable voice on the sometimes misunderstood subject of natural wine.
She breaks down the history, jargon and growing processes among the big players (Italy and the US), as well as some lesser-known producers in Georgia and Australia. Using light-hearted prose and vivid imagery, Spencer intersperses long-form profiles and explainers with simple lists and how-to guides. We’ll drink to that.
pavilionbooks.com
For more stories and observations from Monocle’s editors and correspondents, pick up a copy of theSeptember issue, which is on newsstands now. Have a super Sunday.
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