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Greetings from Comporta, where a colourful suite above the Portuguese village’s well-designed new deli is the order of the day. Then we take a seat in a renovated brasserie in Montmartre for a classic croque monsieur and a glass of red. Plus, the wintery pesto using seasonal Swiss chard and the hotel bolstering Maine’s hospitality offering. At the top is Tyler Brûlé from Down Under.
The Faster Lane / Tyler Brûlé
It was about this time back in 1988 that I was running a small command centre-cum-travel agency from my bedroom in Toronto. With the clock ticking for the start of the Estonian festival in Melbourne, I was in charge of logistics for the journey across the Pacific with my grandmother – flights, hotels, cars, dinner reservations and everything else required for the month-long tour. We set off from Toronto with a one-night stopover in San Francisco, then touched down in Fiji for a soggy Christmas before heading on to Australia. I hadn’t consumed much in the way of Australian pop-culture, save for a bit of Air Supply in the early 1980s and maybe the odd film, so there was little in the way of elevated expectations.
My grandmother had signed up for a variety of Estonian events ranging from dance performances to school reunions while I was allowed to opt in and out of the global gathering of my extended Baltic family. This was a good thing as it took about half an afternoon wandering the streets of Melbourne to feel that this was going to be an informative and inspiring trip. After a week in the Victorian capital we moved on to Sydney and before long I had managed to arrange a makeshift internship in the Channel Seven newsroom, and was hatching a plan to defer my second year at university. By the time we were packed up and on the Qantas flight back to a chilly Vancouver, I made a silent pact that I’d aim to be back in Australia as quickly as possible – either to complete my studies or find a job in TV.
A job at the BBC the following summer changed all of that and dreams of an apartment in Sydney’s Elizabeth Bay and a job working for Channel Nine went out the window. But Australia somehow lingered in the background – a place where the living was that little bit easier, the food better and there was a quality of life that was far removed from London. It took about five years to get back to Sydney and by then the city’s coffee-and-culinary moment was under way, magazines were being launched, a modernist Aussie architecture was being defined and the country was establishing itself as the more seductive and tastier version of California living. I was smitten.
Throughout the 1990s and much of the early 2000s, work and personal trips to Australia became a constant and Christmases in a funky, 1960s bungalow up at Whale Beach had replaced holidays in St Moritz. Then it all came to a halt. I’m not quite sure what happened but every year Australia seemed to drift further away, the visits moved from annual to every 18 months, the pandemic came along and it fell off the circuit.
All of that changed about four weeks ago when work called and suddenly SYD, Qantas flights and a booking at the Park Hyatt Sydney was back on the agenda. Could it really be happening? I arrived in Sydney exactly a week ago and wow! What a comeback. Friends Nancy and Warwick booked dinner at Margaret in Double Bay, chef Neil Perry swung by to say hello and talk shop, and at every turn there was some new space to tour, cool laneway to wander down and yet another café to sample.
On Tuesday evening, we welcomed about 200 Monocle subscribers to drinks on the just-completed terrace of The International, and the welcome couldn’t have been warmer. I’m now tapping this out in Toronto and thinking about the things I missed in Melbourne, Brisbane and other parts of Sydney. The good news is that Australia will be back on the circuit and I’m looking forward to seeing if I can find a suitable tropical bungalow in March for a late northern hemisphere winter break.
New opening / JNcQUOI Deli Suite, Comporta
Gone are the days when Comporta’s draw was the promise of off-the-grid luxury (writes Gaia Lutz). While the beaches remain pristine and pine-covered roads continue to give the region a wild heart, the village at the base of the Tróia Peninsula is now serviced by dozens of coastal restaurants and elegant villas catering to increasing numbers of visitors.
Among the recent arrivals are the JNcQUOI Beach Club and JNcQUOI Deli – and now a private residence has just opened above the latter. With bold and playful interiors in blue, yellow and burgundy by Belgian designer Jean-Philippe Demeyer, the JNcQUOI Deli Suite has two bedrooms, a common area and a large outdoor space that seats up to 10.
It’s comfortable for families or groups looking for an elegant perch to wind down after a day spent on the beach. It’s also in pole position for the cocktails being served and the records being spun downstairs until 02.00 on weekends.
jncquoi.com
Eating out / Au Rêve, Paris
Au Rêve opened its doors in Paris’s Montmartre district in the 1920s, quickly becoming a popular haunt of French literary and musical icons (writes Lucrezia Motta). In 2019, however, it closed down. Now, thanks to the work of Atelier Saint-Lazare (ASL), it is reprising its role as a neighbourhood institution. “We revealed more than we renovated,” says ASL’s co-founder Antoine Ricardou. “We restored the bar with Burgundy stone, breathed new life into the floor and moleskin booths, rediscovered the 1930s embossed wallpaper and set the Murano chandeliers in their rightful place.”
Since the quiet reopening, film editors from the nearby Pathé cinema offices, journalists from newspaper Libération, comic-book artists and Montmartre residents have started to mingle at the café’s tables. After Au Rêve’s previous owner, Elyette Ségard, retired in 2008 after 50 years at the helm, Mathieu Renucci took over and now serves bistro classics such as croque monsieur and charcuterie, as well as great cocktails.
“Our vision is meant to be modernist, not nostalgic,” says Ricardou. “Above all, Au Rêve is a living space, not a museum.”
aureve.com
For more well-executed restaurant renovations and the addresses to have on your list, pick up a copy of ourNovember issue, on newsstands now.
Sunday roast / John Chantarasak
John Chantasarak is the chef behind the London’s food concept AngloThai, a delicious combination of his Thai and British heritage that feels perfectly at home in the metropolis (writes Gabrielle Grangié). After training in Bangkok, Chantarasak opened a permanent location in London’s Marylebone with his sommelier wife and co-founder, Desiree. Here he tells us about his morning-swim ritual, his penchant for a homemade loaf and his preferred way of listening to Mozart.
Where will we find you this weekend?
I’m just getting back from a short break in the Algarve, so it’ll be a quiet weekend at home by Battersea Park.
Your ideal start to a Sunday? Gentle or a jolt?
I have two small kids so every day is a jolt. But on Sundays, I treat myself to a morning swim at my local pool. A few kilometres of exercise is always a great way to set myself up for the day ahead.
What’s for breakfast?
Something that can be pulled together easily but is nutritious for the family. The main staple in our household is boiled eggs and toasted sourdough, followed by seasonal fruits. The eggs have to be Burford Brown (they’re the best) and always homemade bread.
Lunch in or out?
Usually in. Depending on the weather, I might light the wood-fired oven in the back garden and get my son involved with the stretching and cooking of flatbreads.
Walk the dog or downward dog?
Yoga and pilates is a Saturday-morning routine.
A Sunday soundtrack?
A Mozart concerto played on vinyl through our vintage loudspeakers.
Sunday culture must?
A long stroll around Battersea Park with the family.
News or no news?
I try to keep Sundays as family time. Mondays are for catching up on any current affairs with the start of the working week.
What’s on the menu?
Anything seasonal. I’m blessed to order via the same suppliers that we use for the restaurant, which allows us to cook and eat the very best seasonal produce. We try to keep things vegetarian on weekdays, so today we might treat ourselves to a cut of roasted meat or grill a whole fish.
Sunday-evening routine?
A glass of wine (something chosen by my sommelier wife Desiree from our cellar) and a bit of grown-up conversation and catch-up over dinner. That would be the ideal, although with kids it doesn’t always go exactly to plan.
Will you lay out an outfit for Monday?
Who has the luxury of time to be doing that?
Recipe / Ralph Schelling
Swiss chard is in season so it’s the perfect time for chef Ralph Schelling to use the vibrant green leaves for a pesto alternative. Add some anchovies for additional saltiness and garnish with plenty of parmesan and lemon zest.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 bunch of Swiss chard
4 cloves of garlic
200g orecchiette
200ml olive oil
Pinch of salt
1 peperoncino
1 lemon
100g parmesan
50g pistachios
Pinch of black pepper
Method:
1
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Then blanch the Swiss chard with the garlic cloves for 2 minutes.
2
Remove the chard and put to one side. Use the same water to cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
3
Finely blend the greens in a blender with the garlic, lemon juice and zest (saving a little for garnish), half the parmesan, pistachios, black pepper and a little pasta water. Add the olive oil to create a homogeneous sauce.
4
Mix the pasta with the sauce and serve with your remaining lemon zest and parmesan. Hey pesto! Enjoy.
Weekend plans? / Longfellow Hotel, Portland, Maine
Maple trees line the cobblestone streets of West End, a neighbourhood in Portland, Maine, where the city’s latest independent hotel has swung open its doors (writes Katharine Sohn). The Longfellow Hotel, named after the famed 19th-century poet and native son Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was designed in collaboration with New York-based studio Post Company and hospitality group Uncommon Hospitality.
The latter is also behind The Francis Hotel, a much-loved establishment across the street, and knows a thing or two about converting old-school buildings into cool community spaces. “We chose this location because we have a great relationship with the neighbourhood’s businesses, and we wanted to add to the small but growing hospitality offerings,” says Uncommon Hospitality’s co-owner Tony DeLois.
The interiors are pared back and sophisticated, featuring velvet headboards and off-white walls in keeping with the Nordic-inspired starkness of its swish spa, Astraea. But the Longfellow Hotel’s beating heart is its wide-sweeping lobby and tall windows that frame Congress Street. “We scoured Brimfield Antique Flea Market in Massachusetts with the design team from Post Company picking out furniture and artwork for the lobby,” says DeLois.
As much thought also went into the Five of Clubs, a salon-style bar where regulars return for bison-grass vodka gimlets and prawn cocktails. It’s the perfect port of call in what Longfellow described as “the beautiful town... seated by the sea”.
longfellowhotel.com
For more of Monocle’s pick of hotels, buy a copy of thelatest issue, on newsstands now.
The Stack / ‘Just Looking’
Just Looking from UK art publisher The Redstone Press is, on its surface, a collection of ordinary photos (writes Sophie Monaghan-Coombs). There are images of signposts, unmade beds and restaurants with entertaining names (“Stomach House” is a particular favourite).
The pictures in this miniature coffee-table book are divided into chapters with titles such as “Observing”, “Gazing” and “Staring”. Some are placed in opposition to pithy quotes from the likes of Zora Neale Hurston, Ocean Vuong and Aldo Rossi.
The photos have been lifted from the Instagram pages of writers and artists. In another setting, you might dismissively scroll past them. But through Just Looking’s careful curation, which suggests that these photos are worth pondering, the images reveal themselves to be extraordinary documents of contemporary life. And, of course, they prove that a picture is always worth a second look.
theredstoneshop.com
For more finely curated photography and insights, pick up a copy of Monocle’sNovember issue, which is on newsstands now. Or better yet,subscribetoday so that you never miss an issue. Have a super Sunday.
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