Monocle Weekend
Edition: Sunday

Paris
This won’t exactly come as news but a few intense days of entertaining and being hosted in Paris reminded me how very, very good the French are at hospitality. On Tuesday I attended the launch of Air France’s refreshed La Première first class product (new cabin, new Jacquemus pyjamas and a host of consulting chefs) in an elegant building beside the Ritz. While the new suite is a considerate evolution of what’s currently in the air (the same tones and floor-to-ceiling curtains remain), I was more taken by the people component that made the event such a success.

Rather than outsourcing the show-and-tell to an events agency, Air France uses their own specially selected squad of flight attendants for such events. Never have I seen such a poised, informed and chic group of ambassadors – all excited about the new product and all incredibly proud to be in uniform for their country’s flag carrier. One woman, sporting a tame shag coiffure, told me that she’d been with the airline for 32 years and loved flying the route to Haneda almost as much as she loved her Christian Lacroix uniform. A younger colleague, towering next to her (flying for AF for just two years) said he was looking forward to flying with the new product. “I like its softness. It’s not all hard shells and walls; it’s private yet somehow open,” he explained. This was a fine example of how dedicated and passionate people can be just as important as a well-designed product.

Parisdeux
In case you didn’t get enough of the action from our official opening on Wednesday, here are a few more snaps. Many of us will be back in Paris over the coming weeks, so please say hello if you’re nearby. We’d love to show you around.

Reykjavik
Icelandair’s Saga Premium is a distant galaxy from AF’s La Première but it was the only thing that would get me to Toronto on Thursday afternoon. I hadn’t flown through Reykjavik in some time and while the landing was fluffy and gentle, the connection in the terminal is like getting smacked by a side of puffin jerky. Come on Iceland! Pull your thumb out and do better. What was once a cosy, clever place to connect through is now chaotic and no longer fit for purpose. Rather than patching together what they have, Iceland Inc should start from scratch on the other side of Keflavík airfield and build something modern and majestic.

Toronto
Meanwhile, over in Toronto, ticket sales for flights to destinations in the US have collapsed. “Who would have been able to forecast this?” asked a hospitality CEO over drinks. “Canadians will be staying home or travelling to Europe this summer. They’re not vacationing in the US, that’s for sure.” So serious is the mood that one dares not ask for an Americano. It’s Canadianos all the way. Not quite as catchy but I get it.

Berlin has learnt to embrace its wine culture with the same fervour that it once reserved for craft beer (writes Florian Siebeck). But amid the abundance of wine bars, new opening Pluto in hip Prenzlauer Berg is turning heads. So, what is it about this newcomer that has Berlin’s wine lovers raising their glasses?

Perhaps it’s the pedigree of its founders, Vadim Otto Ursus and Sören Zuppke. The duo made their mark on Berlin’s food scene in 2019 with Otto, a restaurant in the same neighbourhood. Pluto channels the rustic charm of France’s wine caves. “We wanted to create a place where strangers might share a bottle at the bar,” says Otto Ursus.

Pluto has close ties with organic farmers in Brandenburg and its menu offers a selection of classic bar fare – but it also ventures into more adventurous territory. On Monocle’s visit, we tried the fromage de tête, veal-tongue salad and fiery mussel escabeche. The wine list reflects a deep knowledge and features bottles from small biodynamic producers across Europe. “We carry everything from cheap and cheerful everyday wines to rare, exceptional finds,” says Zuppke. Arguably the most un-Berlin thing about Pluto? It doesn’t take reservations, so get in line.
pluto-berlin.net

After nine years at Kunsthalle Basel, Elena Filipovic became the director of the city’s Kunstmuseum in 2024 (writes Maria Papakleanthous). Here, she tells us about her favourite bakery in Basel, her penchant for buttery clams and her mellow Sunday playlist.

Where do we find you this weekend?
I’ll be at a farmers’ market ogling at the produce as though it’s fine art.

What’s your ideal way to begin a Sunday – a gentle start or a jolt?
A very slow start – the kind of morning where you stay in bed just long enough to feel totally decadent.

What’s for breakfast?
Greek yoghurt, my favourite toasted sourdough from Bäckerei Kult in Basel and soft-boiled eggs sprinkled with sea salt and chilli. I also have a glass of warm lemon water because it makes me feel that I have my life together.

Lunch in or out?
In. On weekends I usually get into a frenzy of cooking, as though I was feeding a small army.

Walk the dog or downward dog?
Downward dog, though I wasn’t a yoga person until a recent retreat got me hooked.

Your Sunday soundtrack?
Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence if I’m feeling dreamy. Otherwise, it’s Nina Simone because no one can set a mood better.

A Sunday culture must?
The Kunsthalle, Fondation Beyeler or the Kunstmuseum in Basel. When I’m in Genoa, my new favourite city, I hunt down anything designed by Italian architect Franco Albini. His exhibition scenography blows me away every time.

What’s on the menu?
Clams swimming in a buttery white-wine sauce with crusty bread to mop it all up. Clams are wildly underrated and it is my mission to change that.

Do you lay out an outfit for Monday?
Not physically – that feels too organised. But I do a mental run-through and pretend that I have a plan.

Sometimes it’s best to keep things simple. Monocle’s Japanese recipe writer, Aya Nishimura, shares a recipe for zingy garlic prawns with a white-wine sauce and a good sprinkling of parsley.

Serves 4

Ingredients

12 large prawns (with shells on)
3 tbsps olive oil
4 peeled garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsps white wine
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
10g curly parsley, roughly chopped (save some to garnish)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

1.
Cut the prawns through their shells using kitchen scissors, starting under the head and stopping before the tail. Remove and discard the vein with a fork. Repeat with the remaining prawns.

2.
Heat the olive oil and garlic in a frying pan until sizzling. Add the prawns and cook until they are pink on both sides.

3.
Add the white wine and lemon juice. When the sauce starts bubbling, add half of the chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper, toss lightly and remove from the heat.

4.
Serve the prawns with the sauce and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

With its four “fingers” stretching out into the Aegean, the Peloponnese is a defining part of Greece’s geography: on a map its hand-like shape helps to make the country’s outline immediately recognisable (writes Chiara Rimella). Yet its shores have long been under-explored by those international visitors who, after landing in Athens, hop straight onto a ferry bound for one of the islands.

This largely unspoilt area has been luring back nostalgic domestic entrepreneurs seeking to give it a well-deserved update. Unlike many of the islands, the Peloponnese rewards an old-school roadtrip approach. Getting behind the wheel allows you to reach some of the remote villages among the thick pine forests.

You can start your day in the mountainous wilderness of Arcadia and soon be laying down your towel on the pebbly shores of the Argolic Gulf. Though grand hotels clinging to steep hills can make for dramatic accommodation options, the Mani Peninsula is a place of rustic guesthouses. Lunches at time-honoured tavernas are practically mandatory, though many ambitious chefs are rethinking the region’s traditional fare. Here are a few essential stop-offs.

Stay: Laspi, Pefkali
A brutalism-inspired construction made up of two hillside villas on the northern Peloponnese coastline. The raw concrete is balanced out by warm interiors.
laspi.life

Eat: Mple Kanarini, Kalamata
After a stint working abroad, chef Konstantinos Vasiliadis returned to his hometown of Kalamata to celebrate the bounty of the southern Peloponnese. His signature dishes, such as stuffed courgette flowers in tomato sauce, reimagine traditional staples.
34 Kritis, Kalamata

Spa: Euphoria Retreat, Mystras
The region’s celebrated Byzantine churches provided the inspiration for the centrepiece of this spa resort: a cave-like thermal pool painted in shades of blue and green.
euphoriaretreat.com

‘Greece: The Monocle Handbook’ is out now. Pick up a copy for more roadtrip recommendations.

Some places hit their stride when the sunlight wanes, the volume rises and the candle flames flicker. In our March issue, we celebrate the food spots that know how to keep the fun going late into the night. Among them is Kaniya Honten in Nagasaki, where we take a seat to sample its celebrated rice balls.

Making a quick stop for an after-dinner onigiri (rice ball) is common practice in Nagasaki but the origins of this ritual lie with one restaurant (writes Fiona Wilson). “My father opened Kaniya in 1965 when there were no konbini [convenience stores] and fewer restaurants,” says Hideki Fujikawa, the current proprietor. “This was the first onigiri speciality shop in Nagasaki. Once it opened, it became part of the local culture. People started saying, ‘Nondara Kaniya’, which means, ‘After you drink, it’s Kaniya.’”

The onigiri are made to order using A-grade Koshihikari rice from Niigata, seaweed from Ariake and Hakata salt from Ehime. A Kaniya onigiri is small enough to wolf down quickly, allowing diners to try more of the 33 varieties on the menu. Popular orders are iwanori (seasoned seaweed), takana (pickled mustard leaves) and the signature shio-saba (salt-grilled mackerel). “Unlike convenience-store versions,” says Fujikawa, “we carefully remove the bones by hand and grill each piece without any additives.”
kaniya.org

Monocle’s March issue contains our annual property special. Find it on all good newsstands now. Or subscribe today. Have a super Sunday