Issues

Parisian flair meets Dutch comfort at the new Bouillon d’Amsterdam restaurant in Hotel Die Port van Cleve

A French-Dutch hospitality crossover might sound like an unlikely combo – but hear us out. The new Bouillon d’Amsterdam in Hotel Die Port van Cleve, just behind the Dutch capital’s bustling Dam Square, takes the cheap-and-cheerful charm of Parisian bouillons and adds a local touch. Here, you’ll find the kinds of ingredients that are synonymous with the grand hotel from which the venue spawned – think wood panelling, a red marble bar and a sense of being in a neighbourhood watering hole – without losing the fail-safe characteristics of the restaurant’s Parisian counterparts.

“A bouillon is timeless: it’s all about good food in a welcoming setting with efficient service, all at an accessible price,” says Michiel van der Eerde, who co-founded the bistro with hospitality veterans Nick van der Meer, Tom de Rooij and Jasper Albers. “Those principles never really go out of style.”

Bouillon d’Amsterdam’s menu leans into Gallic classics. Expect to find everything from rustic terrine de campagne and steak frites with buttery Café de Paris sauce to crème caramel, good table wines and crusty baguettes. But the key to its success is that this isn’t merely a pastiche. Instead, it fills a gap in the city’s dining market for brisk service, shared tables and excellent but unpretentious food.

“We hope to become the table of the city,” De Rooij tells Monocle, explaining that he and his co-founders spent four years planning and, latterly, making numerous visits to the French capital with the goal of creating something special back home. “We hope that when you’re handed the bill, you’ll think to yourself, ‘Let’s come here again next week.’” Bouillon d’Amsterdam proves that there’s still room for time-tested ideas if you can get the recipe right.
bouillondamsterdam.nl

‘Expresso’ editor in chief João Vieira Pereira on how the Portuguese weekly remains a trusted democratic source in today’s polarised times

When Portuguese weekly Expresso was founded in 1973, it was a bold endeavour in a country that was living under censorship. The Estado Novo regime would fall the following year and the newspaper’s status as a beacon of the free press has endured, shaping the national debate and maintaining its place among the country’s elite. “Expresso was created as a house for freedom and it remains that way,” says 53-year-old João Vieira Pereira, Expresso’s personable and energetic editor in chief, who was born the same year as the paper.

Pereira is giving Monocle a tour of the newsroom, an open-plan space shared by Expresso journalists and those of cable-news channel SIC, both owned by parent company Grupo Impresa. “There are synergies and we work together sometimes,” says Pereira as he walks us through busy TV sets and recording studios in a slim cobalt suit. A picture of the company’s founder, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, who died last October, hangs in the newsroom. He remained involved in his media empire until the end. “His death was deeply felt here,” says Pereira. “It was as though we had lost a father. It’s a huge responsibility to carry forward the values that he embedded here, which made it possible for Expresso to persist while so many other papers have disappeared.”

Balsemão’s influence extended into politics. He founded the now governing Social Democratic Party and served as Portugal’s prime minister from 1981 to 1983. Over its five decades, Expresso has been a staple among the country’s political class. Former president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa cut his teeth as a journalist here (he was later Expresso’s editor in chief); senior politicians, economists and intellectuals frequently air their ideas on its pages. Expresso often reports from within the establishment but its contributors cover the political spectrum – from the populist right to the hard left – while remaining within clear editorial boundaries. “I won’t publish xenophobic, racist or anti-democratic views,” says Pereira. The result is predictable. “Those on the right say that we’re left-wing, while those on the left say that we’re right-wing,” he says. “Being in the centre isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

Take the coverage of Portugal’s far-right party Chega. As it gained prominence in the 2024 elections, Expresso decided to follow it more closely. “What we don’t want is to be caught off-guard,” says Pereira, pointing to Brazil, where much of the media was unprepared for Jair Bolsonaro’s victory in 2018. “We don’t want to normalise it but we can’t pretend that it sits outside the system when it clearly doesn’t.”

On newsstands every Friday, packed in its signature paper bag, Expresso is Portugal’s bestselling weekly. Its digital version accounts for the largest chunk of its readers today, with 50,000 subscribers and growth of 3.4 per cent in 2025. (An annual online subscription now costs €95.) But the physical paper, which has a readership of 33,000, continues to be central to the business, with sales and advertising representing its largest revenue stream. Around it is an expanding ecosystem of podcasts, events and other branded initiatives that keep things in the black. “We diversified our capacity to make money early on and we still make money,” says Pereira. “That’s fundamental to our independence.”

When we speak, Grupo Impresa, now led by Balsemão’s son, has just announced a capital increase that brings in Media for Europe, owned by the Berlusconi family, as an investor with a significant stake in the business. A moment of change? Pereira is measured on the subject. “What matters is that we continue to have shareholders who guarantee the conditions for us to do great journalism,” he says.

At its founding, Expresso’s format was inspired by UK weekend titles such as The Sunday Times and The Observer, with stories and opinion pieces divided into sections covering a broad spectrum of topics, from politics to culture. In 2006, Expresso shifted from broadsheet to Berliner format. Many supplements have come and gone over time but that overarching structure remains its defining characteristic. “We like to think of members of the same family each reading a different section and sharing the paper,” says Pereira.

Today the paper is organised into four main sections: politics and society, covering national and international affairs; economics; a magazine supplement with culture and lifestyle features; and Ideias (Ideas), a recent addition dedicated to more reflective pieces. Every section has its own editorial line. “It’s not that we’re different newspapers but I like giving editors freedom,” says Pereira, who started off editing Expresso’s economy pages.

His office, shared with the deputy editor, Miguel Cadete, overlooks the newsroom through glass walls. Its space was a temporary solution in times of social distancing but it stuck. “I’ve asked whether we can remove these two walls,” says Pereira. “I’d prefer to be in the newsroom.” His own media intake constitutes a balanced diet of the main players. Mornings start with a sweep of Portuguese papers before he moves on to the Financial Times and The New York Times (last year, Expresso launched a joint subscription with the latter). Copies of Time magazine are piled up at his desk and he’s a fan of podcasts, from news staples such as The New York Times’ The Daily to deeper dives such as ABC’s If You’re Listening. He’s proud that Expresso’s own audio shows are among Portugal’s most popular.

Adapting to a fast-changing media landscape remains a challenge. A defining shift during Pereira’s tenure has been its new focus on the publication’s digital output. “It meant turning a weekly into something closer to a daily,” he says. The newsroom now releases short-lifecycle news online daily for subscribers, while analysis and opinion remain in the print edition at the end of the week. “It’s two different audiences,” says Pereira. The digital strategy has affected print operations too, with decisions about what makes it into the physical paper partly guided by how well a piece has done online. But instinct remains key. “It’s a gut feeling. It’s what an editor does at the end of the day – choose.”

Our conversation turns to the role of journalism in society and how that has been challenged by social media. “We are increasingly closed off on our screens,” he says. “But people go to social media to confirm what they already think.” Newspapers, by contrast, should offer something else. “We are a space of freedom but not a libertarian space,” he says. “ There are rules, fact-checking, an editorial charter.” The task is to adapt without losing that core. “We must meet audiences where they are – through digital, podcasts and new formats – but at the same time insist on what we are: a safe harbour that people can trust.” As for the future, Pereira remains hopeful. “In the end,” he says, “when everything is questioned and up for debate, people will return to mainstream, independent journalism.”

Brilliant music, books, art and TV to have on your radar in May

‘Hope!!’
Angélique Kidjo

From its opening track, “Bando” (featuring Pharrell Williams and Quavo), Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo’s new album is full of bright, catchy songs. Other highlights starring top-tier collaborators include “Joy” with Davido and “Oyaya” with Nile Rodgers and Iza. An uplifting record to play all summer long, Hope!! is well deserving of its double exclamation marks.
‘Hope!!’ is released on 24 April

‘Train on the Island’
Aldous Harding

Kiwi singer Harding’s fifth album is full of her trademark ponderous pacing, soothing voice and acerbic lyrics. The playful and witty “I Ate the Most” and the memorable “San Francisco” are highlights. Catch Harding on tour to experience this performer’s idiosyncrasies in their full glory.
‘Train on the Island’ is released on 8 May

‘Let X=X’
Laurie Anderson with Sexmob

“Good evening, this is your captain,” begins Laurie Anderson’s new live album. Recorded on tour in 2023 with jazz band Sexmob, the 23 tracks include some of her best songs, interspersed with charming chatter. It is a record to lock into to feel its full power. Pick up a physical copy to enjoy Anderson’s own paintings as the packaging art.
‘Let X=X’ is released on 8 May

‘Ambivalence’
Brian Dillon

Irish writer Brian Dillon’s new book recounts his early adulthood in Dublin in the 1980s and 1990s. Ambivalence is most interesting when describing his first encounters with the works of writers such as Virginia Woolf. It’s a study of how we build our tastes, an exploration of education and a celebration of lifelong learning.
‘Ambivalence’ is published on 9 May

‘Night Train’
Xu Zechen, translated by Jeremy Tiang

When Chen Munian’s father refuses to lend him the money for a trip, the young man makes up a story that he has murdered someone and needs the funds to flee. While the lie gets Munian what he wants, it takes on a life of its own. Xu Zechen’s vivid novel explores how we shape our futures and what it means to live a contented life.
‘Night Train’ is published on 12 May

‘The Good Eye’
Jess Gibson

The short stories that make up Jess Gibson’s debut are variously set at a drunken dinner party, a cruise gone wrong and a hunting weekend. What unites the 12 tales is their amorphous undercurrent of disquiet. Tightly and mischievously told, they reveal Gibson as a master of capturing relationships as they begin to fray.
‘The Good Eye’ is published on 14 May

‘Mother Mary’
David Lowery

Best known for the yearning, lyrical poetry of A Ghost Story and The Green Knight, David Lowery brings the same elegance of purpose to this film about pop stardom. Here, a reclusive singer (Anne Hathaway) begins to lose any stable sense of self. Rather than treating fame as spectacle, the film sees it as a system of ritual and control, where perfectionism mutates into a cruel form of devotion.
‘Mother Mary’ is released on 24 April

‘Orphan’
László Nemes

In this film set after the Hungarian uprising of 1956, Nemes strips away melodrama in favour of something more exacting. A young boy (Bojtorján Barábas), raised by his mother on stories of a heroic missing father, must reckon with a coarse stranger claiming to be the real man. The result is a family drama shaped by politics, class and memory, with identity shown as a fragile story that people tell to survive.
‘Orphan’ is released on 15 May

‘Hen’
György Pálfi

Returning with a characteristically idiosyncratic premise, György Pálfi uses the story of a lone woman (Maria Diakopanayotou), a truly enchanting hen and a crumbling seaside restaurant business to explore routine, isolation and quiet forms of dependency. Eschewing sentimentality, Hen observes behaviour with clinical patience, finding small shifts in tone and gesture. Pálfi balances surrealism with mundanity, allowing meaning to emerge gradually rather than thrusting it upon us.
‘Hen’ is released on 22 May

‘The House of Spirits’
Prime Video

A behemoth of the Latin American literary canon, with more than 70 million copies sold, Isabel Allende’s generational saga offers a heady mix of death, love, spiritualism and Chilean political history. The novel’s sense of feminine resilience has lost none of its vibrancy in the four decades since its publication and Prime Video’s Spanish-language adaptation should capture a new generation of fans.
‘The House of Spirits’ is released on 29 April

‘Money Heist: Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine’
Netflix

Spanish franchise Money Heist has become an unstoppable juggernaut. A follow-up to 2023 prequel Berlin, this latest outing features the elite criminals travelling to Seville for “the biggest heist in history”. They have their eyes on Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine, though the real prize is the scheming Duke of Málaga and his wife.
‘Money Heist: Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine’ is released on 15 May

‘Star City’
Apple TV

For All Mankind, the fifth season of which was recently released on Apple TV, offers a fascinating alternativehistory view of the space race, in which the Soviet Union was the first to put a man on the Moon. New spin off Star City hops across the Iron Curtain, recounting the same story not from the US perspective but that of their Soviet rivals.
‘Star City’ is released on 29 May

‘Hilma af Klint’
Grand Palais, Paris

In late 19th-century art circles, women weren’t meant to experiment. Figurative painter Hilma af Klint hid her peerless abstract work, even stipulating in her will that it wouldn’t be exhibited until two decades after her death in 1944. The world is finally catching up. Her Paintings for the Temple cycle will be a highlight of this major retrospective in France.
‘Hilma af Klint’ runs from 6 May to 30 August

Björk: ‘Echolalia’
National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík

Icelandic singer Björk’s albums have become increasingly high concept as she retreats from her 1990s commercial peak. This hometown show is a good entry point. Immersive installations include a multimedia presentation of her next album, plus two more that add context to 2022’s fungi-inspired LP Fossora. Opening concurrently, Metamorphlings spotlights the artistry of Björk collaborator James Merry.
‘Echolalia’ runs from 31 May to 20 September

‘I love the immediacy of taking a picture’: Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos turns to photography in debut exhibition

Greek film director Yorgos Lanthimos has been turning out deadpan, surprising and often absurd movies for the past two decades. More recently, an intense stint making three features in as many years has left him desperate for a break (as yet unspecified in length). Rather than going silent, though, Lanthimos is presenting his work in another, quieter medium. Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs, on show at Onassis Stegi in his home city of Athens, is his first major photography exhibition in Europe.

“My way into both films and photography was very gradual,” he says, ahead of the official opening. Growing up, Lanthimos almost pursued basketball professionally before he started shooting commercials – in the 1990s, the industry was booming in Greece. It might be hard to believe that the same director who made such unsettling films as The Killing of a Sacred Deer is also behind a slew of sleek ads but their hyper-saturated polish is also what enticed him to explore black-and-white photography.

Many of the prints displayed at Onassis Stegi were produced on the sets of Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness and the Oscar-nominated Bugonia, with the later pictures possessing a detached, melancholic air. The most poignant images were taken in Greece, the country with which he has reacquainted himself since moving back during the pandemic. There are boxy buildings nestled on rocky terrain; the scratches of a digger on a boulder; a child nuzzling into a woman’s chest at the end of a long lunch. Sadness and beauty collide but Lanthimos is not one to romanticise or embellish in his answers, as in his pictures.

When you take photographs, is it a relief not to have to create a whole new world but to be receptive to what’s already there?
That’s part of it. Compared with film, you don’t need as many people, resources, financing or a plan. You can just shoot whatever you find interesting. When you put together a film, it stays like that until the end of the world, which is stressful and limiting. A picture can be combined with other pictures and [take on a different meaning]. You can make a book and it has a different narrative; make a show and it has another one.

The pictures in the inner section of this exhibition feel very personal. How important is the public aspect of your work?
When I’m on a film set, I’m taking photos for myself first. It lets me see the place I’m in and the people I’m with in a different way. So those pictures are intimate too. The work that I’ve done in Greece is even more so – because I was away for so long, it feels personal. And then there are portraits of people, most of whom are my friends or people I know. At the same time, a lot of my pictures are of landscape. We all see these things – but here’s how I view them and how I can transform them a little bit.

What camera do you like the most?
I have a bit of a disease: I have hundreds of cameras. I favour medium-format and mostly use my Plaubel Makina 67, Mamiya 7 or Pentax 67. Lately I’ve been liking my Hasselblad as well. Whenever I go somewhere, it’s always a struggle deciding which cameras to take with me. I love the tactile aspect of working with analogue. And I love the immediacy of taking a picture. You can go home, develop it, print it and hold it in your hand. You have made something in a day; I find that beautiful. If the picture is good, it’s even greater.

How much expectation is there from within and outside Greece to see your version of the country?
I’ve been making films outside Greece for so long that I don’t think of myself as ever representing the country. But when I made my early film Kinetta, which was shown in Berlin and Toronto, I was in screenings with expats living in Germany or Canada and they were furious because they expected to see a picturesque version of Greece, what they missed from their home country. But I was like any person who makes a film or takes pictures: sharing thoughts and questions about people, places, situations, stories.

Some of the pictures in this show are bleak but also life-affirming. Are you a pessimist or an optimist?
For some time I was a pessimist. Looking at the world right now, I don’t know why you’d become an optimist. But in a way, the hopelessness that I feel makes me want to do things – if we don’t, then what are we going to do? So I’ve become a strange optimist. I’m dark but optimistic.

Does photography allow you to venture into areas that you don’t necessarily explore with your films?
Freed from narrative, you’re able to explore architecture or landscape in simpler ways, which can be quite profound. It’s simpler in terms of form but it feels like it can contain so much. With less, you can show more.

Will this approach feed back into your film-making?
It already has, in a way, even just by taking pictures on film sets. It’s enabled me to see things differently, in how I’m approaching something or filming a scene. It’s almost like a palate cleanser. I think that these things happen mostly unconsciously. I’m sure that when I make another film it will be part of it in ways that I don’t even realise.

‘Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs’ is on at Onassis Stegi in Athens until 17 May

Design-led dining spots to visit this May – from a fire station-turned-ale house in Auckland to Marseille’s latest retro-futurist opening

1.
Grey Lynn Firehouse
Auckland

After seeing the resurgence of pub culture in Melbourne and spending seven years working in east London, Luke Jones was confident that his new watering hole would appeal to Aucklanders. Perched between Ponsonby and Grey Lynn, the terracotta-brick ale house, set inside an 1880s former fire station, is something of an anomaly in a neighbourhood best known for its timber-framed vernacular.

Designed by the Kiwi-Japanese Studio Tatami, the British-inspired gastropub’s 40-cover dining space features original fireplaces and timber floors paired with mid-century furnishings and a burgundy panelled ceiling. More inviting still is the menu. Head chef Kereru Wilson – formerly of Auckland hotspots Depot and Cazador – elevates Antipodean classics while weaving in his Maori heritage.

There’s a snack-sized sando filled with deliciously creamy tuatua clams that comes with a schooner of Guinness, while the standout “Hockhetta” (a take on Italian porchetta that uses braised ham hock instead of roast pork belly) arrives with a fresh pea salad, apple sauce and a dollop of house mustard. Try the Firehouse lager or one of a wide variety of Kiwi wines – it’s safe to say that Jones knows his audience.
greylynnfirehouse.co.nz

2.
Café Tempo
Tallin

Kenneth Karjane poured his experience founding Tallinn institutions Barbarea and bakery Karjase Sai into his new venture. In a former industrial storage depot in Telliskivi – Tallinn’s current food-and-drink hotspot – Café Tempo doubles as a café and bakery in the morning and a eastern Mediterranean grill in the evening. The menu might include the likes of charcoal-grilled Adana kebab and socca (a niçoise pancake) with pumpkin satay and chicken thighs in a brown-butter sauce. Mop it up with slabs of barbari, a fluffy Iranian flatbread.
cafetempo.ee

3.
Dévo
Marseille

“There isn’t one Marseille but several,” says Nîmes-born, Marseille-based designer Axel Chay. “As a port that’s been open to the Mediterranean and the world for more than 2,000 years, things are in constant movement.” This motion gave inspiration to Chay and his art-director wife, Mélissa, for the interiors of their first restaurant, Dévo. Think 1970s retro-futurism – lacquered surfaces, wood-panelled walls and custom stainless-steel furniture. Chef Ferdinand Fravega blends staples from his native Provence with Spanish influences and Italian aperitivo culture.
devomarseille.com

Hoshino Resort’s OMO7 Yokohama hotel gives new life to the former city hall

In 1959, Togo Murano, one of Japan’s greatest modern architects, built Yokohama’s much-loved city hall. The complex has now been remodelled and renovated, with its old administrative building converted by Hoshino Resorts into a 276-key hotel, OMO7 Yokohama.

The renovation design was handled by Takenaka Coporation, with interior design and supervision by Naruse-Inokuma Architects. The team did its best to keep what it could and accentuate Murano’s design. “Developers would never build like this now,” says Yoshiharu Hoshino, the CEO of Hoshino Resorts and operator of OMO7. “The empty atrium space doesn’t make sense in modern business terms but it adds so much value. Nobody would agree to a staircase taking up so much space now but the atmosphere is wonderful. Togo Murano’s imagination allowed us to create this hotel.”

Original floor tiles, door handles, lights and clocks have been given a second life, while new elements are infused with colours and materials in keeping with Murano’s vision. “Where possible, we preserved and reused items in their original location,” says architect Jun Inokuma. The atrium’s handrails were repurposed, while the green chairs on its upper floor have been reupholstered. City-hall artworks have been repaired and, in some cases, moved. A prominent ceramic mural, “Sea, Waves, Ship” by sculptor Shindo Tsuji, is now on the bakery wall.

The interiors were inspired by the bold hues that Murano used in the old city hall: green in the council chamber, red in the speaker’s office and vivid blue wall tiles. One floor is dedicated to dogs and includes a grooming area and special quarters in which they can sleep. Meanwhile, the hotel’s restaurant reflects cuisines popular in Yokohama, including yoshoku (Western-inspired cooking) and Chinese (Yokohama has a historic Chinatown).

OMO is Hoshino’s city brand, while the “7” denotes “full service”. The area beyond the hotel, now renamed Basegate, has been redeveloped and offers shopping, food and offices. Chinatown, the waterfront and Yokohama Park are just a stroll away. Hoshino is now working on another renovation in Nara – converting the city’s former prison into a hotel. “I’m fighting against design driven by space efficiency,” he says. “One of the best ways is to use old buildings and give them new value.”
yoshinoresorts.com

Yokohama: A city of firsts
Japan’s second-largest city was one of the first to open up after the country’s mid-19th-century isolation. It was also the first in the country to have a commercial beer brewery (Kirin) and ice cream. Today, on one side of OMO7, rooms look out on Yokohama’s 34,000-seat baseball stadium. The roof terrace (with a bar) offers a striking view of the action.

The perfect weekend getaway: Verneuil-la-douce, a charming château-turned-inn just outside Paris

If you ask a hotelier what they want most for their guests, sweet dreams would probably be near the top of the list. Verneuil-la-douce – an art-filled, 17-room hotel an hour west of Paris by car – goes well beyond plush pillows and soft lighting in its efforts to fulfil that promise. From the glass-walled lounge with its Greek mythology-inspired frescoes to the garden-facing indoor pool and spa, every space here seems carefully contrived to create a dream-like atmosphere. “We wanted to inspire wonder and contemplation,” says Parisian entrepreneur Camille Omerin, the owner of the 19th-century Anglo-Norman château.

The project, which fully opens this spring after a two-and-a-half-year renovation, is Omerin’s first hospitality venture but she quickly found her footing. For the site-specific works, she selected seven artists who she knew personally or whose work she admired. Among them were Ben Arpéa, who is behind the outdoor pool’s colourful design.

But no one has left a bigger mark on the hotel than Ségolène Derudder, a graphic designer and illustrator based in Biarritz and Paris, who was commissioned to create the common areas’ frescoes. In the dining room, where her playful images can be seen on the ceiling, Omerin points out a blue-haired cherub playing the violin. “There are plenty of fun details like this in her work,” she says.

Plenty of care went into the furniture. Omerin designed many of the pieces, from the ornate, Napoleon III-style chairs in the dining room and the wooden headboards, coffee tables and desks in the bedrooms to the botanically inspired vases and wall lamps, which were made to measure by DM Création ceramics workshop. While most of the decorative elements feel contemporary, others feel as though they have been part of the château for decades, such as the black marble inlays in the parquet and the vine-leaf boiseries.

Eating is an important part of the experience too. At restaurant Patiné, chef Cyril Coutin serves eye-catching dishes that taste as good as they look and might just leave you dreaming of another night in which to enjoy it all again.
verneuilladoucehotel.com

Further reading:

Four weekend escapes within easy reach of Paris

Monocle’s complete city guide to Paris

Shopping for heritage inside Tokyo’s legendary Imperial Hotel arcade

The old bar and arcade of Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel are pockets of calm and civility in a hurried world. Everything here deserves your time and attention: the pots of cascading orchids at florist Hibiya Kadan; the slices of sweet yokan jelly at Toraya, a confectioner founded in the early 16th century; the omakase dinner at 14-seat restaurant Torakuro. You can get a swift shoeshine and a fresh haircut too.

Mayuyama jewellers, which was one of the first occupants of the hotel’s arcade when it opened in 1923, is still here today. Its fourth-generation owner, Tatsuya Mayuyama, is its managing director and also the chair of the arcade association. “We have customers who have been coming for years,” he says. “Recently, a woman told us that she wanted to buy her granddaughter a piece of jewellery from us, just as her grandmother had done for her.”

There are six jewellers here among more than 40 shops, including Uyeda, another of the original arcade outlets. “There’s a camaraderie,” says Mayuyama. “If we don’t have something that a client is looking for, we will ask other shops whether they have it.”

When Monocle visits, the owners here are happy to share anecdotes about their businesses, many of which date back decades. Kazutaka Takahashi is in charge of Tani Shirt, a custom shirtmaker that was founded in Yokohama in 1930. Hollywood stars have snapped up its pieces and dapper Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was a regular. Kashiko Tomita, meanwhile, runs her family souvenir business, Torii, another arcade veteran that sells bags crafted from silk kimono sashes, hair clips and decorative fans and pouches, all made in Japan. Her family had connections with Kihachiro Okura, one of the hotel’s founders.

Atsushi Tomidokoro looks after Sokendo, his family’s 70-year-old sword and armour shop. In the window is a katana from 1549 and another handsome blade by a modern master. “Collectors and museums like having the full story behind a piece,” says Tomidokoro. A good sword is marked with the name of its maker and often its past owner. Elsewhere in the shop, a 300-year-old suit of samurai armour stands to attention.

Koichi Nakayama is the president of Antique Tei, an art business started by his grandfather. He is surrounded by traditional Japanese screens and pristine ceramics by Edo-era craftsman Ogata Kenzan. “My clientele is Japanese and international,” he says. He can also source specific pieces on request. “Foreign clients are often looking for full-size folding screens, while Japanese collectors might go for something smaller, often connected to chanoyu [a tea ceremony].”

The hotel, which occupied a Frank Lloyd Wright building from 1923 to 1967, has been in its current home since 1970; it is undergoing change again and will be reborn in the mid-2030s in a new building designed by Tsuyoshi Tane. For all its heritage, Tokyo doesn’t fear change.
imperial-arcade.co.jp

Inside The Peninsula Hong Kong’s stunning shopping arcade, the birthplace of the city’s luxury-retail scene

The Peninsula on Nathan Road is a short walk from the K11 Musea mall and not far from the Harbour City shopping centre along the Victoria waterfront. But the historic hotel’s shopping arcade trades on something different to its competitors. Within its halls, visitors enter a retail environment shaped not by likes or impressions but decades of retail history.

Inside, crown-moulded ceilings and a 19th-century Edwardian palette of browns and creams lend the arcade a sense of continuity with the rest of the hotel. Shopfronts sit flush against the marbled walls that wrap around the ground-floor foyer, where Rolex and Goyard anchor the main café areas. Shoppers move through the lobby rather than up escalators to fitting appointments that can be bookended by lunch and afternoon tea. Locals can dart in for groceries while guests peruse the wares, before making for their rooms.

“The Peninsula retail arcades are where luxury started in Asia – in Hong Kong in the 1970s,” says Benjamin Vuchot, the CEO of The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels group. “This was the only option when it came to showcasing luxury brands. Hong Kong was where Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Van Cleef & Arpels and Hermès first had an Asian presence.”

Today the arcade extends across three levels and houses more than 80 tenants, including lifestyle brands, fashion and jewellery outlets, and grocery shops (gourmet supermarket Mercato draws nearby residents looking for specialist produce). International labels sit alongside independents: Jimmy Chen & Co, one of the city’s longest-standing bespoke tailors, continues to operate here with a lease that’s secured for life. On the lower level, the Peninsula Boutique and Café sells the hotel’s own branded goods. Since 1928 The Peninsula has produced chocolate, tea blends and chilli sauce. More recently, it has added towels and linens for shoppers keen to recreate something of the experience at home.

The tenant mix is adjusted carefully. Alongside established names, short-term arrangements allow for fresh ideas. Italian jeweller Vhernier recently chose the arcade for its debut outpost in Asia, while home-décor label Lala Curio has recently established a flagship upstairs.

The Peninsula understands its audience. The arcade is lively even in the middle of the day, with a small orchestra providing a soundtrack for shoppers. Customers can be seen queueing outside the most popular shops, as staff usher clients through the arrivals procedure while other guests clip across the marble floors to linger among the window displays and enjoy the spectacle.
peninsula.com

Indulge yourself at the Ritz Paris’s shopping gallery, a one-stop destination for all things luxury

When the Ritz Paris opened in 1898, it was the world’s first hotel to offer rooms with private bathrooms and electricity on every floor. It was also one of the first to offer a retail area within its walls. Marie-Louise Ritz, the wife of former owner César Ritz, added a shopping gallery on the ground floor reminiscent of the covered passages near the Palais Royal gardens. Featuring wood-panelled walls and streetlamps, it was quickly dubbed a “gallery of temptations”.

When the hotel underwent a €450m renovation from 2012 to 2016, the gallery wasn’t neglected. Its display cases were lovingly restored and the hallway was opened up, with tall windows looking onto the gardens. Today guests can fill their Rimowas and Birkin bags without ever having to venture out to the boutiques of the nearby Place Vendôme.

Buccellati jewellery is among the pieces on display here, alongside Haviland porcelain from Limoges and EB Meyrowitz sunglasses. Further down the hall are two boutiques specialising in jewellery: Tasaki and Dolce & Gabbana Jewelry. No luxury is too small – there’s a tea shop by TWG and another by Moroccan brand Bacha Coffee selling the best beans. Then there’s the hotel boutique, which stocks bathrobes in Egyptian cotton and air fresheners with the Ritz’s signature Ambre Péristyle scent. The hotel is also home to the Escoffier cooking school and, in 2021, it opened its own patisserie on Rue Cambon, Ritz Paris Le Comptoir, led by pastry chef Joris Theysset.

With her team, the hotel’s retail director, Maddalena Barile, has experimented with limited-edition collections made from upcycled hotel materials. After realising that the Ritz had accumulated a lot of broken porcelain, in 2024 she unveiled a collection of jewellery made by La Fabrique Nomade, designed from fragments of the hotel’s Marthe dinner service, originally created by founder César Ritz in 1898. There was also a collection of tote bags made from materials taken from curtains, cushions and bedspreads. All were hand-embroidered with classic Ritz Paris logos and sold out after a limited launch last year. “You’re taking a part of the hotel with you,” says Barile, adding that her team is always thinking of ways for guests to prolong the experience of staying there – and in the French capital. “The Ritz is in Paris and Paris is in the Ritz,” she says.
ritzparis.com

Putting on the Ritz
Three tenants, innovations and collaborations that make the Paris address a hotel nonpareil.

Bacha Coffee beans
Marrakech-based Bacha Coffee, known for offering more than 200 varieties of beans from across the globe, opened its first European boutique in the Ritz Paris gallery in 2022.

Ambre Péristyle diffuser
This room diffuser captures the hotel’s signature scent, combining amber notes with a hint of black pepper and jasmine. It comes in a flask decorated with the Ritz Paris suite key.

Striped cashmere turtleneck
Part of an ongoing collaboration with Los Angeles-based brand Frame, this sequined cashmere striped sweater features a discreet Ritz logo on the front and the César Ritz crest on the upper back.