new on the radar
Daytripper, yeah | one perfect day | Bondi, baby!
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A friend in town, an anniversary, an “I deserve it” moment … welcome to the luxury micro holiday club On a shiny winter’s day, seagulls, surfers and whale-watchers are framed in the picture windows of Bondi Beach’s famous Icebergs Dining Room and Bar. The caviar tartlets and the thyme-infused Campari spritz have been dispatched. A…
Is this Japan’s new food hub? | Go, Go Gotanda | A taste of Tokyo
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Gotanda’s tiny dancers are foodie central for visitors to Tokyo I am sitting at the counter of Yoshitey, one the tiniest in Tokyo I’ve eaten in. At five diners, it’s two more than usual. Chef Yoshitey Enya is delivering dish after dish: butter fish sashimi, charcoal grilled sticks of unctuous salmon, custard pudding with tiny…
A word, if you please | writers in paradise | Jaipur in the Maldives
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At the Jaipur Literary Festival Soneva Fushi this week, words are just the beginning… Australians love a writers’ festival. In 2022, some 140 of them are scheduled or in planning, canvassing genres, themes and dedicated authors, including this month’s Sydney Writers Festival (May 16-22). One of the world’s biggest assemblages of writers occurs each year…
Tuscan temptress | what makes a good host | Celebrating easy Italian food
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For Amber Guinness, Italian hospitality is an art form. In her 18th century farmhouse in Tuscany, where guests come to eat and paint, this passionate home cook shares her template Before I had even finished browsing through Amber Guinness’s new cookbook, I had made pea and mint soup, an asparagus and ricotta tart, and…
Sydney by boat | Harbour secrets | bushland, bays and beaches
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Tapping into this year’s staycation imperative is a new way to explore Sydney Harbour Excess All Areas played hooky this week, exploring the bays, beaches and bushland of the playground that is Sydney Harbour on Spectre, a sleek 12-metre Scandinavian Axopar37 sports cruiser, aka MySydneyBoat. Company director Mark Dalgleish and his skipper daughter, Elodie Dalgleish,…
The couturier and the candlemaker | a fragrant collaboration
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Two French powerhouses light a candle to creativity… Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing likes the scent of Cire Trudon’s “Ernesto” candle to be diffused through the maison’s flagship stores (Paris, Milan and, this month, New York). So no surprise the two powerhouses have teamed up to create an exclusive candle called the Cire Trudon x…
Luxury in the time of coronavirus | Rehab in the Maldives | Make mine rare
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What’s the new centrepiece of luxury travel? Ahead of the re-opening of the Maldives to tourists this week, premium hotelier Sonu Shivdasani has been recalibrating… The new luxury, post Covid-19, mused Sonu Shivdasani towards the end of a lockdown on one of his island paradises in the Maldives, will build on rarity. “The majority of…
Bottling ‘the flower shop accord’ | French alchemy | gardenia glams up
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Drawing on the savoir faire of a flamboyant French “nose”, Saskia Havekes announces a new addition to her Grandiflora family A fine perfume, says Saskia Havekes, has shape, tempo, and beauty. And, if you’re lucky, Christophe Laudamiel. The French chemist and master perfumer came on board to help create the final fragrance in Havekes’s exclusive…
Have perfume, will travel | destination in a bottle | the nose checks in
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Japan in springtime, Morocco in an orange haze, London dipped in derring-do … experience exotic locations through a fragrance filter. There’s a new wave of niche perfumes that aim to re-create a destination in a bottle. It’s a cache that lets the perfume lover daydream about travel that might still be, once closed borders are…
Where to stay in George Town | The pick of Penang | Heritage beds
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There are many great places to stay in the Penang’s heritage city of George Town, most with a colourful story to tell… George Town’s architecture is like the special family occasion where everyone brings a plate and you cross your fingers for a fine feast. Scotland arrives with the lacy cast iron, England turns up…