Steve Aoki – the cake-slinging, social media conquering, genre-defying superstar DJ – on his philosophy for life July 5, 2017 You can spend several hours watching international superstar DJ Steve Aoki chucking cakes at his fans. Big rectangular cakes, the kind you’d get on a round-numbered birthday or at a bad wedding, hurled with force from the stage into an expectant crowd. By the time the cake is airborne the audience has been whipped into [...]
Here’s the ultimate guide on where to eat in Montréal, a Canadian city where generations of immigrants have created an incredibly varied food scene July 5, 2017 This year the largest city in the French-Canadian province of Quebec celebrates its 375th anniversary. Since its founding, successive waves of immigrants have brought their culinary traditions to Montréal, adapting them to suit local tastes and ingredients. The result is a history written in rich, diverse and distinctive flavours. I visited in late March when [...]
Our guide to getting the most out of the remote and uniquely beautiful Pacific island of Samoa July 3, 2017 Samoa has one of the South Pacific’s most beautiful and varied coastlines, complemented by a lush mountainous interior. An ideal island getaway, visitors here can pick and choose between paddling round kiddie pool lagoons of vast breadth but knee-high depth, to catching the spray off gargantuan waves crashing into craggy sea cliffs. Or both, because [...]
Interiors: At Home with Plants by Ian Drummond and Kara O’Reilly will get you started caring for stress-busting indoor plants July 3, 2017 For me, indoor plants are key to bringing another energy and life to a space,” says Tara Bernerd, one of the world’s most in-demand interior designers. “The greens add bold colour and the textures add an emotion that anything man-made can’t achieve.” No wonder they are everywhere around town – The Ivy has even created [...]
Focus On New Cross: With year-on-year house price growth at nearly 15 per cent, SE14 is a safe bet in Zone Two July 3, 2017 Like many areas tipped for great growth in years to come, New Cross is a place that’s sandwiched in between two much trendier neighbours. The meteoric rise of Peckham and Deptford has left poor SE14 trailing in its wake, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be just as popular in just a few years. [...]
Ko Samui has long had a reputation for being a backpackers’ paradise – but it’s got a rather unexpected stylish and grown up side June 30, 2017 The taxi taking me on the ten-minute journey from Ko Samui’s tiny, open-air airport terminal to my hotel on Chaweng beach, one of the island’s most popular resorts, slows to a crawl when it hits Chaweng Road. The main artery into this area, the route comes to life after sunset when a host of raucous [...]
The history of colour paints: Patrick Baty, Britain’s foremost paint historian unearths hidden treasure in his first book The Anatomy of Colour June 29, 2017 After a fire raged through Hampton Court Palace, a huge restoration effort took place to restore its historic halls and royal bedchambers. Historic Royal Palaces, the charity responsible for maintaining the building, reached out for new interior designers in some cases, but what they needed most was experts to emulate the architecture as accurately as [...]
The long weekend: Unwind on the French Golden Island of Porquerolles at the meeting point of Provence and the Cote d’Azur June 26, 2017 We discover the golden island of Porquerolles off the south coast of France. THE WEEKEND: Spend a long weekend on the picture-perfect Isle de Porquerolles, an island little-visited by Brits in a region where the rustic charm of Provence and the cosmopolitan chic of the Cote d’Azur overlap. Cycle through olive orchards, hike along rugged [...]
Taking a tour of Tokyo’s fish markets, karaoke bars and robot restaurants June 19, 2017 The best day I spent in Tokyo was when I woke up, with a start, asleep on my sofa still at 10am after staying out until five doing karaoke, drunk still but with a hangover headache. On the surface level I would not recommend this to anyone – the housekeeping woman was incredibly scared by [...]
Focus On Orpington: Developers are starting to show an interest in this well-connected town in Zone 6 June 16, 2017 When house-hunting in London, the sleepy town of Orpington may not be high up your list. But there are many reasons why it should be, not least because its house price growth is among the fastest in outer London. According to estate agent JLL’s London Residential Heat Map, house prices in the BR6 postcode grew [...]