Hong Kong


Hotel to stay: at the mythic Peninsula in Kowloon. For a full experience ask the car from the hotel to pick you up at the airport..its a Rolls. The transfer also include a very special service, someone is waiting for you at the airport prior to the custom to help you in every thing, specially if your lugage did not arrived! The service of the Peninsula is up to is legend...one of the best in the world. The Concierge is also very efficient.

For a Glass of Champagne: head to SOHO (south of Hollywood) the trendy district. You can stop at Goccia or try an other one. You will find many restaurants and bars. During the day SOHO is the Antique shop district.
In Kowloon....at Aqua 1 Pekin street for the view and the atmosphere.

Restaurants: the new trend in HK is private kitchen. Make sure you try Da Ping Huo. A great experience. The best Chinese (Chechouan cuisine) ever. Very spicy some times but so good. They serve you 14 different dishes. The chef sing opera at the end. Felix at the Peninsula for the view and the Stark total design. Hutong for the view and design. China Club for the colonial vibe.

Place to visit: Macao..you can get there by heli,15 mm fly. Bird Garden, Goldfish Market, Flower Market. Food Market in Kowloon near the Jade market (skip the jade market). Take a boat trip in Aberdeen. Explore Repulse bay and Stanley Market.

Shopping: everywhere...amazing. Chanel at each street corner

Bangkok

Hotel to stay: Peninsula. Located on the river bank. You can from you room watch the amazing boat traffic and get a good feeling of the city vibe. The swimming pool is amazing and if you have extra time you should go to the spa, one of the most beautiful I have seen so far. Open few month ago, in a Thai modern spirit...high ceiling...Magnificent. Overall the service is impeccable and the staff lovely, helful and smilly.

Restaurants: For lunch Celdon at the Sukhotai. For diner the Thai restaurant at the Peninsula...spectacular Thai cuisine best to eat near the river.Eat Me : own by a friendly Aussie...a test of expat fusion food and ambiance .

What to do: Cooking classes : Thai and Chinese with 5 stars chefs..."super genial "at the Peninsula. The best ios to book for a priviate class. A great experience. Spend some time at the Spa its spectacular. You can of course always go and visit all the temples...

Chiang Mai

Hotel to stay: Mandarin Oriental....the service is impeccable. More than 200 peoples are working in this resort imagined as a Royal Palace. The al resort is build around a rice field that they seams to actually take care of in a tradionnal Thai way using Bull. Very impressive. The Spa can be classified as the best Spa worldwide. The swimming pool is also very unique.

For a glass of Champagne: Horn Bar at Mandarin Oriental. Very modern, High ceiling, dark color, amazing horn mask collection on the wall. If it was in London or New York this bar will be the most trendy you can find..

Restaurants: the french restaurant Farang Ses at the Mandarin Oriental fantastic design, divine cuisine, great service

What to do: take a Mahout course a Maesa Elephant Camp, enjoy the Spa an swimming pool at the Mandarin Oriental

Phuket

Hotel to stay: Amanpuri. Serenity , beauty, will be the 2 words I will use to describe this place. Even if the hotel is full to absolutely do not have this feeling at all. You can always find a place there you find alone ...the beach in the morning, nobody really arrived before 11:00 or the swimming pool in the afternoon the one on to of the Japanese restaurant (there is 3 pools).

I recommend that you arrive in good shape...watch out the stairs!!!!

Restaurants : Thai and Japanese restaurants in the hotel (I don't recommend the Italian one)

What to do: relax, swim, snorkeling, boat ride ...Enjoy

Plaine Joux, Passy - Haute_Savoie - France

This is one of my favorite spots to admire the Mont Blanc and all the other mountain ranges in the are. We have been delighted to discover a gem set right there. Les Métiers d'art, family owned , gastro restaurant. Open only for lunch, with a reservation only for dinner, accessible by car or helicopter. The terrace has one of the best views you can dream of. The cuisine is absolutely amazing and even more amazing is the attention that they pay to the detail. The presentation is exceptional, the service is five star. The chef is an artist and for sure you will be impressed by this new opening.

St Tropez : Les Voiles de St Tropez

Beginning of October

Fantastic time to head to this gem of the French Riviera. The weather is still sunny and warm when up north it is much more grey and humid. Most of the resort is open. St Tropez is hosting a great sail race. In the harbour, the power yachts are replaced by sail boats.

Place for diner: l'Escale for the direct view on the harbour and all those racing sail boat.

Before and After diner drink: Quai Joseph , for the location, right on the harbour. Excellent live music, 80's revival, Sinatra....super mixture.

Shopping : A day in Milan

Via Spiga, Via Napoleon, Via Verri are the equivalent of Bond Street and Sloane street in London, Avenue Montaigne and Avenue St Honoré in Paris. The difference is the vibe , the district is packed with beautiful and chic people strolling and shopping like a catwalk show in the street , better dressed and more chic than you would experience anywhere in the world . The clear difference demonstrated by Milan versus Paris or London equivalents is in the space of four or five streets you see the beautiful and trendy , there with you , rather than just in the pictures in the windows of the shops or in their catalogues.

Unique in Milan: the newly open Dsquared2 flagship shop.

The design of the shop is Absolutely fabulous.

Reflect the image of the brand perfectly. When Canadian natural spirit meet Urban chic Milan...outstanding. A mixture of honey colour wood and black lacquer. You can shop here of course and have a glass of champagne at the Dsquared2 bar.

Gio Moretti is for Milan what Colette is in Paris. Selection of the best pieces of the season: Chloé, Gianni Barbato for shoes...Stunning art books selection.

Daad still the best in Milan...beautiful service, wonderful range of different designers capturing the best of the new designers of the moment. You want to wear something chic but different go there.

Want to eat on the spot, stop at Il Salimaio de Montenapoleon. Set on a terrace in a small private square on Via Napoleon. The restaurant is also a gourmet shop.

Where to eat in London?

In addition to our previous recommendation I definitively suggest l'Atelier Robuchon in West Street Covent Garden. The best way to enjoy this red and black French tapas place is to seat at the bar and sample.
The place to be to see the beautiful, successful Londoner at this moment is : Cipriani.

A desire for excellent gastro thai, try the newly open : Nahm.

Have a look at the previous post for additional place to go

St Tropez

Some new places to go in St Topez:

Diner: la Tartane the best Thai restaurant on the Riviera

Diner: Pan Dei the food is not always the best....the sitting outside near the pool is lovely and the staff are charming.

Diner: Colors, Le Palm are back on our list

After Diner drink: Quai Joseph. Right on the harbor, the place to be this summer. Great ambiance, nice people...

Beach: always Les Palmiers and La Voile Rouge which you will have to wait for next year to go back

Annecy
Restaurant & beach : Moon. At least a nice place in Annecy to enjoy this pure lake. White sand beach, good food, good service.

Sweden: Stockholm

May 07

What a nice city to visit on bank holiday want its sunny and the rest of Europe is pouring with rain. The city and the people are very chic. It seems that they is dress code here: leggings for women, jacket and jeans for men. The overall feeling of the city is : clean and safe, lovely people.

Hotel : Nordic light, member of the design hotel. Clean, white, very scandinavian.

Best shoppoing district: Biblioteksgatan, Birger Jarlspassagen...look for the two best shops there: Natalie Schuteman and ABCD.

Restaurant and bar: Sturehof, to feel the heart of the city, beautiful people, scandinavian cuisine, outside bar and terrace.

F12: gastonomique restaurant, delicious Kobé beef, nice design a calm mix of yellow green colors. Pontus by the sea, Riche...

Josefina: near the sea, fantastic place for Sunday lunch, all the high society of Stockholm seems to meet there.... White bar inside with enormous crital light. Palm trees outside on the terrace. Trendy outside bar. Very comfortable Swedish bean bag to lay on the sun.

Tips : Josefina and Stureholf are open on Sundays while most of the other are closed.

More on the list to try next time : Lux, Restaurang J, Kungsholmen, Wedholms Fisk

After dinner drink : Operakallarens Bakficka, Ice bar at Nordic See hotel (make sure you reserve if you want to get in)

Thing to do: boat ride of course, visit Djurgården and Skansen (park animal)

Sicily : Taormina

May 2007

We just came back from Taormina. May is a perfect time to go, not so busy, warm, lush nature. The cherry on the cake : the Etna was erupting, actually we where able to see it this time and we saw smoke coming out of the top.

We stayed up town, in San Domenico palace, in Suite overlooking the see with a fantastic terrace. The palace is nested in a lush colored garden of red , fuschia, purple, yellow flowers and trees. San Domenico Palace is a former monastery, you have a feel of it in the construction of the building which surround two manificient inside courts and the furniture in the lobby and corridors.

The service is as is should be in a Palace of this standing.

The breakfast is one of the best we had so far.

Where to eat for diner: in general the cuisine is excellent and the service is very old school, professional, efficient, polite. It is delightful.

La Giara, they just refurblish all the restaurant in a trendy white atmosphere, the cuisine is axcellent as well as the service.

Bougainvilliers, Italien gourmet cuisine at San Domenico Palace. Baronessa, a new open restaurant. Casa Grugno. Maffei's.

For a drink after diner, all the nice bar a on the same place : Q loung Bar, White Bar, Dèja Vu.

Shopping: Parisi, man, woman, junior they own 4 to 5 shops with the best fashion designers brand.

For more information have a look at a previous post.