Sunday Paper Edition 008: Fantasy Weekend Away
29 May 2021
What We’re Reading
This month, we’re celebrating city life. Whether you’re lucky enough to live in a place which has started to relax from stringent Covid regulations or in one where you still have to be more cautious, we can probably all agree that we have been dreaming about the vibrancy and excitement of a Great City.
On the literary front, we are therefore turning to the perfectly named Open City by the Nigerian writer, photographer and art historian Eju Cole.
Following the narrator Julius as he walks the streets of Manhattan after having finished his shift as a psychiatrist at Columbia Presbyterian, we are drawn deep into his mind as he ponders subjects as varied as the music of Mahler, New York bedbugs and the paintings of John Brewster.
Beautifully written and with an almost addictively introspective quality, we urge you to pick up a copy at your local independent bookshop at your earliest convenience.
What We’re Dreaming Of
Some people like to play fantasy football. At Métier, we like to play fantasy weekend away. Imagine that you didn’t have any travel or time zone restraints and could instantly teleport yourself from city to city, eating, drinking, dancing and soak up the culture at all your favourite spots, globally.
Here is our fantasy two-day itinerary:
Day 1
Scandinavians know the importance of a simple yet healthful breakfast and no place does it better than Copenhagen’s Café Atelier September. Serving up honest yet exquisite dishes from their small, open kitchen located in a former art gallery, it is the ideal way to start off the weekend as we intend to go on; in style.
From there, we will head to Cape Town and Zeitz MOCAA, host to the world’s largest collection of contemporary African art. Located on the banks of Taylor Bay overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, we will spend hours exploring the extensive galleries and admire the dramatic architecture of this converted grain silo.
We will then stop by Alice Waters’ iconic Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse for a light lunch where we will opt to dine in the less formal café upstairs. Her team will serve up simple, seasonal delicacies sourced from farmers around the Bay Area.
Eager to stretch our legs, we will head to Venice and, perhaps unconventionally, explore the city by foot rather than by a vaporetto. The intricate network of calles means that we will be lost in just a few minutes and thus have the opportunity to spend the afternoon in the company of the unexpected.
We will then head to New York’s beloved Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle for an aperitivo before completely changing the vibe by having dinner at the Shun Kee Typhoon Shelter in Hong Kong. There, local fishermen will serve up their just caught seafood, onboard their traditional sampan boats whilst we admire the skyline and sip an ice-cold beer from Young Master Brewery.
We will end our evening in Lisbon at Park bar. Located on the 7th floor of a parking garage, it has been transformed into a lush green terrace with some of the best views of the city. Mellow at sunset and with some great DJs later on, this a truly great finale to our fabulous first day.
Day 2
Breakfast will be on the go by grabbing a cardamom croissant-bun from our indulgent Notting Hill favourite Buns From Home. We will then head straight to Vesturbæjarlaug, a much-loved Reykjavik hot-spring, right in the middle of the city. This no-frills but heavenly place will relax you right to the core and get rid of any remnants of last night’s indulgences. Don’t forget to use the icy plunge pool!
Our next stop is Tokyo’s Shibuya district where we will visit Café Lion, one of Tokyo’s few remaining music coffee houses, or so-called meikyoku kissaten. It is an epic listening theatre entirely dedicated to classical music played on vinyl and amplified by 3-metre-high custom-made speakers, handcrafted by local carpenters in the 1950s. You can have delicious tea and a light snack whilst listening to Chopin, Liszt, and Bach. No talking allowed.
To round things off, we will have a pre-dinner drink at Zürich’s Kronenhalle, legendary watering-hole for iconic creatives such as Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, James Joyce and Coco Chanel. As a grand finale, we will hit a gastronomic high note by enjoying a fabulous dinner at Stockholm’s Frantzén restaurant. Combining traditional Nordic cuisine with modern techniques and a slight Japanese influence, it is a firm favourite of ours and the perfect way to end this dreamy weekend.
What does your fantasy itinerary look like?
Our Weekend Essentials
Accompanying us are the perfect travel companions Perriand Weekend (women) and Vagabond Duffle (men) which have both been meticulously designed to hold all your essentials and then some. Also along for the ride is Métier’s brand new and utterly indulgent cashmere throw, sustainably produced in Tuscany from the softest yarn imaginable. Use as a super luxurious blanket on a chilly evening or drape over your favourite outfit as an elegant accessory.
