Crosby Street Hotel

NEW YORK, USA - I've stayed in several of this group's hotels in London and have become a big fan so when they opened up their first New York location, I had to send out a little woohoo!

The British Firmdale Hotels group, of which London's Haymarket, Soho Hotel and Charlotte Street Hotel are part, has made it over to the US, with the opening of their new hotel, Crosby Street Hotel. Located down in Soho on the eponymous street, the Crosby Street Hotel opened on September 29th and looks quite promising. Tim and Kit Kemp, the owners of this fabulous group, apparently built the building from the ground up, and it now looks to be a serene retreat for the chicest of chic travelers. A rooftop garden, a verdant courtyard, sitting rooms with that inimitable decor style that is so Firmdale (i.e., crazy fun prints in funky colors with an end result that is oddly soothing and a pleasure in which to end a long day), apparently the Kemps have it in mind to make this a New York hotel and not just a London transplant - good move, because much as I love London, and I do adore London, this is New York!

With that in mind, I'm looking forward to popping in on the Crosby Street Hotel. This'll surely be a hot spot to keep an eye on, as all of Firmdale's London properties cater to jetsetters from Hollywood and New York. They did retain one British feature: afternoon tea, which is served all day long. I suppose I'll just have to check that out when I visit...

Crosby Street Hotel
79 Crosby Street (between Spring and Prince)
212.226.6400
www.firmdale.com

Nan Luo Gu Xiang: Beijing’s not-so-best-kept secret

BEIJING, CHINA- Since I live just around the corner and since I’ve been bombarded with tales of its fabulousness, this weekend I decided it was time: I needed to check out Nan Luo Gu Xiang. (It’s a narrow, 700-year old hutong alleyway which has recently been converted into an artsy shopping/café strip.) Before I moved to the ‘hood, I was definitely aware of NLGX – it was popping up with increasingly frequency in my friends’ conversations and in the addresses of restaurants I’d been meaning to try – but had never actually set food on its cobbled floor. Word on the street seemed to be that it was an undiscovered gem in the heart of the hutong, choc a bloc with cute-‘n-cozy bars, cheap snack vendors and funky shops. From my observations this weekend I can say ‘the street’ got it just about right, EXCEPT for the ‘undiscovered’ bit. Holy cow was it crowded! If you’re going to check it out on a weekend, I would highly recommend bringing along a heavy to clear the hordes in front of you.

But, besides the crowds… There are indeed heaps of cafés, bars and restos. The quality varies - some seem to be identikit knock offs of successful originals, while others are the real deal – but it’s not hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. Places that caught my eye: Saveurs de Corée (an organic Korean restaurant with a full vegetarian menu and fab rooftop terrace), Xiao Xin’s Café (comfy chairs, dreamy cheesecake, free wifi and a-ok cappuccinos), and Fish Nation (an upscale British fish and chip shop). My favourite by a mile though was an unnamed churros stand that serves them up piping hot and super authentic, topped with either chocolate or ice cream.

As for the shopping, there’s quite a mix, but it leans heavily towards gift-shoppy. My top picks: Plastered T-Shirts, which sells t-shirts (duh) with quirky Beijing designs, and Grifted which has an equally off-beat range of puppets designed in the form of famous communist dictators (Castro…Mao…Stalin…). There are also plenty of places peddling leather bound notebooks (they seem to be a mainstay of the NLGX economy), general tourist trinkets and traditional Chinese clothing. Dotted in between the gift shops are a handful of hip boutiques, generally run by local designers. They’re definitely worth a browse. Beware that they tend to have restricted ranges of sizes/colours for each design, but if you ask for a certain size or something tailored, they’re very accommodating. (I’d advise bringing a dictionary if you don’t speak Chinese, just to help with getting the specifics across.)

So, in sum: Nan Luo Gu Xiang gets full marks for neato shopping and eats (as long as you avoid the knock-off versions of the real McCoys), but it gets a few demerits on the ‘swarms of people’ front. Try it on a weekday so that you can have enough space to window shop…and so that you can order a churro without having to queue for eons.

EATS

Saveurs de Corée
29 Nanluoguxiang
Phone: 6401-6083
www.saveursdecoree.com.cn

Xiao Xin’s Café
103 Nanluoguxiang
Phone: 6403-6956

Fish Nation
31 Nanluoguxiang
Phone: 6401-3249
www.fishnation.com

Churros Stand
A block north of Fish Nation

SHOPS

Plastered T-shirts
61 Nanluoguxiang
Phone: 13488848855
www.plasteredtshirts.com

Grifted
32 Nanluoguxiang
Phone: 64062716
www.studio-savant.com

Guest Post by Rebecca Salois

Snack Scene Beijing: Autumn Edition

BEIJING, CHINA- Ah, Beijing in the autumn. The air temperature suddenly drops from ‘steamy’ to ‘crisp’ and, on cue, the entire city shifts gears. The bus attendants start wearing their winter uniforms now, sock vendors on the streets redouble their efforts (you can never have enough socks in the winter…) and everyone’s favourite topic of conversation is the annual government switch-on of the heating. But let’s not beat around the bush: the most important autumnal change of all is the arrival of Beijing’s cold weather snacking options.

I first sniffed out the annual arrival of these delicacies a couple of days ago when walking down the narrow hutong lane where I live. Added to the seemingly perpetual game of Chinese chess outside my door (my neighbours all draw up small stools and crowd around a low table where two competitors are duking it out for the glory of being local champion) were a crowd of vendors hawking the most divine smelling snacks that have ever existed in the whole wide universe (I swear I’m not exaggerating): hot roasted sweet potatoes and chestnuts. Yum. Yum, yum, yum… I am practically drooling on my keyboard just thinking about them. A piping hot sweet potato with just the right amount of smoky, slow roasted charcoal flavour is so delish…When I had my first one of the season I burnt my fingers and mouth impatiently trying to peel back the skin and gobble it up as quickly as possible. The chestnuts took a little more work (the shells need some prying), fortunately giving them time to cool down and saving myself from further burns. If you’re greedy (like me) and have a whole potato and huge bag of chestnuts together, they practically make a meal in themselves.

...I say ‘practically’ however. Not being satisfied with roasted carbo- and protein- loading, I rounded them off with a stick of candied hawthorn. Candied fruits make their yearly début in the autumn too, and their bright colours (made even more alluring by their sugary sheen) are almost as hard to resist as their roasty counterparts. Of course, while hawthorn is an autumnal classic for Beijingers, not everyone gets it - it’s an acquired taste, with its somewhat Styrofoam-y texture. Luckily, as Beijing gets more cosmopolitan, so do the fruits on the stick, so if you’re not feeling ready to take the hawthorn plunge, kiwi, pineapple, apples (pretty much anything that can be pushed onto a stick and candied) is available, especially in the busier parts of the city.

If you’re interested in trying Beijing’s autumnal street food yourself, be prepared to bargain hard. Vendors in touristy areas are especially cut-throat. Try to aim for (approximately) 8 RMB for a sweet potato and 10 RMB for a sizeable bag of chestnuts. Candied fruit varies by the type of fruit, but hawthorn will be about 5RMB a stick and more exotic choices a little more expensive. Vendors can be found all over the city. Sidewalks around busy spots like metro stations are particularly good places to look for them.

Guest Post by Rebecca Salois.

Kaiseki in New York

NEW YORK, USA - Kaiseki meals aren't only a delight for the tastebuds, but also for your other senses. Each dish, each bite should stimulate your sense of smell, sight, touch, and taste (if you can squeeze in sound that's great - the crunch of a bite seems a bit of a stretch). This japanese form of dining is an art form, think of it as a beautiful tasting menu based on seasonal ingredients, prepared in a simple way to enhance the natural flavors of the ingredients. In Japan, the place for kaiseki is Kyoto, where this traditional form of dining is celebrated most spectacularly. If you stay at any of the ryokans (traditional inns) throughout Japan, and especially at the onsen (hot springs), you can also expect to be served a kaiseki meal.

So for my mother's birthday this year, she requested kaiseki. In New York, it's a bit more difficult to find. We've been to the classics, hitting Sugiyama and Kai, both of which are quite good. This time, we opted to try Hakubai, located inside the Kitano hotel on Park Avenue, just a few blocks down from Grand Central for this birthday lunch.

Because we had pre-ordered the kaiseki meal, we were able to secure a private tatami room (the rooms require that you spend a minimum of $50/person in food/beverages but there's no additional fee for the room itself). Much as I love tradition, I welcomed the little leg pit under the table which allows anyone who wasn't raised sitting in the uncomfortable kneeling position that tatami mats require to be pins-and-needles free. The 3 private tatami rooms are set at the other end of the restaurant, away from the main dining room, and it helps ensure a peaceful experience.

Our server, an attentive Japanese woman garbed in the traditional kimono, tended to us throughout the meal in an unobtrusive manner. She introduced each course and made sure we were comfortably situated throughout the 2-hour meal. The meal...the meal was wonderful, and it was a thoroughly authentic affair with light teasers in the beginning followed by sashimi and more substantial fare as the meal progressed, ending with udon in broth with tempura shrimp cut up into bite sized pieces. Autumn being the season for matsutake mushrooms, we had several dishes highlighting them, with my favorite being the matsutake dobin soup - a clear dashi-based broth infused with the matsutake mushroom's distinctive flavor, with a prawn, a bite of chicken, and a ginkgo nut to lend some overtones to the soup. It was a light soup that managed to warm me thoroughly. All in all, Hakubai manages to present a classic kaiseki, and my family and I already have plans to go back for the evening kaiseki, which promises to be even more delightful.

N.B., Kaiseki meals are at the chef's discretion: guests notify the restaurant of allergies prior to arriving, and the staff modifies the menu accordingly. In addition, prices are fixed: for Hakubai's kaiseki lunch, expect $68 per person; for their kaiseki dinner, plan for anywhere between $150-170 per person.

Nadaman Hakubai
66 Park Avenue, at 38th Street
Kitano Hotel
212.885.7111
http://kitano.com/menu_list.php?cid=423

Spotted in Manhattan 5

NEW YORK, USA - I'm usually pretty clueless about sightings, but here's my first contribution to this thread: Sophia Coppola sighting at The Standard Grill.

Flying in Style: Business Class on Emirates A380

ACROSS THE OCEAN- Tuesday was our lucky day. It was the day that my husband and I were unexpectedly offered a free upgrade on the seven hour flight from Bangkok to Dubai on an Emirates A380 jet. Finally all the miles logged on Emirates tucked away in row 80 (yes, there really are so many rows on many Emirates' flights) had paid off. And it was a great flight to reap the reward.

The A380 is the largest plane in the Emirates fleet with 2 floors and almost 100 total seat rows. Upstairs holds First and Business Class while downstairs holds Economy Class seats. Apparently, First Class seats offer tons of privacy, with each "seat" being a private suite, complete with remote control door, mini bar, and something called a "shower spa" which you can use by appointment.

While lacking private suites, Business Class is super luxe too. Features include flat bed seats complete with an add-on mattress upon request, a personal shelf pre-stocked with a variety of water, juice and soda, a power source, and a large TV filled with the entertainment options available throughout all classes of the plane. These entertainment options include a long list of classic and new release movies, TV series, music, video games and the like. Seats are configured 1-2-1 across, which means that window seats are singles and center seats are set in twos. I would opt for the even numbered rows: a window seat if traveling alone (unlike the odd numbered rows, the even numbered rows have a mini-wall which guards window seats from the aisle), and center of the plane aisle seats if traveling in a pair (unlike the odd-numbered rows, even numbered rows have a much lower wall separating the pair of center seats which allows for more comfortable conversation). This may vary a bit so check the seating chart on www.seatguru.com.

My food in the air was excellent. Because our flight was just seven hours in the evening, only dinner was served. But plenty of variety was offered including three choices of appetizer, four of main course and two of desert. I went for the salad and the chicken in mushroom sauce (boring I know), and skipped desert except the coffee and two Godiva chocolates passed as a post-desert treat. A wine list complements the meal selections on all Emirates flights.

A fun and festive aspect of the A380 Business Class is the party-in-the-air bar set in the back of the Business Class section. This full bar is stocked complete with bartender and small bites to snack on. Guests take time away from their flat bed seats to enjoy a drink and perhaps a conversation with fellow flyers. I was surprised how many passengers visited this bar and took some time sit and enjoy.

A key Business Class perk that we did not receive having been granted a free upgrade was the complementary car service to and from the departure and arrival airport. What a great feature.

And finally, I offer you just a quick tip to wrap this up. If you are like me, and don't generally opt for a Business Class ticket out of your own pocket, go for Economy Class seats 81A or 81K when flying the A380. This is my secret weapon for long flights. These seats are the best Economy Class has to offer. Sure, they are far back, but they are not officially exit row which allows you to book them in advance of arriving at the airport, they are not bulkheads which mean that you will not get moved if passengers require baby bassinet. However, they are located just where the plane widens in the back which leaves lots of extra leg room, and even space to exit your seat right in front of you(!!), so you don't have to bother your fellow sleeping travelers to take a walk around. Book this seat early as it is often one of the first to go.

Click here to read about my experience on an Emirates 777 in Economy Class

Click here to read about my experience on an Etihad (Emirates' rival airline out of Abu Dhabi) in Business Class

Click here for the Emirates Website

A First-timers Guide to the Edinburgh Festival

EDINBURGH, UK- For those who live in Edinburgh (like me), the Festival starts gradually, growing from a smattering of lonely street performers at the beginning of the rainy Scottish summer to a veritable army by early August. And a combative army at that. A walk through the city centre comes to necessarily involve dodging flaming torches and comedians looking for their next victim, while accumulating sheafs of fliers for shows from touts. It’s perhaps not ideal during my daily commute (no one wants to arrive at work with singed hair and fake blood on their blouse), but surviving a walk through the Old Town is a necessary hazing ritual for all first time festival-goers. The epicentre of this activity is the Royal Mile, where the city sets up a series of stages for street performers. Yesterday, a single sweep gave me: a topless American biker chick lying on a bed of nails, a teenager dressed as a clown and bebopping randomly with a mesmerizing lack of self-consciousness to the dulcet strains of a cheap boombox, and a troupe of French percussionists using hammers, saws and grindstones to make surprisingly beautiful music.

Checking out the street performers has the added bonus of sidestepping one of the most onerous tasks of the festival, booking tickets at one of the 200+ venues across the city. The sheer number of shows (thousands) and of festivals (the deceptively named ‘Festival’ is actually a collection of about 20 different festivals) means that the Edinburgh Festival Program looks more like a phone book than a promotional listing. This year I didn’t even bother picking up a copy because it was too heavy to carry home.

Allegedly, it is possible to carefully winnow down this overwhelming list to a tidy schedule of shows you want to see by applying a scrupulous academic research approach. However, from my experience, the best tactic seems to be abandoning the listing full stop, putting blind faith in word-of-mouth advice and having a sense of adventure. If you’re not an Edinburgh local, with friends to give you the skinny on what they’ve seen (this year: Midsummer Night’s Dream (miss) and the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre (hit)), make for the major venues such as the Pleasance, the Gilded Balloon, and the Assembly Rooms, where lively beer gardens and cafés are jam-packed with reviewers, performers and promoters. Picking up hot tips is a piece of cake, and free tickets are abundant, especially when a show is being reviewed and the producers want a ‘sell out crowd’ for appearances sake…making it that much easier to invest an afternoon on something you wouldn’t normally pay to see.

If you’re still nervous about jumping in feet first, you can at least narrow down your search to specific festivals: these range from heavy hitters like the Fringe (comedy) and the International (‘high art’) to the Jazz Festival (a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it five day concert series pitched to aficionados) and the Radical Book Festival (a weekend affair for political insiders). Most tend to be based at a specific venue or series of venues, so you can target your eaves-dropping-in-beer-gardens or closing-your-eyes-and-picking-something-at-random-on-the-program-page tactics to specific types of shows. And while individual acts and festivals come and go throughout the month, the Festival as a whole carries on from early August to the first weekend in September, so if at first you don’t succeed in finding something you like…try again. (Or spend some more quality time in the beer garden with a refreshing pint of Scottish ale forgetting you ever saw it.)

The Edinburgh Festival
www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk

The Pleasance
60 Pleasance
Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ
www.pleasance.co.uk

The Gilded Balloon
Greenside House
25 Greenside Pl
Edinburgh, EH1 3AA
www.gildedballoon.co.uk

The Assembly Rooms
54 George St
Edinburgh, EH2 2LR
www.assemblyroomsedinburgh.co.uk

Guest Post by Rebecca Salois.