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essential travel intelligence
CLEAN CUT
Zuma founder Rainer Becker
CHOCO-HOLIDAYS The sweeter side of travel
BUDAPEST
Culture and lifestyle in Hungary
KENTUCKY
Not just horsing around
www.dotwnews.com JANUARY 2011
Tokyo taste
Tokyo now has more restaurants with three Michelin stars than Paris – welcome to the world’s new culinary capital
Nilesat Frequency: 11843 Mhz
“Fashion, Lu x u r y, L ifestyle”
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On the cover 40 Good taste in Tokyo James Brennan rolls up his sleeves and dives into a world of ramen and wagyu in the Japanese capital
46 Choco-holidays Forget about New Year’s resolutions and indulge in one of these mouth watering destinations, says Sarah Hedley Hymers
52 Feeling Hungary Bob Ecker loses himself among the historical remnants of Budapest, where the present meets the past at every turn 58 Kentucky Alice Haine rubs shoulders with some of the horse racing world’s elite at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky
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Ultimate indulgence Enjoy our New Year’s selection of travel treats for chocoholics
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74 In the news 18 Retrospective Dreams are made in Zurich 20 Europe Earned experiences and other luxury trends in Cannes 22 Middle East & Africa The world applauds Sol Kerzner 26 Asia & Oceania Cambodia’s first private island resort 30 Americas Virgin Galactic takes another giant leap 34 Trends New travel and transport concepts causing a stir
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38 Interview Rainer Becker on revolutionising Japanese cuisine
Insider
68 Diary Where to go and what to do in January 2011 70 Spend it New luxury itineraries from the world’s top tour operators 72 Debut Keeping tabs on the latest luxury hotel openings 74 Review Estancia La Oriental – hidden away in the Pampas 78 Connoisseur Luxury travel guru Mary Gostelow is seduced by the Russia of the tsars at the Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow
80 The Album Ben Fogle takes a moment out of his adventure packed lifestyle to share his favourite travel destinations
82 Final Word John Elias, Owner and Director of The Sanctuary
at Ol Lentille in Kenya
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Letter from the Editor DECEMBER 2010 waS AN ACTIONpacked month. It kicked off with the Dubai Rugby Sevens, which saw a 150,000-strong crowd of tourists, expats and corporate entertainers prove to the world that a bit of sand and sunshine shouldn’t stop you from holding an international sporting event in the middle of the desert. I can only assume that the FIFA committee was paying close attention, because not long after, on December 2, they named Qatar as host nation to the 2022 World Cup - the first Middle Eastern nation to receive the honour. Celebrations in Qatar went on for days, or so I hear; by the time the news had been confirmed I was on a plane heading to Cannes for the 2010 International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), which took place at the famous Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes (home of the Cannes International Film Festival) from December 6-9. THE SHOW MUST GO ON The three-day event brought together key players from the luxury travel industry, from the young entrepreneurs shaping the future of travel (see what Black Tomato founder Tom Marchant had to say on page 20), to the industry veterans who have made the industry what it is today (find out why Sol Kerzner is so proud on page 22). The tone for the exclusive event was set on the first evening of the show, when two high-profile panels shared their thoughts on the future of luxury, and pondered the big issues like the way in which online booking and social media are having a profound and lasting impact on the way we plan and book travel. Despite a 24-hour delay due to the closure of Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport because of thick snow, Air France got me back to Dubai in time for the Dubai International Film Festival and of course Christmas, which makes me considerably better off than the thousands of travellers stranded at UK airports when this magazine went to press. So, we bid a fond farewell to a year that will be remembered forever as one in which a volcano in Iceland grounded European air traffic for weeks; and welcome with open arms a year in which digital music sales will exceed physical sales for the first time in history, and China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest manufacturer, knocking it off the pedestal on which it has sat for the last 110 years.
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It’s shaping up to be an exciting year, with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic already looking beyond sub-orbital space flight to the fully-orbital future, and mass opposition to airport security checks forcing the air travel industry to rethink the way it carries out security screening. As a token of our respect for all things new and better in 2011, Destinations of the World News, decided not to follow the usual format of putting together an issue all about New Year’s resolutions and bettering ourselves by giving things up. We all did too much of that in 2010. No, we must start the year as we mean to go on, and that means enjoying every minute of it. And anyone who has travelled the world and tasted what life has to offer will tell you that the secret to happiness is simple – always eat well. We’ve taken the lead and put the pursuit of happiness, and indeed good food, at the top of our agenda, which is why the first issue of 2011 dives deep into the heart of the Japanese food revolution, with our cover story on the buzzing food scene in Tokyo (page 40) and an interview with Zuma founder Rainer Becker (page 38), who explains why he was the right man to bring Japanese cuisine to the western world. We also get our hands dirty with a round-up of some of the best chocolate-themed holidays (page 46), exploring the most indulgent cocoa-based treats money can buy. If that hasn’t whetted your appetite, find out what foodie delights can be found amidst the historical streets of Budapest (page 52). Happy travels,
Joe Mortimer Editor
Cannes Marina, resplendent in the December sunshine, looked remarkably different than the rest of Europe last month.
www.inter-parfums.fr
THE NEW FRAGRANCES FOR MEN & WOMEN
135 & 150 Sport Yachts by Palmer Johnson
Contributors January 2011, Issue 55
James Brennan
James Brennan is a food a travel writer based in the Middle East. Recently, his tales of eating snake in Bangkok and cruising around the Gulf have appeared in publications such as Esquire and The Sunday Times. He also represents the Middle East & North Africa region for the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants. This month, James travels to the Japan to get to the heart of the food revolution that’s sweeping the world. See his story on page 40.
Sarah Hedley Hymers
A career spanning fifteen years has taken Sarah around the globe on various assignments, from charting the rise of ‘dark tourism’ in the backstreets of Phnom Penh to following in the footsteps of the Sex and The City characters in Manhattan. For this issue Sarah embarks on a sugar rush around the world’s most delicious chocolate-themed hotels (page 46). “Forget ‘home, sweet home’ – this is all about ‘hotel, sweet hotel’!” says Sarah, who’s planning to review fitness holidays next. “I need to in order to work off all the pounds I’ve gained.”
Bob Ecker
Bob Ecker is a Napa, California-based travel writer and photographer who contributes travel, hospitality, wine, culinary, skiing and film features to magazines and newspapers around the world. He is constantly on the go, travelling the world, unearthing new stories and uncorking emerging regions. He is current a member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). For this issue Bob traveled to Budapest (page 52), where he found an enlightening blend of old and new among the city’s historical buildings and ancient streets.
Alice Haine
Alice has been writing for newspapers and magazines for the last 13 years. She has been editor of the weekend edition of the UAE’s Emirates Business 24/7, assistant editor of Emirates Today and a features writer for The People and Bella magazine in the UK. Alice has lived in eight countries around the world and is now based in Dubai, where she specialises in writing about travel, lifestyle and women. Read Alice’s report on the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky on page 58.
Publisher Anna Zhukov anna@dotwnews.com Senior Editor Andy Round andy@dotwnews.com Editor Joe Mortimer joe@dotwnews.com Assistant Online Editor Nicci Perides nicci@dotwnews.com Sales Manager Hadda Mayouf Hadda@dotwnews.com Art Director Fami Bakkar fami@wnnlimited.com Multimedia Director Salimah Hirji salimah@wnnlimited.com Multimedia Executive Vandita Gaurang vandita@wnnlimited.com United Kingdom Sales Representative David Hammond david@dotwnews.com Circulation department circulate@dotwnews.com Travel Jobs Online jobs@dotwnews.com http://jobs.dotwnews.com Cover image Courtesy of Getty
Principal Offices WNN Limited, Reuters Building 1, Office 106, Dubai Media City, PO Box 500661, Dubai, UAE Tel +971 4 3910680 Fax +971 4 3910688 WNN limited, 31 Archbishop Kyprianou Street, 3036, PO Box 51234, zip 3503, Limassol, Cyprus Tel: +35 725635234 Fax: +35 725634511 International Commercial Representations Destinations of the World News’ network of international advertising sales and editorial representatives are based in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America. Destinations of the World News is published monthly by WNN Limited and distributed globally to the world’s premier airport lounges, our subscriber network and a select number of five-star hotels in the UAE. The title Destinations of the World News is a registered trademark and the publisher reserves all rights. All material in Destinations of the World News is compiled from sources believed to be reliable and articles reflect the personal opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the publisher. Destinations of the World News is not responsible for omissions or errors that result from misrepresentation of information to the publisher. Advertisers assume all liability for their advertising content. All rights of the owner and the producer of this conceptual development and artwork design are reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be imitated, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of WNN Limited. To subscribe to Destinations of the World News at an annual rate of $99 visit the website at www.dotwnews.com and hit SUBSCRIBE. Images used in Destinations of the World News are provided by Gallo Images/Getty Images/Corbis/iStockphoto unless stated otherwise. DOTW News is printed by J G Cassoulides & Sons Ltd, Nicosia, Cyprus.
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here were jubilant scenes in Zurich last month when the host countries for the FIFA World Cup tournaments in 2018 and 2022 were revealed. Russia, a late entrant in the bidding, was named as the host country for FIFA 2018, while the tiny Gulf state of Qatar was selected to host the 2022 event, marking the first time the World Cup will be held in a Middle Eastern country. Qatar defied the sceptics who said the competition could never be held in a country where temperatures reach 55 degrees centigrade in the summer, when the World Cup is traditionally held. His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, was at the ceremony to receive the World Cup trophy. But not everyone was so pleased with the results; football fans across the globe joined in the chorus with several nations whose bids were not accepted in asking why two nations that are not renowned for their footballing prowess were chosen to host the prestigious event. The more extreme cynics have accused FIFA of corruption, but the organisation maintains that it hopes to take the tournament to new destinations that have not hosted the event before, and points to the success of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as an example of how the event can be successful in new host cities. “We go to new lands. Never has the World Cup been in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Arabic world has been waiting for a long time,” said FIFA president Joseph Blatter at the ceremony. Perhaps the most disappointed of the runners up was the English bid committee, who threw the full force of the so-called ‘Three Lions’ – HRH Prince William, Prime Minister David Cameron and football legend David Beckham – at the FIFA board committee when they went to Switzerland to present the British bid.
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Luxe 2011: earned experience The distinction between luxury holidays and off-the-beaten-track experiences will be blurred in 2011, as travellers look for “earned experiences”, according to Tom Marchant, founding director of online travel agency Black Tomato. Speaking at the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) in Cannes, Marchant said more and more people were looking for new
destinations that were untouched by the travelling masses and offered intrepid holidaymakers rewarding or “earned experiences” in exchange for some level of personal sacrifice. “It is a trend we have seen emerging over the year and I think there are many reasons for it,” said Marchant,
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whose company was recently named one of the fastest growing businesses in Britain by The Sunday Times. “One of the key reasons is this increased cultural immediacy, where you can get everything you need for your daily life instantly. You can get information and you can do things right away. When it comes to taking time off, a lot of our customers want to disconnect and get back to what they see as ‘back to their roots’ travelling with a sense of exploration.” According to Marchant, this sense of achievement makes customers feel they have earned the experience and defines what they now think of as luxury. “Perhaps they might be trekking in the Simian Mountains of Ethiopia and at times it can be challenging, but it’s the satisfaction of actually having done it they enjoy,” he explained. “Added to that is the sense of disconnect, whereby it’s not trekking with your BlackBerry going off every second; it’s trekking without reception where you really are focused on what you are doing then and there.”
According to Marchant, the top destinations to watch out for in 2011 include Ethiopia, Finland and the Mongolian Steppe. “Ethiopia in our eyes is a fast emerging destination,” he told an audience in Cannes. “It’s a particularly special country and you feel like you are getting in on something early. It has a heady mix of culture and landscape and a real sense of authenticity that I think is going to be key to its future.” The Economist’s new publication, The World in 2011, puts Ethiopia among the top five countries with the fastest growing GDPs worldwide, paving the way for more tourism infrastructure development in coming years. Marchant also flagged the Mongolian Steppe as an up-and-coming destination, highlighting the sense of disconnection from daily life and the popularity of the earned experience among today’s travelling jet set. Back in Europe, Finland was named as another destination to look out for, with second city Turku recently named as EU European City of Culture for 2011.
Europe
Royal wedding puts UK in spotlight
The wedding of HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton is set to turn London into the world’s biggest wedding reception, so if you plan to be among the millions that turn out to mark the occasion, you’d do well to reserve your hotel soon. Almost one billion TV viewers tuned into the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981, and this year’s royal wedding is expected to top that several times over. Optimistic predictions suggest up to four billion people could tune in around the world.
The royal wedding and the media coverage in the weeks building up to the event is a silver platter for UK tourism board VisitBritain, which has an unprecedented opportunity to showcase the tourism highlights of the nation to the world. “This is wonderful news for William and Kate and it will also be an enormous boost for the British tourism industry and the UK looks forward to welcoming its friends from around the world,” said Carol Maddison, UAE manager, VisitBritain.
“Millions of people will see the royal wedding as the perfect opportunity to visit Britain and to enjoy all of the wonderful sights that the UK has to offer.” The timing of the wedding couldn’t be better for the UK, bringing the international media spotlight to London one year before the 2012 Diamond Jubilee of HM the Queen and London’s hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Hotels in the capital are already filling up quickly, and according to travel professionals in the UK, visitors hoping to share in the magic of the special day should make travel plans sooner rather than later. “There is a huge amount of interest in the royal wedding and this has been reflected in the amount of enquiries our site is receiving about hotel accommodation in London at that time,” Alison Couper from Hotels.com told The Mirror. “Demand is extremely high.” The wedding is due to take place at Westminster Abbey on April 29.
IN FOCUS
Seeing Red Italian car rental agency Red Travel paraded its fleet of luxurious high performance vehicles at the entrance to the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) in Cannes in December. The company brought a Ferrari 458 Italia, a Ferrari California and a bright yellow Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 to the event, as well as pair of Rolls-Royces, to showcase some of the top vehicles in its fleet to would-be clients.
News
Mary Says...
Two wheels are better than four Having travelled with my trusty Porsche-labelled wheelie everywhere – well, for 300 days a year on average for at least four years – it was becoming cranky. It is actually made by Rimowa, headquartered in Cologne, Germany. As I arrived at the Excelsior Hotel Ernst in that city, the duty manager said “oh, Rimowa – does it need servicing?” I was told a concierge would pick it up once I had unpacked. Sure enough, 30 minutes later, a conciege arrived. Two hours after that, my case, with complete new handle shaft, was returned by a grey-uniformed technician in a grey car. No charge, all part of the Rimowa service, and well worth a trip to this beautiful Rhine city. A similar fabulous service exists for Swatch watch brands at the Nicolas G. Hayek Center, Tokyo. I took my Longines to the Longines floor and technicians, swathed as though they were about to perform human microsurgery and working in a glass-walled laboratory, returned it ten minutes later, de-magnitised. Even if you do not have a problem timepiece, however, do not miss the 14-floor Center, right on Ginza (The Imperial is the nearest top-level hotel). Designed by Shigeru Ban, the ground floor is a walkway between circular glass vitrines, each one in fact an elevator cabin going directly to your brand floor – Blancpain, Longines, Omega, Swatch and so on. There is also a multi-floor living wall in the central atrium. Now for a bit of exercise, and another car brand. Having just arrived in Cannes in a canary-yellow Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560, driven by Rome-based Red Travel, I can confirm this is the way to travel, even for a few miles. The firm also offers self-drive, Lamborghinis or red Ferraris, and it has added chauffeured Rolls Royces.
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Middle East & Africa
briefs
Making waves
Several passengers aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship were injured when huge waves crashed into the ship as it made its way to the Egyptian port of Alexandria. Windows were smashed and public areas damaged when violent storms caused the ship to list several times, leaving two passengers with broken bones and around 30 more with minor injuries. The vessel’s Christmas tree was also left lying on its side in the main atrium. The captain cut the 12-night cruise short and rerouted the ship to a port in Malta for repairs.
Fatal attraction
The case of the murdered honeymoon bride in South Africa has taken a turn for the macabre after the driver of the taxi in which the murdered woman was travelling told police that her husband, British care home millionaire Shrien Dewani, had paid to organise the hijacking and murder. 28-year-old Anni Dewani was shot twice after kidnappers hijacked the car in which she was travelling in November, after forcing the driver and her husband from the vehicle. South African authorities are now seeking an extradition treaty to bring Dewani back to Cape Town for further questioning.
Recovery in Abu Dhabi
Despite a modest recovery in hotel occupancy figures in most of the world, Abu Dhabi has revealed a 16 percent increase in the number of guests staying at its 118 hotels and hotel apartments in the first 10 months of 2010. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is confident it will exceed its target of 1.65 million guests for the year, 10 percent more than last year. ADTA said events like the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and a number of significant trade exhibitions have boosted visitor numbers to the emirate.
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Sol Kerzner honoured by Queen Travel industry veteran Sol Kerzner received a plethora of awards in 2010 recognising the achievements clocked up during his 45-year hospitality career. The icing on the cake came when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II confirmed that the South African hotel and gaming mogul had been endowed with the insignia of Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George for his “outstanding and exemplary contribution in the area of business and community in the Bahamas.” “I am truly humbled and most honoured by these recent accolades,” Kerzner said. “I would not be here today without the hard work and dedication of our people around the world. While I feel proud of all we have accomplished, there is still much more work to be done and we look forward to reinventing the hospitality experience yet again in the next decade.” Kerzner’s career started in 1964 when he opened the Beverly Hills in Umhlanga Rocks near Durban, South Africa’s first five-star hotel. His next major venture was Sun City, a mixed-use hotel and gaming resort where even in the midst of apartheid-gripped South Africa,
guests of all races came to enjoy the hospitality and world-class entertainment. Kerzner allegedly paid Frank Sinatra US$2 million to appear as the star act during opening week. The man who Frank Sinatra once called “the best saloon-keeper in the world” has since built an empire that includes luxury group One&Only Hotels and Resorts, the 3,500-room Atlantis, Paradise Island in the Bahamas and the 1,500-room Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai. His most recent trophy, the 90-room boutique, One&Only The Palm, opened in Dubai last November. Other honours bestowed on Kerzner include the ILTM/UltraTravel Lifetime Achievement Award, from the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), the Variety Club Lifetime Achievement Award, Cornell Hospitality Innovator Award and the HSMAI Lifetime Achievement. “Are you going to retire? And if so when?” quipped Graham Boynton, editor of UK-based UltraTravel magazine and group travel editor of the Telegraph Media Group, at the end of a live one-on-one interview with Kerzner at ILTM in Cannes. “At the moment I haven’t got that in my mind, but I’m only 75,” Kerzner replied.
“There is still much more work to be done and we look forward to reinventing the hospitality experience yet again in the next decade”
Horror in ‘Shark el-Sheikh’ As holidaymakers in Egypt’s resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh return to the waters after fatal shark attacks left one German tourist dead and three more injured, experts still speculate about the cause of the attacks. Beaches in Sharm el-Sheik were closed in early December after two Russian tourists and a Ukrainian were bitten by a shark while swimming in waters near the beach. On December 5, a day after beaches were declared safe, a 70-yearold German tourist was killed by what authorities believe to be an oceanic white tip shark. Tourism officials said shark attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh are rare, but some experts
believe that the sharks could have been lured to the shallow waters in search of food because of overfishing in their usual feeding grounds. But other experts say the sharks may have become accustomed to finding food in the shallow waters because tour operators are illegally feeding them. South Sinai Government authorities have now implemented safety controls to avoid a repeat of the incident, including speedboat patrols, manned watch towers and designated safe swimming areas. Tourism contributes around 10 percent of Egypt’s GDP, generating revenues of US$11.6 billion in 2009.
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Middle East & Africa
airline NEWS
Christmas Glam Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi is not known for doing things by halves, so it was no surprise that it celebrated its fifth anniversary and the festive season by unveiling the world’s most expensively dressed tree. Envious guests were dazzled by the US$11 million worth of jewels and precious gems draped over the 13 metre Christmas tree, which took pride of place in the hotel’s Palace Dome, courtesy of Abu Dhabi-based boutique, Style Gallery.
IN FOCUS
Welcome to Doha
Doha International Airport has opened the doors to its new arrivals terminal, now the entry point for all international visitors travelling to Qatar. Work is set to begin on the expansion of the Departures & Transfers terminal to provide more space for check-in and transfer areas, as well as additional boarding gates, while Qatar’s New Doha International Airport is completed. The new airport, located four kilometres east of the current facility, will open in 2012.
Boom time for aircraft
Airbus has revealed that almost 26,000 new passenger and cargo aircraft valued at US$3.2 trillion will be needed in the next two decades to meet global demand. The company’s Global Market Forecast (GMF) said this demand would be driven by the increase in the number of low-cost carriers, particularly in Asia; the need to replace old aircraft and deploy new more eco-efficient models; further market liberalisation; and capacity growth on existing routes. The passenger aircraft market alone is estimated to be worth US$2.9 trillion, as some 10,000 older aircraft need replacing and 15,000 new ones come onto the market.
All over Africa
Qatar Airways is strengthening its position in East Africa with the launch of 12 additional flights to the region. From January 3, the airline will fly from its hub in Doha to the Kenyan capital Nairobi twice daily. Daily flights to Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam will increase to 11 weekly services from January 2, going up to 12 weekly from February 14. Both routes are operated with an A320 aircraft, featuring 12 seats in business class and 132 in economy.
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Island investment in Mozambique An increase in occupancy levels at Mozambique’s luxury resorts, fuelled by a surge in demand for new destinations has inspired further investment in the East African nation’s tourism industry. Saudi-based investment firm Aujan Group is set to start building a US$100 million flagship resort on Paradise Island in the country’s Bazaruto Archipelago, a marine national park with uninterrupted beaches and stunning scenery. The resort will boast an 80-room hotel and 50 private villas and apartments, as well as a private airstrip, restaurants, a Clube Naval, kids club, spa, shops, a diving and fishing centre, flood-lit tennis courts and a ‘Qolf’ chipping course.
Chief executive Kamel Abdallah said the hotel would feature a retro design, “in keeping with the original establishment on the island that was so popular with glamorous jet-set of the 50s and 60s.” The increasingly popular Bazaruto Archipelago is a two-hour flight from Johannesburg.
“Occupancy is picking up in our existing resorts, and we are convinced that Mozambique is on track to be one of world’s leading luxury tourism destinations,” said Adel Aujan, chairman of Aujan Group, speaking at the 2010 Gulf Africa Investment Conference in Riyadh. “Mozambique is shaping up to be Africa’s brightest rising star, with rich resources and outstanding potential for tourism.” The Aujan Group operates five luxury hotels in Mozambique through subsidiary Rani Resorts, including the flagship Indigo Bay Resort & Spa on Bazaruto Island, which was included in Tatler magazine’s list of the top 100 spas in the world.
This five-star luxury hotel is ideal for visiting both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Centrally located between both international airports, Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel offers the best of both worlds. The hotel has 396 rooms and suites, some of which are 3-way interconnecting and ideal for families. With a choice of 8 restaurants and bars and a full selection of facilities at your disposal, you have all you need for an enjoyable stay. Shopping is available at the adjacent Ibn Battuta Mall and the beaches of the Palm Jumeirah are just minutes away. To find out more or to make a reservation, please contact the hotel directly on: +971 4 444 00 00, hotel.dubai.ibnbattuta@moevenpick.com or contact your travel agent. Call toll free from: the UAE 800 4934, Bahrain 8000 1991, KSA 800 124 2929 and Qatar 800 2001.
Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel Operated by Mรถvenpick Hotels & Resorts
www.moevenpick-hotels.com
A world of wonder and luxury.
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Asia & Oceania
Verbatim
“I think these people should take responsibility for their fortune-telling” Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation president Paiboon Upatising after tourism arrivals fell by 10 per cent in southern provinces of Thailand when a renowned astrologer predicted a tsunami would strike Phuket and surrounding areas
“We need to follow in the footsteps of the food and fashion sectors which have embraced the idea of the ‘local’” Responsibletravel.com chief executive and co-founder Justin Francis explains why telling stories is key to spreading the message of responsible tourism
“Oprah is a household name, not just in the United States but in the 145 countries where the show is broadcast.”
Australian Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson, as 300 audience members from the Oprah Winfrey Show descended on Sydney for Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure
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Private paradise in Cambodia Cambodia’s first luxurious hideaway resort is being developed on a private island thanks to a new initiative from entrepreneurial husband and wife team Rory and Melita Hunter. The Australian couple are developing Song Saa Private Island (Song Saa is the Khmer word for ‘sweetheart’) off the coast of Cambodia into a five-star all-villa retreat, which will open up Cambodia to a new kind of visitor when it opens in November. The resort is currently under construction on two small islands in the Koh Rong Archipelago, a 30-minute boat ride from Sihanoukville, the nearest town on the mainland, where an international airport recently opened. Cambodia boasts 61 islands in the Gulf of Thailand, all fringed with coconut palms and white sand beaches, but to date, none of them have been developed for tourism. “We’ve tried to create something unique, something that reflects our love for Cambodia and for the environment,” said Rory Hunter, chairman of Song Saa. “Think Thailand 40 years ago, before Koh Samui or Phuket became the international hubs they are today. We have the pristine rainforests and empty white sand beaches but without the overdevelopment or crowds.” The architecture and interior design was dreamed up by Melita Hunter, who designed the island in the ‘rustic chic’ style of a Cambodian fishing village, with thatched roofs, roughhewn natural timbers and driftwood. Song Saa will feature 25 one and two-bedroom luxury pool villas: 11 jungle villas; nine over-water villas and five beach villas, each with sunset or sunrise views over the Gulf of Thailand, as well as open bathrooms with separate
bathtub and rain shower, outdoor showers, day beds, iPod docking stations and integrated Bose sound systems. With a big focus on eco-tourism and sustainability, Song Saa’s LIFE Centre (Learning, Inspiring, Fun and Experience) will offer cultural and special interest tours including excursions to a nearby fishing village, temples and nearby islands for guided walks, as well as sailing, diving, kayaking and snorkelling.
“Think Thailand 40 years ago, before Koh Samui or Phuket became the international hubs they are today” Vista Restaurant and Lounge and an overwater beach bar will provide gourmet food and drinks as well as perfect spots for sunset views and stargazing. Koh Bong, the smaller of the two islands, connected to the main island via a footbridge, will house the Song Saa Spa, with six pavilions and a range of signature treatments. The waters surrounding Song Saa are a Marine Protected Area where fishing is prohibited, but developers are already trying to extend the reserve in a bid to protect the sea life that live in the corals, including hermit crabs, starfish and green turtles, as well as dugongs. A full time marine biologist is currently working on a restoration programme to rehabilitate the islands’ mangroves and corals, while permanent monitoring stations measure water quality, siltation levels and coral health.
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IN FOCUS
Mumbai airport
The Indian government has confirmed Mumbai will have a second airport by 2014. Due to its urban location, Mumbai International Airport cannot be extended, despite seeing three times as many travellers as it did five years ago, and now after several months of negotiation involving concerns that construction would lead to the loss of hundreds of trees and the redirection of waterways, work on the Navi Mumbair Airport will begin. Environment minister Jairan Ramesh said conditions to protect wildlife are in place and commented, “We have bargained and we have compromised. The result is an environmentally safe and ecologically sound, energy efficient international airport in Mumbai.”
Jumeirah in China
The Jumeirah Group is set to manage a new 139-key resort on the shores of Qiandao Lake, in the heart of China’s Hangzhou-Thousand Island Yellow Mountain Golden Tourism Route. Guests at the Jumeirah Thousand Islands Lake Resort will find themselves surrounded by the forests of Qiandaohu, with facilities including a Talise spa, waterside restaurants, a water-moon wine bar and a pool bar. The resort, Jumeriah’s sixth management agreement in China, will comprise an 89-room hotel and 50 rooms in villas, when the hotel opens in 2014.
Something Blue
Australian budget airline Virgin Blue has tied the knot with Air New Zealand in a new partnership that will see the two companies align their services. The alliance was approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after the airlines played down concerns that the partnership would have a negative impact on carriers flying from Australia to New Zealand. Virgin Blue shares rose by 5.9 percent after the approval.
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Oprah Down Under Oprah Winfrey joins American singer Danielle Spencer and Aussie actor Russell Crowe on a cruise around Sydney Harbour during a break from filming. The chat show millionaire flew 302 audience members from the US to Sydney, where she filmed several episodes of her 25th and final series.
2011: year of the the dragon vs. tiger In the next 12 months, a shift in the balance of global power from west to east will place increased importance on travel from China and India, where economic development will increase the size of the travelling middle classes. China is set to overtake America as the world’s largest manufacturer in 2011, claiming the number one spot from the US for the first time in the last 110 years. The country’s 1.7 billion strong population has grown increasingly wealthy in the last decade, creating a new travelling middle class that is keen to explore the world. China is not alone in the ‘new money’ stakes; India’s 1.2 billion people are also getting wealthier, with the economy forecast to grow by around eight percent in 2011. “The Tiger, that is the Indian economy, will not only chase the Chinese dragon, it may actually overtake it,” said The Economist contributing
editor John Andrews, who recently published The Economist’s The World in 2011 annual report. “That’s not a consensus view, but is what the World Bank reckons, and in any case, it’s clear that both economies will grow by more than eight percent. It doesn’t actually mean Indians will be as rich as Chinese, but it does mean that there will be a growing Indian middle class with an appetite for luxury goods, and part of that middle class will be wealthy enough for luxury travel.”
Chinese and Indian tourists will follow the path set by Japanese tourists in the 1970s, when Japan’s economic boom created a new generation of young travelling Japanese. According to Andrews, it’s time to look beyond the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries and consider the importance of other developing nations that are likely to have a major impact on global travel, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Colombia and South Africa.
Check out the Investment Hotspots of Turkey and Central Asia... 7-9 February 2011 InterContinental, Istanbul Brought to you by the organisers of the International Hotel Investment Forum and the Russia Hotel Investment Conference
The Gateway to Opportunity The Event for Hotel Investment in Central Asia & Turkey
Central Asia and Turkey have defied the trend of many other markets across the globe with Turkey growing by 6% in the 3rd quarter of the year. Turkey was voted as destination of the year by Condé Nast Traveller and Istanbul as Top European Capital of Culture in 2010.
taking place just before EmItt, the region’s largest travel, tourism and hospitality exhibition, CatHIC 2011 is an excellent chance to meet key individuals with a full two day conference programme and fabulous networking receptions.
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News
Americas
the month in numbers
$7,000
Photo: Angela George
Amount of damage allegedly caused by Hollywood star Charlie Sheen during a drink and drug-fuelled rampage at the Plaza Hotel in New York City last year.
Virgin Galactic searches for the next final frontier
127
Number of hotels under development in Central and South America, according to the November 2010 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report. The new hotels will provide an additional 20,175 rooms across the region.
37
Percentage of time US business travellers spend in their hotel during business trips, according to the iPass Mobile Workforce Report. Respondents said they spent around 90 minutes online during that period.
$15.1 billion
Amount the International Air Transport Association expects the airline industry to make in profit in 2010, considerably more than its September prediction of US$8.9 billion.
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If there is one trend that represents the epitome of luxury travel in 2011, it has to be voyaging into space. With the first test flight of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise successfully completed on 10.10.10, its only a matter of time before wealthy travellers are queuing up across the Mojave for the US$200,000 two hour sub-orbital flight from earth to the edge of space, 100km above the earth’s surface, and back again to the Spaceport America in New Mexico. But this is just the beginning. Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson is already looking ahead to the next stage in commercial space travel – orbital spaceflights. Virgin Galactic recently teamed up with Sierra Nevada Space Systems (SNC) and Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) to work on commercial space vehicles. Virgin will use the experience it gained through its SpaceShipTwo sub-orbital space programme to help develop new “markets and products” and to contribute towards “transforming the safety, cost and environmental impact of access to space”. “Virgin Galactic has shown in the past few years how private sector investment and innovation can lead to a rapid transformation of stagnant technologies. We are now very close to making the dream of sub-orbital space a reality for thousands of people, at a cost and level of safety unimaginable even in the recent past,” said Branson. “We know that many of those same people, including myself, would also love to take an orbital space trip in the future, so we are putting our weight behind new technologies that
could deliver that safely whilst driving down the enormous current costs of manned orbital flight by millions of dollars.” SNC and OSC are working under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDEV2), designed to stimulate development of privately operated crew vehicles to low earth orbit, to develop new spaceships featuring reusable lifting-wing bodies and runway landing capability.
“We are now very close to making the dream of sub-orbital space a reality for thousands of people” Virgin Galactic has already made reservations for around 400 passengers on its suborbital flights and received deposits of more than US$54 million. The company now plans to contribute to the SNC and OSC programmes by marketing seats on new space vehicles for future orbital space flights, as well as making its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, available to these companies to for their test flight programmes. “[This] is an important step along the way to achieving our ultimate and long term goal of leading an industry which opens up the huge potential of space to everyone, whether it be for the experience itself, for science research, for fast and efficient transportation around the globe or for delivering payloads to space safely, cleanly and cheaply,” Branson added.
News
Americas
briefs
Pretty outraged
IN FO C US
Former Baywatch actress and Playboy Playmate Donna D’errico, 42, says she was humiliated after a Transport Security Administration guard at Los Angeles International Airport singled her out for a full body scan based on her looks. D’errico was travelling with her boyfriend and her son when she was pulled aside by a male TSA agent, who she claimed was “smiling and laughing with two other TSA agents and glancing at me.” She added, “It isn’t right to hide behind the veil of security and safety in order to take advantage of women.” TSA spokeswoman Nico Melendez said that “passengers are selected at random and not because they’re celebrities.”
Gunning it
US rail operator Amtrak will controversially allow passengers to carry firearms on a limited number of trains. The new law was passed by US Congress last year after a senator from Mississippi won support for a proposal to force the railway to allow guns on its routes or risk losing its funding. Firearms must be stored in checked bags and placed in a locked and hardened container, and passengers may only carry a gun aboard a train and into a station that offers checked bag service.
Chasing the weather in Colorado Husband-and-wife storm chasing team Roger and Caryn Hill take groups of up to 18 paying tourists on Storm Chasing Tours through ‘Tornado Alley’ in the American mid-west to witness twisters and spectacular super-cell storms up close and personal. Roger, Caryn and their group hunted down this powerful electrical storm near Clinton, Oklahma.
Christmas treats for Colombian rebels
Opponents criticise TSA security
Colombian military special forces displayed a new tactic in the battle against the Farc guerrilla group last month, when commando squads infiltrated rebel territory to deliver several 25 metre Christmas trees complete with 2,000 twinkling lights. According to the BBC, motion sensors will make the trees light up when anyone approaches. The government hopes the message of goodwill will encourage more rebels to lay down their arms and abandon the conflict.
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The tough new procedures introduced by America´s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has sparked an internet avalanche of comedy and we recommend you Google away now. In the light of the agency’s new ‘scope or grope’ policy, A.K.A. full body scanner or full-body pat down, the comedy classics keep on coming. Singer Jonathan Mann has had a viral hit with his song ‘I Don’t Like The TSA’. Inventor Jeff Buske has created underpants from ‘powdered metal’ which he claims stop “agents
having a look below his belt” and fashion company Cargo Collective has vests printed with the Fourth Amendment in metallic ink (that apparently shows up on the full body scanners). Even in Germany, where the full body scanners have also been introduced, there was a recent group strip-off by members of the German Pirate Party. Many protestors carried signs while others wrote slogans on their bodies. But the best by a mile is the socalled Miss TSA Pinup Calendar
featuring X-ray images of female skeletons wearing high heels and seemingly nothing else.
Trends
United Kingdom
Carry on camping
From luxury camping to night vision safaris, enjoy our favourite new trends from the world of travel
DOTW News is not one to go rushing out for a camping holiday unless it involves a five-star yurt with ensuite and a parade of porters. However, we were intrigued by a concept being piloted in the UK that seemed as far away from traditional camp sites as it is possible to get. Private land in beautiful locations is being opened up to pop-up luxury camp sites. Farmers in the very beautiful Lake District, for example, are being invited by the Private Camping Company to allow premium areas of land to be rented for temporary camp sites complete with showers, electricity, waste disposal etc. Under UK law farmers are only allowed to have “28 days of permitted development” every year, so the Private Camping Company comes along, sets up a nice comfortable site (none of your boy scout nonsense), markets the site, splits the profits with the farmer and then clears everything away. Everyone’s a winner.
I ta ly
World
Australia
Secret restaurants
Virtual reality
Going wild at night
Global travel intelligence
Restaurants are ten a penny in Italy, so we were entertained to hear of a guerilla dining concept unveiled by a company called Streetdinner. info. This is how it works: you pay US$80, give your mobile telephone number and wait for a text. The first SMS tells you where aperitifs are to be served, the second, an hour later, where mains will be and a third another hour later, you’re ahead of us, desserts. It’s a sort of treasure hunt concept with a generous side helping of pop-up attitude. We also like the fact that sometimes meals are served in strange alfresco locations. The company promises loads of events in 2011 as well as pop-up/guerilla style hotel accommodation, so it’s definitely one to watch. 34
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Like the idea of travelling but can’t be bothered to do the actual travelling bit? SoundTransit.nl has just the product for you. The company has an online database of sounds from around the world ranging from the noise from the entrance of Hangzhou rail station in China to market sellers in Marrakech’s Djemaa El Fna Square to children playing in Maraj, Brazil and the ‘ambient’ splendour of relaxing under Lions Gate Bridge in West Vancouver. If you like what you hear, you can upload soundscapes from your own country, town or village. When we tried it out we were mightily impressed by ‘sound of glacier melting’ in Ilulissat and a little freaked out by ‘whale encounter and iceberg flipping’.
The big problem with night safaris is that it’s hard to see what you’ve paid to see, unless you’ve a giant flashlight or Superman eyes. Help, however, could be at hand thanks to an obviously simple solution at Nightcap National Park in Australia. Here, safari lovers are issued with night vision googles. The Night Vision Bushwalk allows visitors to see as many possums and kangaroos as they can throw a bandicoot at without disturbing the little darlings, as well as enjoying the chance to look like a really cool sniper from the Bourne Supremacy. We thought this would be an obvious idea for wildlife parks, but after some major research (and a Google search) we could only find Florida’s Naples Zoo and Nightcap.
Trend of the month
Suite deals
HOT
From bartering goods for rooms to pay-what-youlike apartments, the recession has proved to be an inspiration for some hoteliers Whatever shape you like your recession – double dip, V-shaped or just flat out – everyone’s looking for a money-saving angle, particularly when it comes to hotels and business travellers. Sure there’s couch surfing and, yes, you can ‘accommodation swap’ your poky little cave in Brooklyn for a villa in Costa Esmeralda (if you’re very, very lucky) but this month there seems to be loads of money-saving concepts checking in to a hotel near you. We decided to pick three of the best for your delectation. First up is an entertaining concept from Poland from the ApartmentsApart company, which invites guests to decide how much they will pay for an overnight stay in their properties. You can see the logic. Pay what you like schemes have proved hugely popular in recession-hit restaurants from London to New York that offer diners the chance to make their own price/menu decisions. The logic goes that at least the outlet’s overheads are being covered.
But hotels, well, we’re not sure. Emil Majkowski, the CEO of AA says on his site: “To book, perform a date search for the promotional dates, choose an apartment… when you arrive you’ll pay for the final cleaning and during your stay you will meet the office manager, give your reasons and pay what you think was right for your stay. No arguments, just reasons. It’s that easy.” Well, it’s not really that easy. After all, only the most hard-nosed of bargain hunters is going to leave a pittance for a room when confronted by the “meeting with the office manager” (how intimidating does that sound. In Poland...), but we’re watching this idea with interest and look forward to, say, the London Ritz following Majkowski’s interesting business model. Mr M meanwhile promises to take his idea global “making it a regular feature in more cities”. To be honest, his apartments sound like a steal even without the promotion. They get good TripAdvisor reviews and start from just US$49 (and can accommodate up to four). 36
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Anyway, polished Polish promises are all very well and good, but what about bartering goods and services for bed and breakfast in Italy. We love this idea. The brainstorming wunderkind of the Italian Bed and Breakfast Association is as simple as it gets. Go onto the organisation’s website, make an offer against a property and wait to see what happens. At the time of going to press, more than 21,000 people were supporting the concept on Facebook. So what’s being swopped for a good night’s sleep then? The association says anything from homemade jams and cakes to DVD collections and electrical goods. More ambitious deals have included offering plumbing services, gardening help or even music lessons. On the site there is also a wishlist of wanted items ranging from games, furniture, cars and motorbikes to clothing, computers, books and comics. For example B&B Casa di Lia in Rome wants original Flash Gordon artwork in exchange for a night; Il Pellegrino wants spiritual books; while Ostello Mario Spagnoli wants DVDs for the library (only originals, mind). If you’ve got what it takes, it’s not a bad idea. We were particularly taken by Alfredo, IIaria and Elia, the owners of B&B VillaVillaColle, who are looking for “expertise in informatics, hydraulics or electrical”. In return you get a night in a 17th century cottage, close to one of the best beaches in Sardinia, at the foot of a medieval castle. Nice. Alternatively, a box of DVDs could work just as well. “Little Elia is a big fan of animated films.” And finally, knowing that our eco-credentials are polished brilliant green, we are big supporters of Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which offers special incentives to drivers of electric and hybrid cars and bikes. There’s a free charging station in the hotel’s garage for green machines and free bicycle parking for those who prefer two wheels to four. Still not impressed? Well, check this out. The hotel’s parking system is so sophisticated that it can identify the size of vehicles entering the car park through what’s known as a NanoMAX system. We’ve no idea how it works but we do know that it rewards smaller cars with a smaller parking rate and has special spaces for Minis and iQs. Anyone pootering along in their Priuses get an even better rate for having a really green machine. Don’t fancy using the car? Not a problem, there is a tyre inflation station for those who bring their own bicycles and if you don’t have a bike, Charles Hotel offers a free bicycle lending programme for guests.
Blog to the North Pole How to get loads of traffic to your travel website and celebrate your 20th anniversary at the same time? Set up an irresistible prize - a trip to the North Pole - and invite would-be bloggers with huge online social networks to write a short story. Hats off to Quark Expeditions. Earthquake shoot outs Earthquake zones in China are being marketed as places to play ‘war’ with laser tag guns. Apparently the ruins of the town of Baoshan have proved to be the perfect battlefield for team-building and laser ‘warfare’. Wonder wall For tourists keen to retrace the route of the demolished Berlin Wall there is now a new touch-screen device called Mauerguide or Wallguide that charts the 130 mile route by GPS and provides 22 historic video and audio ‘moments’. Soap opera hot spot Forget the mosques, palaces and Bosphorus sights of Turkey, the biggest national attractions are places where the Turkish soap opera Noor is filmed. Operators are now running Noor-themed tours. No wonder. The final episode was watched by 80 million Arab viewers.
NOT
War of words Type the words racist into TripAdvisor and it comes up 2,300 times; type pervert, it crops up 353 times; rapist and paedophile 10 times. Well, so says The Telegraph newspaper. TA, as always, says it does its best to police reviews despite clear abuse. Blind tourism Not sure if this is PR stunt or an art project we don’t get, but artist Paul Coudamy will blindfold you in the Albanian capital of Tirana and then show you around for his ‘Blind Tourism’ project, filming your reactions as you describe what you feel. Riot travellers Trendhunter.com is convinced that riot tourism is on the rise, sparked by greater media exposure, ease of travel and more political activism.
People
INTERVIEW Rainer Becker
The new sun rises
Curious to know how a German chef revolutionised Japanese cuisine from a trendy restaurant in London? So were we. Joe Mortimer met with Rainer Becker, founder of Zuma restaurants, to find out how the journey began and where it’s heading What was the concept behind Zuma? Zuma is a lifestyle restaurant, which means the most important thing is that you enjoy yourself. For me the most important reason that you enjoy yourself in a restaurant is because of the food. But besides eating excellent food, a restaurant should have other aspects that you like, such as design. The service and the whole package at Zuma make it a lifestyle experience. It’s not only about the food – its also about all the other little bits and pieces that make you go out and enjoy yourself with friends.
Before Zuma you spent a lot of time with Hyatt – how did you make the transition? Hyatt is a fantastic company and I really learned a lot there. I started in ‘98 and opened a fine-dining restaurant in Cologne. I then opened Park Hyatt Sydney. I stayed for two years then they asked me if I was interested in opening the Park Hyatt Tokyo. I couldn’t say no. I fell in love with the Japanese culture and cuisine and the Japanese lifestyle. I stayed there for six years then decided to go back to my European roots. I decided that London at the time was (and still is) the culinary centre of Europe, so that’s where I went.
Why else did you choose London? It is a very competitive city but it is also a very rewarding city. You have old money, you have new money being made all the time and you have tourism. All of these things help to make a new concept successful. We would have had difficulty opening Zuma in Germany, but London is such a multi-cultural city, such a melting pot and the minds of the people are more open than other places. On the other hand, it’s very competitive. Every year around 400 restaurants open and 400 close. You really need to do your homework. At the time I had a feeling that Zuma would be successful, but I never anticipated that it would become a world brand.
Was Zuma an idea that had been in your head for a long time? Clean cut Rainer Becker has made authentic Japanese cuisine more appealing to western palates
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It started in Japan. Around that time I met with Nobu and we became friends over the years. He always stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo and we got talking and one day he asked me if I would like to join his company.
I said no; I was honestly happy at Park Hyatt. When he opened his restaurant in London I heard about his huge success. He gave me the confidence that if I did something similar, it too could become a success.
Do people often compare you with Nobu? Nobu is Japanese but he lives in the western world and he understands western flavours. For me it is the opposite; I am western but I understand Japanese flavours. Zuma is fundamentally different in terms of the food and the décor, but ultimately, the way he flavours his food and how he understands the Japanese/ western creations and tries to make them work for the western palate – I think it’s the same. Nobu is the inspiration. I remember one time he came to Zuma and he was sitting at the counter and he said “Rainer, now you are the competition.” That was the biggest compliment someone could give me.
How do Japanese chefs respond to what you are doing? This is a very edgy question because my cuisine is not traditional. It is authentic but it is not traditional. A traditional Japanese chef would never do the things I am doing and my target market is not Japanese customers. When I came to Japan I ate the traditional cuisine and at first I found it bland and tasteless. After a couple of months, when my diet changed to purely Japanese cuisine, my palate adapted to the Japanese flavours and I started appreciating the real flavours and then I started loving it. But I asked myself how many of my customers in London would have been exposed to those flavours or to my experience.
What else amazed you about Japan? Japanese culture is unbelievable. The best taxi drivers are in Japan. They are proud of doing a service. They don’t expect a tip – they are proud of bringing you from A to B. If they don’t find the address you don’t have to pay because they feel embarrassed because they didn’t do a good job. It’s a completely different mentality than the western world. Waiters don’t get tipped. Ask them what motivates them and they say it is their honour to serve you. That is the culture. My team have never let me down over six years. You don’t get people not turning up to work or complaining about long hours. It doesn’t happen. You treat them well and they treat you well.
Will you ever open a restaurant in Tokyo? I would love to go to Tokyo and I think Zuma would be very successful, but it’s not the right time. Japan has a very bad recession and Tokyo has too many restaurants. Even the very good ones have difficulty keeping themselves continuously packed. Zuma is a very expensive concept because you have the open kitchens and people are on show while they work. These dynamics create the atmosphere. If suddenly the chefs stop working because there isn’t enough orders, the whole buzz goes away.
But is it still a dream one day? Absolutely, because it would also make my life easier. Finding Japanese chefs is very difficult. Every young chef has a master chef and in turn they have a master chef and so on. If this young chef loses his job for whatever reason, the master will support him and his family financially. If someone goes overseas without the approval of his master chef, when he comes back to Japan he has nothing. His master will not be there to support him. It makes it much easier to get chefs to come and work for us abroad if they trust that we are a good company and know that they can travel to Hong Kong or Miami, but if they want to come back to Tokyo, the doors are always open.
How important is that for young chefs? It’s very important to them but its very important to me as well. As a westerner, I can tell anyone that my door is always open for them but because of the cultural differences, they won’t necessarily believe me. This is a way of building that trust. Over the six years I was in Tokyo, you never feel that you are completely accepted in the culture. You are tolerated in a way and the people are nice to you, but you never feel really at home.
So I came back to my culture and I flavoured the food the way I would like to eat it. If I would have served traditional Japanese food I think my restaurant would be empty, or at least not the success it is now.
What is making Japanese cuisine so popular all over the world? It’s a combination of many things. First of all it’s the informal eating style – its similar to the Chinese family style. You don’t have your typical appetiser, main course then dessert. The bottom line is that you can explore far more flavours if you have four dishes in the centre of the table that you can share with your friends. You suddenly have four appetisers instead of one. The whole package is better value for money. Also, Japanese food is traditionally made without dairy products. They don’t have milk, butter or cream, so it’s a much lighter cuisine and much healthier because the marinades and the miso and dashi soups are very healthy for your body and contain a lot of nutrition. You can eat and eat and when you leave you still feel good.
Do you speak Japanese? Not as well as I used to when I lived there, but I communicate with my sushi chefs in basic Japanese and I tell them when it is good and I tell them when its not good. It’s nice to speak a little of the language and a very interesting learning experience.
Design is almost as important as the food in your restaurants – how much of your own style goes into the design? When I met the designer for Super Potato and I saw it for the first time I felt so comfortable with the design. And that was even before I was doing my own thing. Zuma London for example is only designed with raw materials. It’s granite, glass, steel and stone. Look at my cuisine; there are not many ingredients but if you use the right materials and you use them properly, you don’t need many ingredients to make a product good. His design philosophy is so close to my food philosophy that they work in synch. There is a harmony in there and it is very important to me.
What’s next for Zuma? In the Middle East, we are looking in Abu Dhabi and Beirut. I’m visiting Abu Dhabi to try to understand the city and the dynamics and where people go and find out where the good locations are. I don’t mind working with hotels as long as we have a freestanding entrance and we are on ground level or high up; not somewhere in the middle. Beirut is also somewhere we are considering at the moment, even though the situation is a bit tense again. We had a look at a couple of sites but we haven’t decided yet. There is no pressure. We don’t have a business plan in terms of opening new restaurants; we just do it when we feel it’s right and the team is right.
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Feature
Tokyo
Tantalising Tokyo
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James Brennan dives into a world of exotic dishes and fragrant aromas in the world’s new food capital
I
’m standing outside a busy ramen restaurant in Tokyo’s hectic Shibuya district, trying to make sense of the detailed jumble of images on the picture menu. It’s only noodles, I keep telling myself, but there are seemingly hundreds of varieties, from tonkotsu ramen in pork broth to shio ramen in salty soup. Then there are the regional variations, from Tokyo’s curly noodles in chicken stock, to Fukushima’s chunky noodles in soy sauce. The myriad toppings range from chicken and hard boiled eggs, to chopped spring onions and sheets of nori seaweed. I look through the window and see diners slurping over steaming bowls. There’s a vending machine near the entrance dispensing meal tickets and the chefs tirelessly ladle hot soup and noodles from urns to big bowls, distributing broths of all kinds to the ceaseless ebb and flow of customers. I’m confused. I need help. And then a TV camera arrives and a petite Japanese lady thrusts a microphone in my face.
“What are you eating today?” she asks. It’s a good question. I’ve been in Tokyo for a couple of days, but I still haven’t got to grips with Japanese food. But it’s the food that has brought me here, and I’m not going to let it beat me. I’m not alone in my quest to discover real Japanese cuisine. The camera crew are making a film about the dining habits of a growing tide of western tourists in Tokyo, and I’m one of many slightly baffled subjects to be interviewed. Asking the questions is Maiko Nishibashi from Fuji TV, one of the largest television stations in Japan. They’re filming a popular segment called “Koko-shira” for the “MezamashiTV” breakfast programme. She grills me about Japanese food, and although my answers are less than revelatory, I eventually manage to turn the tables and conduct an interview of my own. Are more tourists coming to Tokyo specifically for its food? “Recent statistics from the Japan Tourism Organisation show that the main purpose of visiting Japan is its food,” she tells me. “I have seen more and more foreign
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Feature
Tokyo
tourists enjoying their meals in our restaurants.” The explosion of trendy contemporary Japanese-fusion restaurant chains like Nobu and Zuma illustrates how popular Japanese food is around the world. But according to Nishibashi, the fascination for authenticity is luring record numbers of food tourists to Tokyo. “Once (Japanese food) was highly thought of for its healthiness and exoticism,” Nishibashi explains. “But now it’s appreciated for the delicacy and variety that comes from seasonal ingredients.” Among the many seasonal treats gourmet travellers shouldn’t miss are takenoko bamboo shoots in spring, while the autumn brings the sought after matsutake mushroom. “It’s difficult to make exactly the same level of Japanese food overseas, as it requires the freshest seasonal ingredients that can only be obtained in Japan,” Nishibashi continues. “Most of the restaurants in Kyoto declined the offer from the Michelin guide, saying that you cannot judge the restaurants without visiting and tasting their food in four different seasons. Their menus change frequently, reflecting the changes of the seasons.” Michelin has showered its famous stars on Japan since the 2007 launch of its first Tokyo guide. In the 2011 guide, Tokyo has 260 restaurants with Michelin stars, 14 of which have been awarded the highest accolade of three stars. Paris can only muster 10 restaurants with a three-star rating, which makes Tokyo the undisputed king of Michelin-rated food cities. But there are around 160,000 restaurants in Tokyo, from top-end gourmet boutiques to street-corner fast-food dens, and they sell every conceivable variety of food, from curry-rice, soba noodles and shabu shabu, to raw chicken sashimi, whale and the poisonous fugu puffer fish. For dinner, I give the raw chicken and puffer fish a miss in favour of something a little more familiar: sushi. But what I end up with is a million miles from my preconceived, western idea of sushi. I’m at Sushisho Saito, a tiny high-class
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joint in the Akasaka area of Tokyo. My guide is the Japanese restaurant critic and food writer Yumiko Inukai, who offers me a crash course in real sushi. “In Japan we never begin with miso soup,” she explains. “That comes at the end as it helps digestion.” We opt for the omakase menu, which means “trust me” in Japanese. The chef then prepares what he thinks is best from the ingredients at his disposal. Some of the fish was bought at the market that morning, but other pieces are cured or preserved in salt or seaweed for up to six days to increase their umami flavour. There’s raw water aubergine as sweet and crisp as melon, temaki roll with hairy crab, baby squid tentacles, green gingko nuts and salted salmon roe or tsujiko’ nigiri, which pops in tiny gooey explosions on the palate. It’s sushi, but not as I know it. The flavours are more subtle and complex, it’s room temperature rather than chilled, and the rice is tinged with the colour of vinegar or mirin rice wine, as opposed to clinically white. For sushi, it’s perfectly acceptable to use your hands, but for sashimi chopsticks are preferable. I watch as the chef methodically slices tuna, smoothly drawing the full length of the blade towards him through the flesh. This ensures the cells are cleanly cut and less susceptible to oxidisation, which can affect the flavour. “From the point of taste, western people prefer sweet and strong,” says Yumiko. “I think the Japanese food in the west is sweeter and stronger than real Japanese food.” If eating real sushi in Tokyo is an eye-opener, seeing where it comes from changes my perceptions forever. Tsukiji fish market is an incomprehensible sprawl of market stalls peddling a dizzying array of exotic fish and seafood. Some 2,000 tonnes of the stuff passes through the 57 acre site each day. Walking among the 1,500 stalls amounts to a sensory overload, throwing up all manner of spiny lobsters and slippery eels, prickly sea urchins and monstrous squid.
This is where the early morning bluefin tuna auctions are held. Tourists start queuing at 4am to see the frozen tuna auction, where men scurry around with pots of red paint, marking the fish for quality. The auctions are a chaotic orchestra of noise and wild gesticulation, yet it’s here that the coveted fish are sold off to be distributed around the city and beyond. The otoro cut from the tuna belly is highly prized for its high fat content and its subsequent creamy flavour and texture. Yet bluefin isn’t the only exclusive product in Japan to command high prices for its intense marbling; wagyu beef is hailed worldwide as a delicacy for its evenly distributed fat content, tenderness and intense flavour. There are stories of pampered wagyu cattle being fed beer, given sake massages and soothed with classical music. Unsurprisingly, the meat has become legendary, and restaurants can charge up to US$55 per 50g. But since the vast majority of wagyu beef sold outside of Japan is reared in Australia or the US, you really do have to go to Japan for the real thing. And to see the cosseted cattle for yourself, you have to get out of Tokyo. I take the train to Shiga prefecture in the southwest of Japan, to visit the Takara Ranch near the small town of Ohmi. It’s an idyllic setting, all green fields, blue skies, fresh mountain air and clean, sweet spring water. The farmer, Yoshihiro Tawara, shows me his Ohmi wagyu cattle, but while the cows look perfectly relaxed, happy and in fine health, there isn’t the slightest whiff of alcohol. “Old farmers did that,” says Tawara. “You drink a little liquor, it’s good for the health, right? But we don’t feed cattle liquor because this ranch is UAE halal certified. I am preparing the next shipment. It’s a female, especially for Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi.” Mr Tawara exports his Ohmi beef to the Middle East and the US, but he is lobbying for the EU to relax its import laws so that he can supply another high-profile customer.
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“Ohmi was the first Japanese Emperor’s beef, so we’re looking to sell to Buckingham Palace,” he says proudly. “Kobe and Matsusaka beef is very famous in Japan, but for the British Royals, Ohmi is best.” As promised, Mr Tawara’s Ohmi beef is tender, torrentially juicy and astoundingly delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I’m hankering for more wagyu as soon as I’m back in Tokyo. There’s only one thing for it. I head straight for the New York Grill. At the flagship steakhouse on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt Tokyo, I have a devastatingly rich and butter-soft wagyu steak. And I have company. I look around the restaurant and see many more western tourists enjoying Japanese steaks and stunning views of the endless, sparkling city. I relax with a cocktail at the famous New York Bar, where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson shared drinks in the film Lost In Translation. But it’s not just Hollywood fame and breathtaking views that makes the John Morford-designed Park Hyatt Tokyo such a massive draw for tourists. The tastefully finished rooms with Hokkaido water elm panelling offer the utmost in style and comfort. The service is exemplary. And the Club On The Park spa is a sanctuary for burning off those calories and rejuvenating after a hard day’s eating. When you’re exploring the world’s greatest food city, you need all the help you can get.
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THE NEW PERFUME
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Choco-holidays
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CHOCO-HOLIDAYS Is chocolate-themed travel as sweet as it sounds? Sarah Hedley Hymers goes on a sugar rush to find out
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Chocoholidays
The Chocolate Boutique Hotel, Bournemouth, UK The chocolate hit: In this temple of chocolate worship, life is sweet. While some hotels may offer a fruit platter on arrival, this establishment welcomes guests to rooms with chocolate fountains. Cocoabased treats are replenished daily like toiletries, and the décor in each of the 13 rooms is inspired by confectionary. Takeaway: The hotel regularly hosts chocolate workshops where guests can learn to make Belgian truffles. In just over two hours, pupils go from tasting ingredients to creating hand-rolled, double-dipped, decorated delights (around 30 to 50 in total), which are then neatly packaged to take away.
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We love… The automated cocktailmaking machine in the Chocolate Bar, which creates delicious ‘choctails’ such as the Chocomeister: a white rum, crème de cacao, vanilla ice cream and choc-chip cookie concotion. Try not to think of the calories. Chef’s recommendation: For the ultimate chocolate indulgence, book the Chocolate Weekend package. This includes two nights’ stay, bubbly on arrival, a chocolate and wine tasting session with an expert and a chocolate portrait painting lesson, as well as the truffle-making workshop for two. Did you know… The Chocolate Boutique Hotel proprietors are
now offering chocolate workshops at sea. P&O’s Oriana was the first ship to host the classes, with several more planned for 2011. Where? Bournemouth, on the south coast of England, is a twohour train journey from London’s Waterloo Station. Nearby Southampton airport also services this quaint seaside city. The Chocolate Boutique Hotel, 5 Durley Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK, BH2 5JQ, UK Tel: +44 (0)1202 556857 Email: reservations@thechocolateboutiquehotel.co.uk Web: www.thechocolateboutiquehotel.co.uk
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The Address Dubai Marina, Dubai, UAE The chocolate hit: This hotel takes a holistic approach to chocolate appreciation. Guests are treated to a 90-minute Chocoberry Pampering Session in the spa, which includes a vigorous, heaven-scented cocoa and sea salt body scrub followed by a shea butter massage. After the treatment, buffed customers receive a complimentary voucher for an eat-as-much-as-you-like chocolate buffet experience at Kambaa, the lobby café serving prestigious, world-famous Grand Cru Valrhona chocolate in various forms. Takeaway: In case you haven’t already heard, the ‘whoopee pie’ is the new cupcake. Imagine a cupcake prepared in two halves, like a sandwich roll with an icing filling, and you’re almost there. Trendsetters have switched allegiances to these buns in the fashion capital of New York, where the cupcake originally enjoyed a sugar-coated resurgence. Get your whoopees here in vanilla, strawberry and, of course, chocolate flavour and find out what all the fuss is about. We love… The educational hot chocolate bar where you can pick choc chunks from all over the world and have them melted down into espresso-sized hot chocolate drinks.
Chef’s recommendation: Always start a chocolate-tasting session (some might use the term ‘binge’, but we’re beyond that) with the lowest percentage cocoa and work your way up to high-percent products, as this is preferable for the palate. Did you know… Valrhona was the first company to apply the term ‘Grand Cru’ to cocoa products. The French phrase roughly translates as ‘great growth’ and was previously only used as a wine classification to highlight superior growth environments. In a similar way to how vines are graded, the soil components and microclimates of superior cocoa are credited for their impact on the beans’ flavour and aroma.
“Always start a chocolatetasting session with the lowest percentage cocoa and work your way up to high-percent products, as this is preferable for the palate ”
Where? The Address Dubai Marina is slap bang in the centre of Dubai’s tourist-magnet marina development, next door to Marina Mall, just five minutes’ walk from the beach, and a 40-minute drive from Dubai International Airport. The Address Dubai Marina, Marina Drive, Dubai, PO Box 32923, UAE Tel: +971 (0)4 436 7777 Email: dubaimarina@theaddress.com Web: www.theaddress.com.
The Fairmont Bab al Bahr, Abu Dhabi, UAE The chocolate hit: Luxury hotel chain Fairmont launched its first ever Chocolate Gallery when it opened its Abu Dhabi branch in 2010. Using chocolate imported from France, Belgium and Switzerland, a team of chefs sculpts handmade truffles behind the glass walls of the Chocolate Gallery. Takeaway: The portfolio includes 12 signature truffles, including weird and wonderful concoctions such as strawberry balsamic and salted caramel. We love… The fondue, which provides a sugar rush of grand proportions: molten chocolate comes with dippers in the form of pistachio
cake, marshmallows, brownies, chopped fruit and shortbread biscuits on sticks. Chef’s recommendation: For chef Simone, a classic hot chocolate with signature Araguani truffles is a must. This complex dark chocolate from Venezuela features hints of licorice, raisin, chestnut, honey and warm bread. “I’m a bit of a chocolate purist,” he says, “so this is the perfect combo for me. Araguani is 72 per cent cocoa with a lower percentage of fat and sugar than many other chocolates. To make our truffles, we simply soften some Araguani with cream and butter for the centre, and then dip the mixture into pure Araguani for the coating.”
Did you know… The Chocolate Emotion Cake, a sponge soaked in chocolate syrup and layered with ganache, is based on an old French recipe handed down through many generations and now known only to one of the Chocolate Gallery’s founding chefs. Try it, it’s delicious. Where? Situated on the Dubai side of Abu Dhabi, the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr is accessible from both emirates, and is just 10 minutes’ drive from Yas Island. The Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Between the Bridges, Abu Dhabi, UAE, PO Box 114304. Tel: +971 (0)2 654 3238 Email: dining.bab@fairmont.com Web: www.fairmont.com
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Choco-holidays Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA The chocolate hit: For total chocolate immersion, there’s Hershey, “the sweetest place on earth”. The resort town, named after the famous American chocolate bar, offers a whole lot of chocoholiday opportunities, with three accommodation options: the luxurious Hotel Hershey; the cozy Hershey Lodge; and the budget Hershey Highmeadow Campground. There’s a zoo, a 65-ride cocoa-themed Hersheypark, Hershey’s Chocolate World museum, Hershey stores, a theatre showing the best from Broadway, a chocolate-themed spa, four golf courses and, of course, several sweet dining options, offering extravagant desserts, signature chocolate chip pancakes and decadent chocolate martinis.
Hotel Chocolat, St Lucia, West Indies The chocolate hit: Ethical British chocolatier and cocoa grower, Hotel Chocolat, never actually had a hotel – until now. The company’s first actual hotel is set to open in February 2011 on their cocoa plantation in St Lucia. “When I first walked among the cocoa trees on Rabot Estate five years ago, I knew immediately that it was special and I wanted to create an intimate, exclusive place worthy of this stunning setting,” says Hotel Chocolat co-founder Angus Thirlwell. With its breath-taking location 1,000 feet above the Caribbean Sea and views of St Lucia’s iconic Piton Mountains, Hotel Chocolat offers a slice of barefoot luxury with a chocolate twist. Pick from one of 14 luxury Cocoa Cottages and visit the onsite Boucan Bar & Restaurant, which takes full advantage of the views while serving local ingredients with an imaginative cocoa influence. Takeaway: Really, would anyone forgive you if you went to a Hotel Chocolat plantation without bringing back a bar of Hotel Chocolat? We think not. Make sure you leave space in your suitcase for a few if the company’s iconic Giant Slabs. We love… That guests have the unique opportunity to experience an ethical working cocoa planta-
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tion firsthand, from exploring sun-dappled cocoa groves and witnessing the harvest in full swing, to rolling up their sleeves to help out (though obviously that’s not compulsory). Chef’s recommendation: During your visit, book up for the Fruit Tasting Safari, a guided exploration of the estate, during which you’ll taste freshly plucked fruit from coconut, grapefruit, mango, guava, papaya and banana trees, as well as the sweet pulp of ripe cocoa pods. Did you know… The historic Battle of Rabot that was fought between the British and the French happened on this very site. Where? The 140-acre Rabot Estate is set within a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the south west of St Lucia, near Soufrière, the original French capital. Behind the estate is the lush St Lucian rainforest, which extends out into a distant vista studded by the dramatic peaks of Mount Gimie and its plunging valleys. The Hotel Chocolat, The Rabot Estate, PO Box 312, Soufrière, St Lucia, West Indies, is set to open February 2011. For more information contact: Email: thehotel@hotelchocolat.co.uk Web: www.thehotelchocolat.com
Takeaway: At Hershey’s Chocolate World, visitors can create their own candy bars, selecting their favourite ingredients, operating authentic factory equipment and designing their own customised candy bar packaging. That’s what we call a neat treat. We love… That you can actually bathe in chocolate at the spa at The Hotel Hershey. Yes, you can settle into a foaming chocolate milk bath for a soothing and softening signature Hershey experience. But is 15 minutes long enough?
Chef’s recommendation: On the town’s main street, Chocolate Avenue, The Hershey Story museum, dedicated to the life and legacy of Mr Hershey, offers delicious warm chocolate tastings at Café Zooka. Don’t leave town without sampling this taste extravaganza. Did you know… Milton S Hershey opened his first candy business at the age of 18 in Philadelphia in 1875, but was bankrupt by 1882. He persevered with his business and, after learning the art of adding fresh milk to caramels to make them creamier, he moved to Lancaster and opened the Lancaster Caramel Company in 1886. He went on to establish the Hershey Chocolate Company as a subsidiary of the caramel company in 1894, and became the first man in America to mass-produce milk chocolate. Where? Hershey is in Central Pennsylvania, approximately three hours from New York City, two hours from Washington DC, and 90 minutes from Baltimore and Philadelphia. For further information and all venue addresses, contact Hershey’s information centre: Tel: +1 800 437 7439 Email: info@hersheypa.com Web: www.thehotelhershey.com
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The Hotel Sacher Wien, Vienna, Austria The chocolate hit: The world’s most famous cocoa-based court case put this hotel on the map. Today, tourists flock to The Hotel Sacher – one of Vienna’s leading landmarks – for a slice of the Original Sacher-Torte. The cake was created in 1832 by 16-year-old apprentice chef Franz for an Austrian Prince. Franz’s eldest son Eduard followed in his father’s footsteps and went on to train as a pastry chef at Austria’s imperial bakery, Demel, where he perfected the recipe. The cake was first served to the public here. Later, Eduard set up the Hotel Sacher. When it went bankrupt, his son worked at Demel, taking with him the rights to produce Original Sacher-Torte. The new Hotel Sacher owners contended this and today, both Hotel Sacher and Demel are allowed to make their own versions, leaving Austrians with the age-old debate of which is best.
Takeaway: At the hotel’s Sacher Confiserie, shoppers can buy the regally packaged and stamped Original Sacher-Torte, as well as other Sacher specialties, and have them delivered almost anywhere around the world. We love… The recipes in the hotel’s New Sacher Cookbook: Favourite Austrian Dishes (published by Pichler Verlag), which range from delicious apricot dumplings to Original Sacher-parfait with marinated strawberries and hazelnut crisps. Don’t expect to find the Original Sacher-Torte recipe though. It’s a closely guarded secret, only ever written on paper and stored in the hotel’s safe. Chef’s recommendation: Try the divine Sacher Eck, a chocolatehazelnut wafer cake shaped like a Toblerone, and the exquisite Anna Sacher Schnitte, a slab of sponge
cake, hazelnut praline and orange cream with a hint of Cointreau. Did you know… On average 500 to 800 Sacher-Tortes are made at the hotel every day, but around Christmas that figure can reach 3,000 a day. Annually, that’s more than one million eggs, 25 tons of castor sugar, 75 tons of icing sugar, 64 tons of apricot jam, 23 tons of butter and 20 tons of flour. Where? Within the famous Ringstrasse that circles Vienna’s main attractions, between the State Opera and the popular shopping street Kärntner Strasse, you’ll find The Sacher Hotel in the heart of Austria’s grand capital.
“At the hotel’s Sacher Confiserie, shoppers can buy the regally packaged and stamped Original Sacher-Torte”
Hotel Sacher Wien, Philharmonikerstrasse 4, A-1010 Vienna Tel: +43 1 51 456 0 Email: wien@sacher.com Web: www.sacher.com
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Budapest
Hungary for history Old meets new in modern Budapest, where the past is never far away
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A tasty rough
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Bob Ecker discovers that modern Budapest’s lively nightlife is draped in culture, while the national cuisine blends ancient and contemporary to sate the most voracious appetite
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ith graffiti covered walls and dilapidated edifice, crumbling façade and a cracked staircase leading to nowhere, this building had certainly seen better days. But that didn’t stop the hipsters, locals, visitors, clubbers and other late night party goers from enjoying the proto-slum chic of a bar called Szimpla kert, the most famous of Budapest’s ‘kerts’ (gardens) in the now trendy VII District or Romkocsma neighborhood. Translating from Hungarian roughly into “ruined pub,” today ‘Roms’ include pubs, clubs, bistros and bars, usually with a garden courtyard of some sort operating in abandoned buildings. Though a few go back to the Nineteenth Century, most of these building were apartment blocks shoddily rebuilt after World War Two. Thousands once lived and worked in these apartments. While listening to retro Depeche Mode songs playing and a curious mix of Hungarian and English (Hunglish to the locals) being shouted, I enjoyed a Dreher beer while observing this very popular Eastern European dive bar. Old shoes, signs, scraps of posters, money, hubcaps and sex dolls hung from the ceiling in a mad mash of Budo-kitsch as people queued to order drinks from the no nonsense waiting staff. Covering two floors of the building, Szimpla kert turns from an interesting bar into a hopping club as the night wears on (it’s open until 3am) with little rooms and antechambers hidden throughout. People stand or sit beside mismatched tables, chairs and couches – all easy to clear away to make room for a dance floor. A few hardy trees gasp for air and sunlight in the interior courtyard. Smoking seems to be encouraged. When the Nazi regime’s brutal hammer came down on Hungary on March 19, 1944, Budapest became a raging war zone, suffering tremendous damage due to American and British aerial bombardment, and back and forth Russian and German artillery and shelling. The post war rebuilding of Budapest, and this neighborhood in particular, took place slowly. Then in 1956 the Hungarian Revolution made the city into a battleground once more, as groups of students and average citizens fought Russian soldiers and tanks in the streets. The political swells and economic upheavals of communist, then post communist Hungary have kept the country in a state of in-between; teetering between Western European prosperity (although now that too is a bit unsteady) and the challenging, semi authoritarian economies of many former Soviet bloc countries. Now Hungary is finally on a true upswing, intertwining its complex history with youthful exuberance, attracting new investment as Budapest itself seems to have reached a semblance of critical mass.
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Symbol Garden One of the city’s trendier nightspots
Liszt Ferenc Square Café culture in the heart of Budapest
“Budapest is an intriguing old world city, full of history, culture, cuisine and friendly people, but it is rushing to embrace the new”
Hungary is a central European country with a long history. Founded in AD896 by Attila the Hun and other Mongols from Central Asia, the original inhabitants stopped at the great Carpathian Basin, finding a fruitful and peaceful plain to settle. Long a player in Eastern European affairs, Hungary has also been a scene of numerous battles and conquests. The Ottoman Turks reigned for many years prior to the Aus-
Budapest
trian Hapsburg dynasty, who co-ruled Hungary until the conclusion of World War One. One remnant from the Hapsburg era can be seen in the beautiful Budapest Opera House, which opened in 1884. Commissioned by Austrian Emperor Franz Josef, the Budapest Opera House was ordered by decree to be smaller than the one in Vienna. However, when it opened, the Emperor was furious because the Budapest Opera House was considered by all to be more splendid and technologically advanced than the one in Vienna. Franz Josef never returned to the Opera House in Budapest. It remains today a fully functioning, gorgeous place to see and listen to opera, ballet and other performances. Cultural attractions in Hungary’s capital city occupy an important part of daily life, with a strong tradition of film, lectures, music and art. Accessible by foot, tram or subway, Budapest’s many excellent galleries and museums are a good place to experience its customs. The Hungarian National Gallery, and National Museum and Museum of Fine Arts are worthy stops. The House of Terror Museum offers an extremely chilling, though important look into the 20th Century Nazi, then Soviet, then Hungarian secret police that terrorised the populace from the very building housing the museum. The Terror Museum connects visitors with this grim portion of the country’s history. For an even larger look at Communist era Hungary, visit the Memento Park with its vast array of gigantic Soviet era sculptures. And if you’re really interested, go visit the Marzipan Museum. Small modern galleries display works by numerous up and coming artists. Besides art and museums, today the Budapest music scene is rocking. Jazz, rock, alternative, country bands, local as well as international, can be seen performing all over the city. Ask around at the local Rom – you can’t miss discovering a hot new band somewhere nearby. Visitors can also enjoy ethnic acts like the Rajko Folk Ensemble, who put on a rousing show featuring traditional Hungarian folk dances and music. The spa scene is a surviving old world pursuit of Hungarians. In fact, the Romans named this area Aquincum – or abundant waters – in the first Century AD. Today, thermal spas with so-called healing waters can be found at many places in Budapest such as celebrated spots like the Racz Hotel and Thermal Spa (a member of Leading Hotels of the World), the huge Art Deco Gellert Spa or the chic Corinthia Spa, the massive, indoor/outdoor Szechenyi Spa Baths (with its swim-up chess players) as well as the historic 16th Century Rudas Thermal Spa. All are affordable and available to the public. Hungarian cuisine is where Budapest and indeed all of Hungary shines. The culinary tradition is delicious, particularly dishes with paprika, the national spice. Visitors will find many varieties of this fragrant ground pepper, both sweet and hot.
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Stay in style The Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest is a new addition to the city’s skyline
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Palatial surroundings Classical architecture at the Rácz Hotel and Thermal Spa
Paprika is often used in hearty traditional fare, such as the famous Hungarian Goulash or Gulyas. Yes, you can find many modern restaurants serving varieties of continental cuisine, sushi and tapas bars, but I’ll take Hungarian specialties like savory gulyas, porkott, or paprika chicken with tarhonya (egg barley) or nokkedli (gnocchi) any day. In fact the Budapest Central Market runs the Fakanal Etterem upstairs; a fine little cooking program where visitors can learn how to prepare, and enjoy, traditional Hungarian cuisine. It’s a perfect stop for lunch. Of course, many restaurants in Budapest do serve up wonderful examples of Hungarian cuisine. Gundel Restaurant continues to enjoy a reputation as one of the best restaurants in the country, located adjacent to Heroes Square. A sterling example of 19th Century refinement, Gundel has been impressing diners since 1894 with its elegant cuisine, service and elaborate dining areas. Gundel also presents a dazzling array of goose liver pates, another Hungarian delicacy. The New York Café is another local Hungarian haunt in a busy rebuilt city palace. Over on the Buda side, the Citadel offers amazing views of the city (plus fine game meats) and Restaurant 21 provides a casual mix of modern and traditional dishes. It has a great wine list too. You must sample some of the wonderful pastries when in Hungary. Old world stops like the Muvesz Pastry shop, a relic from early 20th Century, serves tasty cakes such as: Esterhazy torte – a fruit topped cheesecake; Rákóczi torte, a delicious cottage cheese type dessert;
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“Today, thermal spas with so-called healing waters can be found at many places in Budapest”
and the world famous Dobos torte, a butter cream and nut five layered cake. Palachinka is the Hungarian version of a crepe – light and usually filled with cottage cheese or nut paste fillings. Other typical Hungarian fillings include rum, lemon rind or raisins topped with rich chocolate sauces. Budapest is an intriguing old world city, full of history, culture, cuisine and friendly people, but it is rushing to embrace the new. Here in Budapest, once considered the Paris of Eastern Europe, you can touch, see and think about the past, but hear and taste the present.
BUDAPEST AIRPORT EXPANSiON Budapest Airport (BUD) offers a tangible demonstration of the new Hungarian spirit and emergence from its grey past. An entire new terminal building, airy and modern will open in late March 2011 and heralds a massive influx of money and energy. In 2007, a new public private partnership took over BA and invested US$400 million. “We needed to change the hardware to improve the facility,” said Reiner Schränkler, chairman of the board, BUD.“But we also must change the ‘software’ to focus on the needs of the customers, partners and commercial businesses.” Considered a rough diamond, investors are looking to make BUD into a network hub and the airport is coveting American, European and Japanese carriers to consider Budapest for additional commercial traffic.
American Airlines and the One World Alliance will be opening a New York-Budapest route this April and Delta Airlines also resumes daily nonstop service from New York to Budapest in April. Along with the new customer driven expansion, a large move is underway to make the airport the major cargo centre of Eastern Europe. From 8.1 million passengers currently, BUD estimates the ability to handle a passenger capacity load of 15 million people per year by 2015. New developments such as a 260 room, four-star hotel with state-of-the-art conference facilities are being planned. “This new airport expansion will herald the transformation of Budapest. This will be the airport of the 21st Century,” Schränkler added.
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Kentucky
Horsing around
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Alice Haine dons her jodhpurs and joins the biggest names in horse racing at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, to find out what makes the US$100 million event so successful
O
ften treated as just another rich man’s pastime akin to hunting or playing polo, equestrian sport has long been associated with the well-heeled echelons of society. But if the recently concluded World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, United States, is anything to go by, this niche competition has a very big fan base outside its high end roots and it’s finally making its mark on the global stage. Not only was the 2010 installment of the US$100 million equestrian extravaganza held outside Europe for the first time, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, it also pulled in an impressive 500,000 visitors to see the tournament’s eight disciplines of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, jumping, reining, vaulting and the newest addition, para-dressage. As well as the sporting accomplishments on show, the crowds were there to see the celebrity competitors, as the high cost of being involved in the sport means it often attracts elite competitors, including royalty. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and his son, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, the Crown Prince of Dubai were competing in the endurance event; billionairess Athina Onassis Roussel was there to support her Brazilian athlete husband; and the President of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, used to compete in the jumping category for Jordan. For those riders not blessed with blue blood or inherited fortunes, there are still rich gains to be made. An elite rider will not only receive lucrative sponsorship deals but will likely have a wealthy patron – usually a businessman whose passion for the sport ensures he has multiple studs and an array of top horses, which change hands for as much as US$9.2 billion, at the disposal of his chosen rider.
With so much wealth required just to compete, it’s not surprising one of the sport’s premier sponsors is Rolex. The luxury watch brand has been associated with the event since 1957 because of the ‘majestic’ relationship between the horse and rider. “Equestrian sport is the most noble sport in the world and it’s the combination of human being and animal for which we have love and respect,” says Jean-Noel Bioul, director of sponsorship for Rolex. While the FEI is working hard to ensure the sport is being taken up by every nation in the world, wealthy or not, Princess Haya says that losing its status as a luxury sport is not something the organisation wants. “Having an elite product is part of the vehicle of selling it and there is a lot of merit in the fact that being involved in the equestrian family as an athlete is a status symbol,” she explains. “We are working very hard to get the message across that it’s not just a rich person’s sport, but at the same time we’re not trying to obliterate that reputation.” Princess Haya has a point. People love glamour and spectacle and nothing will excite a horse fan more than the sleek honed athletes sitting atop their mighty steeds in tight white riding jodhpurs. While the more exclusive spectators decorate the riders’ inner circle in their sunglasses, and skinny white jeans tucked into high-heeled boots, the ordinary fans wearing the regulation American garb of jeans and trainers are happy to watch from the sidelines. And it’s these fans, the ordinary people, eager to capture some of the glamour and the magnificent horsemanship on display, who make up the majority of the event’s ticket sales and are largely responsible for an estimated economic injection of US$150 million the event brings into the Kentucky coffers. “The WEG has been a big boost to the local economy and it’s raised Kentucky’s profile with-
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out question,” says John Long, chairman of the World Games 2010 Foundation. “During the event I was walking around one of the city’s restaurants and there were 11 different languages being spoken – that’s remarkable for this little town that’s known for its university, Horse Park and basketball. There a sense of pride in the community and that will pay dividends in the years ahead.” The WEG first took place in Stockholm in 1990, followed by stints around Europe in locations such as Rome, The Hague and Aachen in Germany. But in order to honour its title as the ‘World’ Equestrian Games, the event needed to move to a venue outside Europe and the decision to take it to Kentucky was a chance for the athletes and their 918 horses to shine on a global stage. With the Games broadcast fully on NBC Sports, the largest commitment to network coverage of equestrian sport in US television history, the competition’s organisers needed their product to be picture perfect. “From the outset I said these games needed to be technically perfect for the athlete, the horse and the spectator; it needed to be
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culturally and artistically right; it needed to be respectful of the tradition of the WEG but at the same time uniquely American; and it needed to be commercially successful. We can report a tick on all those things,” Long explains. Possibly the most important tick Long needed was the commercial triumph, because as he points out himself, “if it’s culturally perfect and technically wonderful but you lose US$15 million on it – who cares?” That commercial success comes from ticket sales, sponsorship and vendors hiring space to sell their predominantly equestrian wares. But perhaps its wider impact can be measured by the tremendous effect the event has had on the local tourism industry, because the spectacle offered Lexington a unique opportunity to promote its attractions. And promote they did. At the event itself, the Kentucky Experience was selling Lexington’s heritage as the famed birthplace of Blue Grass and Bourbon. The region’s limestone-infused water creates such fertile soil that in the spring the lawns and pastures take on a light shade of blue. This same soil is also attributed to the success of the Bourbon – a beverage synonymous with the state
and one of the main ingredients used in every Kentucky eatery. And lets not forget the WEG was held at one of the state’s premier tourist attractions, the Kentucky Horse Park, an attraction that markets the region’s rich and long-lasting relationship with the horse. The facility is home to approximately 50 breeds of horses, a 60,500 square foot museum and live animal shows that give visitors a chance to get up close and personal with their favourite mounts. And for those horse-hungry fans that want more of the same, the nearby Keeneland Race Track, the home of the Kentucky Derby, and the Churchill Downs Race Track host a packed racing calendar. But for WEG, the real winner of this unique sport and tourism combination was the local hospital industry. Hotels, many of which reported full occupancy during the event, went out of their way to organise shuttles to and from the venue or to take visitors to the countless horse breeding farms dotted around the state or along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which features eight of the state’s most famous distilleries.
But while the local hotels were counting their fortune, there’s no escaping the many visitors deterred by the average room rate of US$129$500, which coupled together with entrance fees of US$65 per event made an unappetising purchase in these tough economic times. “I think the prices were too high,” admits Long. “ We lost visitors because of it. If we were to do it again we would go to the city and seek a pass of ordinance that would put a cap on the up-charge that a hotel could tack onto its normal daily rate. After we won the bid it was impossible to do that, and that’s a lesson we’ve learned.” For the premier hotels charging the highest room rates, the guests lists were predominantly made up of the teams themselves and their army of glamorous groupies. But there was also a very large and noticeable Middle Eastern contingent present as equestrian sport and the Middle East have a lot in common, something Princess Haya has been very instrumental in. Back in the days when the FEI president was competing, the Middle East presence was almost nonexistent, but inspired by her success at both the WEG and the Olympic Games, the story is very different today. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Egypt all had teams at this year’s event and the region’s medal tally was higher than ever with Arabian athlete Abdullah Al Sharbatly winning silver in the jumping event and the UAE Endurance team netting an incredible three medals in the 160km endurance race. “As far as the Middle East is concerned, they have shown they have a niche in endurance and jumping and they’ve excelled in both of those areas,” says Princess Haya. “People on the ground were talking about the professionalism of the crews and the athletes involved and the way the athletes presented themselves and their horses.” But the Middle East’s newfound success is just a tiny part of the huge relationship between this region and the WEG. Dubai’s ultra-modern race course Meydan was the sponsor of the endurance event; daily shows featuring Arabian Horses with riders dressed in traditional Arabian clothing thrilled the American crowds, and a multi-million dollar exhibit A Gift From The Desert, featuring 400 artefacts and works of art was loaned to the park exclusively for the event by the Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation. This Middle Eastern flavour in a very American setting proves that the WEG’s biggest achievement this year has been raising the sport’s profile outside of its traditional European home. And while the next event will return to Normandy in the northwest of France, as Princess Haya points out, hosting such a prestigious event is now worth fighting for. “The proof that the WEG has grown stronger is that when we came out of Aachen (the 2006 WEG host) there were two bidders. This event has generated so much interest, we have multiple bidders for 2018.”
FEI president Princess Haya HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein used to compete in the jumping category for Jordan
“If it’s culturally perfect and technically wonderful but you lose US$15 million on it – who cares?”
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Diary 01.11
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Volvo Golf Champions Bahrain, January 27 – 30
January is set to be a busy month for golf lovers in the GCC. The Volvo Golf Champions, the European Tour’s newest event, will make its debut at the Royal Golf Club in Bahrain this month, in between the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship (Jan 20-23) and the Qatar Masters (Feb 3-6). Taking place on the golf club’s new Montgomerie course, designed by 2010 Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, the Volvo Golf Champions will see World No 8 golfer Ian Poulter, 2010 Portugal Open winner Thomas Bjorn, two-time winner of the 2010 European Tour Edoardo Molinari, former US Open champion Michael Campbell, and the recent winner of the European Tour Rookie of the Year award, 17-year-old Matteo Manassero, compete for a prize of US$2.2 million in what is sure to be a gripping tournament. 62
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New York Restaurant Week
New York, January 24 – Febuary 6
Anyone who’s visited New York City knows it’s one of the most enticing culinary destinations in the world. From fancy fine dining establishments to hole-in-the-wall pizzerias, bagel shops and the ubiquitous pretzel stands, every street corner offers up tantalising opportunities to stop and sample every kind of cuisine under the sun. So if you’re serious about food and you’re planning a trip to the Big Apple in January, why not book yourself a spot at one of the city’s best restaurants during Restaurant Week? If the list of participating venues doesn’t impress you (Nobu, Spice Market, Cipriani, Tao and Butter are just a few) the price will: a three-course dinner will set you back just US$35, while lunch will ring in at US$24.07. To make a booking, go to www. opentable.com, or visit www.gonyc.com.
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Sydney Festival
Sydney, January 8 – 30
Sydney’s idyllic summer season is well underway, and January is perhaps one of the best times to visit. Not only will the weather be perfect for outdoor activities like beaching, sailing and exploring by foot, for a full three weeks the city comes alive during the annual Sydney Festival, when a host of impressive theatre, dance, musical and visual arts events and exhibitions will take place throughout. There’s also plenty of street and park parties, freebie concerts, and loads of family-friendly activities like kid’s shows, arts and crafts and sing-alongs. Incorporated into the festival are some very impressive Australia Day celebrations on January 26 – expect fireworks, merriment and lots of barbecues and beer, of course. Check out www.sydneyfestival.org.au for a full list of events and performances.
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Dubai Shopping Festival Dubai, Jan 20 – Feb 20
It’s that time of year again, when those in search of a little retail therapy flock to Dubai’s mega-malls and super-souks to take advantage of generous discounts on everything from clothing to jewellery, cars, perfume, textiles, home appliances and electronic items. Since its inception in 1996 the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) has grown in popularity, and now attracts thousands of tourists from around the world looking to scoop some major deals from more than 6,000 participating retailers across the emirate, and perhaps win one of DSF’s famous raffle prizes, which have included luxury cars and high-end apartments in the past. And with firework shows and tons of activities and events to keep the kids entertained while you shop, there’s no excuse to hold back - just don’t forget your credit card.
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Santiago Bierfest
Santiago, Chile, January 13–16
If you love a good beer festival but could do without the rowdy crowds and chilly temperatures of Germany’s Oktoberfest celebrations, perhaps a trip to Chile is in order this month. Although the region is better known for its wine than its lagers, the annual Santiago Bierfest in Padre Hurtado Park offers the chance to quaff a wide selection of ales from local and imported big-name labels to smaller artisan breweries morning till night for three days. Popular selections in years past have included Capital, a local brew, and German label Schofferhofer’s unique grapefruit beer. A decidedly more civilised affair than most beer fests, expect a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere, ideal beer-sipping weather (January is summertime in South America) and of course, plenty of barmaid costumes – Chilean style. What’s not to love?
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Old Christmas/New Year Russia, Jan 7 and 14
Christmas comes but once a year, however if you just can’t get enough the festive season, pack your bags and head to St. Petersburg or Moscow for a second helping. Though Russia now celebrates Christmas and New Year along with the rest of the western world, according to the Eastern Orthodox Julian calendar, which was replaced by the modern-day Gregorian calendar in 1918, Christmas falls on Jan 7, while New Year falls on Jan 14. Today, the holidays are referred to as ‘Old’ Christmas and ‘Old’ New Year, and are still widely celebrated in a low-key fashion with traditional Russian feasts, New Year’s trees (Christmas trees are left up for an extra week to celebrate all the holidays), and on Old New Year, you can take part in some traditional folk traditions like carol singing and fortune telling. dotwnews.com
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Under African skies This month’s line up of new itineraries includes a three in one safari in Botswana, a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to Antarctica, an art tour in Brazil and an exclusive cruise down China’s Yangzi River
Great White Wilderness
Yangzi Passage
If your New Year’s resolutions include taking that once-in-a-lifetime dream trip, this one’s for you. One hundred years after the death of Antarctic explorer Robin Falcon Scott, The Ultimate Travel Company has planned an itinerary for 2012 that will take customers on a dazzling voyage of discovery across one of the world’s last great unexplored wilderness areas. The 11-day expedition aboard the Ocean Nova polar adventure ship will depart Ushuaia, the southernmost tip of South America (on the Beagle Channel), on February 1, 2012, crossing the Drake Passage to the Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. The ship’s fleet of zodiacs will take passengers on shore excursions to explore the great white wilderness and glimpse some of the continent’s majestic animal life. Legendary explorer Robin Hanbury Tenison and Telegraph Group travel editor Graham Boynton will accompany the expedition, as well as The Ultimate Travel Company’s managing director Nick Van Gruisen. From: one-off departure on February 1, 2012 Price: starting from US$13,220 per person based on sharing a twin cabin. Includes flights from London. www.theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk
Every once-in-a-lifetime list should also include a cruise down China’s Yangzi River through the majestic Three Gorges. Abercrombie&Kent’s Yangzi Passage itinerary is part of the company’s Connoisseur series, and features several nights in Beijing’s famous The Peninsular hotel before embarking on a luxurious river cruise that takes guests down China’s mystical Yangzi River, whose towering limestone cliff faces shelter the jade-green waters below. Spend two nights on the Sanctuary MS Yangzi Explorer floating past the soaring Three Gorges, Xiling, Wu and Qutang before disembarking at Chongqing, China’s largest city. Spend the next two nights at the Shangri-La in picturesque Guilin, and neighbouring Yangshuo, before flying to Xian to discover the ancient Terracotta Warriors. End the journey with two nights in The Peninsular in Shanghai and explore China’s bustling economic and stylistic capital. From: April-May and September-October 2011 Price: US$9,165 based on double occupancy in a suite. Internal flights cost an additional US$1,145. Includes flights from US or Canada. Max group size 16. www.abercrombiekent.com
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Spend it
Itinerary
Under African skies If two’s company, three may be a crowd this February, unless you’re talking about Orient Express’ three luxury safari camps in Botswana. Tick off several once in a lifetime experiences and sort our your Valentine’s Day plans in one go, with a six-night itinerary including two nights in each of these luxurious camps. Eagle Island Camp is situated in the Okavango Delta, a water-based camp surrounded by the lush waterways of the Xaxaba lagoon, which are home and feeding grounds to around 400 species of animals. Visitors will take a helicopter flight over the delta before landing in a secluded spot for a romantic picnic. Thatched roof luxury tents at the Khawai River Lodge near the Moremi Wildlife Reserve make the perfect setting for a complimentary couple’s massage, before a moonlit safari drive and stargazing session. At Savute Elephant Camp in Chobe National Park, the thousand-yearold baobab trees make a romantic backdrop to the waters of the Savute Channel, which now flows again after 30 years of drought. The life-giving waters and the wildlife that flocks to them can all be seen from the private terraces at the camp. During February, guests will receive a special rock painting created for them by the indigenous San Bushmen. From: available in February 2011 Price: from US$3,560 per person for two nights in each property, including private charter transfers and all safari activities and camp fees. www.orient-express.com
Brazilian art Planning on pursuing that lifelong dream to take up art in the New Year? If you’re short on inspiration, look no further than cazenove+loyd’s exclusive itinerary taking you behind the scenes of Brazil’s emerging art scene. The seven-night journey takes visitors on a tour of three of Brazil’s most inspiring art destinations: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais Province, with exclusive access to some of the best galleries and private collections in the country. With well-respected artist Fabio Sombra as a guide, guests can also meet with local artists (including Sao Paulo-based artist Fernando Velazquez) in their studios to discover more about Brazil’s art scene, from the folk arts like fabric weaving to modern day favella art. In Minas Gerais, visitors will explore the colonial architecture of Belo Horizante and Tiradentes and wander through the open air art gallery Inhotim, set to the backdrop of coffee plantations, mountains and valleys. Musically minded visitors will love learning to play the 10-stringed viola caipira with local musicians and learning local Brazilian folk songs. From: January 2011 Price: from US$4,806 per person www.cazloyd.com
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DEBUT
Banyan Tree Ras Al Khaimah
Banyan Tree Al Wadi in Ras Al Khaimah, which boasts a wildlife nature reserve, sweeping desert dunes and stunning mountain vistas, has recently launched 32 luxurious beachfront pool villas on the coast nearby. Guests will be taken by chauffeured car from the one-year-old desert resort to the shoreline before setting sail on a traditional Dhow to the villas, each featuring direct access to a private beach, a secluded terrace, plunge pool and a covered gazebo. For golf lovers, Al Hamra Golf Club’s 18-hole course on the nearby mainland is the perfect way to spend the afternoon, and the dedicated spa with six treatment pavilions is where you’ll want to unwind after a day at the beach or pool.
Minimal Element lets its interiors do the talking
Element New York Times Square West, New York
Continuing in the vein of Element Hotels, a division of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, the ‘eco chic’ Element New York Times Square West is a high-performance building where sustainable practices reduce waste and conserve resources. The 411 guest rooms and seven suites feature carpets, furniture and floors made from recycled content, wall art that is mounted on bases made from recycled tires, and low-VOC paints which improve indoor air quality. Energy Star-rated appliances and recycling bins are also featured in each room, making it easy for guests to incorporate green living into their daily routines while on holiday or travelling for business. With a focus on health and wellbeing, guests can choose from a host of complimentary wellness programmes and healthy food options, and can keep up their fitness regime at Motion, a state of the art 24-hour gym. 66
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Location Shangri-La Paris is located in the historic Palais d’Iena
Shangri-La Hotel, Paris Paris, France
Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has opened its first European property, the Shangri-La Hotel, Paris, set in the historic Palais d’Iena in the upscale 16th arrondissement. Originally constructed in 1896 as the private home of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s grandnephew, the property has undergone four years of restoration and is now registered under the French heritage
institution Monuments Historiques. With just 81 rooms including 27 suites, the Shangri-La Hotel, Paris retains an intimate feel, yet no expense has been spared in ensuring it is a benchmark of French elegance and glamour. Combining the splendour of the Palace – think white and gold facades, marble floors and high ceilings - with the luxury of modern day conveniences, 40 percent of the rooms and 60 percent of the suites will have unobstructed views of the Eiffel Tower and the River Seine below.
Keeping you abreast of the latest hotel openings
Hansar Bangkok Bangkok, Thailand
The Hansar Hotels and Resorts group, which recently opened the beachfront Hansar Sumui on the island of Sumui, Thailand, has announced the Hansar Bangkok is set to open this month, and it’s already a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH). Located in the upmarket neighbourhood of Rajdamri Road, the Hansar Bangkok promises guests ‘highly personalised individual service’. So what does that mean? Keeping the capacity low at just 94 spacious suites allows for an intimate boutique hotel experience, and each room will feature free Wi-Fi, plus flatscreen TVs, DVD players and iPod docking stations. Sure to attract a younger, trendier clientele, the Hansar Bangkok’s modern design and décor are minimalist-chic, and guests will be spoilt for choice with five restaurants including hip new bar Vue, as well as the LUXSA Spa, offering therapeutic and beauty treatments.
Hyatt Regency Pune Pune, India
The IT business hub of Pune, India, will welcome the addition of the Hyatt Regency Pune, which will serve as the city’s first upscale deluxe hotel and residence complex and will cater to leisure and business travellers. With 222 guest rooms and suites, plus 84 serviced apartments, wedding
and conference facilties, two restaurants, a bar, full-service business centre and a Hyatt Pure spa and fitness centre, the hotel is conveniently located a short drive from the airport in Pune’s Weikfield IT Park, and a 10-minute drive from the upmarket entertainment areas of Koregaon Park and Kalyani Nager.
Suite Vertigo at the Hansar Bangkok
The St. Regis Lhasa Resort Lhasa, Tibet, China
Rooftop pool Hyatt Regency Pune is the first five-star hotel in the Indian city
The first-ever luxury resort in Tibet has opened its doors, and it’s a lesson in harmonious living. The St. Regis Lhasa Resort sits at 12,000 feet above sea level and will feature awe-inspiring views of the Himalayas and the Lhasa Valley from each of its 162 rooms, suites and villas, plus three restaurants to please any palate, a signature tea room and wine bar, and the Iridium Spa, complete with gold-tiled pool and Meditation Garden for yoga, Pilates and meditation. Blending elements of traditional Tibetan culture with natural surroundings and mod cons like high-speed Internet and plasma screen TVs, the resort also incorporates sustainable features such as solar panels, locally sourced produce and an underground water recycling system. dotwnews.com
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Review
Hotel
Pleasure on the Pampas Joe Mortimer discovers traditional Argentine culture at Estancia La Oriental, in the heart of cattle country
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eave Buenos Aires by coach or car, and it’s not long before the dense buildings and hum of the city give way to a very different panorama; one of endless fields of green, interrupted only by vast herds of cattle and the occasional lonely gaucho galloping across the horizon. Welcome to the Pampas. Two and a half hours from the capital we pulled of the main road at Junin and drove down a dusty track for another 15 minutes before turning off and passing through the grand gates of the Estancia La Oriental; one of hundreds of functioning cattle ranches that have opened their doors to tourists across Argentina. Five minutes down the tree-lined driveway, past the outhouses, the magnificent 19th century manor house sits in a sea of emerald-green grass, the only part of the 2,500-hectare ranch not dedicated to agriculture or grazing its 500 head of cattle. Confined by the railway to the north and a river to the south, the huge estate is centred around the manor house, which was built in 1880 by bon vivant Don Justo Saavedra, who bought the land from the provincial government. The estancia was regarded as one of the most important cattle ranches in Buenos Aires Province in the late nineteenth century, before it was acquired by the Torello family in 1930. We are welcomed by owner Estela Ocampo de Torello, who owns and manages the ranch with her husband Rafael. When Rafael’s grandmother Doña María Teresa Jacobe de Torello bought the ranch in a closed auction in 1930, the family acquired the manor house and its land, complete with all the original furnishings. Although the property was restored by the new owners, every effort was made to retain the original atmosphere of the manor house, with the exception of the bathrooms, which now boast modern plumbing
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and fittings. But the guestrooms and public areas are still charmingly authentic, each with unique items of furniture passed down from the original owners. Each of the nine suites has a private bathroom and an open fireplace, which is lit and tended to every day by Miguel, the estancia’s go-to guy for any hands-on activity, which include horseback or carriage rides, archery, fishing, or a drive in one of the ranch’s classic cars, which are also lovingly maintained by Miguel. Health and safety isn’t Argentina’s strong point, so helmets are optional on horseback excursions around the ranch or to the nearby lake. The less adventurous can enjoy the scenery at a more leisurely pace from the back of a horse-drawn carriage. Walking into the living room of the main house is like visiting a small museum, except here you can lounge around on the furniture while you enjoy a glass of something refreshing in front of the open fireplace, or enjoy a game of carombole (French billiards) on the 100-year-old table. Dinner is served either in the dinning room or, in the warmer months, outside under a canopy of stars. In the main house, the team of chefs prepare homemade pasta dishes as well as bread and breakfast marmalades that are served in the grandiose dining room or on the sun-soaked patio outside. No visit to Argentina is complete until you have indulged in an authentic asado; a traditional barbeque where beef, lamb, chicken and anything else within reach of the chef is grilled over a hot fire in the open air. Lamb rarely tastes as good as when it’s served under the huge open skies of the Argentine Pampas, with a glass of full-bodied Malbec to wash it down. Rating: A night under the stars with your own woodburning fire and a sun-drenched breakfast is the only way to experience the Pampas.
The important bit What: Estancia La Oriental Location: Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
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Grand Resort Bad Ragaz The Leading Wellbeing & Medical Health Resort
Experience a unique environment of healthy wellbeing.
7310 Bad Ragaz 路 Switzerland 路 Tel. +41 (0)81 303 30 30 reservation@resortragaz.ch 路 www.resortragaz.ch dotwnews.com
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Connoisseur
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adisson Royal Hotel, Moscow, is a magic wedding-cake of scarcely believable ingredients. In the mid 20th century Stalin decided to furnish Moscow with skyscrapers, the ‘Seven Sisters’. The pinnacled, C-shaped Hotel Ukraina, its central tower soaring to 34 floors, opened in 1957, a 1,107-bedroom creation of the Architectural Studio of the Ministry of Construction of the USSR. Jump forward. April 28th, 2010: what is now the Radisson Royal opened with 505 bedrooms, plus 38 apartments. Putin personally asked one of the building’s owners, Moscow shopping centre magnate Telman Ishmailov, to spend more here than he did – reputedly US$1.2 billion – on Mardan Palace in Antalya, Turkey. This one, however, shows remarkably good taste. You enter a lobby of sparkling marble with statues dotted here and there and, about 100 metres ahead, a 1977 diorama of old Moscow, about 16 metres across, 10 metres deep, with the ‘sky’ reaching up to six metres above you. There are continual surprises – each floor rug is said to cost over US$10,000. Club bedroom 1061, one of the smallest at ‘only’ 35 sq m, looks out across the Moskva river at the Government and Mayor’s offices. Moored below are the hotel’s five 200-seat river boats (year-round – they are ice-cutters). The bedroom has blue print wallpaper and thickest-possible silk taffeta drapes – the bathroom (where the toothbrush holder costs US$150) has black damask paper, a heated floor and electric rail. The boudoir-like 24-hour Club lounge is serviced by ‘tweeny’ maids in black, with laceedged white aprons (women elsewhere wear scarlet, with classic forage caps). The gym has three-each of everything Technogym can produce,
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Mary Gostelow
Lifestyle and luxury commentator
There are continual surprises each floor rug is said to cost over US$10,000
An insider’s view of the world’s most luxurious hotels some never seen elsewhere. The five-lane swimming pool, miraculously dug out from the hotel’s basement, is 50 metres long. Get the message? Oh yes, the food. Top Moscow restaurateur Arkady Novikov handles the Tatler Club Restaurant, and the myriad culinary offerings, so popular with discerning Muscovites, include Iranian, Italian and Japanese, with karaoke, of course. There is also a two-seat wedding restaurant underneath the main dome. GM Wolfgang Nitschke smiles knowingly when he says Radisson Royal can compete with Burj al-Arab in Dubai. Of course Moscow has more. The Ararat Park Hyatt, 10 minutes’ walk from Red Square, is a gathering place for younger business types, frequenting the lobby bar and the tenth floor rooftop bar-lounge. There is a Gregorian chapel, ‘birds’ chirp in the sauna, and, typically for Moscow, there is an indoor pool. The 220-room hotel, now run by GM Stephen Ansell, is comfy; 60 percent of guests are regulars. Let us hope Café Ararat, a replica of a 1960s favourite, is not drastically changed in the renovations that the eight-year-old hotel is about to undergo. There will definitely be changes to the restaurants at Baltschug Kempinski when it starts working up to a ‘new look’, starting soon. This 232-room classic (GM Gerhard Mitrovits), 15 minutes’ walk from Red Square across the Moskvoretsky Bridge over the Moskva, started life in 1898 and Kempinski arrived in 1992. It is a magnet not only for Germans, but Heads of State and other serious guests (many of them fully appreciate one of Europe’s best concierges, Michael Hopf). As one expects from a German product, everything works splendidly and on time. Do not miss the Baltschug Kempinski’s daily buffet breakfast, which attracts many local business groups. Apparently an additional Viennese-type café is planned, with a working bakery. The 12th (rooftop) floor 02 at Ritz-Carlton, Moscow is a top luxurious hangout; in summer happy crowds adorn its terrace, looking down at Red Square, five minutes away. The open-square interior includes an area for sabre-ing open bottles of Champagne, and two lifesize white resin sculptures, Man and Woman, by Gao Xiao Wu, and masses of other original art in this 332-room hotel, which opened 1997. Cognoscenti choose Club rooms, for access to the 11th floor lounge – there is also a waitlist for the premium Ritz-Carlton Suite, all 220 sq m of it, with dining for eight, a grand piano and great views. And, an insider tip, the really knowledgeable ask GM Sandeep Walia for driver Andrej to whisk them to the airport in an Audi Quattro that seems to make seemingly-dense traffic magically disappear.
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Discover An Oasis of Indulgence Arabian-inspired tented villas bring you closer to nature. Awake to the dawn chorus of birdsong before embarking on a multitude of activities from rejuvenating spa treatments to awe-inspiring falconry displays. Surrounded by rolling dunes amid spectacular sunrises and sunsets, Banyan Tree Al Wadi is now open in Ras Al Khaimah.
Banyan Tree Al Wadi Al Mazaraa, P.O. Box 35288, Ras Al Khaimah, U.A.E Tel: +971 7 206 7777 Fax: +971 7 243 5000 dotwnews.com
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THE ALBUM: Ben Fogle
en Fogle isn’t a typical 37-year-old Brit. He’s rowed across the Atlantic for starters, and taken part in some of the most gruelling challenges the planet has to offer, all of which he talks about with a grin whenever he appears on British TV, which is quite a lot. Although his website describes him as a “presenter, writer and adventurer”, it’s only fair to add entrepreneur, philanthropist and glutton for punishment to the list.
After studying Latin American Studies at the University of Costa Rica and University of Portsmouth, Fogle spent several years working on a turtle conservation project on the Mosquito Coast of Honduras at an orphanage in Ecuador, before returning to the Uk to work on the picture desk at Tatler magazine. So began a lifetime of travelling around the world to far-flung destinations in the name of charity, raising awareness and of course, personal gratification. His fund-raising activities have seen Fogle complete the notorious 160-mile Marathon Des Sables, “the toughest footrace on the planet” according to organisers; row across the Atlantic in 49 days; and cross Antarctica in a race to the South Pole. He has appeared on numerous TV programmes, including the BBC’s 2000 millennium project
Castaway, for which he spent a year living on the remote windswept island of Taransay in the Outer Hebrides. When he is not hiking through the wilderness, Fogle is usually found at home with wife Marina and trusty black Labrador Inca, or sitting at his desk writing about his latest exploits. Indeed, Fogle has four bestselling books under his belt to date, and is also an ambassador for WWF, Medcins Sans Frontier and Tusk, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the President of the Campaign for National Parks. We couldn’t think of many people in a better position to share their top travel destinations with DOTW News. Ben Fogle will have a stand at The Outdoors Show from January 13-16 at ExCeL in London (www.theoutdoorsshow.co.uk).
Amalfi, Italy For European style and beauty, give me Amalfi any day. Breathtakingly beautiful, it harks back to the days of glamour and decadence when movie stars were real celebrities. Sophia Loren still has a home here. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants perched on top of the dramatic cliffs, offering incredible views onto the turquoise waters below. Beautiful people, beautiful landscape and beautiful food and wine.
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Botswana
Sri Lanka
Made famous by the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Botswana is as charming as the books portyay it to be. Certainly one of the safer of the African countries, I was lucky enough to explore it with Princes William and Harry last year. Rich in nature and wildlife, the Okavango Delta is a must. You’re guaranteed to come face to face with Africa’s Big Five. An enchanting, heartwarming place to visit. Perfect for first timers to the African continent.
This island in the Indian Ocean is eye-wateringly beautiful. The beaches must rate as some of the best in the world and there is a huge variety of hotels to choose from. The north of the country has been closed to tourism for a number of years due to the civil unrest, but the south is relatively easy to travel around. From the wonder of Sigiria to the tea plantations around Kandy, Sri Lanka left a lasting impression on me.
January 2011
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“Rich in nature and wildlife, the Okavango Delta is a must. You’re guaranteed to come face to face with Africa’s Big Five”
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Papua New Guniea
Tristan da Cunha
Bolivia
This is proper frontier territory as far as tourism is concerned, but well worth visiting for intrepid tourists. It rates as one of my favourite places for its people, landscape, culture and nature. It is about as exciting as travel gets and offers everything from beautiful beaches to dramatic rainforest.
So this might be a little difficult to get to and may only be visited by a handful of hardy travellers each year, but it really is a magnificent island in the middle of the South Atlantic. It’s located halfway between South America and South Africa. Just 300 islanders live on what is described as the most remote inhabited island in the world. It’s cetainly one of the most memorable places I have ever been.
They may have been the odd one out in Cancun, but don’t underestimate this Andean country. Landlocked in South America, Bolivia is as exciting as it is dramatic. Rich heritage and the towering Andean snowcapped summits leave a lasting impression on anyone lucky enough to see them. I have been back a handful of times and it only gets better.
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Final word...
Find your sanctuary John Elias owner/ director, The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille, Kenya What were you doing before you opened the resort? I had a 30-year career in the international chemical industry. I caught the Africa bug at the age of 22 and spent as much time on the continent as I could, always thinking I would eventually do something in Africa. Hemingway said that once you taste the dust of Africa you have to return. It was like that for me.
Can you explain the concept behind The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille? The concept is to offer highly discerning people their “own place in the African wilderness”: your own house and your own staff, with unequalled service. The Ol Lentille Project is a three-legged stool; an attempt to balance economic development using tourism as a key, along with conservation
and community development. If you don’t put equal effort into all three, you end up falling off the stool. If you get it right it is a virtuous circle: conservation enables tourism, tourism enables economic development, economic development enables community development, and the community supports conservation.
How does employing local Maasai enhance guests’ experience? Because the Maasai community are partners in the business and because of the economic and developmental benefits of the project, our guests are able to gain especially authentic cultural insights into the Maasai way of life. Many guests become donors and enjoy a continuing relationship with the Ol Lentille community. Some strike up genuine friendships.
Why did you choose Laikipia? Laikipia hosts the greatest number and diversity of endangered species of animals in the whole of Africa. Apart from the Maasai Mara, Laikipia is home to the largest population of wildlife in Kenya. Laikipia is not an official protected
area, like a National Park; the land is largely privately-owned, and this was essential to enable our community-based conservation tourism mission.
What do you enjoy most about living and working in Africa? The climate is wonderful and the scenery is breathtaking, but actually it is the people; their boundless optimism, resilience and energy, and the constant challenge of keeping that three-legged stool upright.
Can you describe a typical day? No such thing really. The variety of my days is amazing and exciting. We
spend as much time with guests as they wish, so that is always a pleasure. Otherwise, a patrol around a part of our 20,000-acre conservation area has to be done regularly, to check on rangers, monitor wildlife, and to say hello to community members on the boundaries.
What do your visitors tend to enjoy most about their stay with you? The most frequent and consistent guest comments are to tell us how wonderful our staff are, and we agree. People also get excited about both the tranquillity of the resort, and paradoxically the exciting activities we offer.
Competition... WHERE IN THE WORLD? Think you can identify the location in the photo? If you do, e-mail your answer to competition@dotwnews.com and put ‘Where in the world?’ in the subject line. Each month, the winner will receive a 12-month subscription to Destinations of the World News worth US$99 and two bottles of Passenger fragrance – Passenger for Men and Passenger for Women – courtesy of Paris design house St. Dupont. The destination featured in our December 2010 competition was Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi Dong in Thailand. The winner is Ashraf AbdulKader in Abu Dhabi.
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January 2011
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two private islands one premier destination - maldives
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