Conde Nast Traveller

SEPTEMBER 2022 THE FOOD SPECIAL Delicious trips Ripe for the picking MEET THE GLOBAL PIONEERS Plus CHANGING HOW WE EAT MELBOURNE’S THRILLING FROM ACCRA TO ALENTEJO NEW RESTAURANT SCENE WHERE TO STAY WHILE BAR-HOPPING IN SAN SEBASTIAN A FRESH TAKE ON TRADITION IN LADAKH COMBING THE DEVON COAST FOR THE BEST SEAFOOD

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PHOTOGRAPH: TOM PARKER CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2022 The Food Special DEVON p84 Meet the local chefs and fishing folk angling for a sustainable future LADAKH p94 A new food movement drawing on multiple cultures is on the bubble in this Indian region ALBANIA p106 One-time refugees are returning to reclaim the Adriatic country’s cuisine MELBOURNE p118 How a fresh, buzzy restaurant scene has emerged from the city’s prolonged lockdown STAKNA MONASTERY, LADAKH

CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2022 50 21 70 130 Also in 40 10 EDITOR’S LETTER 67 STYLE FILE The look Highland 8 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022 14 CONTRIBUTORS rambling with Chanel. Shopping in Singapore. Postcard from 21 WORD OF MOUTH The places Greece. Beauty The supplements to know about. Watch Dialling up and people changing how we eat, blue and green. Jewellery Herbal from Greenland’s far-out ingredients tea distilled into precious gems to a Peruvian potato magician 83 TRENDWATCH All aboard 34 PERSPECTIVES Our trio the great train food revival of tasty features kicks off with an ode to the maître d’. Plus, Australia’s 128 THE GLOBETROTTER pearl-meat comeback Star Wars actor John Boyega 40 HOUSE CALL The eclectic 130 STAYCATION The UK’s best PHOTOGRAPHS: BERKELEYSIDE/MELATI CITRAWIREJA; GREG COX/ BUREAUX; ISSY CROKER; ANA LUI; CHRIS SCHALKX home of two florists in South Africa’s new destination restaurants winelands to take over as your own 140 EVENTS Join us in London 44 PERSPECTIVES YasminKhan for a taste of Rioja’s wines along on how sharing a meal crosses cultures with a fire-licked feast 47 WHERE TO STAY First look 160 THE VIEW FROM HERE Lake Como’s new hotel Passalacqua. Blackberry Mountain, Tennessee Spotlight on Where to bed down in San Sebastián. The weekender Keythorpe Hall, Leicestershire 58 THE CULTURE HOPPER Singer-songwriter Olivia Dean 60 HEALTH FIX Food manifestos 79 at destination spas have become plant-based and planet-friendly



ON THE COVER I am wrItIng thIs letter from the back seat of a New York City cab on the way to LaGuardia GIARDINO EDEN RESTAURANT, PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY IMAGES airport to catch a flight to Charleston, South Carolina. My suitcase flutters with tags from ISCHIA, ITALY. PHOTOGRAPHED BY Milan, because I just attended a sumptuous wedding on Lake Como, right on the heels of other grand nuptials in Cannes and the 15th-anniversary party for the Spanish edition MADELINE LU of Condé Nast Traveler in Madrid. The exuberance of my summer spent flitting around the Mediterranean was only slightly dampened the moment I realised that my bag full of Italian SUBSCRIBE shopping hadn’t made its way down the carousel. In spite of several delays, cancellations, missing luggage, airline and taxi strikes, and many precious hours wasted in immigration queues VISIT CNTRAVELLER. – always longer for me in the Western world because I hold an Indian passport (a whole other COM/SUBSCRIBE, story for another time) – it has been a magnificent and unforgettable summer so far. EMAIL CNTRAVELLER@ To start with there was the pasta. Shiny from its drizzle of olive oil, dotted with sweet-sour SUBSCRIPTION.CO.UK, OR tomatoes or a generous shaving of fragrant truffle, or stuffed, like a soft pillow, with silky cheese and eaten overlooking a glittering swimming pool on the edge of Italy’s dreamiest CALL 0844 848 5202 lake. And that one night in Milan, where it was served ramen-style in a bowl of chicken soup by a Japanese chef who had moved to the country many years before because he had fallen FOLLOW US ON in love with the pasta – I wanted to hate it but it was a sheer, salty, umami delight. Then there I N S TAG R A M was the seafood. Fresh, meaty yet light, decorated with capers or olives, finished with a perfect squeeze of lemon, or dipped into hot oil for that flaky, paper-thin crust. Oysters and vinegar, @ CO N D E N AS T T R AV E L L E R mussels and white wine, caviar with sour cream, prawns with thick mayonnaise – food that reminded me how lucky I am. And all eaten with gusto, to savour each bite but also to make PAG ISLAND, CROATIA the most of the moment and lodge it firmly in my consciousness so I could retrieve the memory (and taste) on demand. (Oysters slurped while wearing a swimsuit in the sunshine on the French Riviera is the kind of experience one must never, ever forget.) My food memories are my travel memories and vice versa. I will finally get through immigration and happily go straight back into a long queue for the perfect soup dumpling or paani puri. Nothing makes me feel more immersed in a place, more joyful and thrilled to be travelling again. Which is why, in my handbag on the back seat of that taxi, instead of a change of clothes lest my suitcase goes on its own journey once more, is a proper, New York-style, deliciously chewy cream- cheese bagel. Because I have my priorities. DIVIA THANI GLOBAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR @diviathani All information and travel details are correct at the time of going to press. Due to uncertain circumstances, this may have changed on the date of publication. Please check businesses’ individual websites for up-to-the-minute details. Unless otherwise stated, hotel prices are low-season rates and restaurant prices are for a three-course meal for two without drinks 10 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022

Looking forward to welcoming you to the everlasting, eternally changing, forever elusive. Your horizon awaits you. SEA YOUR ONLY VIEW • AMARAHOTEL.COM LIMASSOL, CYPRUS



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CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH WE ASKED OUR TRAVELLERS TO SHARE AN UNFORGETTABLE FOOD EXPERIENCE OLIVIA DEAN The Culture Hopper (p58) ANITA BHAGWANDAS Writer, Beauty (p76) “One of my most memorable meals ever was in a tiny restaurant “I’ve been going to Merkamo Ethiopian, a food stall in Spitalfields, called Little Dipper in Grenada. It’s run by a woman named Joan: since I moved to London in 2009. The cooking is incredible and the owners are so friendly – it has felt like a reassuring hug to me, even there’s no menu. She cooked seafood and served rum punch, though it’s a lot busier now and you have to go before the lunchtime and we ended up watching the sunset over Prickly Bay.” British singer Olivia has worked with drum and bass stars Rudimental queues.” Anita is our new beauty director SMITHA MENON Writer, Ladakh (p94) JOHN BOYEGA The Globetrotter (p128) PHOTOGRAPHS: THEO BATTERHAM; MARGUERITE BORNHAUSER; PER ANDERS JORGENSEN; HIMANSHU LAKWANI; TOM PARKER; TOM ROSS; MARIE ZUCKER “Hotel New Sun, a blink-and-you’ll miss-it beach shack between “Cayman Cabana is right by the water in George Town on the Pondicherry and Chennai, is run by a sweet old couple who serve up Cayman Islands. They do the most amazing food, inspired by Jamaica massive banana leaves full of fantastic Tamil food on the sand. We with oxtail, plantains, rice and peas and great cocktails. It’s next to a brought our own beer and ate the freshest seafood, cooked over a fish market, so you can see the fishermen handing over your food.” wood fire.” Smitha is food editor at Condé Nast Traveller India John stars in upcoming historical film “The Woman King” PAT NOURSE Writer, Melbourne (p118) YASMIN KHAN Writer, Perspectives (p44) “I’ll never forget Surat Sumalee, mayor of Thai fishing village Baan “In Sicily, Palermo’s Mercato del Capo blew my mind. It wasn’t Sam Chong Nuea, who invited me to lunch and laid on the most for the faint-hearted, but I loved the local delicacy of lung and spleen sandwich; the chickpea fritters; the sardines scattered with phenomenal spread – from an oyster salad singing with Asian celery breadcrumbs, served with slices of orange. Washed down with an ice- to a shrimp paste with shallots, lime and tiny, fiery chillies.” Pat is a cold beer, it was perfection.” Yasmin is a writer, broadcaster and cook writer and creative director of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 14 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022

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GLOBAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR DIVIA THANI Deputy Global Editorial Director JESSE ASHLOCK Global Operations Director LOUISA PARKER BOWLES Global Creative Director PETE WINTERBOTTOM Global Visuals Director MATTHEW BUCK Chief Sub-Editor GRÁINNE MCBRIDE Features Director TOBY SKINNER Digital Editor SARAH ALLARD Travel News Director ERIN FLORIO Editorial Business Manager FLORENCE EDWARDS Features Editor LYDIA BELL Deputy Digital Editor SARAH JAMES Associate Editor BETSY BLUMENTHAL Syndication [email protected] Features Writer NOO SARO-WIWA Senior Commerce Writer LAUREN BURVILL Art Director, US ZOE WESTMAN PR Manager LUCY MATHEWS Audience Growth Manager Senior Visuals Editor, US PALLAVI KUMAR Vice President, Communications ERIN KAPLAN Art Director PAULA ELLIS ABIGAIL MALBON Circulation Director RICHARD KINGERLEE Art Editor NITISH MANDALIA Social Media Editor OLIVIA MORELLI Contributing Editors Newstrade MarketingManager OLIVIA STREATFIELD Digital Assistant CONNOR STURGES DAVID ANNAND, JONATHAN BASTABLE, Subscriptions Director PATRICK FOILLERET Visuals Director KARIN MUELLER Digital Team Assistant ZAHRA SURYA DARMA HORATIO CLARE, ONDINE COHANE, SOPHIE Creative Design Manager ANTHEA DENNING Visuals Editor SOPHIE KNIGHT DAHL, SOPHIE DENING, E JANE DICKSON, Direct Marketing and Events Manager Video Producer CORINNE BROOKING Editor-at-Large STEVE KING MARK ELLWOOD, HELEN FIELDING, GILES LUCY ROGERS-COLTMAN Acting Video Producer LILY BONESSO West Coast USA Editor REBECCA MISNER FODEN, LAURA FOWLER, MICHELLE JANA CHAN, Subscriptions Marketing Manager EMMA MURPHY RICK JORDAN, FIONA JOSEPH, SARAH KHAN, Assistant Promotions and Research Associate ANNA GLADWIN Contributing Photographers JEREMY KING, EMMA LOVE, BECKY LUCAS, Marketing Manager CLAUDIA LONG Art Production Manager MEGAN MORRIS ANDREW BUI, JULIEN CAPMEIL, LAVINIA LEE MARSHALL, KATE MAXWELL, THOMASINA Production Director SARAH JENSON CERNAU, CROOKES & JACKSON, SQUIRE FOX, MIERS, REGGIE NADELSON, HARRIET O’BRIEN, Commercial Production Manager XENIA DILNOT Fashion Director-at-Large MARTHA WARD ØIVIND HAUG, JACK JOHNS, MARCUS LLOYD, TIMOTHY O’GRADY, TOM PARKER BOWLES, Senior Production Controller DAWN CROSBY Fashion and Lifestyle Editor ANA LUI, JAKE MICHAELS, TOM PARKER, HARRY PEARSON, ADRIAANE PIELOU (HEALTH Acting Production Co-ordinator CHARLOTTE DAVEY OLIVER PILCHER, JESSICA SARKODIE, CHRIS & SPA), ANTONIA QUIRKE, STEPHANIE MILLY AYLOTT HARVEY Acting Fashion and Lifestyle Editor SCHALKX, DIANE SOOYEON KANG, RAFANELLI, PAUL RICHARDSON, ANTHONY Commercial, Paper and Display FLORRIE THOMAS ALISTAIR TAYLOR-YOUNG, OWEN TOZER, SATTIN, NICHOLAS SHAKESPEARE, SALLY Production Controller MARTIN MACMILLAN Watch and Jewellery Editor-at-Large ANDREW URWIN, JENNY ZARINS SHALAM, STANLEY STEWART JESSICA DIAMOND Beauty Director ANITA BHAGWANDAS Contributing Sustainability Editor JULIET KINSMAN PA to the Global Editorial Director SANDRA DENDA PUBLISHING DIRECTOR & CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER, TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE SIMON LEADSFORD Commercial Director, Travel NATALIE MOSS-BLUNDELL Commercial Director, F&B NATASHA CALLIN Senior Account Director EMMA HEUSER Account Director SOPHIE CHAI Account Director KEIRAN COYNE Account Manager HANNAH WARING Events Manager SAFFRON ALTMEYER-ENNIS Business Manager CHARLOTTE TAYLOR Executive Assistant GEORGIE ROBERTS Head of Sales, Travel, Condé Nast Traveler US BETH LUSKO-GUNDERMAN Director CNX HELEN ANGLIM Copy Lead CNX LAURA ARCHER Senior Copywriter CNX CASSIE DONEY Creative Design Director CNX DAVID GODFREY Classified Director SHELAGH CROFTS Classified Advertisement Manager EMMA ALESSI Classified Sales Manager LAURA BAILEY Senior Classified Sales Executive CELIA POPE Head of Marketing ELLA SIMPSON Research Executive HOLLY HARLAND Italian Office VALENTINA DONINI (00 39 02 805 1422) Associate Publisher US SHANNON TOLAR TCHKOTOUA (00 1 212 630 4913) Asia Office MATTHEW FARRAR (00 852 2581 2991) Indian Office SAURABH WIG (00 1 64 7679 6005) Middle Eastern Office AJAY JOHN (00 971 505 199126) China Office MARY YAO (00 86 10 6551 5663) Thai Office JPP THAILAND LTD (00 66 02051 4694) Florida and Caribbean Office KATE ISING (00 1 305 532 5517) Greek Office DK ASSOCIATES (00 30 694 251 9199) Chief Operating Officer SABINE VANDENBROUCKE People Director, London ROSAMUND BRADLEY Finance Director DAISY TAM Chief Business Officer, US JENNIFER MORMILE MANAGING DIRECTOR, EUROPE NATALIA GAMERO DEL CASTILLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR, EUROPE ALBERT READ VP Consumer Revenue, Europe RUSSELL CLEEVE CAN’T FIND CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER IN THE SHOPS? 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Think big for 2023 Allow your imagination to run wild. 2023 is the year to spark your adventurous side. No more putting travel plans on hold, this is the year to think big. Whether you’re looking to get up close and personal with wildlife or delve beneath the surface of a local culture, our Travel Specialists are bursting with innovative ideas to help craft you an epic escape that has the edge. Get ahead of the game and book your holiday for next year now. We’ll use our expert knowledge to pair you with the perfect properties, and we’ll be on hand every step of the way to make your travels seamless. Call us on 0203 1306 908 or visit www.scottdunn.com/cnt





Discover Moments from the Scottish Highland Distillery where we our dream up our delicious whiskies, lies our boutique hotel Wondrous Glenmorangie House. World Here, in remote and beautiful surroundings, we welcome you into Glenmorangie’s wonderful world. Unwind in technicolour bedrooms inspired by our single malt’s flavours. Forage in the secret garden for cocktail ingredients. Gaze at the stars after dinner over a dram. The door to our sensory playground is open to whisky lovers old and new... how soon can you come? LET YOUR SENSES LEAD THE WAY Find out more and book your stay today. theglenmorangiehouse.com

WORD OF MOUTH THE PEOPLE AND PLACES TICKLING OUR TASTE BUDS. EDITED BY TOBY SKINNER The Food Special PHOTOGRAPH: CECILIA ALVAREZ-HEVIA ARIAS THE SPANISH CHEESE ACTIVIST rejecting industrial dairy farming in favour of artisanal production – as is Formaje, the gallery-like cheese shop she runs with her husband CLARA DIEZ Adrián Pellejo in Madrid’s Chamberí neighbourhood. Here, regional Divirins, Morbiers and Gamoneu del Puertos are presented like Cheese has been many things, but is rarely considered a political the most beautiful still lifes, while talks and events spread the gospel vehicle. Which is where Madrid-based Diez comes in, even if her of environmentally friendly cheese-making. “It’s not common self-styled moniker as a “cheese activist” has just a touch of sly irony to see young people commit to cheese,” says Diez. “But there was about it. In many ways, she is a very Gen-Z creation – which other just this strong force that connected me with producers – their dairy enthusiast wears a Rouje trenchcoat on farm visits, or has commitment, the beauty of the process and the idea that animal collaborated with the designer Emily Levine on a limited-edition bag products can still be ethical and sustainable if they’re produced using muslin cloth? But her message is very real – that we should be the right way.” PAULA MOVIL formaje.com September 2022 Condé Nast Traveller 21

WORD OF MOUTH The Food Special THE ROMAN NEW GUARD FRANCESCA BARRECA & MARCO BACCANELLI Rome’s blessing is also its curse – a food tradition so rich that messing with its scriptures can seem sacrilegious. Which is why this couple who call themselves the Fooders have always felt different. They started off as the Gastronauts, DJing and doing cutlery-free live cooking in clubs around Europe. In 2013, they opened Mazzo, a 10-seat restaurant in Centocelle that became a hit for its irreverent spin on Roman food – from spaghetti with cod to trippa fritta, fried tripe served with tomato and mint chutney. “We’ve never been against tradition,” says Barreca. “But we do want to challenge people to try new things.” When the restaurant closed in 2019, the couple went on a world cooking tour, before returning to Rome to open Legs, their spin on fried chicken and craft beer. Now plans are afoot to reopen Mazzo in a new location later this year. And the trippa fritta will still be on the menu – proof that some traditions stand the test of time. EVA SANDOVAL thefooders.it GREENLAND DENMARK Greenland has never had much of a reputation as a foodie destination. But then neither had the Faroe Islands until young chef Poul Andrias Ziska took over the kitchen at Koks, in an 18th-century farmhouse, using traditional drying, fermenting and smoking to create hyper-local 17-course menus with dishes such as razorbill wellington and wild-fermented lamb. Now, with the original restaurant closed, the Koks team is heading to Greenland for a summer residency at Ilimanaq Lodge, a series of oceanfront A-frames in a fishing village reachable only by boat. Ziska is planning 17-course meals based around the best ingredients – snow crab, musk ox, seaweed, blueberries and halibut – with the promise of challenging dishes such as seal-blood tartlet and tenderised whale skin in a land that hasn’t seen such brazen ambition before. “Food in Greenland, like the Faroes, has been about survival and using what’s around,” says Ziska. “I’ve had some wonderful meals with families here who hunt for the best local ingredients. We want to reflect that culture.” TS koks.fo 22 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022

SAN JOSE COSTA RICA Travellers have tended to see Costa Rica’s capital as a place to be skipped on the way to the jungle or beach. But a group of chefs here is celebrating the country’s rich ingredients while reappraising a hyper-local indigenous food culture. At Sikwa, a buzzy indoor- outdoor space in downtown Barrio Escalante, Pablo Bonilla doesn’t just serve pejibaye tamales and achiote chicken with pineapple while DJs drop nu-cumbia mixes. He works closely with the Bribri people in the Talamanca mountains, documenting recipes and connecting farmers with other restaurants. It’s part of a new foodie buzz, especially on Calle 33, with its sell-out falafels at Faqua’s, locally sourced aperitivos at Apotecario and craft brews at Costa Rica Beer Factory. In Amón to the west, Santiago Fernández Benedetto is pioneering Costa Rican fine-dining under a vast chandelier at Silvestre, with modern takes on his grandmother’s cooking including fish baked in banana leaves. ANNA PRENDERGAST PHOTOGRAPHS: KRYSSIA CAMPOS/GETTY IMAGES; SUMEHR GWALANI; SEBASTIEN THE CONGOLESE WUNDERKIND THE INDIAN SEAWEED CRUSADER RANDE/STUDIO CUI CUI; CHRIS SCHWAGGA; GUSTAV EMIL THUESEN; DIEUVEIL GABRIELLA D’CRUZ MALONGA The Goan native’s mission is to change the world through a humble and seemingly This 30-year-old could never be accused unlikely medium: seaweed. Through her start-up The Good Ocean, D’Cruz, of lacking ambition. Not just the owner of who has a master’s in biodiversity conservation from Oxford, has set up India’s first two native seaweed farms in Goa and Kumta, in the neighbouring state of a pioneering Afro-fusion restaurant in Karnataka. Her aim is to boost marine biodiversity while providing a nutritious Kigali, Rwanda, he’s also the founder of the and sustainable foodstuff. Although other commercial seaweed farms exist in Chefs in Africa network, promoting India, none cultivates any of the 850 varieties that grow freely off the country’s the continent’s rich but often neglected coastline. So far, D’Cruz’s seaweed has featured on menus across India’s culinary talent. All of this is a long way sunshine state, and she’s in talks with gin makers, chocolatiers, brewers and from Malonga’s beginnings in Congo, restaurateurs to create a larger market. Her dream product? “Seaweed salt. India where he was orphaned by the age of 10 has one of the world’s youngest populations and, unfortunately, a vast number and boarded a flight for Cologne. After of young people in the country are iodine deficient. We have an opportunity to working his way around Michelin-starred kitchens in Germany and appearing on move the iodine and nutrition that’s sitting on our coastline to the people who French TV show Top Chef, he returned to need it the most. Who wouldn’t want that?” SMITHA MENON @thegoodocean Africa in 2015 with a mission to learn about its food – travelling to more than 48 countries, visiting farmers and collecting hitherto unwritten recipes. His travels inspired him to start Chefs In Africa to connect farmers and would-be chefs, and advocate for African food on a global level, for example pushing for a dedicated Michelin Guide. In 2020, he opened Meza Malonga in Kigali, with ingredients on his 10-course menu sourced from across Africa. “We have this incredible food culture,” he says. “But we need to learn how to tell the world.” BRAD JAPHE mezamalonga.com; chefsinafrica.fr

WORD OF MOUTH The Food Special PHOTOGRAPHS: AMBER-JAYNE BAIN; GRANTOTUFO/DREAMSTIME.COM; MARTIN KAUFMANN; MANJA WACHSMUTH THE NORDIC YEAST WIZARD MARK EMIL HERMANSEN What do you get if you take two senior Noma alumni chasing “the goose- bump moment” and put them in a formerly derelict Copenhagen shipyard? The answer is Empirical, which sits somewhere between drinks brand and scientific experiment into double fermentation and low-temperature vacuum distillation. Hermansen and his business partner Lars Williams describe it as a flavour company built around “liquid ideas”. Its core products include freeform spirits such as the earthy, smoky Ayuuk – pasilla mixe chilli peppers sourced from Oaxacan farmers, macerated in a spirit made from Danish heirloom purple wheat and pilsner malt, then rested for up to five weeks in sherry casks. Using a growing collection of around 4,000 yeast cultures, the duo also makes experimental beers, sauces, pastes, elixirs and cocktails – the latest being Fuck Putin and His Stupid Fucking War. “We don’t want to create chaos, but a novel experience that has complexity,” says Hermansen. “The end result has to taste good.” SORREL MOSELEY-WILLIAMS empirical.co CADIZ SPAIN Southern Spain’s Costa de la Luz is known for its kitesurfing, but also its legendary red tuna, sustainably caught using an ancient Phoenician method during the almadraba fishing season each May. Now there’s another draw: José Pizarro. The chef – a pioneer of Spanish cooking in the UK since he opened his tapas bar in London’s Bermondsey in 2011 – has decamped to the area. Iris Zahara is his sleek, pavilion-style contemporary home set into the cliffs of low-key beach town Zahara de los Atunes, with its long, kitesurf-friendly beaches. But the real pull is his three-day cookery and sherry- tasting tour. Guests get to visit Cádiz’s tapas bars, markets and sherry triangle, including Osborne, Pizarro’s favourite producer; or El Campero restaurant in Barbate and elevated seafood haunt El Antonio, overlooking the Atlantic in Zahara, before heading back to make dishes from his new book, The Spanish Home Kitchen. They also hear stories about local ingredients, such as that red tuna, which was once butchered and salted in Cádiz’s Iglesia Del Carmen church. MARK C O’FLAHERTY josepizarro.com 24 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022

THE MAORI CHAMPION MONIQUE FISO Hiakai in Wellington is one of those restaurants that seems to unlock a whole culture through a symphony of indigenous ingredients: tītī bird, mamaku tree fern, pickled pikopiko shoots, gorse flowers and kareao vines, which taste like capers and go well with haku (kingfish) sashimi. Wellingtonian chef Fiso isn’t just celebrating ancient Māori foraging and cooking techniques, and the soil and sea of Aotearoa (New Zealand in Māori), but pushing the form to new heights in her seasonal set menus. “We have to strike the balance between an exceptional dining experience and representing Māori and Pasifika culture accurately and respectfully,” says Fiso, who went from making sandwiches at 14 to toiling in Michelin- starred kitchens in New York City, including The Musket Room and Ian Schrager’s Public restaurant. She returned home in 2016 to launch the Hiakai (“Hungry”) pop-up series, before moving into a cool wood-panelled space in a converted brick factory in 2018. Led by an all-female team, it’s now one of the hottest tables in New Zealand. But to Fiso, it’s about connection more than buzz. “The most satisfying encounters at the restaurant are when diners tell me that I’ve made them proud of their culture and heritage,” she says. ASHLEA HALPERN hiakai.co.nz

WORD OF MOUTH The Food Special THE NATIVE AMERICAN REVIVALISTS VINCENT MEDINA & LOUIS TREVINO Former teachers Medina and Trevino met at a conference on Native American languages, and learning about their shared culture as members of the indigenous Ohlone tribe was a major part of their love story. The tribe was officially declared extinct by anthropologist Alfred Kroeber in 1925, but in 2018 the pair decided food might be a way to resuscitate a supposedly dead culture. They started Cafe Ohlone, or Mak-’amham (“our food” in Chochenyo Ohlone), as a pop-up at the back of a bookshop at Berkeley University, California – interspersing meals of amaranth and foraged berries with prayers and tales of their ancestors. This summer, Cafe Ohlone moved to the symbolic location of the terrace of an anthropology museum behind Kroeber Hall. The roving experience involves indigenous gardens and singers, and passing Native American murals before a seafood-heavy meal at redwood tables under a singing tree. “We had no tangible reminders of our culture outside home,” says Medina. “The restaurant is a chance to fight that invisibility.” EVE BATEY makamham.com THE GHANAIAN CHANGE-MAKER SELASSIE ATADIKA Food can be an important vehicle for change – an idea embodied by Accra-born, New York-raised Atadika. She started her career as a humanitarian response worker for UNICEF, and her travels across 40 African countries brought her to food. “It wasn’t just tasting flavours I’d forgotten I’d known, but seeing the enormous role that food plays in society,” she says. So she went back to study at the Culinary Institute of America, before founding monthly pop-up Trio Toque in Dakar, Senegal. Then, in 2014, she moved to Accra’s Tesano neighbourhood to open Midunu, a restaurant, chocolatier and one-acre oasis of produce. In 2019 this grew to become a non-profit aimed at encouraging more thoughtful local production on a continent that is still a net exporter of crops and importer of food. Midunu, which hosts training residencies for chefs, is also a place to eat well. Tasting menus showcase dishes such as egusi-seed ravioli, while the in-demand chocolate range includes truffles made with Maghrebi mint tea. SMW midunuinstitute.org; midunu.com

TALAD NOI BANGKOK While the pandemic has slowed development in the Thai capital’s more established dining areas of Sathorn and Thonglor, the scene on the opposite side of town has reached fever pitch. Straddling the Chao Phraya River, the ramshackle Chinese district of Talad Noi has been building a reputation since the mid-2010s, with the arrival of locavore trailblazer 80/20 and nose-to-tail restaurant 100 Mahaseth. But over the past two years, a new crop of chefs has taken over renovated shophouses to dissect and reinvent Thai cuisine. Case in point: Aksorn, a snug rooftop hangout where chef David Thompson – formerly of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant of the year Nahm – serves menus inspired by recipes from his mid-century cookbook collection. Two of his Nahm-era chefs, meanwhile, branched off with Charmgang, a kaleidoscopic joint focusing on dishes following forgotten regional recipes including fried fish with southern budu dipping sauce. At newcomer Small Dinner Club, Melbourne returnee Sareen Rojanamatin matches little-known local ingredients with progressive cooking techniques, resulting in dishes such as dry-aged Muscovy duck with banana. Further north, fine-dining spot Potong honours the flavours of chef-owner Pichaya Utharntharm’s Thai-Chinese upbringing. Even drinks are going locavore: at just-opened Mahaniyom bar, cocktails feature dried squid and coffee-cherry husks from Northern Thailand. CHRIS SCHALKX PHOTOGRAPHS: BERKELEYSIDE/MELATI CITRAWIREJA; FRANCIS KOKOROKO/ @ACCRAPHOTO; CHRIS SCHALKX

WORD OF MOUTH The Food Special SOUTH DOWNS UK THE HAWAIIAN TRADITIONALIST The new Napa, Tuscany or Stellenbosch? Maybe not quite yet, but wine tourism is on the up in the BRIAN HIRATA bucolic South Downs, just north of Brighton and Worthing. Here small-scale vineyards are making In 2019, Hirata realised that young chefs in Hawaii were “hiding behind too much imported caviar, Santa Barbara scallops, Hokkaido uni”. The increasingly respected wines on the back of the culinary school instructor found that his students, many of whom were area’s chalky soil and fine climate, conditions often Native Hawaiian, had never heard of the ingredients he grew up hunting compared to Champagne (sparkling wines are a and foraging for. “We’re getting away from Hawaii’s food identity,” he speciality). Take the much-loved Wiston Estate, says. Hirata left his job and started Na‘au (“guts” in Hawaiian), a pop-up which offers vineyard safaris and new restaurant Chalk in a barn-like space. Nearby, The Pig in the restaurant where he teaches young cooks about local produce, South Downs delivers the classic cosy-locavore including limu ‘ele‘ele, a feathery seaweed he makes into chips; and Pig experience, except this restaurant with rooms kamanu, aka Hawaiian salmon, which he cures and serves with pickled is waiting to harvest 4,150 Chardonnay vines in the popolo berries. Every element is a way to share Hawaii’s history – from autumn. Further east, sparkling wine specialists hapu‘u (tree fern), once a famine food for ancient people, to octopus, Ridgeview (the Queen served Barack Obama its caught using a traditional lure involving a tiger cowrie shell. By serving famous Fitzrovia Rosé) is in the process of opening them as part of a multi-course tasting menu, he’s showing his cooks a design-driven cuboid restaurant and tasting area “these are ingredients we can celebrate”. MARTHA CHENG naauhilo.com amid lush gardens. Five minutes down the road, Artelium hired Dermot Sugrue, considered by many to be England’s best sparkling wine maker. Towards Eastbourne, the Flint Barns at Rathfinny Estate have been converted into 10 cosy rooms; friendly competition for The Star, Olga Polizzi’s hit coaching inn in nearby Alfriston. AMBER DALTON THE BOLIVIAN ADVENTURER PHOTOGRAPHS: CHRISTIAN GUTIERREZ; ANDREW RICHARD HARA; JENNY ZARINS MARSIA TAHA MOHAMED When chef Mohamed took the reins of Gustu, La Paz’s most celebrated restaurant, in 2017, adding her own secret sauce to recipes wasn’t her only aim. The Bulgarian-born, Bolivian-raised chef wanted to delve into research around Pre-Columbian ingredients, many of which are on the brink of extinction. In 2018 she launched Sabores Silvestres with the Wildlife Conservation Society, a project involving journeys to remote communities to help preserve ancestral cooking skills. At Gustu, Mohamed now recreates techniques she learned such as dunucubi, an Amazonian method in which palm-leaf-wrapped meat is cooked in the fire. To help diners better understand the products and processes, they are shown the raw ingredients and told about the cooking techniques behind each dish. “We want to explain the history,” she says. “That it’s about more than just a plate of food.” MARY HOLLAND gustu.bo



WORD OF MOUTH The Food Special KYOTO BY THE SEA JAPAN So many of the ingredients at Kyoto’s best restaurants come from Kyoto by the Sea, an ocean-facing region that was the birthplace of agriculture in Japan. Increasingly, the area’s seven small towns are becoming foodie destinations in their own right, on the back of local seafood and mountain herbs. Take the evocative settlement of Ine, where many villagers live on the water in wooden funaya boathouses such as the Funaya Fuga guesthouse, with its private onsen. The Wadatsumi sushi counter, with a long table overlooking the bay, serves the best yellowtail and rock oysters, which can be paired with rare red Ine Mankai sake – a fixture on Noma’s drinks menu – from gregarious local brewer Kuniko Mukai. There’s a similar reverence in the larger town of Kyōtango, further inland, where experimental sake brewer and chemist Yoshiki Yukimachi sleeps beside the fermentation tanks so he can bottle at exactly the right moment. At the private bar, sakes are paired with bento boxes by chef-neighbour Yukinori Yoshioka, known for his 12-course menus at hard-to-book restaurant Nawaya. Towards the coast, the rice paddies belong to Iio Jozo, 130- year-old makers of rice vinegars, whose small-batch fig version was created at the request of Joël Robuchon. At the brewery’s Italian restaurant Aceto in Miyazu, vinegars are paired with wild game and seafood. KATE CROCKETT kyotobythesea.com THE PERUVIAN POTATO MAGICIAN MANUEL CHOQQUE Having grown up on a high-altitude farm in Peru’s Cusco region, Choqque has been studying the country’s 6,400 native potato varieties since his father showed him how to hand-pollinate in a bid to improve tuber genetics. “We had 380 types in our collection, entering them in competitions in the hope of winning a tractor,” he says. After earning his degree in agronomy, Choqque left a job at Peru’s agricultural institute to continue researching the crop in Huatata, his home village. His violet-hued papas nativas, which contain 10 times more antioxidants than blueberries, caught the attention of Peru’s superstar culinary couple Virgilio Martínez and Pía León. Besides supplying their Andean restaurant Mil, Choqque also donated 55 potato varieties to their experimental farm in an effort to rescue heirloom varieties. The farmer’s latest venture radically changes the common perception of oca, his favourite tuber, which he ferments to create Miskioca, a line of red, white, rosé and orange potato wines. Used at Mil, it is just another example of how the most humble ingredient can be a vessel for inspiration. SMW PHOTOGRAPHS: KAZUYOSHI NAGATA; ANTONIO SORRENTINO 30 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022



WORD OF MOUTH The Food Special ALENTEJO PORTUGAL An area the size of Belgium but with a fraction of the population, the Alentejo is Portugal’s agricultural heartland. Stretching from the coast south of Lisbon to the Spanish border, its sun-drenched open plains – punctuated by cork trees, granite outcrops and whitewashed medieval towns – are a hotbed of simple good eating. Classic dishes include chunky, unblended gaspachos, pork from acorn-foraging black pigs and the ubiquitous cozido, a one-pot Sunday stew with chickpeas and a variety of local meat. São Lourenço do Barrocal, a 200-year-old whitewashed estate in central Alentejo, distills the region’s ingredients-driven ethos. The 778-hectare organic working farm has vineyards, olive groves, herb gardens and rolling grounds ripe for foraging tours. Much of what appears on chef Celestino Grave’s elevated menus comes from the grounds, from olive oil to pennyroyal herbs and honey. This is also one of the final stops on Alentejo’s rota dos vinhos, which winds its way eastwards from the walled regional capital of Evora, passing about 70 vineyards that produce rich, full-bodied reds in some of Europe’s hottest summer temperatures. Regional grapes such as Roupeiro and Alicante Bouschet are just part of the local bounty. BEN OLSEN barrocal.pt THE BRITISH WASTE WARRIOR PHOTOGRAPHS: SAM A HARRIS; ALEX REYTO DOUGLAS McMASTER Some say that in the coming decades zero-waste eating will be the new locavorism (the latter should simply be an expectation in good restaurants). The movement’s guru in the UK is McMaster, who opened Silo in Brighton in 2014 with plates made from recycled plastic bags and tables from industrial floor tiles, composting wasted food to grow new ingredients and often using self-milled flour. Having decamped to London’s Hackney Wick in 2019, the chef strengthened the ethos further, with lampshades crafted from the mycellium grown on brewing grains. Despite McMaster describing himself as “an architect as much as a chef”, most of the food is either foraged or sourced from farmers practising regenerative agriculture. Some set menus slyly increase awareness, such as a recent series of invasive species dinners that sold out in two hours, with diners tempted by jellyfish and Japanese knotweed. “We made köfta from the devastating, forest-destroying grey squirrel,” says McMaster. “It taste like gamey chicken and was delicious with our black garlic and apple ketchup.” Demand for such menus tends to be sky high, partly because the team only open for five sittings a week. Why? Because staff have lives, and part of the Silo philosophy – as laid out in a manifesto-like 2019 hardback book – is that even time shouldn’t be wasted. SMW silolondon.com 32 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022

UNDERWATER DINING Descend 6 meters below the surface for an exotic dining experience of a lifetime. Surrounded by the turquoise lagoon and the breath-taking Maldivian underwater world, indulge in masterfully crafted seafood dishes at M6m Underwater Restaurant. ozenlife-maadhoo.com Part of THE OZEN COLLECTION @ozenlifemaadhoo

Rote Bar at Hotel Sacher, Vienna PHOTOGRAPH: PATRICK RAYMOND

The Food Special TURNING THE TABLES MOVE OVER STAR CHEFS, IT’S TIME TO BRING MAITRE D’S IN FROM THE COLD, SAYS RICK JORDAN Once upOn a time, siberia wasn’t tO be fOund on the steppes beyond don’t really need a conductor – perhaps a small organic-wine bar in the Ural Mountains but in the hinterland by a restaurant loo, or on the east London or a ramen canteen in Soho. But maître d’s are the cor- social permafrost in the basement. And to avoid being seated there, nerstones of some of the greatest grandes dames. The late, great John the maître d’ had to be befriended. Perhaps not befriended, exactly, Andrews of J Sheekey was one of the best. He was so outrageously because according to countless cartoon strips, the maître d’ is part naughty, was the biggest gossip and knew everyone. You went to J Jeeves, part drill sergeant, with a waxed moustache and a hauteur that Sheekey for John.” could only be softened by the promise of a crisp £20 note. There’s an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm in which Larry David visits an Italian Jeremy Lee, Dundee-born chef-patron at Quo Vadis, meanwhile, restaurant in LA with friends and gradually notices something about is a direct link to the legendary Elena Salvoni – known as the Queen the people on the tables around him. “You know what I think?” he says of Soho – who was on first-name terms with everyone from Sean as he confronts his impassive maître d’ adversary. “That you have a Connery and Albert Finney to Francis Bacon and the Krays. She began good-looking section and an ugly section!” And no one wants to end her career waiting tables at Café Bleu during the war, spent over a up in the ugly section, do they? decade at L’Escargot in its heyday and ended up hosting lunches at Lee’s Dean Street restaurant in her 90s. “I met her in the mid 80s when Restaurant service has been transformed over the decades. One can I was a wee, newly hatched commis chef and she held court upstairs at only imagine l’horreur – cue sounds of soup spoons being dropped L’Escargot,” he tells me in a voice that could reach the upper circle. mid-flight – when Michelin restaurants in France changed their time- “She was birdlike but had a vice-like grip, and was always exquisitely honoured le service à la française in the 1980s for le service à l’anglais dressed in Chanel suits. She had an incredible ease and grace and never THE HOST AT JOE ALLEN RECALLS THE TIME SHE PURLOINED TURKEY FROM OTHER DINERS TO ENSURE JOAN COLLINS COULD BE PRESENTED WITH A THANKSGIVING DINNER – a revolution that meant diners were no longer presented with the forgot anyone; even if she hadn’t seen you for a year she made you feel same dish at precisely the same time but could order individual ones. you’d seen her just the other day. Her job was to ensure that by the The formality has been unbuttoning steadily ever since. “It was a very time you sat down you were in exactly the right frame of mind.” strict code, totally choreographed,” recalls Stéphanie Raimbault, manager at the two-starred La Dame de Pic in London. “Everything’s Nowhere is the sense of restaurant-as-theatre more apparent than so much more relaxed these days: no one should be scared to go to a Joe Allen in Covent Garden, modelled on an American diner but with Michelin restaurant. But while some skills have been lost – there was, a personality all its own – along with those of the many West End stars for example, a specific way to prepare grapefruit at the table with a who make their way here after a show (late pianist Jimmy Hardwick knife and fork – we’ve kept the movement and timing, serving clockwise would play a theme tune for regulars; impresario Don Black always for elegance, and often rehearsing in the day.” (Parisian restaurants, got a few bars of “Born Free”). Deborah Fellows has been working however, retain a certain notoriety: one friend remembers a dinner at here for 22 years, instantly recognisable with her trademark red lipstick Alain Ducasse at Plaza Athénée that was “frankly terrifying. You were and Tigger-like bounce (“as someone once said to me, you need to glared at if you dared to go to the loo at the wrong moment during sprinkle stardust on every table”). She recalls dancer Wayne Sleep service.” Former food critic Jonathan Meades goes further, telling me: pirouetting down the bar, and the time she had to purloin turkey from “I abhor ‘fine dining’, waiters who pour your wine, tyrannical patroni- other diners to ensure Joan Collins could be served a Thanksgiving sation: ‘The head waiter will be here to abuse you in just a moment!’”) dinner. “We’re the gatekeepers,” she says. “Though the booking system is computerised, I completely reshuffle the tables each day depending That antique style of dining probably seems inconceivable to the on who’s coming in. I can’t stand the corporate style – the door dollies generation who have grown up eating in places where informed young who are dictated to by their screen. I’ve been taken into empty restau- waiters in workwear aprons reel off the back story of every heritage rants and given the worst table. And it always bugs me that service is tomato. But has the rise of the star chef and fetishisation of ingredients never glamourised or seen as a skill.” stripped some of the theatre away, reducing the role of the guest to mere gawper? It may be sacrilege to some, but sometimes the reason Despite the enduring popularity of First Dates’ matchmaking maître to visit a restaurant isn’t the food at all. d’ Fred Sirieix – formerly at Galvin at Windows – service in the UK struggles to be taken seriously. Whereas other countries see it as a “The best maître d’s know how to curate the room,” says Adam profession, staff at British restaurants are often part-timers whose Hyman, founder of industry-insider platform Code Hospitality and ambitions lie elsewhere, and Brexit- and pandemic-induced personnel new publisher of The Good Food Guide. “I like to think of them as the shortages haven’t helped. “Half the experience of going to a restaurant equivalent of a conductor in an orchestra. If you’re a string quartet you is about being looked after and made to feel special,” Hyman tells me. September 2022 Condé Nast Traveller 35

The Food Special “I think the pandemic has heightened this but, sadly, the art of the the waiters as we eat. “We try to know as much about a guest as pos- maître d’ is disappearing. Not enough restaurateurs realise their impor- sible before they arrive. Obviously we don’t seat a husband and wife tance and see them as too expensive an investment. But you can’t offer on neighbouring tables if they don’t know the other one is going – it’s hospitality through a QR code.” Perhaps we need a MasterChef-style happened a few times… But I think the secret is I’m a happy person, competition for front-of-house talent, for which there could be only and I try to give some of that happiness to my customers.” one possible judge. That sort of compassion chimes with the traits New York restaurateur I’ve met Jesus Adorno once before, at Le Caprice, the St James’s Danny Meyer identifies in his book Setting the Table, which defines restaurant described by Nicholas Coleridge as “the staff canteen for the five skills essential for excellent hospitality: warmth; intelligence; West End flâneurs”. Now the dapper, Bolivian-born maître d’ can be diligence; empathy; self-awareness. He says he wants the kind of “IT’S ALL ABOUT MAKING THE ROOM MORE EXCITING, MORE COLOURFUL. WE TRY TO KNOW AS MUCH ABOUT A GUEST AS POSSIBLE BEFORE THEY ARRIVE” found at Charlie’s at Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair, leading the hospitality people on his team who “it feels genuinely good to be around”. and training a new generation of staff. A maestro in the art of place- Over at The Pem in Westminster, thirtysomething maître d’ Emma ment, he’s the Carlo Ancelotti of his profession – poring over the floor Underwood, who left academia – anarcha-feminist history, since you plan until a spark of inspiration strikes and he makes a substitution. ask – to embark on a restaurant career, couldn’t agree more. “Dining Since moving to Charlie’s in 2021, he’s drawn many former regulars out is an emotional experience for people, and you need to bring an from Le Caprice, who are happy to be reunited – during our late lunch, emotional intelligence to it. At times names escape me but I remember he excuses himself to bid farewell to Lord Foster. “It’s all about making conversations, and a look of recognition means a lot more than a name. the room exciting, more colourful,” he says, keeping a hawkish eye on Just don’t ever say ‘Hi guys’ though – I can’t stand that.” HOUSE RULES ALWAYS FRONT AND CENTRE: THE RESTAURANTS LEADING THE WAY ON HOSPITALITY NOMA, though he points to a new generation SAN VICENTE BUNGALOWS, PHOTOGRAPHS: DENNIS LEHMANN/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK; COPENHAGEN of maître d’s such as Olivier Bikao at LOS ANGELES EMILY BERL/NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX/EYEVINE Chef-owner René Le Meurice in Paris, Naïri Haroutunian Redzepi proved his at Plaza Athénée and Emmanuel Klein If you can get past egalitarian credentials of De Laurier in Bierbeek, Belgium. the door of Jeff by tasking Ali Shonko, Klein’s members’ then dishwasher at the FALLOW, LONDON Danish restaurant, Those seeking to complete their Panini club, Macedonian- to offer guests a stickerbook of famed maître d’s should visit born Dimitri memorable welcome. this St James’s restaurant, the latest home Shonko is now one of of Irish-born John Davey (below right), who Dimitrov may be on Noma’s co-owners. honed his art at Frédy Girardet’s restaurant in duty – though the “He’s one of the Crissier, Switzerland, before moving on to last-of-his-breed- top-paid people in the entire kitchen and Bibendum and Mosimann’s, counting Bowie, maître d’ is reducing holds as much respect as the best head chef Bjorn Borg and Pelé among his regulars. or sous chef,” Redzepi has said. his hours after decades conducting the Hollywood elite at the Tower Bar and Diaghilev. JEAN IMBERT AU HAIDILAO, CHINA PLAZA ATHENEE, PARIS The country’s biggest hotpot chain is Restaurant manager Denis Courtiade beloved by Chinese millennials for its also happens to be the founder of hi-tech, experiential service; customers Ô Service, an organisation devoted to can wait hours for a table but kill time elevating the profile of the front- with complimentary shoe shines, phone of-house profession (“service is an art, repairs, manicures and hand massages. not servitude”). “When I go to Solo diners are given a teddy bear, and restaurants I’m sometimes surprised to chefs make Kung Fu noodles at the table be well-served these days,” he says, with a Bruce Lee-meets-tai-chi dance. 36 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022



Broome Bay, Australia

The Food Special OPEN SEASON LIZZIE POOK ON PEARL MEAT AND HOW THIS ANCIENT AUSTRALIAN INGREDIENT IS MAKING A COMEBACK PHOTOGRAPHS: MAT BEETSON; DARREN MUIR “Yeow!” bart pigram leaps back from the fire as a mud whelk and passion fruit at the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm on the Dampier explodes with a sharp rifle-pop. “That’s why they call them bombshells,” Peninsula, and stuffed into tortellini at Broome’s Cable Beach hotel. he smiles, cautiously prodding the smouldering coals with barbecue tongs. Above us, a sea eagle hangs like a chinook in the slow, hot breeze, So, how has this ingredient – once hawked about Chinatown by eyeing our haul of whelks and razor shells which squeal in the flames divers to supplement meagre wages – become a high-end delicacy? then yawn open, relinquishing fleshy insides. “Obviously there’s the romanticism,” says Rob Boorman, restaurant manager at Cygnet Bay, who also points out that the waters here are I’m with Pigram, a local Yawuru guide, and his cousin Eric in the among the cleanest, most mineral-rich in the world. “But the meat is Roebuck Bay mangroves in Broome, a small town in the far western still a by-product,” he says. “We take it after we harvest the pearls, which reaches of Australia’s sun-torched Kimberley region, where blood-red is a long, expensive process.” Tour the sprawling farm and you’ll see pindan soil thunders into the turquoise Indian Ocean. Scattered around why: weather-resistant infrastructure, oyster nets, divers, cleaning equip- are natural treasures: desiccated turtle jawbones, tiny sea snails, burly ment. An oyster needs up to 12 years of careful nursing to produce a blue-clawed crabs guarding their holes like obstinate doormen. Once pearl, and each one yields perhaps just 20 grams of meat. the tide surges back in, the swamp will bloat with mangrove jacks, barramundi and salmon. For now though, Nevertheless, Boorman is eager and creative with his ingredient. It’s there’s plenty to be foraged – including, if tender and surprisingly sweet – somewhere we’re lucky, the Pinctada maxima pearl between abalone and scallop. “Pearl meat is shell, the very thing that made Broome such versatile,” he tells me. “It can be flash-fried, a significant port in the 19th century. braised, or made into sashimi or ceviche. Sometimes I’ll cube, blowtorch and serve it “Back in the day, this bay would have with tomato salsa, or make a tuna tataki and been filled with pearling luggers,” Pigram pearl-meat ponzo cut with lemon myrtle.” says as we scour the mud. The discovery of He’s most excited about cooking with the rich oyster beds off Eighty Mile Beach – in mantle (guts), which has a liver-like earthi- fact 140 miles from Broome to Port Hedland ness when dusted in flour and deep-fried. – sparked a Gold Rush-style migration, Searching for a pearl is a lesson in extreme drawing thousands of Asian divers, plus patience, but pearl meat farming goes way prospectors from the USA and Europe. A beyond that. Cygnet Bay planned to set up bustling Chinatown sprung up – brothels, a company to distribute its oysters, then the grog shops and general stores hunkered pandemic hit and floods washed away 100 crookedly together – and European pearlers per cent of the crop. In the meantime, the held court as the indigenous people were farm is branching out with products such as displaced. “My great-great-great grand- pearl mantle gin with Broome’s Moontide father was a pearler who was heavily Distillery, which strains the spirit through the involved in the slave trade,” Pigram says. guts, lending it a uniquely briny taste. “He kidnapped Aboriginals to staff his But however far into the future you go, boats and took a wife who bore him children.” Pearling was dangerous work, with divers facing shark attacks, cyclones and decompression pearl meat is an ancient food. Indigenous people have been eating it sickness (the bends) in pursuit of this gleaming bounty. since they arrived in this land – and using the guwan (pearl shell) for plates, tools and decoration. In fact one of the oldest dated pearls, found It’s easy to see why pearl shell was once so coveted. Hold one in in a Kimberley coastal rock shelter, was likely spat out while someone your hands – it’s the size of a soup plate and its dazzling nacre swirls was chewing on their pearl meat 2,000 years ago. like glitter-filled storm clouds. For decades it was exported to make mother-of-pearl buttons, but when plastic alternatives arrived, attention “We collect the shell when the season’s right or get the meat from turned to its glamorous by-product: the pearl. Now, more than 150 years the butchers in town,” says Eric, as we watch herons spearing writhing since the first luggers navigated these tendrilous mangroves, pearl meat mud skippers. “We scoop it out, find a bottle of liquor and shove the is starting to command interest too, fetching the sorts of prices usually meat down the neck, guts and all. Leave it for a while to pickle. Then reserved for caviar, wagyu beef and white truffle. dangle a long hook into the bottle to collect it.” A heron lifts from the flats and coasts sluggishly over our heads. “It stinks. But you just knock South Sea pearl meat has become an Asian delicacy that sells for up it back like an oyster. No fancy business. Just food.” to £1,140 a kilo. It is sent to some of Australia’s finest restaurants: Bart Pigram offers mangrove tours in Broome from about £48 per adult; resplendent with fennel, cured apple, dill and elderflower at Bentley toursbroome.com.au. Doubles at Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm from about Restaurant in Sydney; simple with spring onion and asparagus at £140; cygnetbaypearlfarm.com.au. Lizzie Pook’s Kimberley-based novel, Melbourne’s Flower Drum. It’s also cubed and plated beside mango “Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter”, is out now September 2022 Condé Nast Traveller 39

HOUSE CALL Clockwise from this picture: Johannesdal owners Dané Erwee and Chris Willemse with their Great Danes; main seating area; back of the architecturally designed house; kitchen. Opposite, upstairs verandah with mountain views

CLIFFHANGER A DRAMATICALLY LOCATED BRUTALIST BOX IN SOUTH AFRICA IS HOME TO TWO INNOVATIVE FLORISTS. TAKE OVER JOHANNESDAL FOR A ROSE-TINTED ESCAPE OF YOUR OWN BY LISA GRAINGER. PHOTOGRAPHS BY GREG COX PHOTOGRAPHS: BUREAUX. PRODUCTION: RETHA ERICHSEN



HOUSE CALL A dreAminess wAshes over Dané Erwee’s face as he meanders past Outside, the pair have created a calming, Mediterranean-style garden pom-poms of white hydrangeas, giant fountains of black millet grass that allows the mountainscapes to take centre stage. Below the first- and beds of chest-high marigolds in his 2.5-hectare garden. “Smell and second-floor verandahs is a neatly clipped lawn interspersed with these,” he says, giddily inhaling the scent of a rose-geranium leaf, before gnarled olive trees and a minimalist bench on which to take in the views. offering a sniff to Tiny, the Great Dane. “Exquisite, no?” To the left is a little dam, around which guinea-fowl scratch and wildgrasses waft in the wind. There’s an architectural moon-shaped There’s very little at Johannesdal – the brutalist house he shares with pond, into which a giant concrete gutter funnels a waterfall from the his partner Chris Willemse on a hillside between the towering Simonsberg roof. And crisscrossing everywhere are thin channels that divert and Groot Drakenstein mountains – that isn’t exquisite. The pair are the springs into ponds and fill the air with soothing trickles and burbles. among South Africa’s most inventive florists, renowned for their exotic botanical scenescapes, from black-orchid-festooned party caves to If from the outside the residence is restrained and modern, inside weddings dripping in tea roses and plum blossom. And it’s here they it’s full of character. Erwee is a self-confessed hoarder, so every space grow the blooms, from delicate orchids and spiky artichokes to water- is adorned with theatrical displays of his collections, from antique globes lilies that float on ponds around the mountain-spring-fed property. and pre-loved dolls to kitsch ceramics and botanical specimens. Against the dark walls of the guest bathroom, old bits of white ceramics have “These are my favourite smell,” says Erwee, kneeling to pick tiny been stuck together to make wall sculptures: a jumble of priapic cupids water lilies whose sweet fragrance permeates the autumn air. “When jostling with fish and jug handles, egg cups and praying Madonnas. I was a child, my mother would take me out on a boat on our farm dam On a hall in the table, wooden animals sit beside giant pine cones, to gather their seed pods to make into a waterblommetjie bredie [a Cape découpage-covered sculptures and a vase crafted from white Lego. water-lily stew traditionally served with mutton]. By the time she rowed There are collections of weavers’ nests suspended above chairs uphol- home, I’d be covered in them. Now every time I smell them, I think of her.” stered in religious tapestries; modern art hung with faded etchings; taxidermy beside French biscuit tins. And, of course, given the couple’s Given that both men grew up on remote farms – Erwee surrounded passions for all things botanical, plants, ranging from pages of antique by vegetables and Willemse by apple orchards – it was no surprise they herbariums to giant de-leafed flower arrangements inspired by moved out to the winelands 18 years ago. What surprised everyone, Constance Spry. Even the concrete ceilings, inspired by Barragán, are including themselves, is that when their architect suggested constructing imprinted with the patina of gnarled old wooden planks. a two-storey brutalist concrete home, they agreed. “Now I can’t imagine living anywhere else,” Erwee says, a contented smile cracking his tanned THE HOUSE IS PART INSIDE, PART OUTSIDE, SO YOU CAN’T TELL WHERE IT STARTS AND FINISHES. IT’S A BIT CORBUSIER, A BIT LUIS BARRAGAN, AND HAS LOTS OF SURPRISES PHOTOGRAPHS: BUREAUX. PRODUCTION: RETHA ERICHSEN gardener’s face. “Because the house is part inside, part outside, you What makes the house particularly interesting is that none of the can’t tell where it starts and finishes. And it’s not locked into any archi- four bedrooms is the same. In the master suite, one wall is covered in tectural or national style. It’s a bit Corbusier, a bit Luis Barragán. And brass and the bathroom window is curtained with a web of wisteria it has lots of surprises, which, being creative, I like.” that Erwee says is “a waterfall of purple in September”. One bathroom is accessed via a little courtyard in which a fountain burbles, and another The first surprise is just how different Johannesdal is from the sur- down a spiral staircase. Some tables have lamps made from Seventies rounding village of Pniel, with its ramshackle houses, basic shops and dry, fibreglass casts of the Seven Dwarfs; others hold candles shaped like full- stony graveyard. As I drive through the gates, spectacular landscapes sized rabbits. It’s fun, and bursting with the creativity of the owners. suddenly open up: in the distance, the dramatic Groot Drakenstein peaks, washed in golden light; before me, lily-covered ponds, flowerbeds Set on a historic pass joining the wine towns of Stellenbosch and alive with flitting finches and pristine lawns edged with a cool, concrete- Franschhoek, Johannesdal is a property where you could lie by the pool edged lap pool. And at the heart of it, the stark white homestead. and watch the scenery change in the sunlight, or use as a base from which to seek adventure. After breakfast – delivered to the shaded The house was created by South African architect Henri Comrie, verandah by the genial housekeeper Sophie Wildschut – guests can who designed the World Cup stadium in 2010, to maximise the moun- mountain bike on Groot Drakenstein trails, hike in the Simonsberg, tain views from the south-facing front and to minimise the heat of the taste wine at Delaire Graff and join a garden tour at Babylonstoren. sun, Erwee explains. “And we didn’t want an entrance, or passages. We Then there are farm shops to potter in: Barn and Werf for antiques and just wanted it to flow.” Which it does – first through a soaring Japanese- the very cool Koöperasie Stories for industrial collectibles, plus Ou style walkway, walled with slats of wood backed by black bamboo; then Meul farm stall for afternoon coffee and honey-soaked koeksisters. a courtyard with a single lurid pink wall; and, finally, past giant wooden doors into an airy, whitewashed brick interior fronted with Crittal-style The only non-negotiable is to be home for sunset. There can be few windows, roofed in raw concrete beams and floored in cool limestone. more perfect ways to end a day than to watch the last apricot rays turning those cragged, jagged mountains blue. It’s ostensibly a series of huge white double-storey boxes cut through Johannesdal Villa is available to rent from £600 a night (sleeps eight); by little horizontal and vertical slits west and east to let in shards of light, arthouse-collection.com. A 10-night trip, with four nights at Johannesdal and walled to the south in glass to draw the eye to the jaw-dropping and three nights each at Tintswalo Atlantic and Ellerman House in Cape views. “They are incredible,” Erwee enthuses. “Every day, they paralyse Town, costs from £3,500 per person, including car hire; timbuktutravel.com me; I have to keep stopping what I’m doing to look.” Opposite, clockwise from top left: scullery with herb-garden access, which often doubles as a floral studio; living area with pine-beamed ceiling; wall-mounted ferns at the entrance to Johannesdal; main bedroom with plywood wall and Turkish rug September 2022 Condé Nast Traveller 43

The Food Special SEEDS OF CHANGE THE SIMPLE ACT OF EATING TOGETHER CUTS THROUGH CULTURAL BARRIERS, SAYS YASMIN KHAN The midday sun blazed down on The red Mediterranean soil. I took and warmth of the Iranian people; I loved the scenery, from dramatic refuge under an olive tree and poured a cup of cardamom-laced coffee, moonscapes to forested mountains; and most of all, I loved the abun- inhaling its sweet, spicy scent. As I sipped, I watched farmers harvest dant pomegranates and quinces, the succulent grilled meats, and the their olive crop, stripping the fruits and tossing them into straw bags. garlic- and herb-infused stews that harmonise sweet and sour flavours. They climbed ladders with metal rakes and pulled them from the branches. The gentle patter of falling olives was an ambient backdrop. It was this gap in perceptions that motivated me to write my first book, The Saffron Tales. I set off on a mission to share the beauty, When the sun reached its highest point, they broke for lunch and history and culture of a country I love dearly. In Iran, I immersed myself invited me to join them – cross-legged, on a blue tarpaulin – to share in majestic rice paddies and tea plantations, swam in the tropical waters their meal. Freshly pressed extra-virgin olive oil, peppery and pungent, of the Persian Gulf and learnt about the food traditions of holidays was poured into small bowls as a dip for our chewy flatbreads. Sweet such as Nowruz. I lost myself in the magic of its rosewater festivals juicy tomatoes were set next to squares of briny sheep’s cheese, which where, each year, thousands travel to witness golab-giri, the delicate we ate with pastries filled with wilted greens and sumac. It was, in many process that transforms roses into rosewater; where whole villages are ways, a Mediterranean idyll: fresh produce, the scent of wild thyme and engulfed in the scent and colour of the damask rose. Throughout, jasmine in the air, olive trees as far as the eye could see. But we were I weaved together stories of grating carrots and crushing pistachios; a long way from Puglia, the hills of Andalucia or the gorges of Crete. harvesting saffron at dawn; or grilling fish, smothered with herbs and We were in Burqin, a small village in the north of the West Bank, in the juice of bitter oranges. By sharing the stories behind the food that the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Iranians ate, I opened a window onto their lives. I WENT FROM SEEING PALESTINIANS AS SO MUCH MORE THAN SIMPLY VICTIMS OF CONFLICT. I CAME TO ADMIRE THE RESILIENCE AND CHARM FOUND IN EVERYDAY LIFE I had come here to research a book that celebrates a side of Palestine Back in Palestine, I continued my culinary adventures, cooking and PHOTOGRAPHS: MARIE ZUCKER that never makes headlines but is central to its story – its dazzling eating with people of all backgrounds, learning about ancient traditions cuisine. For many, the word “Palestine” is intrinsically fraught, conjur- and modern tribulations. I hand-rolled maftoul – a type of large, plump ing images of sieges, bullets and hurled rocks. In this context, exploring couscous – with women who had formed an agricultural co-operative; a food culture and seeking the best places to eat and drink might strike shared mezze with groups of tattooed design students; learned to make some as irrelevant at best, disrespectful at worst. When Palestinians mansaf, a celebratory rice and lamb dish, with human-rights defenders; are literally fighting for their lives, is it really appropriate for a travel and I even found time for a pint with the producers of Taybeh beer, writer to wax lyrical about the virtues of their hummus? the Middle East’s first craft brewery, run by a female master brewer. I believe it is. Like outsiders unfamiliar with Iran, my food experiences in Palestine Talking about cuisine as a force for change may seem trite, but time changed my perceptions. Starting with the stories of ingredients, recipes and again on my travels I’ve seen how it can be just that. Food is a and culinary traditions, I saw Palestinians as so much more than simply neutral way to connect people with places that may, for whatever reason, victims of conflict. I came to admire the strength, resilience, humour seem alien. The reason is as simple as it is profound. Breaking bread is and charm I found in everyday life; came to see them as generous, one of the oldest forms of human connection; sitting down to share a gregarious, quick to laugh – and quick to invite me to their weddings. meal with someone from an unfamiliar culture creates intimacy and In the food culture of a supposedly dying region, I found so much life. empathy, and builds bonds in ways few other things can. This ordinary yet transformative act can help us see harsh situations through a new My experience has taught me that learning about a country’s food lens – dismantling political and cultural stereotypes and encouraging culture isn’t just learning about a set of ingredients. We get an insider us to ask different questions of the places we visit and people we meet. view of its history, its economy, its agriculture, its climate, its trade, its I was born in the UK, but my mother comes from the shores of the gender relations – often its soul. When people share food, they share Caspian Sea in northern Iran. I have often faced curiosity about my themselves – a form of connection that feels especially important in origins, always acutely aware of the gulf between the country I know the current climate. By doing so, we can see that humans, whatever our and love, and the one on the news with its hardline ayatollahs and angry background and wherever we come from, have more in common than mobs. As years passed, this gulf became a chasm and my frequent trips divides us. This is best summed up for me by the old Jewish adage “an were met with raised eyebrows. How could an independent Western enemy is just a person whose story you haven’t heard yet”. In my mind, woman take pleasure in visiting a country so fraught with turbulence, there is no better place to share stories than at the dining table. people asked. My answer was simple: I loved the exuberance, affection Yasmin Khan is a writer, broadcaster and the author of award-winning travel cookbooks “The Saffron Tales”, “Ripe Figs” and “Zaitoun” 44 Condé Nast Traveller September 2022

Clockwise from top left: woman in battoulah, Tehran; two views of Garmeh in Isfahan, Iran; pomegranate and rose petals



WHERE TO STAY INSIDER REPORTS ON THE BEST SPOTS TO BED DOWN. EDITED BY LYDIA BELL FIRST LOOK THE SHORES OF LAKE COMO ARE NOT WITHOUT THEIR HEAD-TURNING VILLAS. COULD JUST-OPENED PASSALACQUA BE THE GRANDEST OF THEM ALL? PHOTOGRAPHS BY ENRICO COSTANTINI September 2022 Condé Nast Traveller 47

Clockwise from this picture: Norma Suite; Bellini Suite, in the original music room; reception rooms Sala delle Dame and Sala delle Specchi; terraced gardens; steps to the lake; Grand Junior Suite; main staircase; pool. Previous page, water limo for private lake tours