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84 Articles

EDITOR’S LETTER

It was once said that Tyson Fury is framed by darkness, a somewhat glib statement that nevertheless became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy about the divisive, self-destructive boxer. As one of the most talked-about sportsmen of his generation, a man bedevilled by his past as much as the expectations of his future, a man named after Mike Tyson (then, in 1988, simply the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, rather than a convicted rapist) by his bare-knuckle fighter father, John, Fury has become tabloid catnip, a byword for trouble, triumph, inconsistency and scandal – which obviously makes him endlessly fascinating. Controversy sticks to him like lint, much of which is his own doing. Regularly accused of making homophobic, sexist and anti-Semitic comments, he has been the cause of much upset and…

EDITOR’S LETTER

this month on GQ.co.uk

Tyson Fury opens up The British heavyweight boxer and GQ cover star talks career comebacks, self-care and that bout with Deontay Wilder. GQ Food & Drink Awards 2019, presented by Veuve Clicquot See all the winners and action from the night by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @britishgq. 24 Hours Wearing… Looking to experiment with a bold new trend? Jonathan Heaf trials everything from oversized tracksuits to teeth whitening and reports back. Restaurant Of The Week We source the best new places to visit. See our latest pick each Tuesday at 5pm.…

this month on GQ.co.uk

Jack WATERLOT Photographer Jack Waterlot worked with GQ Fashion Director Luke Day to bring the sexual revolution back to life in a New York shoot that evoked Brooklyn at its most louche. “I was always fascinated by the Sixties and Seventies,” says Waterlot. “I took inspiration from icons such as Patti Smith, The Beatles and Mick Jagger. Their way of being was what I wanted to capture in my images.” Kathleen JOHNSTON The Kardashians sit at the nexus of celebrity, wealth, entrepreneurship, family and media, says GQ Social Content Editor Kathleen Johnston in this month’s “Foreword”, arguing that we should add fourth-wave feminist empowerment to that list. “With a combined Instagram following of 538 million, the Kardashians disrupt outdated ideas of how women ‘should’ behave,” says Johnston. Chris AYRES GQ contributor Chris Ayres delved into…

Can you keep up with the Kardashians?

For years, I’ve thought of my obsession with the minutiae of the Kardashian machine as a slightly embarrassing guilty pleasure. Serious conversations about America’s most famous family have been confined to WhatsApps among a select few female friends. I refer to my expansive store of Kardashian-Jenner trivia only when I’m sure it will be viewed as an endearing eccentricity, rather than proof of vacuous idiocy. I surreptitiously watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians when my boyfriend is out and I’m free to get stuck into the highs and lows of cloistered celebrity life in Calabasas, California without falling prey to his incessant eye-rolling. To caveat: I’m a 27-year-old feminist with a first-class English MA in postcolonial literature, culture and thought. I listen to Radio 4, read political nonfiction and would take…

Can you keep up with the Kardashians?

Sam Fender’s local, the Low Lights Tavern in North Shields – “A drinking town with a fishing problem,” as the 24-year-old puts it – used to have a reputation for rowdiness. Recently, though, it has been gentrifying, which is perhaps why a man from the music industry happened to drop by. Fender grabbed his guitar, played a song and lo, he had a manager. Now, he has gone from Low Lights to the bright lights, winning this year’s prestigious Brits Critics’ Choice Award (previously held by Adele and Sam Smith). His track “Dead Boys” has made a particular impression. “I wrote it when a mate killed himself,” explains Fender. “It drew my attention to how serious the problem [of male suicide] is.” Fender is keenly attuned to the pitfalls of hypermasculinity.…

Welcome to the age of the ‘plyscraper’

When plans for Tokyo’s W350 skyscraper were made public, they caused a stir. Not because at 350 metres it will be Japan’s tallest building, nor that its estimated cost will be £4.2 billion. The reason was more fundamental: it will be made almost entirely of wood. There’s a simple explanation for why wood is not traditionally used in tall buildings: fire. Yet the W350 is not alone. The proposed Sida Vid Sida building in Sweden will be a timber structure wrapped in glass, for instance, and flats are already for sale at the 73-metre wooden Haut building in Amsterdam. What’s behind the boom? New forms of timber have emerged recently, boasting superior strength and fire resistance. Take “cross-laminated timber” – wood arranged in a crisscross pattern and bound together with fireproof glue…

Welcome to the age of the ‘plyscraper’

The Tennessee Star tennesseestar.com Founded by: Breitbart contributor Michael Patrick Leahy and conservative talk radio host Steve Gill, who also own the new Ohio Star and Minnesota Sun. Sample headline: “Trump And Conservatives Know Without The Wall, America Soon May Fall” Intel: Republican congresswoman Diane Black used a Tennessee Star quote in her campaign ad, as reported by Politico. Maine Examiner maineexaminer.com Founded by: Maine Republican Party executive director Jason Savage. Sample headline: “The Far Left Has Perverted The Language Of Policy Debate Beyond Recognition” Intel: The Democrats called into question the site’s impartiality after it posted critical articles about a progressive mayoral candidate, Ben Chin, during his (unsuccessful) race. DC Statesman dcstatesman.com Founded by: Mustard Seed Interactive, for which Kurt Luidhardt of The Prosper Group – “one of the GOP’s top thinkers in online campaigning” – reportedly serves as president. Sample headline:…

Whether you know her as servile “synth” Mia from Channel 4’s Humans or the elegant Astrid from Crazy Rich Asians, Gemma Chan always projects an air of otherworldly calm. This, she assures us, is complete fiction. “I’m pretty chaotic in my life, in general,” says the Oxford graduate. “I somehow pull it out of the bag at the end of the day, at the eleventh hour, but I always feel like I’m slightly winging it. People don’t necessarily expect that. I’ve been told I seem to have a plan. I definitely don’t have a plan.” Plan or not, things are turning out well for the 36-year-old London-born actress. In Captain Marvel, the first-ever female-fronted Marvel movie, she plays an “antagonist of sorts” to super-heroin-waiting Carol Danvers (Brie Larson). Does she feel…

Five ways with: Bauhaus

Cradle by Tecta £1,595. At Einrichten Design. einrichten-design.co.uk Artist Wassily Kandinsky taught at the Bauhaus school from 1922 until it closed in 1933. His theory about the connection between shape and colour resulted in an association between blue circles, red squares and yellow triangles. Light by Pulpo £1,365. At WA Green. wagreen.co.uk Translucency and the superposition of dome shapes with parallel lines are a hallmark of Hungarian artist and Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy. Clock by Cloudnola £50. At Cult Furniture. cultfurniture.com Red, blue and yellow motifs repeat often and cogently in Bauhaus, and rules about how to use them developed over time (see below). Light by Dar £78. darlighting.co.uk Geometry informed Bauhaus’ dictum that form follows function. The use of opaque surfaces in lighting brought formerly industrial materials into residential and commercial interiors. Chest of drawers by Novamobili From £700. At Go Modern.…

Five ways with: Bauhaus

A jacket for all trades

The Tech Industry Agitator Sleek, neat, entirely in control and far too wealthy to make any kind of overblown style statement (Dior saddle bag notwithstanding), the Tech Industry Agitator loves to puff on his Juul – during indoor meetings with subordinates – and comes garnished, as you’d imagine, with all the latest gadgets. Chromes, blacks and minimal accessorising essential. The Easy Rider Once a Pinarello fan, the Easy Rider has recently reached middle age and thus graduated into motorbike territory. The jacket? A waxed Belstaff Trialmaster, obviously. The accessories? Polarised aviators, some rejuvenating man beads and, of course, a heavy-duty fob for the key to his heart. The Hype Beast Money to burn, a point to prove and creative energy to impart, the Hype Beast has both a surfeit of vibe and a shortage of…

A jacket for all trades

Jacket by B x Le Mont St Michel “I found out Le Mont St Michel has been making these chore jackets in Paris for more than 100 years. I’m so obsessed I designed my own.” £195. lemontsaintmichel.fr Wish list Toothpaste by Marvis “I started buying this when travelling in Italy. I was drawn to the packaging – it screams nostalgia – and I actually love the flavour.” £21. At net-a-porter.com Bag by B x Want Les Essentiels “When I am in the city I use a backpack, as it accommodates a lot more. When I am travelling I just use this tote.” £267. bg.com/bshop Wish list Jeans by Atelier & Repairs “Atelier & Repairs upcycles vintage denim and khaki jackets to create beautiful pieces. These are basic jeans, made in a seriously good way.” £280. atelierandrepairs.com Glasses “My glasses are a vintage…

Meet your desk’s best thing

Surface Studio by Microsoft Best for: Creatives The Surface Studio has an innovative feature that lets it rival the iMac as a machine for artists, designers and illustrators. The counterbalanced rear hinge lets you switch between a regular screen to a lie-flat “drafting table” on which you can work directly with Microsoft’s Surface Pen as if using a sheet of paper. It’s compatible with the full Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc) as well as unique peripherals for making creativity easier, such as the “Surface Dial” – a physical device that you can place on the display and twist to adjust a wide array of settings. From £2,099. microsoft.com Aspire S 24 by Acer Best for: Students The Acer is our pick for students as it’s one of the most affordable on test and yet it…

Meet your desk’s best thing

The Division 2 keeps the peace

Set in a snow-dusted Manhattan under quarantine, 2016’s The Division was a slick and vivid vision of urban life in the death grip of a pandemic. You played as a governmental agent deployed as part of a peacekeeping force, albeit using that trusty old peacekeeping tool: the automatic rifle. While the game soon descended into routine action shootouts, its premise had sharper political overtones: the virus was transmitted via banknotes distributed on retail’s busiest day of the year, Black Friday. A comment on how rampant consumerism will be the death of us all? Perhaps. With The Division 2, it seemed for a moment as though French publisher Ubisoft was set to use the late Tom Clancy’s universe to make keener political points. Set in Washington, DC, you play once again as…

The Division 2 keeps the peace

THE RUMOUR MILL

The PM’s ever-optimistic chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, has put feelers out in the Beckenham seat of soon-to-be-retired Tory colonel Bob Stewart. The association chairman has written to the Daily Telegraph blaming “disgraced special advisors” for Theresa May’s disastrous general election. That doesn’t bode well for Barwell. Arlene Foster is in huge trouble internally within her party. DUP power brokers dislike her public presentation and say she could be forced out of the leadership. “It will take Westminster by surprise, but not real insiders, who know that the DUP have been moving on this for a while,” says a party source. Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner is not known for modesty. One of his old election leaflets is being jokingly shared by fellow shadow ministers as it carries the quote, “Anyone…

THE RUMOUR MILL

Up all night to get supper

Studio 88 by The Piano Works 47 Whitcomb Street, WC2. studio88.bar The scene: This new opening in Leicester Square (don’t flinch) is a blast: tucked away from the tack and tourists, it’s the first venue in the capital to provide nonstop live music every night. Behind the velvet ropes: Secreted away beneath the city’s busiest square, this is a labyrinthine system of tables and dance floors lit in Eighties-style neon. Table service: Food comes in California-inspired bowls – great for low light – and includes tuna poké, bean chilli and barbecue cauliflower. Go for the bottomless prosecco. Make some noise: The napkins on your table are provided for song requests: the six-piece band plays to the whim of the crowd and no request is too hard. Bagatelle London 34 Dover Street, W1. bagatellelondon.com The scene: Riotous weekend brunches…

Up all night to get supper

Brawn, meet brains

There’s a slightly fussy menswear dictum that suggests the leather of your belt must always match that of your shoes. While here at GQ we tend to ignore such directives, preferring to make up our own rules, there is a certain wisdom in the madness: after all, a lime-green crocodile belt worn with a pair of burgundy cordovan shoes would look, well, terrible. What there’s no rule about, however, is what you should do when it comes to pairing your sneakers with your watch. Case in point, Dolce & Gabbana’s chunky new Super King trainers and the label’s brand-new diamond-encrusted timepiece. Where one is a heavy-duty take on the ever-enduring chunky trainer trend, the other is an ultra-expensive expression of the Italian brand’s expanding horological prowess. Worn together, however, both…

Brawn, meet brains

Cord progression

When the American Acoustasonic Telecaster hit the market, Fender’s marketeers billed the company’s new guitar as its “most important launch since the original Stratocaster”. So, given 65 years separate the two, what’s all the fuss all about? Simple: this is an axe that can switch between electric and acoustic at the flick of a switch. Unlike previous attempts at hybrid guitars, whether plugged or unplugged the American Acoustasonic sounds every bit as warm as a big hollow box and yet its electric sounds don’t compromise on what you would expect from Fender. That’s just the start. There’s a voice selector that sits in five different positions, each representing a pairing (“Mahogany Dreadnought/Fender electric”, say, or “maple small body/Mahogany Dreadnought”), and twisting the “mod knob” adjusts how the sound is weighted…

Cord progression

A little spray of sunshine

There’s something about the way the air smells in LA. While the streets of the UK tend to offer up strains of petrol, petrichor and spilt beer, the City Of Angels – with its dry subtropical climate and lush coastal locale – provides a contrastingly rich bouquet. Stroll down Santa Monica Beach and you’ll be bathed in an olfactory wave of brine and sunbaked sand. Hike into the hills above Bel Air and you’ll be rewarded with wild mimosa and sage. Head down Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice and, well, you’ll be assaulted with a massive wave of weed smoke… but, hey, it’s all legit here now. The latest fragrance offering from Louis Vuitton is inspired by the aforementioned aromatic menagerie (Abbot Kinney portion notwithstanding). Consisting of three new wcolognes –…

A little spray of sunshine

Born Hong Kong Age 33 2003-2007 2003-2007 Law degree, University Of Oxford 2004 Cofounds online shopping site boso.com Break the rules (sometimes) “I scraped a load of email addresses from the university directory and messaged them all directly about my first business. I was almost immediately banned and kicked off the university network for a few weeks.” 2007-2013 2007-2008 Master’s in Law, University Of Oxford 2010-2013 Cofounds banking app GoCardless Think outside your bubble “At GoCardless, we only hired people with almost identical backgrounds to us: 25-year-old ex-management consultants. At Monzo, we’re much more open to people from diverse backgrounds. Experience is powerful.” 2015 February 2015 Founds Monzo as a digital bank Don’t expect immediate success “At first, we worked for free out of our programmer’s kitchen, perched on the arms of sofas. We were just committed to making it work. The culture isn’t much…

Time for a change

Pity, for a moment, the elite global forager: forced to juxtapose the innate qualities of their mobile tech – always “on”, even in standby – and the age-old proclivities of their high-end wristwear. Traditionally relying on a single, spring-loaded barrel, mechanical watches have generally been good for three or four days max, after which the watch runs out of juice and fiddly complications need to be reset. Bummer. Extending running time means more barrels and a far larger case. Aesthetics aside (but doubtless still important), Vacheron Constantin sought a more elegant solution, and found it in an 18th-century Japanese clock. Powering its new Perpetual Calendar for a benchmark 65 days in a case measuring just 42mm across and 12.3mm deep required a movement that could switch between a conventional “high…

Time for a change

Green, clean and clearly the best

Green is my go-to dial Aviation-centric brand IWC relaunched its Pilot’s Watches in style – inviting a vintage Spitfire to freewheel into its gala event ahead of a record-setting attempt to circumnavigate the globe – but horological eyes were fixed on its UTC Spitfire Edition “MJ271”. £8,350. iwc.com Sustainability isn’t just for fast fashion Mindful of consumer sentiment about businesses that turn a blind eye to the impact of their production methods on the planet, Panerai premiered a new case alloy: upcycled “Eco-Titanium”. Submersible Mike Horn Edition. £17,360. panerai.com The ‘see-through’ watch From Audemars Piguet’s Code 11.59 to this handsome Cartier Privé Tonneau, skeletonised movements proved the longevity of a watchmaking technique that might have long-since bitten the dust. Squelette Noctambule, from £59,000. cartier.co.uk…

Green, clean and clearly the best

Auf wiedersehen, Premier League!

How can we stop the current trend for young English footballers, unhappy with their Premier League playing time, fleeing to Germany? Jadon Sancho, 18, led the charge last summer, swapping Man City’s reserves for Dortmund’s first team, but he’s not the only success story, with Arsenal’s 19-year-old striker Reiss Nelson having scored six goals since joining Hoffenheim. The biggest deal didn’t come off, as Chelsea rebuffed Bayern Munich’s £35 million bid for Chelsea’s 18-year-old winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, but it’s likely he will move in the summer. The FA has tried to stem the problem with the “Home Grown Player” rule, which states that in a full 25-player squad, at least eight must have been part of the team for three years or more before the age of 21. But this has…

Auf wiedersehen, Premier League!

Some restaurants are for showing off (looking at you, Casa Cruz), while others offer a quieter idea of glamour. Le Caprice still has that in spades, despite the 38 years that have passed since Jeremy King and Chris Corbin relaunched it with colossal success. The rattan chairs, a pinnacle of Eighties chic, declare that since nothing about this place is broken, there’s no need to fix it. The polished dining room, hung with John Swannell photography (replacing David Bailey’s set, which adorned the space for more than 30 years), clatters away charmingly, populated by those for whom Le Caprice has been a home-from-home for years – the famous corner table was once Princess Diana’s, then Jeffrey Archer’s and, more recently, Condé Nast’s Nicholas Coleridge – alongside newbies keen to see…

‘Bob Dylan and I are pen pals. He sent me poems’ With his Italian descent and flair for the soulful nugget, Jack Savoretti was predictably pigeonholed as “the new Paolo Nutini” when he first arrived on the scene. Now, across five studio albums, the 35-year-old has marked himself out as his own man – who else can boast cowriting credits with Kylie Minogue and Bob Dylan on the same album? Find the results on this month’s Singing To Strangers. Ahead of its release, a GQ&A… What’s Bob Dylan like? “I would love to tell you, but as of now we are [just] pen pals. He sent me poems and I put them to music. His writing is nothing less than absolute masterful poetry. Anybody who’s ever picked up a guitar and tried to…

+ Augment your life

Previously, true crime shows have mostly been about working out if someone is innocent. But what about when someone suddenly tells all? Netflix series The Confession Tapes, the podcast Dead Man Talking and Netflix’s Confessions With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes have cemented a niche trend: the crime series based on death row confessions. The crowdfunding revolution has brought about a boom in e-commerce watch startups. Whether riffing on the modernism of brands such as Nomos or taking their cues from more traditional timepieces, new companies such as Linjer and MVMT are gaining traction with those who want an affordable timepiece that isn’t just like every other. Previously, the traditional way to announce your presidential candidacy was behind a podium. Now, nearly every major Democratic candidate has done so while sitting…

+ Augment your life

The 2019 GQ Car Awards

SEE MORE PARTY PICTURES AT GQ.UK/GQCARAWARDS2019…

The 2019 GQ Car Awards

On stage Grief Is The Thing With Feathers at the Barbican Max Porter’s award-winning novel comes to life on stage courtesy of writer-director Enda Walsh and star Cillian Murphy, whose double performance was lauded during its run in Ireland. FROM 25 MARCH – 13 APRIL. For the nightstand Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid This acclaimed novel takes the form of an oral history, recounting the Seventies rise to stardom and subsequent break-up of an LA band. OUT NOW. The Parade by Dave Eggers Set in an unnamed country still fragile after a civil war, this post-modern parable by Eggers continues in the surreal vein of The Circle. OUT ON 21 MARCH. This Searing Light, The Sun And Everything Else. Joy Division: An Oral History by Jon Savage Three decades’ worth of interviews with New Order, Ian Curtis’ widow…

Hypebeasts ROAR. HERMÈS whispers…

Those expecting fireworks (quelle horreur!) at the Hermès Spring/Summer 2019 show in Paris last June (below) in recognition of menswear designer Véronique Nichanian’s 30 years at the house will have been sorely disappointed. Instead – quelle surprise – the show was fanfared by Canadian singer-songwriter Mike Milosh, AKA R&B artist Rhye, as Paris’ longest-serving non-founding designer, after Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld, unveiled her latest siren’s call to the “Hermès man” – in her words, those of us who like “beautiful things, beautifully done, in nice materials… with a sense of humour”. What one smitten commentator has dubbed “deep menswear” – whisper-quiet statement pieces rich in colour and detail, designed and finished for the ages – has been a hallmark of the house ever since Nichanian (above) left her “beautiful teacher”, Nino Cerruti,…

Hypebeasts ROAR. HERMÈS whispers…

Laughter and sobbing are physiologically the same thing,” said Kurt Vonnegut. “I prefer laughter to tears because there’s less cleaning up to do afterwards.” Always with the jokes. Vonnegut was unable to make a joke without leaving a tragedy around the next corner and unable to pass up the opportunity to undermine his most profound utterances with a laugh. That, for him, was reality, however unreal it seemed. This is a story about stories. It’s about how experience is turned into art and how horror becomes beauty. It’s about how something beyond expression can become something expressed in a way no one had thought of before and, in particular, it’s about how one very funny but damaged writer turned a catastrophic loss of human life into a novel that can just…

Attack the week Hype

Couch Surfing So much to watch, so little time. We review what to watch and what to avoid, every Tuesday at 3pm. The GQ Spotlight Investigative stories, every Thursday at 6am, including why the gut is responsible for happiness. The History of Cool The stories behind the legends, such as Apple’s white earbuds, every Thursday at 7pm. Live Like James Bono Find out how to release your inner 007, every Wednesday at 6am. Bachelor Pad Has your interior stopped sparking joy? Upgrade with our pick of the best home essentials, each week, every Sunday at 3pm.…

Attack the week Hype

The brave new fully electric, autonomous dawn is rising. Great if your interest in cars straddles the dizzy peaks of A to B, but a bitter pill for anyone with petrol in their veins, no matter what sort of mega horsepower and straight-line speed we’re looking at. Where’s the romance, the art? There is some hope. The generic nature of electrified chassis – they’re called “skateboard platforms”, essentially a frame housing the battery pack – means that designers have more scope to stretch out with the visuals that go on top. In fact, another great era of carrozzeria – the tradition of crafting and creating bespoke bodies – might also be upon us, reconnecting the 21st century with the dazzling aesthetic ambition of the pre- and post-war period. Allemano, Boano, Figoni…

+ Four of our favourites: Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato

“They’re very personal designs. They create cars that look like the opposite of boardroom decisions.” Miles Nurnberger, Aston Martin’s design director, is currently piloting this greatest of British sports car companies through its own design transformation, the resulting DB11 Volante and DBS Superleggera both beacons of expertly executed modernism. But Aston’s relationship with Zagato is long and fruitful. There have been various collaborations since the Sixties DB4 GT rebody – numbering 732 cars to be precise – some an accurate barometer of trends in contemporary design (1986’s V8 Vantage eschewed curves completely), most true to Zagato’s singular vision. A GT Zagato limited-series car signed off the brand-saving DB7 line in 2003, but the most recent co-production is also the most ambitious: not one car, or even two or three, but four…

+ Four of our favourites: Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato

+ Celebrate the end of winter with… Three of the year’s best bikes

One for the city… KTM 790 Duke KTM call its 790 Duke “The Scalpel” and that tells you almost all you need to know. It’s compact, lightweight and with razor-sharp handling it’ll despatch a busy city commute in the blink of an eye. Producing a punchy 105bhp, the engine is married to a full electronics suite, with traction control to keep you safe and a quick-shifter to keep you quick. From £8,799. kmt.com One for the road… BMW S 1000 RR The S 1000 RR arrived on the scene a decade ago and took the superbike world by storm: not only was it ridiculously powerful, but it was friendly too and so made a great all-round bike. Now, BMW has given it its biggest ever update. It’s lighter, more powerful (20bhp) and more technologically focused…

+ Celebrate the end of winter with… Three of the year’s best bikes

Dining with the stars

For an exclusive video about Nicki and Tom’s trip to The Fat Duck visit GQ.co.uk Sometimes a single name comes to represent the very best of whatever it is. Think of the leading tyres and you think Michelin. Think of one of Britain’s best restaurants and you almost certainly think of The Fat Duck. It’s fitting, then, that Heston Blumenthal’s famed eatery-meets-temple-to-innovation in Bray, Berkshire provides the destination for Nicki Shields and MICHELIN-Starred chef Tom Kerridge’s third and final road test for GQ’s 2019 Car Awards. As they put tyres to tarmac, Tom wastes no time in extolling the virtues of the three MICHELIN-Starred restaurant, one of just five in the UK. “It’s one of the best meals I’ve ever, ever had,” he says, high praise indeed coming from someone of his…

Dining with the stars

Heston Blumenthal takes such a quixotic and ingenious approach to his culinary creations that the late Roald Dahl’s widow once pronounced him to be the “real life Willy Wonka”. It was Blumenthal who ensured that the concept of molecular gastronomy entered the culinary lexicon, igniting a passion for dishes and flavour combinations that sound like science fiction and taste appropriately out of this world. Following a £2.5m refit in 2015, The Fat Duck has embarked on another odyssey, taking the concept of fine dining into the realms of high art, laced with a powerful undercurrent of nostalgia and mischief. The Fat Duck gained its first Michelin star in 1999, its second in 2002 and its third in 2004, making it the fastest restaurant in the United Kingdom to earn three…

The Dirty Dishes by Isaac Carew

After the recent bout of clean-eating fads, it’s about time that our diets got a little bit dirty again. Fortunately, chef and model Isaac Carew’s debut cookbook has arrived to guide us through the realms of fantastically filthy food. With 100 recipes that range from indulgent desserts to more virtuous vegan options, The Dirty Dishes is an antidote to the overly complicated and tedious rituals of a world obsessed with wellness. “With Instagram, everything is just shoved in your face and you’re told that you need to look or eat a certain way,” he explains, “whereas, actually, just do what you want. Eat what you want.” Trained under Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett, Carew’s passion for cooking was born while watching his father work as a chef during his childhood. “He was…

The Dirty Dishes by Isaac Carew

Dirty Lasagne by Isaac Carew (serves three to four)

“This is one of my trademark dishes and it’s super easy and delicious. Enjoy with a glass of red and a piece of focaccia to mop up all the extra cheese and sauce,” says Isaac Carew. Ingredients 1 onion2 celery sticksOlive oil, for frying3 garlic cloves, crushed2 bay leaves400g beef mince1/2tbsp dried oregano500ml passata1 bunch of basil, leaves only400g egg lasagne sheets50g ricottaFor the cheese sauce:25g butter25g plain flour250ml whole milk170ml double cream50g cheddar cheese, plus extra for the topSea salt and white pepper Method Dice the onion and celery sticks. Add to a large saucepan with a glug of olive oil and sweat for a few minutes, then add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute, then add the bay leaves and mince and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the oregano and…

Dirty Lasagne by Isaac Carew (serves three to four)

Din Tai Fung, London

East Asia’s biggest restaurants are beginning to descend on London and they have been revelatory so far. We’ve already seen Duddell’s, Hong Kong’s king of duck, arrive in London Bridge. Bang Bang Oriental Foodhall in Colindale, North London, brings snippets of China to the suburbs. This year we’ll even get the world-conquering hotpot house Hai Di Lao. But the hype has been especially high for Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese dim sum titan known for its xiao long bao. Xiao long bao, a type of dumpling that contains both broth and filling, are an art form. But nowhere takes them as seriously as Din Tai Fung, where chefs are trained for months in how to make them. You even get a guide on how best to eat your bao. Unfortunately, when GQ…

Din Tai Fung, London

Braybrooke keller lager

This is the year that lager gets its groove back and you need look no further than a small farm just outside Market Harborough, the home of Braybrooke Beer. Here, Luke Wilson and Cameron Emirali, the owners of Soho stalwart 10 Greek Street, are making a crisp Bavarian-style lager. “We’re purists,” says Wilson. “There’s no experimentation or crossover.” With no triple-hopping or wacky fruit additions to hide behind, they’ve ensured the quality of their lager by working with Stephan Michel, the charismatic CEO of Bamberg’s Mahrs Bräu. The killer combination of expertise, traditional Munich and Bamberg malts, bottom fermentation, proper maturation and cold storage makes for a flavoursome and full-bodied lager. No packet of crisps required. ● £2.70. At Hop Burns & Black. hopburnsblack.co.uk…

Braybrooke keller lager

Ugly Dumpling Unit 7, Boxpark Wembley, Olympic Way, HA9 0JT. uglydumpling.co.uk The setup: The third and biggest Boxpark opened in Wembley in December, providing a new home to London’s street-food brands. These include Ping Wong’s Ugly Dumpling (also seen on London’s Newburgh Street), whose mission is to inject some “global fusion” into the humble dumpling. Eat this: Dive straight into the specials, including the cheeseburger dumplings (£6.50 for five) or potato curry (£5 for five). Drink this: The drinks list is short but sweet, including indie sodas such as Dalston’s (£2.50), so you’ll have to head to the PlayBox bar for something stronger. Zia Lucia Unit 11, Boxpark Wembley, Olympic Way, HA9 0JT. zialucia.com The setup: Zia Lucia began life in London’s Islington in 2016, finding Instagram fame thanks to its black charcoal pizzas. An outpost in…

Hare & Hounds, Bath

When it comes to quality of life, Bath is very hard to beat. Just last year it topped the “Family Living Index”. No, we hadn’t heard of it either, but, in summary, it analyses all the essentials for contented living (salary, house prices, the chances of having your home ransacked by burglars, etc) and the charming spa town in Somerset came out on top. Good for it. It also turns out that Bath has a pub that, were it to be assessed for all its outstanding qualities, would probably top the “Going Out For A Pint Index”. By GQ’s reckoning, it certainly ticks a lot of boxes. For starters, Hare & Hounds sits at the top of Lansdown Hill with stunning views over the Charlcombe valley, so it feels like a…

Hare & Hounds, Bath

+ Where we’ve been eating this month…

Beck at Brown’s Heinz Beck has created a menu focusing on refined Italian dishes inspired by British ingredients. Standout dish The truffe risotto was an exercise in hedonism that landed just the right side of overwhelming. Albemarle Street, London W1. 020 7518 4004. roccofortehotels.com L’Atelier De Joël Robuchon In the city of sin, this is a place full of soul where talented chefs keep alive the memory of the late Joël Robuchon. Standout dish Seared sea bass, porcini foam and eggplant caviar. 3799 S Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89109, US. +1 702 891 7358. mgmgrand.com Amaranto This sumptuous (yet relaxed) dining room in the heart of the capital’s Four Seasons serves a glamorous take on Italian fare, courtesy of chef Romuald Feger. Standout dish Rabbit cacciatora ragu, taggiasca olives and pecorino cheese. Hamilton Place, London W1. 020 7319 5206. fourseasons.com…

+ Where we’ve been eating this month…

Savernake Knives

“Don’t touch my dick, don’t touch my knife.” The late, great Anthony Bourdain could always be counted on for a good line, but the Kitchen Confidential author might have been overstating things a touch with that one. However, Laurie Timpson and Philip Shaw certainly take their knives seriously. Since launching Savernake in 2014 in a barn in Wiltshire, they have been combining modern technology with age-old artisanal techniques to create some of the UK’s finest knives. Customers can personalise their hand-finished knife by choosing the blade, the handle and even have their name engraved on it. And if their name is Dick, so much the better. £290. savernakeknives.co.uk…

Savernake Knives

The Parrot, London

Packed with more superstars than a red-carpet roll call – Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Benedict Cumberbatch, to name but a few – it was obvious right from the opening night that The Parrot would not be a normal bar. And why would it when the bar in question belongs to none other than Idris Elba, who has just launched the concept in collaboration with brothers Nicky and Lee Caulfield? Nestled inside the Waldorf Hilton in Aldwych, Central London, The Parrot is part cocktail bar, part live music venue, complete with the dazzling Yamaha sound kit you’d expect from DJ Big Driis. There’s a live band every night, but music isn’t the only draw. There’s serious commitment to the theme at this self-styled “tropical hideaway”. The interiors are best described as…

The Parrot, London

Bankside Hotel, London

Part of award-winning architect Ian Simpson’s sky-end residential project, One Blackfriars, the Bankside Hotel is a testament to food and lodging as an incubator for socially inclusive infotainment, with some welcome amenities thrown in. Designed by renowned LA-based designer Dayna Lee, it posits an approach to urban cool that foregoes both arty minimalism and threadbare “shabby chic” in favour of airy, inviting “mid-century meets Californian” environments that put the focus on both an enviable location (Shakespeare’s Globe and Tate Modern are both a short walk away) and the needs of the busy if not necessarily well-breached traveller (its 161 rooms and seven suites start at a very reasonable £290 a night, including breakfast). Being eco where it works best (glass tumblers refillable in the hallways cuts down on plastics and…

Bankside Hotel, London

You can stop worrying about AI (for now)

You would be forgiven for thinking that right now, in 2019, artificial intelligence actually exists. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, where the biggest tech companies on the planet came to show off their latest wares, “AI” was the buzzword – or rather the omni-present drone – heard throughout almost 300,000 square metres of exhibition space. Take Samsung, for instance. The company announced a 98-inch TV with an 8K screen – quadruple the number of pixels as 4K. It apparently uses “AI” in its “quantum processor” chip to upscale content to that resolution. Or look at LG, which entitled its CES keynote “AI For An Even Better Life”. We learned that the company will be doubling down on “AI” deployment – whether in appliances that learn more…

You can stop worrying about AI (for now)

The king of pop, hip hop, R&B, rap…

Here’s a head-spinning statistic for you. ten years ago Drake made his Billboard Hot 100 debut with “Best I Ever Had”, a sleek, charming hybrid of hip hop and R&B. The Hot 100 would not be Drakeless again until August 2017 and even that proved to be a blip. Aubrey Drake Graham’s career is composed of nothing but big numbers: the most this, the longest that. In an era that was supposed to be too atomised to produce Eighties-style megastars, he is as dominant as Michael Jackson or Prince at their peak and he’s more successful than ever. Last year, he topped the Hot 100 for 29 weeks with three different songs. In 2016, when “One Dance” topped the UK charts for 15 weeks, just one week short of Bryan…

The king of pop, hip hop, R&B, rap…

The people’s war

Whatever happens now, nothing will be the same again. So fixated have we all been – understandably – by the prospective outcome of the Brexit process that we have barely had time to inspect the damage it has wrought. And that damage is, quite frankly, immense. For a start, the farcical saga stretching from the 2016 referendum itself to today has diminished Britain in the eyes of the world generally and the European Union specifically. When Donald Tusk, the European Council president, said in February that there was “a special place in hell” reserved for “those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan”, he spoke for a continent baffled and exasperated by the blundering self-sabotage of a supposedly great nation. What the rest of the world cannot fathom is…

The people’s war

‘I pulled a blade because I was weak’

This is how I came to be waving a knife in another boy’s face. My school had an infallible method of teaching you French. The hottest teacher – a serious beauty, a Debbie Harry of the Home Counties, who made us blush every time she had us conjugate a French verb – taught the top stream. So if you wanted to gaze upon this fierce, flaxen-haired, miniskirted beauty for another school year – and we all did – then you had to be really, really good at French. And so it was that my lovesick classmates and I breezed through our exam two years before students whose French grammar was not powered by raging adolescent hormones. With the exam knocked off and time on our hands, our class would regularly be…

‘I pulled a blade because I was weak’

No jokes? No problem

Watch Netflix’s new comedy starring Idris Elba, Turn Up Charlie – where Elba plays a one-hit-wonder DJ now living with his aunt and so down on his luck he has agreed to be a nanny to his famous friend’s troublesome daughter – and you’ll notice something strange: it doesn’t have any jokes. This isn’t a criticism – actually, it’s perfectly amusing – but more that it’s far more concerned with the ongoing story of its hero, Charlie, and his ward like a sort of episodic About A Boy than peppering in one-off zingers or building towards farce. So, is it a comedy, then, as Netflix professes? Look at the latest original series from streaming sites and it’s getting harder to tell. We’ve come a long way from studio set-up/punchline fare, but…

No jokes? No problem

Marvel’s new heroine addiction

Tarana Burke, Malala Yousafzai, Heather Jarvis and Sonya JF Barnett. These are the kind of names that I’d like to see rolling in the credits of a superhero film. Responsible for founding movements such as Me Too and events such as SlutWalk – the global protests against victim blaming during rape trials – these women have been fighting for humanity’s sake for years, knocking away at the foundations of patriarchy with placards, hashtags and powerful speeches. On International Women’s Day, however, different names will light up cinema screens during the credits of Captain Marvel. It’s smart marketing to release a female superhero film on 8 March, the same date as a global call to recognise the achievements of women and end gender inequality. Who wouldn’t want to see Brie Larson kicking ass…

The problem with praise

Paul Pogba can be lazy. Paul Pogba has pace. Paul Pogba has power. Paul Pogba played the pass of the match to set up Marcus Rashford when Manchester United beat Tottenham in January. Each one of those statements has been true this season yet three are now deemed problematic. It is considered dubious, in some quarters, to highlight the prowess of black footballers in athletic terms. Raheem Sterling opened a discussion on how differently BAME footballers are treated in the media, but voices from opposite ends of the spectrum are seeking to close it. Piers Morgan didn’t think Sterling had a point, until two white men, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, echoed it. Yet, across the aisle, media influencers want to change the language around black athletes, toning down the athleticism.…

The problem with praise

Explore the wide world of videos at GQ.co.uk

Tyson Fury: uncut You’ve read the interview, now head to our YouTube page and watch the controversial boxer speak his mind. GQ Food & Drink Awards 2019 See all the winners from the night, plus footage from ‘behind the pass’. Alastair Campbell on David Cameron The referendum. The resignation. Gardening leave. Does the former PM have regrets? What about a plan? (21 mins) Brooklyn Beckham and a BMW Z4 What happened when we sent the photographer to California for last month’s GQ Car Awards. Modern love Six couples reveal their relationship highs and lows and what passion means in 2019. (6 mins) Art attack with Matty Healy We asked The 1975’s singer to paint a giant canvas for a GQ Hype cover drop this month. Watch him work and wait for the big reveal.…

Explore the wide world of videos at GQ.co.uk

There are a couple of minor things that Tyson Fury doesn’t want to discuss: the past and the future. “I’m not a dweller on the past. What happens two minutes ago, it stays in the past,” the most exciting man in heavyweight boxing tells me firmly. A while later he adds: “Where do I want to be in five years? How do I know I’m even going to be alive in five years?” I want to push it, but Fury is 6ft 8in and unbeaten in 28 professional fights. He once smashed a watermelon open on his head for fun. He cracks his knuckles ominously. He is a bit intimidating in the way that Antarctica is a bit chilly. I bide my time. He’ll come round, I think. “Can I just stop you…

Well, that was the last thing I expected: having to interrupt my interview with Frank Warren at his Hertfordshire HQ so that the 67-year-old boxing promoter could compose himself, take a hankie from his pocket and wipe away tears. It was a remarkable interlude amid Frank’s frank assessments of the sport that has made him famous and the key characters within it. Top of the bill: the most famous current fighter on his books, Tyson Fury (likes, rates, respects, not least for his heroics in his last fight against Deontay Wilder); the other Tyson in his life, Iron Mike (doesn’t like, rate or respect); glamour boy Anthony Joshua, whose fight with Fury the promoter is hoping to engineer and already beginning to hype; then there’s the Hearns, father Barry and…

You probably know Winston Duke, the 6ft 4in 32-year-old actor with the shadow of a sky-scraper, as the guy in Black Panther who’s the size of a portaloo and who smacks the crap out of Chadwick Boseman’s big cat in the film’s marquee opening set piece. Our hero wins eventually, of course, and Duke’s character – rival leader M’Baku – ends up joining forces with him, but it was an eye-opening debut for a guy who’d never been on the big screen before. Memes were created as soon as phones were switched back on. Social media lust went viral. He was declared a “thick daddy”, which is only slightly less offensive than it sounds (it means a man who has big arms but also has… you don’t need the details). From…

CHRIS SULLIVAN The last man about town

Certainly, by many lights, it would be easy to look at the constituent parts of the generic London hipster and think that the composition of socioeconomic cults has now become somewhat prescriptive. What with his beard (tick), his Day-Glo tweed (tick), his tattoos (tick), backpack (tick) and his dog (tick), not only has the hipster become a cliché, but he’s also appropriated the idea of the boulevardier so much that he has almost completely denigrated the idea of the man about town. These days, the man about town is thought to be someone who simply dresses up in order to cause a stir, a popinjay driven by a need to clog up people’s Instagram feeds. He could be a barista, could be a designer of some sort, but whatever he…

CHRIS SULLIVAN The last man about town

Iceland to Amsterdam: How the bitcoin heist world’s first went south

Stefansson escaped his cell, but the internet, the world in which he’d sought a fortune, meant he was never far from capture The escape Just before dawn, on a mild morning last April, Sindri Thor Stefansson grabbed his things, clambered out of a prison window and became Iceland’s most wanted man. It was two months since Stefansson’s arrest for a spate of heists targeting the country’s booming bitcoin industry – the first of their kind anywhere on earth – and he had been held at Sogn prison, a drab, lonesome block at the foot of a sweeping hill 30 minutes from anywhere, ever since. As judges pondered an extension to his incarceration, Stefansson, an athletic, 31-year-old computer graduate with a turbulent past, seized a chance to give them the finger. Once he left Sogn,…

Iceland to Amsterdam: How the bitcoin heist world’s first went south

+ The who’s who

The fugitive Sindri Thor Stefansson The most high-profile of the seven men convicted in connection with the heists. After his arrest, Stefansson left prison, boarded the same flight as the Icelandic prime minister and became a fugitive. The co-conspirator Hafthor Logi Hlynsson Formerly convicted of drug smuggling, Hylnsson was accused of masterminding the robbery of 16 January. A mountain of a man, covered in tattoos and living in Spain’s Costa Brava, he grew up in the same town as Stefansson. The former drug smuggler Annthor Kristjan Karlsson Karlsson, built like a prizefighter, was a prominent former member of Iceland’s drug smuggling industry. He knows all of the major players in the country. The bitcoin miner Atli Petur Odinsson Odinsson is one of many Icelanders who lost their savings when the economic crisis hit the country. He began mining bitcoin around 2010…

+ The who’s who

The Big Bitcoin Heist (ten years in the making)

15 September 2008 American investment bank Lehman Brothers goes bust, leading to the collapse of the Icelandic economy. January 2009 Icelanders gather outside parliament banging pots and pans to protest the government’s handling of the financial crisis. 9 January 2009 The first bitcoin, a cryptocurrency invented by a mysterious developer named Satoshi Nakamoto, is released. December 2017 The value of a single bitcoin rises to £14,760. 5 December 2017 Sindri Stefansson steals around £300,000 worth of bitcoin mining equipment from Asbru in southwest Iceland. 15 December 2017 The gang moves west and gets away with a smaller haul. Stefansson and another man are arrested but released. 26 December 2017 Stefansson and another conspirator return to Asbru, but leave empty-handed after an alarm goes off. 16 January 2018 This time with the help of a security guard, the gang hit Asbru again. 1 February 2018 Three people are…

The Bronfman Inheritance

If not for the $1,000-an-hour lawyers flanking her, it would have been easy to miss Clare Bronfman when she appeared in a Brooklyn court last summer. Scrawny and birdlike, with rectangular glasses and greying, scraped-back hair, the then 38-year-old former world-ranked equestrian wore a shapeless low-cut T-shirt – bra straps showing – with plain blue jeans, as though she had just rolled out of bed and was nipping out for some milk. Other than her second name, roughly translated as “whiskey man” from Yiddish, there was zero hint of the staggering wealth and dysfunction into which she was born – the latter including her multibillionaire father’s five marriages (two of them to the same woman), the faked burial alive of one of her brothers, and another brother’s squandering of the family…

The Bronfman Inheritance

Production PhotoBomb Production Models Erik van Gils; Jacquelyn Jablonski Hair Panos Papandrianos Make-up Ayami Nishimura Prop stylist James Lear Digital technician Jennifer Czyborra Style assistant Bronson Vajda Photography assistant Brendan Wixted…

For some, the island of Sicily will forever be associated with La Cosa Nostra (the mafia). However, rather than end up sleeping with the fishes, on a visit to the Verdura Resort in Ribera – only an hour or so away from the town of Corleone, just saying – you’ll be more likely to swim with them thanks to the warm weather and nearby beach. No wonder, then, that a stay at hospitality godfather Sir Rocco Forte’s luxurious hotel is an offer you can’t refuse… What makes it so special? This five-star retreat on the quiet southwest coast of Sicily is a modern resort set over 500 acres of countryside with a mile of private shoreline. Guests can borrow bikes to explore the area and there are also trekking trails. It cost…

When it comes to wellness at Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, there really is something in the water. This five-star resort, set amid the mountains in the Heidiland region of Switzerland, is based around the ancient tradition of bathing. The thermal waters were first discovered in the 13th century and their therapeutic and healing effects are the foundation on which the resort is built, making it the place to go for aquatic rejuvenation and re-energising. What’s so special about the water? The thermal source originates in the Tamina Gorge just a couple of miles from Bad Ragaz and was discovered in the Middle Ages. Since 1840, the water has been piped into the hotel and the spa area of the Grand Resort. Known as “Blue Gold”, the 36.5C water reputedly has healing and…

+ The Ritual at…

Iceland’s first five-star hotel was designed by Sigridur Sigthorsdottir with the essential brief not to impact on the area’s natural beauty, The Retreat is decorated in muted greys and browns to mirror the earth and is built into the lava rock in its own “hidden” section of the turquoise lagoon. The restorative waters themselves, heated to an ideal 40C, is where visitors perform “The Ritual”, using natural mineral exfoliators for face and body, as well as silica and algae mud masks from the lagoon bed for detoxification and anti-ageing. An underwater massage – in which you float in the salty lagoon as a therapist glides you through the water – is essential… especially when accompanied by a complimentary glass of al fresco Champagne. Because total wellness is so 2018.…

+ The Ritual at…

Six Senses Zil Pasyon

As you approach it by helicopter, the island of Félicité barely looks inhabited. Its dramatic form punches out of the aquamarine Indian Ocean, a hilly mass of rocks and lush green forest fringed by white sand beaches. Only as you near the helipad on a small jetty at the northwest side do you notice the smattering of buildings tucked half-camouflaged into the trees. This is Six Senses Zil Pasyon, a tropical private island idyll in the Seychelles that has caught the imagination of well-heeled travellers since launching in late 2016. It would be hard to spend any time in such a paradise and not de-stress, which makes it the perfect location for a hotel devoted to wellness. The centrepiece of this effort is the spa, a 1,765 square-metre area comprising five…

Six Senses Zil Pasyon

+ Isn’t it time you tried… An ‘urban onsen’ in Japan?

Normally, in order to visit an onsen – which is to say a Japanese hot spring bath – you’ll have to hop on a bullet train to a dedicated (and rather touristy) “hot spring town”. But it’s not the only option: in Yokohama, for instance – a short 30-minute bullet shot from Tokyo – Manyo Club trucks in 120,000 litres of natural spring water each day to create an urban onsen on the fifth floor. Not only does this provide a good view of Yokohama Bay, but also allows you to be outside and nude at 65 feet (there is an open-air area and onsens, divided by gender, require you to be nude at all times). Feel free to soak the stress away at any time of day (it’s open…

+ Isn’t it time you tried… An ‘urban onsen’ in Japan?

Bodyism at Macakizi

Want to work out like the new cast of Star Wars? Maybe in an outdoor studio by the ocean? With their ruthlessly effective personal training and high-luxe locations, it’s no wonder the likes of John Boyega blaze a trail to Bodyism. If you’re interested in a full-body reset with a kick of sunshine, you’d do well to consider their new retreats in Kate Moss’ favourite Bodrum hotel, Macakizi. Entirely bespoke, each retreat begins with a full-body analysis, encompassing sleep patterns, nutritional deficits and hormone imbalances. This information feeds into a programme based on functional strength and interval work, balanced with yoga and massage. Each session builds to the next so your body is efficiently and completely worked – a wonderful excuse to spend the rest of your time idling among the…

Bodyism at Macakizi

This month we focus on building larger shoulders and developing a stronger core. The former is important for a fit physical appearance, so performing several suitable exercises twice a week, including the barbell push press, is a must. A stronger core is also a fitness fundamental and I’ve designed a workout to take your training to another level, including one of my favourite exercises: the dumbbell roll out. Exercise 1 Dumbbell roll out 10 Perform 10 reps x 4 sets Method 1. Get into a comfortable kneeling position on an exercise mat. 2. Keeping your arms shoulder-width apart and your shoulders directly over the dumbbells, grab each with an overhand grip. 3. Keep your knees in a fixed position and roll the dumbbells in front of you, fully extending your arms. 4. Keeping your core engaged for…

Chateau La Coste

You’d be forgiven for thinking that this wine-making estate deep in the heart of the Luberon (but only 40 minutes from Marseilles) is a place to come and imbibe, while enjoying the one-of-a-kind cuisine of South American sensation Francis Mallmann (his only European outpost is here) and surveying the owner’s museum-quality art and the various installations that inform its rolling landscape. And you’d be right, but you’d also have missed out on an important addition: a state-of-the-art spa that goes deep into the area’s bounty of rehabilitative flora. The Villa, where suites are spun off a traditional French cobbled street, is modernist in style yet keeps the village feel with private outdoor spaces and homely interiors. Holistic is an often overused word, but if any property can claim to feed…

Chateau La Coste

Whisper it, but wellness retreats have a habit of seeming more like work than a welcome respite from the daily grind. First of all, there’s the pre-arrival questionnaire, a document that can make the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement look like a mission statement. Then there’s the further deposition on arrival, followed by that well-known faulty memory game: owning up to your food cravings in front of an overbearing nutritionist. And we all like an itinerary but, seriously, who wants to rush back from predawn yoga to quick-change like a burlesque dancer in readiness for a slew of poorly scheduled treatments that leave you just enough time in between to dawdle aimlessly in a draughty reception area dressed in nothing but a fluffy robe and horrible disposable slippers? We’ll take the bed…

+ Our pick of the packs

Wallet by Bellroy This travel wallet has space for your passport and tickets and is also RFID protected so your cards can’t be skimmed. Backpack by Bellroy x Maap With its weather resistance, large capacity and smart design, this is the only bag you’ll need. Suitcase by Eastpak Designed for long-haul travel without the hard-shell restrictions, this smooth-wheel drive Tranverz suitcase is good for 120 litres of luggage.…

+ Our pick of the packs

The Azura cruise

There was a time when a cruise meant nothing but Titanic-levels of excess: too much to eat, too much to drink and, in truth, very little to do. Now, however, there are plenty of opportunities to live your best life on both land and sea… A round of exercise Forget the onboard gym. Instead, play a round of golf at Cedar Valley, Antigua (cvgolfantigua.com). The 6,157-yard, 18-hole championship course is long enough to test your driving skills and give you a workout at the same time. Saltwater wellness Get in touch with subaquatic nature and try snorkeling off the coast of St Vincent (indigodive.com). Swim among the fish in the neon-coloured coral reef before returning to the volcanic island for some fried jackfish. Let tension sail away For the ultimate onboard self-care, visit the Azura’s Oasis Spa…

The Azura cruise

+ Isn’t it time you tried… Watsu?

What’s u? No, watsu. It is a modern hydrotherapeutic practice that combines elements of muscle stretching, joint mobilisation, massage and shiatsu. What does it do? Carried out in a private pool, heated to an optimum temperature to enable deep relaxation and a journey through movement, watsu frees the body in ways impossible on land. The effect of the water creates a dynamic treatment perfect for improving posture alignment, fitness recovery, joint and spinal recovery and energy flow and rebalancing.…

+ Isn’t it time you tried… Watsu?

Lanserhof Tegernsee

“Good morning… has anyone explained the chew training yet?” It’s a strange question, especially when confronted with a breakfast that consists of a small bowl of sheep’s milk yogurt and some dry buckwheat toast. Chew training? “At every meal, you must eat slowly and chew each small mouthful between 30 and 40 times. There is no drinking during the meal and no drinking for 30 minutes before or after eating. These are the rules. Now… enjoy.” Have you ever enjoyed plain yogurt, sheep’s or otherwise? Of course you haven’t. And let me tell you, masticating it doesn’t improve the experience. Eating isn’t quite cheating, but trying to take pleasure from food here is to miss this point. Welcome to Lanserhof Tegernsee, the wellness retreat/medi-sanctuary/detox destination/FX Mayr monastery where the wealthy and the world-weary…

Lanserhof Tegernsee

ESPA Life at The Corinthia

Today’s wellness landscape is packed full of methods for improving both your physical and mental wellbeing. You can indulge in a yoga retreat to quieten the mind, drink a glass of freshly prepared celery juice each morning to stimulate a new you or boost your immune system with a cocktail of vitamins via an IV drip. Sounds time consuming doesn’t it? For a practice supposed to promote the art of peace and tranquility it can seem overwhelming. If you, (like the majority of us) need a helping hand in switching off and tuning into your inner-self, look to The Corinthia Hotel London to point you in the right direction. Besides offering some of the finest suites in London, The Corinthia is also home to ESPA Life – a next-generation spa set…

ESPA Life at The Corinthia

The ultimate holdall

You might not be quite ready to dive head first into spring, but brightening up your accessories is the gateway to a sunnier wardrobe. Crafted from Togo calfskin with shades of violet and midnight blue hand-applied during the tanning process and standing a heroic height of 50cm – the Cosmos bag by Hermès is a force to be reckoned with. Much like the promise of a magician’s top hat, this bag has room to carry everything but the kitchen sink (needless to say we can’t rule that out completely). Originally designed for carrying equestrian equipment this generously proportioned bag has now evolved into the globetrotter’s perfect companion. So last-minute packers rejoice. You’ll never have to leave anything at home again.…

The ultimate holdall

Jonathan Heaf Is… Out to Brunch

Shall we just eat in the staff canteen? Otherwise we have to do the walk of shame over to Soho House and there might be paparazzi…” It’s just gone 10am and I’m meeting Susanna Reid at the ITV studios in White City, West London. Rather than lavishly indulge in eggs Florentine, for me, or buckwheat granola, perhaps, for her (Reid is a vegetarian, something her Good Morning Britain cohost Piers “Meat Feast” Morgan never lets her forget), we queue up at the studio café and order what has to be one of the driest breakfasts I have ever eaten. This isn’t a complaint so much as an observation. Reid and I order the same three items, all of which get shovelled onto a paper plate with a side of French’s…

Jonathan Heaf Is… Out to Brunch

From Tudor palaces to soaring glass skyscrapers, London’s spectacular range of architecture is a physical reminder of its long history. With such an extraordinary array of buildings throughout the capital, the hunt for a new property can be an opportunity to fin a unique place to call home, with a backstory that will intrigue all who visit. Take, for example, a Georgian townhouse in Bermondsey, one of an identical pair. Completed in 1732, this listed dwelling is one of the oldest 18th-century properties on London’s South Bank, and was an inspiration to Charles Dickens. The author had lodgings close to this property on Long Lane, and his novel Hard Times was based on a former occupant, a mill owner named Josiah Fogden, the model for the money-minded industrialist Josiah Bounderby. Formerly…

Back to the Future

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Islington was considered a tranquil retreat for holidaymakers seeking respite from the mad flurry of life in central London. There were green fields, fine manors, a wine merchant and a spa resort, based around monastic springs on a former priory opposite Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Roll forward several centuries… and, on a site tucked behind the 21st-century café culture of Upper Street, you find Islington Square. Developed by Cain International and Sager Group, in association with Galliard Homes, this new destination of 263 homes, serviced apartments, retail outlets, restaurants and leisure facilities taps into the historic association with wellbeing, matching contemporary design with debonair charm. Until 2015, the site was the North London Royal Mail sorting office. A trio of impressive buildings, with a spacious reception…

Back to the Future

A Tale of Insta-appeal

Spring, the season of renewal, is traditionally a time when new homes are sought and the market blooms with a flowering of properties available for sale or to be let. For activity, opportunities, a forward-thinking attitude and evidence of growth even in the challenging environment of 2019, look no further than Russell Simpson. The independent, family-run agency is celebrating 40 years in prime central London with the opening of a second office to meet the demands of its flourishing sales and lettings departments. For decades, Russell Simpson has sold and let some of the most prestigious properties in Chelsea – exceptional period mansions to luxury new-build apartments – from an office based in a terraced house just off the King’s Road. Not having a shop-front emphasised discretion and considered service (the…

A Tale of Insta-appeal

The World is your Shop Window

The choices involved in buying a holiday home are a combination of personal preferences – of location, style of property, climate and proximity to lifestyle passions. When it comes to selling your much-loved second home, the question arises: how many like-minded buyers are out there? How do you find someone else who will appreciate your Tuscany farmhouse with artist’s studio, your beachfront villa in Antigua, your Provencal retreat close to prime golf courses, or your luxury condo in Phuket? Frustrated owners of refurbished châteaux and off-the beaten-track idylls across France, Italy and Spain will confirm that homes can languish for years with local agents, who traditionally target the UK market. “To find a buyer, you need to cast your net globally and reach out to overseas buyers from the United States,…

The World is your Shop Window

Opportunities Galore

There is attention to detail, and then there is forensic perfectionism in road-testing a property to ensure it meets exceptional “turn-key” standards. In preparation for tenants moving into a large house in Belgravia, Mark Tunstall recently spent nine days systematically checking every aspect of every amenity from shower thermostats to wash-basin pop-ups. “Luxury properties can have very complex heating, air-conditioning and security systems,” he says. “It is important we have a thorough understanding of all the details to help people move in without a hitch.” With expectations of quality higher than ever, it is no wonder that people flock to London’s Mr Super Prime for the management or rental of super-luxurious apartments and houses in the capital’s most exclusive postcodes. In 2018, he was involved in almost half of all deals…

Opportunities Galore

HIGH-CLASS HERITAGE Princess Grace of Monaco and Winston Churchill were among the many glittering guests who visited Cherry Hill, a 1930s modernist masterpiece on the Wentworth Estate in Surrey. Once the country home of the US ambassador John Hay Whitney, the listed building is set on four acres and occupies a private setting close to the excellent golf course. The interiors have been exquisitely updated to make this rare architectural jewel as outstanding today as when it was rst built. £30 million. For more information, visit www.modernistmasterpiece.com IN THE KNOW Based in Mayfair, DS Churchill property consultancy specialises in sourcing, selling and letting London’s nest homes. Established over 13 years ago by Dominic Spencer-Churchill, the company’s network of industry contacts enables it to nd off-market opportunities, helping clients make their next move, whether…

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