Good Bad Grand Ragaz
“If the unwritten sign was wrought reality, it would state: ‘Overweight passengers may cause delays’…” Douglas Blyde takes off to a restorative clinic in Switzerland for a health check…
Author Douglas Blyde
Le Castille, Paris
‘Please don’t say I work hard. Nobody is forced to do this job and if they don’t like it, they should do another one.’ These words are not the bossy but ultimately modest utterance of your correspondent, but those of Karl Lagerfeld…
Stars Under Stars at Jumeirah
“Pleasure knows many boundaries. Dubai, a food desert, where water, ingredients and workforce are shipped in, and septic tanks pumped far out, has something of the pyramids about it.”
Four Seasons Langkawi
“Langkawi is prone to sudden and arresting tantrums; riveting downpours and urgent winds alarm palms, ripple private plunge pools and foam the Andaman’s emerald waves on the cusp of the rainy season.”
Camélia, Paris
Camélia, the restaurant at France’s first Mandarin Oriental in Paris, is a cocoon from the commerce and costly shine alongside the hotel’s Saint-Honoré entrance. Douglas enjoys a memorable birthday lunch.
Punch & Suttie: The Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Fringe offers rich pickings for printers. One chap, clad beak to braces in gaudy plumes, touted ‘underground rebel bingo’ complete with giveaways of glitter balls, tents and sleeping bag suits. Douglas Blyde investigates…
noma, Denmark
Rather than fairy tales, Hamlet’s castle, Viking saga and Technicolor LEGO, Douglas Blyde opts for the purity and persistence of Denmark’s cuisine, jolted by the tongue by René Redzepi at noma…
The Grazing Goat, London
Checking into Marylebone’s The Grazing Goat, I find myself recalling the words of Ingvar Kamprad,…
Afternoon Tea at The Mandeville
Unabashed modern chaps Douglas Blyde and Jonesy indulge in the Mandeville Hotel’s Afternoon Tea for Men. Steak sandwiches, chicken satays, ‘masculine’ teacups…and whisky on standby for emergency machismo.
Bocca di Lupo
Dark Knight of the Gluttonous Table, Douglas Blyde, unsheathes his rapier tongue and ventures into the badlands of Soho to chomp and imbibe in the environs of Bocca di Lupo. No plate is left unturned, no ice cream left unlicked.
Spuntino
First Polpo, then Polpetto, and now he’s done it again. Russell Norman and his recipe for success have taken the London restaurant scene by storm. Douglas Blyde ventures forth into the latest venture, Spuntino in Soho.
The So Spa at Sofitel St James
A Martini and a manicure, a pint and a pedicure, and a Mexican asking if you want it soft, medium or firm? Douglas Blyde finds himself at the So Spa in St. James, confronting his metrosexuality in the former Bank of Nigeria.