George Epaminondas

How dolce can vita get? For me the answer is simple: aperitivo.

Eating out in Las Vegas can be a crapshoot – lucky at poker, unlucky at poke, you might say – but I’ve never had a bad meal at Momofuku.

Even with the roar of the lunch crowd at Cañete in Barcelona, with diners packed in like Ortiz sardines, the lyric was unmistakable: “Hit me baby one more time”. 

Ah, phooey – there goes Koh Samui. Unless you’ve been living under a rock in Siberia, you’d know that The White Lotus is lighting up TV screens once more. And that, after descending on Hawaii and Sicily, the latest instalment unspools in Thailand against a backdrop of swaying palms, shimmering temples and jabbering monkeys. Now, we’re told, everyone is clamouring to visit Koh Samui, Phuket and this neck of the jungle. So, am I packing my bags for Thailand? In a word, no.

A longtime local, photographer Greg Broom knows New York like the back of his hand.

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, this writer realised less is not only more, but that the pared back travel list is the way of the future.

The light-filled, jade-hued restaurant was bustling at lunch. Kitted out with crystal glassware, vintage silverware and damask tablecloths, it made for a mood that was swish but swell. Servers flitted from table to table, topping up glasses with French fizz, elaborating on the pan-Asian menu and bantering with guests.