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briefings . global new openings Service with a smile edited by: Josh Fehnert French Truck Coffee louisiana The coffee scene has perked up in OPEN Louisiana of late thanks to openings such as Lighthouse Coffee in Baton Rouge and Lafayette’s Rêve Coffee. But New Orleans’ French SEASON Truck Coffee remains the gold standard. Housed in two narrow, Wondering where to eat this summer? bright-yellow houses on Dryades Here we explore an impressive band of Street, the company launched as a wholesale distributor in 2012 before global openings and meet the roving demand forced owner Geoffrey restaurateurs behind them, including the Meeker to go into retail. Now with five shops across Louisiana and Sydney cyclist peddling pies from the Tennessee, Meeker is drawing back of his bicycle and the Umbrian coffee fanatics from both states. chef heading up a new venture from an Last autumn French Truck Coffee became the first Specialty Coffee Italian deli in London’s Soho. Association of America-certified barista-training campus in the region. Meeker’s impact goes beyond serving expertly brewed coffee, however. The secret, he says, is good old-fashioned southern hospitality. “A barista needs to be friendly. If you haven’t got a welcoming person up front, the rest doesn’t matter.” — asc frenchtruckcoffee.com Pie-eating grin Broomfields PieCycle sydney Ryan Broomfield (pictured) sells pies from That’s amari his PieCycle, a vehicle Marcello inspired, he says, “by the singapore Flying Pieman William Francis King, who sold Head bartender Palmira Bertuca pies to Parramatta steamer oversees this intimate 50-seat passengers in the 1850s”. Singapore bar that’s said to house Broomfield, who hails Southeast Asia’s largest trove of from UK pie-making amari: thick herbal Italian liqueurs Rocking the house royalty (his brother that are usually consumed as an Neil founded the Great Casa Moro North Pie Co), launched aperitif or digestivo. Let Bertuca london talk you through the flavours of Broomfields last year and now sells his circular fare modern amari – which include Sam and Samantha Clark, née ingredients such as cardamom, in some of Sydney’s best Clarke (both pictured), were food markets, including rhubarb and truffle – as you pick introduced because of their near- from Marcello’s list of Italian the one in the Rocks. identical names but were brought Each all-butter pastry pie cocktails. They include the gin- together by a shared passion for food. based smoked black-olive Negroni is made by Broomfield The Clarks founded Mediterranean in Balgowlah Heights in and the blockbuster Cinema joint Moro, followed by tapas bar Paradiso, which comes garnished Northern Beaches. “The Morito. Now they’ve launched key is working with other with a dainty cone of popcorn. catering business Casa Moro Head over for Aperitivo Hour, small businesses and alongside a private dining-room promoting their produce,” which lasts from 19.00 to 21.00 space in Hackney Wick. “The type every weekday, to munch dried says Broomfield. Classics of food we cook at Moro and Morito include a dark ale dates stuffed with tangy gorgonzola suits outside catering events, whether and spicy salami, and fried risotto iteration: local beef is it’s a party with delicious mezze or braised for 20 hours in a balls filled with mushrooms and Lauryn Ishak Rush Jagoe, : a more formal occasion,” says Sam, truffle oil. The snacks are almost sauce of ale, blackberry whose team has catered big and jam and toasted pearl as tasty as New York design firm small events, including Frieze Art AvroKO’s handsome fit-out. — zz barley. — csm Fair, for many years. — mss broomfields-pies.com publico.sg moro.co.uk photographers 174 175 the monocle drinking & dining directory the monocle drinking & dining directory briefings . global Making a mezze (1) Welcome to Palace (2) Wild Swedish garlic soup (3) Hans Välimäki on Palace’s balcony Francis (4) Laying the table (5) Bottle of Macallan hong kong (6) Palace kitchen (7) Palace exterior (8) Note Design Studio’s fit-out With high rent and initial start-up costs, Hong Kong’s restaurant scene is cutthroat and not particularly forgiving to newcomers. Francis, however, stands out. Just a few poached eggs served with a soup made steps from monocle’s bureau in Wan Chai, this 30-seat Middle Eastern restaurant has from wild Swedish garlic, with a side of amassed a faithful crowd since opening in pickled onions and sour cream. The main early 2018. The reason for its fast-found course, meanwhile, is cod glazed with success – despite the competitive market – is chicken fat that’s served with fresh Italian not just its signature mezze, which includes artichokes and poached lobster with lamb-neck ragu and a simple-but-sterling hummus, but also its service. lemon and dill. “We take care of business ourselves,” says Välimäki does not hide the fact that James Ward, who founded Francis alongside Palace is aiming for top clients paying top Italian sommelier Simone Sammuri and Israeli krone. The goal is to take Palace back to chef Asher Goldstein. The trio can be found its roots: the flag-bearer of Finnish fine here day and night, Tuesday to Sunday. — kl francis.com.hk dining. “Reopening such a classic, it’s the only way to go,” he says. 4 To pay homage to the restaurant’s heritage, Välimäki enlisted the help of Sweden’s Note Design Studio. Dreamt up by interior architect My Degerth, Palace’s interior oozes warmth thanks to its muted palette combined with mid-century modern furniture. “We wanted to create 1 an atmosphere that honours and high- Royal treatment lights what Palace was in its glory days Palace but also transports it to the world as it is helsinki today,” says Degerth. “Palace is an icon and its architecture should be highlighted, Palace’s reopening in late 2017 was fer- not hidden.” — pb vently anticipated – and left the venue palacerestaurant.fi with a lot to live up to. It originally 5 6 opened in 1952 and quickly became the stomping ground for Finnish high society, as well as being one of the few Finnish restaurants being talked about abroad. The iconic space closed in 2016 and its Alvar Aalto-designed interiors were auc- tioned off. Hans Välimäki, however, saw 2 an opportunity. The Helsinki restaurant scene had become overrun by casual New Nordic fare. As Välimäki – the founder of Chez Dominique, Finland’s first and only two- Michelin-star restaurant – saw it, the time was ripe for a return to fine dining. “Palace focuses on finding the best sea- sonal ingredients, which are not always local in a country that is frozen in the winter”, says Välimäki, Palace’s chef de cuisine. The food here is unmistakably Finnish but with plenty of international flavour. Välimäki has no plans to serve insects, though, and you won’t find him foraging for wild herbs any time soon. Juho Kuva He once proclaimed that he’s a chef, “not : a horticulturalist”. In the kitchen, however, head chef Eero Vottonen puts together perfectly photographer 3 7 176 8 the monocle drinking & dining directory briefings . global Mix and match Welcome addition retailers Whitegrass Messer Fitzroy singapore melbourne PITCH Australian chef-owner Sam Aisbett “The idea was to create somewhere (pictured) used the experience he that everyone felt welcome,” says gained working at Sydney restaurants Ashley Davis (pictured), who along Quay and Tetsuya to assemble with wife Janine recently opened PERFECT the menu at Whitegrass. Aussie Messer, a 50-seat restaurant ingredients such as muntries (a type in Melbourne’s inner-north. Defined by a strong sales pitch and a of cranberry), desert lime and fennel Situated on the ground floor of passion for stocking pantries, these are pollen from the Blue Mountains a newly constructed apartment are skillfully combined with Asian block, Messer and its food draws the retailers we recommend visiting in produce and Japanese techniques to heavily on the couple’s travels in 2018. Of course, once your larder is create a delectable array of flavours. Europe. At lunchtime waiters glide Said flavours are perfectly through the understated dining loaded you’ll need some cutting-edge encapsulated in the smoked- room carrying pork-hock rolls, kitchenware with which to prepare your Chowing down eel salad with rosella jam and cauliflower salads and cottage pies. new produce. Expect wares from Queen Chow Manly Australian mountain pepper, as Dinner, which includes wood-fired sydney well as Aisbett’s charcoal-roasted flammkuchen, is equally impressive Japan to the US. Scottish beef patted in 20-year aged and showcases the skills that Ashley From their fine diner Mr Wong Japanese soya and served with black picked up on his travels. to the easier-going Queen salsify, wasabi leaf and fermented Prior to starting Messer, Ashley Chow, the Merivale Group mushrooms. The menu, which cooked in some of London’s most turns out some of Sydney’s ranges from two to eight courses, prestigious kitchens, such as that of Small wonder best Cantonese food. Alongside is complemented by this 70-seat Hélène Darroze. “I have an eye for dumpling dab hand Eric Koh, restaurant’s 19th-century neo- detail,” he says. “At the same time The General Store executive chef Patrick Friesen classical setting and playful interior, though, I want Messer to be relaxed cape town recently converted Merivale’s which comes courtesy of design and inviting.”— ac popular waterside diner Papi firm Takenouchi Webb. — zz messerfitzroy.com Tucked between soaring buildings Chulo in Manly into a second whitegrass.com.sg on Cape Town’s bustling lower outpost of its dim-sum spot Bree Street, this tiny timber-clad Queen Chow.

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