NetJets EU Summer 2025

THE QUARTER SHARE

- A n IsI

land Sanc t u ary like no oth e r

cd: ROBB AARON GORDON

LOVELANAI.COM

Urs Fischer, The Breach, 2017

© Urs Fischer. Courtesy of the artist

THE NETJETS—THE QUARTER SHARE QUARTER BY NETJETS SHARE

8

The summer season is the busiest

time of year for our European operations,

and we know it is often busy for many

of you. School is out and the travel

season is here.

Our stories this quarter take us around the world – highlighting

the power of volcanoes, wood-fired cooking and the hot spots

of Mexico City – all with one common theme: heat. While we

explore heat in all its forms, you can expect the same energy

from our teams delivering exceptional experiences rooted in

safety and service.

As you embrace the summer heat and the adventure it brings,

we look forward to serving you as your trusted travel partner.

Only NetJets!

Contributors to this Issue

Adam Sachs

Exploring how top chefs the world

over are turning to the hearth is a hot

topic for the Brooklyn-based writer,

whose own kitchen includes a cooking

fireplace. In The Fellowship of Flames

(page 68), the triple James Beard Award

winner discovers what’s fuelling this

culinary trend.

David Lida

After 35 years of calling CDMX home, there

can be few better choices to pen Bite by

Bite in Mexico City (page 88) than the

Greenwich Village-born author, who also

provides speciality tours – and invaluable

insights – into the vibrant metropolis at

the height of its culinary game.

Adam Johnson

Chairman and CEO

Alberto Bernasconi

Splitting his time between Italy and

Switzerland, the photographer for Milan

Dresses Up (page 34) captures the design

capital – and some of its influential

characters – at a key moment, just as

the city heats up for co-hosting next

February’s Winter Olympic Games.

Bill Knott

Honing down Spices (page 78) to a

mere handful of examples is no easy

feat but, luckily, our London-based food

and drink writer has the experience

and global outlook to tell the stories

of a piquant few in informative and

appropriately potent prose.

8

Emma Ventura

Alchemy is a word that constantly came

up for The Quarter Share editor-at-large

while tracking the rise of handblown

glass for this issue. In What Glass

Knows (page 54), she discovers the

magic formula driving the superheated

demand: phenomenally gifted creators

meeting the cultural moment.

THE NETJETS—THE QUARTER SHARE QUARTER BY NETJETS SHARE

14

34

46

10

Porto Uncorked

The charismatic Atlantic hub pours on the sun,

seafood and serious wine credentials.

pages 14-26

Festival Fever

From Versailles to the Rockies, these epic

festivals are worth a detour this season.

pages 28-32

All Eyes on Milan

Now more alluring than ever, the Winter Olympics

host city warms up ahead of the 2026 games.

pages 34-44

Boiling Points

Ten volcanic destinations with front-row seats

to nature’s most explosive drama.

pages 46-53

Clear Winners

Global talents are breathing life into the ancient

art of glassmaking, one molten form at a time.

pages 54-63

Golden Oasis

A gilded cache of jewellery melts into the whitehot

desert sand. But is it real, or just a mirage?

pages 64-67

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: VASCO CELIO, ALBERTO BERNASCONI, MARTIN SANCHEZ / UNSPLASH

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DAVID SVEHLA, NIKKI TO, © CANA

54

The Thrill of the Grill

Fire-obsessed chefs are shaking up the culinary

world with smoky flavours and a whole lot of soul.

pages 68-77

The Good Stuff

Piquant, powerful and shrouded in lore, these

common spices are more than just recipe notes.

pages 78-83

Sun Smart

The Mayo Clinic offers tips for beating the heat –

and explains its quiet toll on both body and mind.

pages 84-86

88

Next Mex

Vibrant, colourful and deliciously varied, Mexico

City’s heady food scene is bursting with flavour.

pages 88-97

Art of the Season

In Paris, a David Hockney retrospective traces

the iconic artist’s seven-decade career.

page 98

68

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE QUARTER SHARE BY NETJETS

On the Cover

Fiery ribbons of molten lava ripple outward from the

glowing heart of Iceland’s active Fagradalsfjall volcano.

Photograph by Benjamin Hardman

Editor in Chief

Thomas Midulla

Editor

Farhad Heydari

Creative Director

Anne Plamann

Photo Director

Martin Kreuzer

Writers, contributors,

photographers and Illustrators

Alberto Bernasconi, Ivan Carvalho,

Lina Ekstrand, Jörn Kaspuhl, Bill

Knott, David Lida, Jen Murphy,

Julian Rentzsch, Claire Wrathall,

Xavier Young

Published by JI Experience GmbH,

Thomas-Dehler-Straße 2,

81737 Munich, Germany

The Quarter Share by NetJets is

the official title for Owners of

NetJets in Europe.

The Quarter Share by NetJets

is published quarterly by

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of NetJets Inc.

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Art Director

Anja Eichinger

Managing Editor

Claudia Whiteus

Group Publisher

Christian Schwalbach

Michael Klotz (Associate)

Advertising Sales

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Editor at Large

Emma Ventura

Staff Writer

John McNamara

Chief Sub-Editor

Vicki Reeve

Editorial Assistant

Jamie Watkins

Production Director

Albert Keller

Separation

Delnaz Loftimaragh

Europe

Katherine Galligan

katherine@metropolist.co.uk

Vishal Raguvanshi

vishal@metropolist.co.uk

US

Jill Stone

jstone@bluegroupmedia.com

Eric Davis

edavis@bluegroupmedia.com

Rachel Hale

rhale@bluegroupmedia.com

Copyright © 2025

by JI Experience GmbH. All rights

reserved. Reproduction in whole or

in part without the express written

permission of the publisher is

strictly prohibited. The publisher,

NetJets Inc, and its subsidiaries

or affiliated companies assume

no responsibility for errors and

omissions and are not responsible

for unsolicited manuscripts,

photographs, or artwork. Views

expressed are not necessarily those

of the publisher or NetJets Inc.

Information is correct at time of

going to press.


Postcard from Porto

Portugal’s salt-washed second city is enjoying its time in the sun, balancing

saudade – that peculiarly Portuguese sense of nostalgia – with sleek new

rooms, offbeat boutiques and a brilliant blend of food and drink options

rooted in its historic wine industry. Ivan Carvalho reports

Seafood on the rocks at

the Michelin-starred

Casa de Chá da Boa Nova

14

DINING OUT

Michelin-starred establishments are not hard to come by in Porto. First on the

list for those with refined tastes is the restaurant run by chef Pedro Lemos.

Last year, his eponymous eatery (pedrolemos.net) was moved to a new location

in the seafront Foz do Douro neighbourhood, a minimalist-inspired space set

in a former warehouse with links to the city’s shipbuilding past. Reserve the

© CASA DE CHÁ DA BOA NOVA

egwu

BANQUIERS

SWISS PRIVATE BANKERS SINCE 1886

WWW.GUTZWILLER.CH


special eight-seat chef’s table to get a closeup

view of the action in the kitchen.

Moving uphill and closer to the city centre

just off Carlos Alberto Square, you’ll find the

recently inaugurated Matriarca from Symington

Family Estates (symington.com), a powerhouse

in the port and still-wine business. Over four

floors, patrons encounter a decor where touches

of Portuguese and English culture intermix –

look for the reclaimed wood taken from old

buildings in the family’s quintas in the wine

country. Choose between a formal sit-down

eatery, a glass at the wine bar, shopping for

bottles or a pit stop at the cocktail bar where

mixologists get creative, finding novel ways to

use the local fortified wines in recipes.

Not to be outdone, Quinta do Vallado

(quintadovallado.com), another leading estate

in the Douro, is unveiling its own space this

summer, complete with restaurant, bar, tasting

room and store in the lively Ribeira district.

Inside this historic 18th-century building, the

dining area will be overseen by the promising

Portuguese chef David Jesus. Nearby, there’s

an elevated back-to-basics approach at

Elemento (elementoporto.com), where Ricardo

Dias Ferreira cooks exclusively over wood with

an open fire, seducing palates with Portuguese

cuisine infused with smoky flavours and modern

touches. On the opposite side of the river,

lovers of raw fish can find an elegant getaway

Chef Pedro Lencastre Monteiro

and team prepare British-Portuguese

fusion fare at Matriarca

16

FROM LEFT: MARTIN MORRELL, ANA BRIGIDA

HEAT ISSUE—2025

Oven-baked rice with goat

and giblets, a favourite at the

homey Almeja restaurant

17


At Ricardo Dias Ferreira’s

Elemento, every ingredient meets

the flame before the plate

18

inside Enoteca 17•56 (enoteca1756.pt), which

has recently developed a new sushi concept:

a restaurant within a restaurant where guests

can sit at the counter and nibble on the latest

catches prepared under the supervision of

chef Hayron Rocha.

Of course, few would dare leave Porto without

venturing to Matosinhos, the city’s northern

suburb and home to hundreds of seafood spots.

The standout here is, of course, Restaurante

O Gaveto (restaurante.ogaveto.com) on Rua

Roberto Ivens, with its retro-chic woodpanelled

interiors and special upstairs dining

room where lovers of champagne are welcome

(given the venue is a Krug Ambassador), and

where you might spot leading producers such

as Dirk Niepoort sampling one of the latest

still wines that he has crafted from vineyards

in his estates, which span from the Douro to

Bairrada. For an intimate experience, check out

the Niepoort cellars (niepoort.pt) in Vila Nova

de Gaia, but be sure to book ahead – space is

limited to only 24 people per day.

Lastly, there are a trio of culinary gems, each

offering a unique take on Portuguese cuisine

that shouldn’t be missed: Almeja (almejaporto.

com), where João Cura works wonders in his

cosy space near the famed Bolhão market;

Fava Tonka (favatonka.pt), with an inspired

vegetarian menu from Nuno Castro; and the

two-Michelin-starred Casa de Chá da Boa

Nova (casadechadaboanova.pt) run by veteran

chef Rui Paula, who has the enviable position

of working at a gorgeous seaside location on

the city’s northern fringes in a 1960s building

designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect

Álvaro Siza Vieira.

© ELEMENTO


CHECKING IN

New hospitality ventures are popping up around the city, most notably on the south bank

of the Douro. Down the hill from the well-known Yeatman hotel is a new contender: the

Tivoli Kopke Porto Gaia Hotel (tivolihotels.com), a sprawling complex cascading down the

hillside over seven floors and boasting scenic views and a lovely spa. Be sure to indulge in

the aged ports concocted by the Kopke vintners on a tour of the cellars. Along the river is

The Rebello (therebello.com), a sleek boutique hotel with loft-style rooms occupying what

was once a factory for kitchen utensils.

Staying southside, self-contained options include spacious one- and two-bedroom flats

at the brand-new Gran Cruz Apartments (grancruzapartments.pt) from port wine brand

Porto Cruz, owner of the Gran Cruz House boutique hotel. In downtown Porto, a quiet

sanctuary may be found at the Palacete Severo (palacetesevero.com), a majestic early-

20th-century manor house with stucco ceilings and stone balconies. The 17-guestroom

property features heated floors, a pool and a gourmet restaurant, Éon, where chef Tiago

Bonito offers an extensive tasting menu.

The rooftop bar at Tivoli Kopke

Porto Gaia Hotel affords peerless

views of the terracotta-roofed

Ribeira neighbourhood

20

VASCO CELIO

harmonizes with the stunning landscape, and let our


Lunch under the

vines at Six Senses

Douro Valley

Bold Douro reds

age in Menin’s

warmly lit cellar

GRAPE ESCAPES

22

Given its proximity to Portugal’s most famous wine appellation, the

Unesco-listed Douro Valley, travellers are encouraged to split time

between Porto and the countryside. Luxurious digs await at Six Senses

Douro Valley (sixsenses.com), easily the country’s most lavish offering

for putting one’s head down at night. The top-tier spa specialises in

sleep and skin therapies, and the hotel is preparing to upgrade its

gastronomic offering this year with a new greenhouse-style eatery

that stresses farm-to-table cooking with locally sourced ingredients

(expect to see it garner a green Michelin star soon).

Just up the Douro River on the opposite bank is newcomer Torel

Quinta da Vacaria (torelquintadavacaria.com). Tasteful interiors are

the work of respected architect Joana Astolfi, who uses local schist

stone, together with Corten steel and wood, to create a charming

yet decidedly modern retreat. This spring, the hotel celebrated the

debut of chef Vítor Matos’s Schistó restaurant, decorated in a muted

FROM LEFT: JOHN ATHIMARITIS, © MENIN DOURO ESTATES

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shade of green. The intimate space offers seven tables for couples,

who can admire the open kitchen concept as staff work diligently to

prepare dishes, including a sophisticated interpretation of leitão, a

Portuguese roast suckling pig recipe, and pour wines from the estate.

Heading further east, an excellent stop for a memorable wine

tasting is Menin Douro Estates (menindouroestates.wine), a fresh

arrival among the appellation’s collection of producers. Founded by

Brazilian entrepreneur Rubens Menin, who has interests in banking

and broadcasting, the new winery complex is integrated into the

panoramic hillside and greets visitors with a stunning modern

sculpture in corten steel and a historic chapel dating to the 1700s.

Poolside at the

33-key Torel

Quinta da Vacaria

24

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RETAIL THERAPY

Porto continues to surprise shoppers with a bevy of local brands focusing

on quality products made in Portugal. At its flagship store in Rua das Flores,

Claus Porto (clausporto.com) entices with its line of hand-packaged soaps

and contemporary fragrances. Equally appealing, each season menswear

label Portuguese Flannel (portugueseflannel.com), located on Largo Alberto

Pimentel, delivers a rich assortment of locally produced patterns in soft

cotton, wool and linens for its shirting (with its unisex styles, many women

now buy instead of stealing from their partner’s wardrobe).

For a fresh take on homewares, Burel Factory (burelfactory.com) specialises

in a traditional Portuguese fabric (burel) made on old-fashioned looms using

wool sourced from sheep raised in the mountains of Portugal’s Serra da Estrela.

Browse for comfy blankets and throws ideal for chilly nights. Round out the

comfort factor by stocking up at Chocolataria Equador (cacaoequador.pt),

a bean-to-bar producer of quality chocolate in eye-catching packaging and

with a string of shops in town. Pair its treats with a glass of tawny port and

you may begin to understand why Porto residents lead a charmed life.

Claus Porto’s fragrant

flagship, housed in a

19th-century townhouse

26

BRUNO BARBOSA


Press Play!

Synonymous with long, hedonistic, sun-drenched days, the season’s

best concerts, festivals and cultural events are vibrant celebrations that

showcase global talents and bring communities together. Here are some

to bookmark for 2025. By Claire Wrathall

28

W

hen Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke and

his wife, Elizabeth, founded the Aspen Music

Festival (through 24 August, aspenmusicfestival.

com) in 1949, they were rounding out their vision: to create,

in the Colorado ski resort, “a utopian community of the mind

and body where [people can] profit from healthy physical

recreation, with facilities at hand for the enjoyment of art.”

Like the Aspen Skiing Company, which operates the

Colorado ski resort’s winter-sports infrastructure, and the

Aspen Institute, the influential think-tank-cum-arts centre

– both also founded by the Paepckes – the music festival

has become a key part of the town’s cultural fabric, with the

Eero Saarinen-designed Michael Klein Music Tent a standout

venue among its three concert auditoriums. That there are

JULIAN RENTZSCH


starry soloists (Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Sol Gabetta, Sheku

Kanneh-Mason, Lang Lang…) is a given. What sets it apart,

however, is its attached music school, which draws 500

young artists, so alongside masterclasses and fundraising

dinners, you may hear virtuosos of the future.

Over towards the East Coast, the Boston Symphony

Orchestra decamps to its summer home in the Berkshires

for its annual Tanglewood season (through 24 August,

bso.org). Again, the line-up is stellar: the violinist Joshua

Bell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and

Lang Lang (again), and conductors of the calibre of Andris

Nelsons, Zubin Mehta and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Head inland towards the foothills of the Catskills,

where The Glimmerglass Festival (through 17 August,

glimmerglass.org) marks another eminent summer festival

– one noted for its world premieres and this time focusing

on opera and musical theatre. (This year’s specially

commissioned opera is an adaptation of Sandra Cisneros’s

global bestseller The House on Mango Street by the Grammynominated

composer Derek Bermel.)

For those more disposed to Verdi and Puccini, Santa Fe

Opera (through 23 August, santafeopera.org) caters to more

mainstream tastes. Now in its 68th season, this summer’s

five productions include an outstanding take on Benjamin

Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, a new production of Wagner’s

Die Walküre, and a revival of The Marriage of Figaro starring Liv

Redpath, a coloratura soprano very much in the ascendant.

Santa Fe may be one of the oldest US opera festivals, but

England’s Glyndebourne (through 24 August, glyndebourne.

com), the original country-house opera fest, is older still.

Lavishly staged in a purpose-built theatre in the grounds of

a stately home in bucolic Sussex, its productions are of the

highest standard. Yet it’s also quaintly eccentric. Performances

start in the afternoon and are usually over before dark, yet

formal evening dress is “customary”. And although there

are restaurants on site, it’s traditional to dine en plein air,

picnicking (you can order a hamper and reserve a table – ideally

by the lake or the ha-ha – at which to enjoy its contents) in its

five-hectare gardens during the 90-minute interval.

Among this season’s operas is a revival of Barrie Kosky’s

glorious production of Handel’s Saul, starring Iestyn Davies,

arguably the finest countertenor of his generation. You can

catch him again at the Edinburgh International Festival

(through 24 August, eif.co.uk) in Monteverdi’s Orpheus and

Eurydice, one of four operas it’s presenting, along with

theatre, dance, music (classical and contemporary) and

talks. Concurrent with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and

Edinburgh International Film Festival, the three combined

amount to the world’s largest arts gathering.

Now in its 82nd year, the Venice International Film Festival

(27 August to 6 September, labiennale.org) is older still. Held

on the Lido, it’s an unfailingly glamorous event, rivalled only

by Cannes in its ability to draw stars to its red carpet. (This

year’s jury is chaired by Alexander Payne, Academy Awardwinning

director of The Holdovers and Sideways.)

30

JULIAN RENTZSCH

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As the cinephiles flock to Venice, aesthetes will head for

Château de Versailles Spectacles (every Saturday through

20 September, chateauversailles-spectacles.fr), just outside

Paris, where the opulent setting is the real star. Each year,

the fabled French palace hosts a series of “Grandes Eaux

32

Nocturnes”, evening events featuring 55 dancing fountains,

programmed to complement music from the time of Louis

XIV: Cavalli, Charpentier, Gluck, Handel, Lully, Rameau et

al. On some evenings, there are fireworks, too, as well as

early-evening “Royal Serenades”, when the Hall of Mirrors is

filled with singers, dancers, musicians and fencers in 17th-

century costumes – a breathtaking show created to evoke

the palace at the height of its pomp.

There are also more conventional concerts in the

palace’s meticulously restored and once-again functioning

opera house, which first opened in 1770, privileged access

to which can also be organised by Le Grand Contrôle

(airelles.com), surely the grandest hotel in France, set in an

actual petit palais overlooking the Orangery parterre in the

palace gardens.

The visual art world mostly takes a break between Art

Basel, in June, and Frieze Seoul and New York’s Armory

Show, in September. Collectors and aficionados in need of a

fix before then should head to Japan for the sixth Setouchi

Triennale (through 31 August, setouchi-artfest.jp), a festival

of contemporary arts held across the 17 islands in Japan’s

Seto Inland Sea. The best known, Naoshima (benesse-artsite.

jp), is already a place of pilgrimage for art lovers, thanks to

its concentration of Tadao Ando-designed art museums – a

new one opened on 31 May – and Benesse House hotel.

And finally, Uzbekistan may sound like a left-field

destination, but a buzz has been building about the Bukhara

Biennial (5 September to 20 November, bukharabiennial.uz),

the inaugural edition of which takes place this autumn.

Directed by Diana Campbell, the esteemed Princetoneducated

creative force behind the Dhaka Art Summit, it’s

slated to feature a host of international blue-chip artists,

among them Antony Gormley, Subodh Gupta, Carsten Höller,

Eva Jospin, Wael Shawky and Tavares Strachan. And don’t

worry about the destination. The US State Department’s

Travel Advisory reckons Uzbekistan is safer (Level 1) than

France, Italy or the UK (all Level 2).

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34

Step Inside

The gracefully arched

entrance of Galleria

Vittorio Emanuele II,

a boutique- and cafefilled

arcade lovingly

referred to as “Milan’s

living room”

BRYAN BRITTOS / UNSPLASH

Milan

Dresses

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

Up

Ever a style icon, the Lombard capital is looking

chicer by the day, as a bold new energy –

and pre-Olympics excitement – brings repurposed

industrial spaces, idiosyncratic trattorias,

and buzzy hotel dining to the city

By Ivan Carvalho

Photography by Alberto Bernasconi

35


A

decade ago, all eyes were on Milan as the city prepared to

welcome a global audience to Expo 2015, an elaborate world’s

fair dedicated to issues surrounding food sustainability. At

the inaugural ceremony, Giuseppe Sala, who was appointed

by the Italian government to oversee the ambitious project,

declared that the event would be a massive catalyst for the

Lombard capital. How right he was.

Ten years on, and Sala, who is now serving his second term

as Milan’s mayor, is presiding over preparations for yet another

image-boosting spectacle: the 2026 Winter Olympics, which

the city is set to co-host in February. In between these two

high-profile fixtures, Milan has kept busy with investments

in culture and urban-regeneration projects, allowing Italy’s

second city to step into the spotlight usually reserved for

Rome and Florence. Nowadays, more and more travellers are

being drawn to its rich offering of food, fashion and furniture.

What’s more, in the wake of Brexit, Italy’s financial capital has

attracted affluent foreigners looking to put down roots since

In Her Element

Leading Milan gallerist Nina Yashar at her

treasure-filled Nilufar Depot (also right)

36

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

“All of a sudden, we had new hubs sprouting up around

the city beyond the well-known shopping

district in downtown, where most visitors congregated.

There was an exciting dynamic in the air”

37


“People are rediscovering their roots. Yes, we’ve

had our mezcal moment, but locals are now interested

in things from their own backyard”

38

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

the United Kingdom officially ended its tax breaks for foreign

residents. For well-to-do types, Milan is a thriving business

centre in close proximity to superb skiing, country villas and

scenic Lake Como.

One who has seen these changes firsthand is longtime

resident Nina Yashar, founder of Nilufar (nilufar.com), a

leading design gallery. Opened in 1979 on the boutiquefilled

Via della Spiga, her venue has long been a destination

for those with discerning taste, offering vintage furnishings

from the great Italian masters such as Gio Ponti and

Franco Albini as well as one-off pieces from sought-after

contemporary talents. More recently, Yashar has invested

in her own range of Italian-made furniture and lighting,

the Nilufar Edition, a collection that sees her working with

a range of Italian and international creatives. Yashar points

to Expo 2015 as the spark that helped launch Milan’s recent

renaissance. “All of a sudden, we had new hubs sprouting

up around the city beyond the well-known shopping district

in downtown, where most visitors congregated,” she recalls.

“There was an exciting dynamic in the air.”

It was in 2015 that Yashar herself celebrated this

newfound spirit by inaugurating a second location to show

Curated Chaos

Counterside at the

curio-filled ByIT, a Brera

bar with a smooth jazz

soundtrack and highconcept

cocktail menu

Facing page:

The Tastemaker

Renowned mixologist and

F&B director Guglielmo

Miriello at Milan’s

Mandarin Oriental hotel

off her design wares: Nilufar Depot. A cavernous space

located in a former silverware factory, with a reimagined

interior inspired by the Teatro alla Scala, it is popular during

Salone del Mobile, the annual April furniture fair showcasing

the work of the world’s most talented brands – many familyrun

and with experience stretching back decades – to an

audience of more than 300,000. At Nilufar Depot, the

doyenne of design can reveal the latest models from Nilufar

Edition. “The logic is to go beyond the limits of a design

gallery and limited-edition pieces and display the great

artistry of Italian craftspeople wedded to the brightest

minds working in industrial design,” she explains.

39


La Nuova Cucina

Reimagined Italian

cuisine – including

this delicate

strawberry dessert

(right) – is on the

menu at Andrea

Aprea’s Michelinminted

eponymous

restaurant

40

While furniture companies surround the city in

important clusters, Milan is still best known as

a fashion mecca, whose runways are always awash with

industry-defining fashion creations and innovations.

Yet the truly savvy designers are those who are able

to construct a timeless wardrobe that, over the years,

presents a coherent and distinctive style. One clear

example of this is seen in fashion designer Massimo Alba’s

impressive body of work (massimoalba.com).

A native of Treviso, Alba has a portfolio of unpretentious,

bohemian-chic clothing that has won him a discreet

following, notably A-list celebs such as Tilda Swinton and

Julianne Moore. Known primarily for his supersoft knitwear

for men and women, his understated apparel includes

his signature Gstaad jacket, a military-inspired singlebreasted

garment boasting a mandarin collar. Many first

got to know Alba via Daniel Craig’s final 2021 Bond film,

No Time to Die, in which, during the opening scenes shot

in the southern Italian city of Matera, his sand-coloured

corduroy Sloop suit plays a starring role.

For Alba, the progress made by his adopted city has

been noteworthy, particularly when it comes to culture.

“There is a new energy, thanks to the efforts of curators

and directors, to present a truly cosmopolitan offering,”

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

MASSI NINNI

“ The dishes I prepare link perfectly with the cultural

attractions at Fondazione Luigi Rovati. There is

beauty on the plate, and then you can wander the

rooms downstairs and be amazed yet again”

41


he says. “Milan is no longer just focused on fashion.

I would point to the Triennale di Milano and the efforts

by architect Stefano Boeri [the art and design museum’s

president] to recount the fascinating history of Italian

design. The institution’s cultural offering is on par with

what one expects to find in a top-tier European city.”

Vintage Vibes

Rich woods and plush

leathers inform the

nostalgic interiors

of Remedy wine bar

in Porta Venezia

Facing page:

Molto Chic

Fashion designer

Massimo Alba at

his showroom

on Via Corsico

A

fresh crop of hotels in the city centre has helped

generate a new, after-hours buzz when shops close.

People flock to restaurants such as the Beefbar at the

five-star Portrait Milano hotel (lungarnocollection.com);

members’ clubs like The Wilde (thewilde.com), housed in a

modernist city villa once owned by the Versace family; and

the informal Mandarin Garden eatery, which is overseen

by director Guglielmo Miriello and sits on the premises of

Milan’s Mandarin Oriental (mandarinoriental.com) outpost in

the heart of the Fashion District.

An award-winning bartender-turned-food and beverage

manager, the always dapper Miriello has been excited by

the recent upswing in restaurant concepts emerging across

the city. “Since Expo, we’ve seen an incredible range of

hospitality projects crop up,” he marvels. “Before, when you

went out in Milan, it was roughly divided into traditional

and fine-dining categories. Now, we see lots of twists and

innovations in the kitchen.”

Bistro concepts seen at restaurants such as Røst

(rostmilano.com) and Sandì (@sandi_ristorante) serve up

42

FEDERICO BONTEMPI

“Milan is no longer just focused on fashion.

I would point to the Triennale di Milano to recount

the fascinating history of Italian design”

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

contemporary Italian fare based on seasonal ingredients

with menus that change almost daily – imagine plates of

mondeghili, fried Milanese meatballs made from day-old

bread and leftover roast veal, or cuttlefish sausage with

pork shoulder, served with black-sauce marinara. New

watering holes range from the decidedly upscale Remedy

(remedymilano.it), a wine club with a cigar room that

boasts an 18,000-bottle cellar, leather seating and darkpanelled

wood interiors, to the cosy-chic ByIT cocktail bar

(it-restaurants.com) in the arty Brera district.

For Miriello, who previously poured delectable drinks

at well-known spots such as DryMilano and Ceresio7, the

recent demand by patrons for cocktails calling for classic

ingredients such as vermouth and locally made fortified

wines such as Barolo Chinato – both of which feature in his

vintage Negroni recipe – puts a smile on his face. “People

are rediscovering their roots,” he remarks. “Yes, we’ve had

our mezcal moment, but locals are now interested in things

from their own backyard.”

A

rather new and intriguing category in Milan’s oeuvre

is the restaurant-museum pairing. While many are

familiar with the Fondazione Prada, which overlooks a

disused railyard that is set to become the Olympic Village,

few visitors linger at the premises’ stunning Torre restaurant

43


“Milan is the only ‘international’ Italian city and attracts

people from everywhere and from all walks of life – the arts,

architecture, fashion, design, you name it”

44

(torreristorante.com) on the sixth floor of the iconic white

tower designed by Pritzker-winning architect Rem Koolhaas.

On Corso Venezia, you’ll find another culinary and cultural

jewel hiding in plain sight: the eponymous restaurant by

two-star Michelin chef Andrea Aprea (andreaaprea.com).

Opened in the summer of 2022, it sits inside the Fondazione

Luigi Rovati, a magnificent 19th-century palazzo now home

to Etruscan artefacts and modern artworks.

On the top floor, you’ll find the formal dining room in

which Aprea pampers guests with inventive dishes, including

his seafood risotto prepared with three different broths and

adorned with seaweed powder and squid ink that create a

mesmerising visual effect. The ground floor caters to a less

formal crowd with a café-bistro concept where patrons can

satisfy their taste buds with a scrumptious club sandwich,

which Aprea first devised years back when he worked at the

Park Hyatt Milan. “The dishes I prepare link perfectly with

the cultural attractions,” he explains. “There is beauty on

the plate, and then you can wander the rooms downstairs

and be amazed yet again.”

Perhaps no one is more impressed with the changes

Milan has undergone recently than journalist-turnedfashion

consultant Michele Lupi. Previously editor-in-chief

of the Italian editions of GQ and Rolling Stone, the Milanborn

multitalent works closely with Italian luxury goods

brand Tod’s as an adviser, helping it create a cool vibe for

its Fay Archive label, a workwear line of multilayered coats

and jackets. The well-travelled Lupi is always keen to come

home, as the city continues to provide the right kind of

stimulus for creative types. “It’s the only ‘international’

Italian city and attracts people from everywhere and from

all walks of life – the arts, architecture, fashion, design,

you name it,” he muses. “It gives Milan that extra gear to

propel it forward with confidence.” From our vantage point,

the future looks promising.

Rennaissance Man

Fashion advisor and

erstwhile GQ editor Michele

Lupi has his finger on the

pulse of Milan

A program that

protects your

health, and

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Executive Health Program

World-class expertise designed specifically for today’s busy leaders,

on their schedule. That’s Mayo Clinic’s Executive Health Program.

mayoclinic.org


INTO THE

FIRE

46

From snowy slopes riven by molten lava

to gently bubbling mineral baths, these

volcanic and geothermal destinations

are simmering with allure – whether you

get your kicks from natural pyrotechnics,

soaking in spas or sipping wines of rare

provenance. By Jen Murphy

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

V

olcanoes are one of the most primaeval forces of nature

we can observe. Over the past decade, tourism has erupted

around their activity. In pursuit of a natural force marked

by both beauty and destruction, increasing numbers of socalled

“lava chasers” have been able to experience some spectacular

natural fireworks of late, with more than 50 volcanic eruptions recorded

worldwide in the first half of 2025 alone. The most active – notably

Hawaii’s Kīlauea and Sicily’s Mount Etna – have, in recent months, put

on dazzling displays of rocketing molten lava and billowing ash. Even

long-dormant geologic formations have captivated travellers with

their lunar-like landscapes, mysterious steaming vents and natural hot

springs. Here are 10 hot spots where you can be reminded of the power

of Mother Earth.

Eruption Mode

In 2021, Iceland’s stillactive

Fagradalsfjall

volcano erupted for

the first time in some

6,000 years

ICELAND

Obsidian lava fields. Electric-blue glaciers. Vibrant green tussock

meadows. The drama of Iceland’s landscape is unrivalled. Referred to

as the “Land of Fire and Ice”, it boasts more than 130 volcanoes, 30

of which remain active (the last eruption occurred in April 2025). You

can get an aerial view of volcanic craters, erupting geysers and the

world’s largest lava field on a helicopter tour with Arctic Adventures

(adventures.is). Or observe the contrasting scenery up close while hiking

the Laugavegur trail, which stretches more than 55 kilometres across

southern Iceland, taking in both hot springs and glacial valleys.

MARTIN SANCHEZ / UNSPLASH

WHERE TO STAY

Built over a lava field close to Unesco-listed Thingvellir National Park, ION

Adventure Hotel (ioniceland.is) can arrange excursions to nearby glaciers,

steaming thermal vents and lava caves. The Retreat hotel (bluelagoon.

com) has a private lagoon sourced from the same healing waters as

the famed Blue Lagoon. Uber-luxe adventure base Eleven Deplar Farm

(elevenexperience.com) has every imaginable recovery modality, including

a Viking sauna and flotation tanks; plus, guests can ogle the Northern

Lights from the geothermally heated indoor/outdoor pool.

47


Don’t Look Down!

The Rio Grande

Gorge Bridge

hovers a dizzying

180 metres above

a chasm carved

by fire and water

NEW MEXICO

Northern New Mexico’s high desert boasts some of the country’s most diverse volcanic formations, including Valles Caldera

National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains and the extinct Capulin Volcano, which has National Monument status. For

centuries, Northern Pueblo tribal communities made pilgrimages to the area’s restorative thermal waters. When hot springsfocused

resort Ojo Caliente (ojosparesorts.com) opened in 1868, it was considered one of the United States’ first health

spas. After a soak, you can wander the Abiquiu Lake Vista Trail system, visit Ghost Ranch, Georgia O’Keeffe’s beloved

summer home, or go gallery-hopping in Taos.

48

WHERE TO STAY

The historic district of Taos recently welcomed the charming Hotel Willa (hotelwilla.com). Chef Johnny Ortiz-Concha,

who hails from Taos Pueblo, oversees the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant, Juliette. Located a 40-minute drive southwest of

town, the aforementioned Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa (ojosparesorts.com) has 12 communal hot springs

featuring sulphur-free waters.

Watchful Giant

Majestic Mount Etna looms over

the Sicilian city of Syracuse

SICILY

The frequent, minor eruptions of Stromboli, a volcanic island off

Sicily’s north coast, have earned it the nickname “the Lighthouse

of the Mediterranean”. But it’s Mount Etna, Europe’s most active

volcano, that has been wide awake in 2025, belching an ash cloud

6,400 metres high in June. Etna’s volcanic soils are responsible

for the region’s fantastic wines. Taste them at wineries such

as Occhipinti (agricolaocchipinti.it) and Planeta (planeta.it),

or at Michelin-starred restaurants such as Principe Cerami

(principecerami.com) in Taormina, and Punta Lena on Stromboli

(ristorantepuntalenastromboli.it).

WHERE TO STAY

In Taormina, San Domenico Palace (fourseasons.com) has

become Sicily’s new darling since its spotlight in season two

of The White Lotus. The property can arrange over-the-top

experiences such as a panoramic helicopter tour of Mount Etna,

followed by a touchdown at a winery for a tasting and dinner.

FROM TOP: MARIO PEIXOTO/ GETTY IMAGES, ANTONINO BARTUCCIO / HUBER IMAGES; OPPOSITE PAGE: ANDREA ZANENGA / UNSPLASH

THE AZORES

São Miguel, the largest island in the Azores archipelago, is also the most volcanic.

On its east side, the sleepy parish of Furnas is situated in a dormant crater that

continues to simmer. Of its many hot springs, the most celebrated are the iron-rich

pools sprinkled amid the botanical gardens within Terra Nostra Park. For centuries,

locals have used the heat from the area’s calderas and fumaroles to cook cozido (meat

stew) in the ground. Try it at Caldeiras & Vulcões (caldeirasvulcoes.com), a restaurant

specialising in geothermal cooking.

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

WHERE TO STAY

The family-run Furnas Lake Forest Living (furnaslake.com) feels secluded in nature

but is just a five-minute drive to the lake and parish centre. The property can arrange

everything from zip-lining and horseback riding to cooking classes and ceramics

workshops. Octant Furnas (furnas.octanthotels.com) has its own 10-room spa with

a hot spring-fed thermal circuit.

Blast from the Past

Formed by an

eruption about

4,000 years ago, the

volcanic islet of Vila

Franca lies just off

São Miguel’s coast

49


CHILE

A 30-minute drive from Chile’s adventure capital of

Pucón, Villarrica National Park lures visitors with three

volcanoes, nearly 20 marked hiking trails that wind

through araucaria, lenga and coïgue forest, and thrilling

mountain-bike rides such as the Downhill Rukapillan,

which descends 100 metres on a route of volcanic scree.

Cone-shaped Villarrica, one of South America’s most

lively volcanoes, is the park’s star attraction. Humble

Pillán ski resort is set on the volcano’s slopes. Intrepid

travellers can uphill-ski tour or hike to the open lavapool

crater at the summit.

WHERE TO STAY

Surrounded by native parkland in the ancestral homeland

of the Mapuche people, andBeyond Vira Vira (andbeyond.

com) fronts both the Liucura River and smouldering

Villarrica Volcano. The lodge offers more than 30 guided

activities, ranging from heli-skiing to hot-springs hopping.

The Glow Within

Steam and smoke tumble out of

Villarrica’s simmering lava lake

COSTA RICA

One of the most biodiverse places on the planet, Costa Rica is also

a literal hotbed of volcanism. Of the country’s 200-plus volcanic

formations, Arenal Volcano is one of the most energetic, though

it’s been in a resting phase since 2010. Its setting in the Central

Highlands, surrounded by more than 12,000 hectares of rainforest

and cloud forest in Arenal Volcano National Park, is a paradise for

hiking, horseback riding and river rafting. Las Coladas Trail is about a

one-and-a-half-kilometre round trip and allows hikers to walk across

ancient lava fields; keep an eye out for the park’s resident sloths,

toucans and coatis.

WHERE TO STAY

50

Edge of Eden

Unwinding in the

shadow of the

(now dormant)

Arenal Volcano

at Nayara

Perched on a cliff high in the treetops, luxury eco-retreat Nayara

Tented Camp (nayaratentedcamp.com) overlooks the rainforest and

Arenal Volcano. Each safari-style tent has a hot springs-fed pool, and

guests can visit the on-site sloth sanctuary. If you fly via the recently

expanded Liberia International Airport, tack on a stay at newly

opened Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve (ritzcarlton.com). Tucked

within the most secluded corner of the Peninsula Papagayo private

resort community, the hotel is a treetop-to-sea fantasy with a chic

beach club and 2,500sq m spa.

FROM TOP: © ANDBEYOND, BRICE FERRE

HAWAII ISLAND

Kīlauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, is steeped in Hawaiian mythology.

Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, is believed to have made her home in Halemaumau

crater at the summit. She’s been putting on quite a show this year, blasting lava

fountains more than 300 metres high. Get a glimpse of the fiery action in Volcanoes

National Park or on a tour with Rainbow Helicopters (rainbowhelicopters.com), then

discover the many beautiful beaches and snorkelling spots on the island’s cooledlava

shores.

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

WHERE TO STAY

A reimagined classic, Kona Village (rosewoodhotels.com) is a Rosewood Resort with

an expansive spa built into a lava field and cultural ambassador-led outrigger canoe

excursions and petroglyph tours. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai (fourseasons.com)

can arrange stargazing tours at the dormant Mauna Kea and hikes up Kona’s dormant

Hualalai Volcano.

Collision Course

Fiery ribbons of lava

drop into the ocean

along Hawaii Island’s

southeastern coast

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

The United States’ first national park delivers more drama

than the hit TV series Yellowstone. Encompassing nearly

900,000 hectares across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho,

it holds about half of the planet’s geothermal features,

including geysers, mud pots, hot springs and steam vents.

Plus, it’s home to bison, bears, wolves, elk and nearly 300

species of birds. Prime attractions – like Old Faithful, the

colourful Grand Prismatic Spring and the moody Mammoth

Hot Springs – are even more awe-inspiring in the quieter

FROM TOP: MARC SZEGLAT / UNSPLASH, JOSHUA EARLE / UNSPLASH

Boiling Point

A sunrise stroll above Mammoth

Hot Springs’ kaleidoscopic

thermal terraces

winter months. Scenic Safaris (scenic-safaris.com) offers

motorised snow coaches and snowmobile tours.

WHERE TO STAY

An hour’s drive from the west entrance of the park, Big

Sky, Montana, will welcome One&Only Moonlight Basin

(oneandonlyresorts.com) come autumn. The brand’s first

resort in North America offers private gondola access to

the ski slopes of Big Sky Resort. Meanwhile, at Montage Big

Sky (montage.com), the 1,020sq m spa remains the ultimate

wellness sanctuary. The glitzy cowboy town of Jackson Hole is

a two-hour drive from the park’s south entrance, and here the

adults-only newcomer Hotel Yellowstone (hotelyellowstonejh.

com) can curate privately guided park safaris.

51


Twin Peaks

St Lucia’s Pitons

are volcanic plugs

formed from the

solidified magma of

ancient eruptions

ST LUCIA

With its lush, mountainous landscape and pristine white- and black-sand beaches, St Lucia is widely considered the prettiest

island in the Caribbean. Its Unesco-recognised twin volcanic spires – Gros Piton and Petit Piton – soar approximately 750

metres from the sea and are formidable challenges for hikers. The surrounding area in the island’s southwest corner is rife

with geothermal activity. Dubbed the world’s only “drive-in” volcano, Sulphur Springs’s lunar-like terrain exhibits remnants

of an eruption 30,000 years ago. Soaking in the mud baths surrounded by steaming fumaroles is a must for any visitor.

WHERE TO STAY

Ladera (ladera.com) sits on a volcanic ridge between the Pitons and sources volcanic spring water for its mineral pools

and hot tubs. The cliffside, James Bond-worthy Jade Mountain (jademountain.com) has 29 suites, most of which feature

private infinity pools with panoramic views of the Pitons. Both properties are close to Sulphur Springs; arrive early to soak

in solitude.

52

Picture Perfect

Komezuka, a near-symmetrical

“rice mound” volcanic cone,

rises from the Aso caldera

JAPAN

The sprawling Aso-Kuju National Park, in the heart of

Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, is a geological

wonderland showcasing one of the world’s largest caldera

volcanoes, the Kuju mountain range, sacred Mount Tsurumi

and the double peaks of Mount Yufu. Stretching about

24 kilometres north to south, Mount Aso’s gargantuan

caldera encompasses five major volcanic peaks, including

Mount Nakadake, known for its sapphire-blue crater lake.

A network of some 80 trails crisscrosses the park. Weary

hikers will find respite in the surrounding onsen towns of

Yufuin, Beppu and Kurokawa.

WHERE TO STAY

KAI Aso, a ryokan from Japanese brand Hoshino, overlooks

a caldera in the park. Each of the 12 villas has its own

private hot spring (hoshinoresorts.com).

FROM TOP: DANIEL OBERG / UNSPLASH, KOHJI ASAKAWA / UNSPLASH

GREAT BOTTLES OF FIRE

Blessed with mineral-rich soils, volcanic terroirs are good for more than just spas and sightseeing,

they also produce some of the world’s most noteworthy wines, as these six bottles prove

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

AUSTRALIA

Good Intentions Wine Co,

Mount Gambier, Volcanic Lakes

Chardonnay, 2022

This understated, elegant wine

with distinct mineral features

is made using barrel

fermentation and indigenous

yeasts on the dormant volcano

of Mount Gambier, Australia’s

newest wine region.

goodintentionswine.co

PORTUGAL

Azores Wine Company, Azores,

Vinha Centenária, 2021

Vines grown organically

in the cracked lava fields

of this Atlantic archipelago

have resulted in a beautifully

lush and approachable

blend of arinto dos açores,

verdelho, boal and

alicante branco.

antoniomacanita.com

GREECE

Hatzidakis Winery, Santorini,

Assyrtiko de Louros, 2021

Made from a single vineyard

of 100-year-old assyrtiko

vines on the quake-prone

island of Santorini, this taut,

powerfully textured

cuvée offers mouthwatering

salinity and freshness.

hatzidakiswines.gr

SPAIN

Puro Rofe, Lanzarote,

Juan Bello, 2023

Named for rofe – the small black

volcanic pebbles ejected during

Lanzarote’s 18th-century

eruptions – Puro Rofe produces

pure expressions of volcanic

terroir, including this remarkably

salty, tangy, savoury white.

Available at zachys.com

COURTESY THE WINERIES

JAPAN

Suntory From Farm, Yamanashi

Prefecture, Tomi Koshu, 2022

A refined, silver-gold hued

cuvée with hints of tropical

fruit, produced from koshu

vines planted by Suntory’s

Tomi No Oka Winery on soils

formed by pyroclastic flows

from Mount Kurofuji.

suntory.com

USA

Archery Summit Winery, Willamette

Valley, Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, 2021

Basalt beds, laid down as the

result of enormous lava flows

from Oregon’s Cascade range

15 million years ago, created

the iron-rich soils responsible

for this soft-contoured yet

refreshing pinot – one to rival top

Burgundies. archerysummit.com

53


WHAT

54

GLASS

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

Around the globe, a new appreciation for glass art is

taking shape, as creators across all genres work their

magic with silica, soda and sand. By Emma Ventura

KNOWS

55


R

oom 131, on the fourth floor of the Victoria and

Albert Museum in South Kensington, London, is

not the flashiest or most frequented in this storied

institution for art and design, but alchemy lies within its

walls. Here, display cases gleam with treasures ancient

and modern, tracking millennia of ingenuity with that most

elemental of artistic mediums: glass.

For aficionados, the V&A’s glass collection – one

of the world’s most comprehensive – is an Aladdin’s

cave, a showcase of artefacts ranging from the earliest

Mesopotamian inlays and solid jewellery crafted 3,500

years ago, to Peter Aldridge’s 1998 A Moment in Time

sculpture, three metres high and constructed with 22

pieces of cosmic-sounding Starphire glass. There are tiny

Egyptian perfume bottles, medieval mosque lamps, sturdy

postmodern platters and intricate 19th-century floral

goblets from Germany that are so slender they seem to be

waving in the breeze.

If that sounds fanciful, you’re in the right place. Because

glassmaking is artistry, yet also chemistry. It’s craft meets

technology. It’s a tactile joy in the digital age. It’s sand, soda

and lime made magic. And, across the globe, it’s hotter than

ever, with the global glass-art market worth $6.8 billion in

2024 and this year expected to hit $7.18 billion.

Interest in glass art was already rising – fuelled by museum

exhibitions, social media and a growing appreciation for the

handmade – when reality show Blown Away hit TV screens

in 2019 with a compelling competitive format featuring

aspiring (not to mention heavily perspiring) glass artists

and a fat prize package that included a residency at the

renowned Corning Museum of Glass (cmog.org). Picked up by

Netflix, it ran for four seasons, until 2024, fanning a flame

of interest in art glass that continues to burn.

“Blown Away helped open the door to glass for a global

audience in a way we hadn’t seen before,” acknowledges

Amy Schwartz, director of The Studio at Corning, which is

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: NATHANIEL WILLSON / © CHIHULY STUDIO, DAVID SVEHLA, ALICK COTTERILL, REED YOUNG; PREVIOUS SPREAD: JULIE DICKISON

56

A STUDY IN LIGHT AND COLOUR

Clockwise from top left: an icicle-inspired sculpture

from Dale Chihuly’s Chandeliers series; a Moser

artisan brings sea turtles to life on the limited-edition

Merengue vase; Orsoni president Riccardo Bisazza in

the Venetian furnace’s unique Colour Library of smalti,

3,500 shades strong; Tim Rawlinson’s eyebending

Echoes of Light sculptures at London Glassblowing

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

57


seeing high demand for its beginner’s glassblowing classes.

“It demystified the medium and made it thrilling, personal

and accessible.”

In the US, an important proponent of the modern

art form, the current craze has its roots in the 1960s

American Studio Glass Movement, which helped transition

glassmaking from a purely industrial process to one of

artistic expression. Its pioneering force was Dale Chihuly,

now in his eighties and renowned for both his vibrant,

organic glass installations – witness his Fiori di Como in the

Bellagio Las Vegas, an explosion of handblown glass flowers

covering 180 square metres of ceiling, or his eight-metre

hanging Chandelier sculpture suspended from the atrium

of the V&A – and his founding of the influential Pilchuck

Glass School just north of Seattle. It was here, too, in the

late 1970s, that Italian transplant Lino Tagliapietra, who

began his career as an apprentice in Murano at age 11, first

introduced American students to the Venetian tradition of

glassblowing. Like Chihuly, he remains active in the studio,

despite being in his nineties, and is now widely considered

the world’s greatest glassblower.

Yet, across the US and internationally, it’s a new

generation that’s breathing fresh life into the world of

glassmaking. “Today’s glass enthusiasts are younger and

more diverse,” emphasises Schwartz. “We’re seeing collectors

and fans in their twenties and thirties alongside seasoned

patrons. They’re discovering glass through TikTok, YouTube

and Instagram – often via makers they follow directly. Many

are drawn to its tactility and transparency in a world that’s

increasingly digital and filtered.”

A prime example of an influential maker born of this

new contemporary culture is Cedric Mitchell, who started

off as a hip-hop artist in Tulsa but now blows his bold,

colourful and highly collectable Modern Funk Collection

in El Segundo, just outside Los Angeles. A maker of vases,

decorative totems and “Funktional” drinkware, Mitchell’s

playful Pop Art style has won him brand collaborations with

the likes of Nike, for which he designed a glass Swoosh to

celebrate the launch of the 2022 Air Max Dawn.

DAVID ŠVEHLA

58

HOT WORK

A molten orb takes form at

Czech glassmaker Moser’s hot

shop in Karlovy Vary

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

59


For many, of course, the very idea of glass art begins and

ends in Venice, and specifically on the island of Murano,

where the methods of glassmaking were for centuries

a closely guarded secret. Today, visitors can explore the

island’s legendary working furnaces on foot and – mostly

– browse and buy without an appointment. Or they might

experience one of the hotter introductions to the island in

recent years – Good Vibes Murano (goodvibesmurano.com),

linked to the historic Orovetro furnace and bringing the

Venetian glass experience bang up to date, with formerly

defunct workshops now serving as a glamorous hub for

creative mixing and mingling, art exhibits, glassblowing

demonstrations and culinary events.

In Venice proper, meanwhile, the only remaining live-fire

furnace is at the 1888-founded mosaic specialist Orsoni

(orsoni.com), whose president, Riccardo Bisazza, has been

working to retain the heritage of the brand while ensuring

its cultural relevance.

For Bisazza, preserving nearly 140 years of artisanal

glass mosaic-making means maintaining an oeuvre that

is astonishingly broad. As well as offering collectors very

limited-edition art and design pieces, Orsoni’s recent

works have run from antique gold tesserae laid at Lincoln

Center, New York, to the restoration of St Mark’s Basilica

and creative collaborations with luxury fashion brands

– a 24-carat gold mosaic bag for Dior, floor-to-ceiling

60

BREAKING THE MOULD

Below: Cedric Mitchell

crafts a totem-like

piece of glass art for his

Modern Funk collection;

far left: Meat Chandelier

by Deborah Czeresko –

the first-season winner

of Netflix’s Blown Away

– on view at the Corning

Museum of Glass

FROM LEFT: JEFFREY FOOTE, COURTESY CEDRIC MITCHELL

mosaics for Dolce & Gabbana’s ritzy boutique on Venice’s

Calle Larga XXII Marzo.

“I deal with this incredible uniqueness,” muses Bisazza.

“And so I have to take proper responsibility, otherwise it’s

going to die. There is no other way.”

Around the world, artists are using glass to help preserve

their own national heritage and traditions. At Canberra

Glassworks (canberraglassworks.com), Jennifer Kemarre

Martiniello – an award-winning Australian Aboriginal visual

artist, poet and writer – uses hot-blown glass to create

beautifully evocative representations of traditional woven

eel traps, fish traps and baskets, sieves and dilly bags –

items of cultural as well as artistic significance.

“My aim is to produce a body of works that will pay

tribute to our traditional weavers and provide recognition

for these ancient cultural practices,” Martiniello explains.

“The complex single, double and triple canes and murrine

I create admit the interplay of form and light I seek, while

overlays of transparent colours over opaques allow me to

experiment with the various colour transitions of Australian

native plant fibres used for weaving throughout their

lifespans, from just-harvested to aged.”

For many glass artists – such as New Orleans-based Ben

Dombey – as serious and labour-intensive as the process

can be, it nevertheless elicits a kind of joy. Specialising in

handblown barware of rare quality, Dombey revels in the

interplay of sheer physicality and cerebral effort that goes

into each of his handstamped whisky tumblers. “The first

time I saw someone manipulate molten glass close up, I was

hooked,” he recalls. “It was like this muscular fire dance

that was so challenging, and I just wanted to master it. It’s

very physically demanding – the muscle memory involved,

the practice, the therapy needed in tennis elbows and sore

joints… But it’s also almost like a chess game for your

hands. It’s unlike anything else – if you think about what to

do, you’re too late. If you hesitate, the glass knows that, and

it’s going to laugh at you.”

At London Glassblowing (londonglassblowing.co.uk), across

the city from the V&A, glass artist Tim Rawlinson agrees.

“As a material, it’s alive,” he says, gathering a piece of glass

from the furnace before letting it drop on the floor in a tangle

of brittle serpentine threads. “It’s a very seductive material

– it becomes something that’s hard, solid, potentially sharp

or fragile, and it cools very, very quickly.”

Rawlinson, who, just out of university, was talent-spotted

by the gallery’s founder, Peter Layton, has been a fixture at

the studio and showroom on Bermondsey Street since 2011,

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

61


62

“AS A MATERIAL, GLASS IS ALIVE. IT’S A VERY SEDUCTIVE MATERIAL

– IT BECOMES SOMETHING THAT’S HARD,

SOLID, POTENTIALLY SHARP OR FRAGILE, AND IT COOLS

VERY, VERY QUICKLY”

starting with work experience, graduating to studio manager,

and now established as a glass artist with an international

reputation in his own right. Inspired by such varied muses

as Barbara Hepworth, the James Webb Space Telescope,

underwater worlds and rocky geological forms, he’s a master

of optical illusion, playing with colour, light and refraction

in highly polished and precisely cut multilayered geometric

pieces that are now sought-after in the prestigious US market

and globally.

“British glass is having a real moment,” he says modestly,

explaining his recent successes at shows in Florida and New

York. “They were really taken by the aesthetic of British glass

– the combined elements of blown work with all this cutting

and polishing and using different processes together [as

opposed to] the Italian style.”

If so, that makes for a neat circle. Peter Layton himself

is widely accepted as one of the founding fathers of

British studio glass, having helped introduce it onto the UK

scene from the US, where he taught in the 1960s. Another

octogenarian glass master with the energy of someone 30

years younger, Layton is still active in his London studio,

which does double duty as an incubator of both homegrown

and international talent, thanks to his generosity of spirit and

love of the medium.

Bounding between the various pieces that line the shelves

of his welcoming gallery, he brims with enthusiasm for the

other artists whose works are on display while waving an airy

hand past some of his most famous and fabulous pieces –

a foaming Hokusai-inspired Wave, a blue and grey Cloud Pair

with softly ballooning edges that seem to bounce gently

across the shelf. Out back, he holds pebbles from his regular

beachcombing excursions with as much care as one of his

Stoneform sculptures they helped inspire.

Among these is Highgrove, a series that pays tribute

to the gardens of King Charles III’s family residence in

Gloucestershire. Gazing into its gloriously verdant greens,

blues, pinks and mauves, it’s easy to draw a mental line back

across the British capital to the V&A, where an ancient mosaic

bowl, dating from 25-50 AD, exhibits a similar exuberance,

albeit quietly, from its tranquil location on the fourth floor.

When it comes to glass, it seems beauty truly is eternal.

GLASS WITH A TWIST

Clockwise from above: I piccoli, a spiral-filigree vessel by

Venetian glassmaking company Carlo Moretti at the Murano

Glass Museum; Cedric Mitchell’s tower sculpture stacks

colour and form with playful precision; London Glassmaking

founder Peter Layton drew inspiration from Hokusai’s iconic

woodblock print to create his Wave sculptures

© MURANO GLASS MUSEUM

CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS

Ever culturally relevant, a hotbed

of talent and home to some of the

world’s most important collections

of contemporary glass. cmog.org

MUSEO DEL VETRO

Set on the iconic island of

Murano, Venice, and founded in

1861, with collections of Murano

glass spanning from the 15th to

the 20th centuries. museovetro.

visitmuve.it

CRAFTED, CURATED, COLLECTED

Glass art is the star at these leading-edge galleries and

museums around the globe

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

The Southern Hemisphere’s

largest institution dedicated

to the making of studio glass.

canberraglassworks.com

ESPOO MUSEUM OFSEUM

For millennia-spanning artefacts

and a thorough understanding of

humanity’s history with glass, you

can’t go past London’s V&A.

vam.ac.uk

TOYAMA GLASS ART MUSEUM

Toyama was traditionally a huge

production centre for glass

medicine bottles; today it’s the

best place in Japan to see global

glass art. toyama-glass-artmuseum.jp

GLASMUSEUM PASSAU

For the largest collection of

European art glass in the world,

it must be this museum, set in

the old town of Passau in Bavaria,

southern Germany. glasmuseum.de

MUSEUM OF GLASS

The Tacoma, Washington,

facility with a top-notch

reputation hosts a hot shop as

well as events and exhibitions,

including the current Field

Notes: Artists Observe Nature,

running through December.

museumofglass.org

SHANGHAI MUSEUM OF GLASS

China’s first glass museum is

a multifunctional, state-ofthe-art

space set in a former

factory, with a full roster of

exhibitions and events.

shmog.org

MOSER

Explore the Czech Republic’s

centuries-old tradition of

glass- and crystal-making

at the Moser museum and

glassworks in Karlovy Vary,

western Bohemia. moser.com

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

FROM TOP: VETRI GALLERY, SYLVAIN DELEU

63


GOLD

FEVER

As hot as it ever was,

this most classic of precious

metals shines on

Photography by

Xavier Young

Styled by

Elisa Vallata

64

From top: 886 BY THE ROYAL MINT yellow-gold Tutamen

large stack necklace set with diamonds LUGANO yellow-gold

Dagger earrings set with yellow diamonds

Facing page, from top: JESSICA McCORMACK yellow-gold

Rush Hour ’Til Late torque and bangle FERNANDO JORGE

yellow-gold Bold Stream open earrings ANOONA yellow-gold

Umbra pinky ring with white-diamond inset and

black-diamond border

AWAKENING ISSUE—2025

65


Above: FERNANDO JORGE yellow-gold Disco choker set with diamonds DAVID MORRIS rose-gold rose-cut

Forever double-disc ring set with diamonds

66

Facing page, anticlockwise from top: BOODLES pink-gold Be Boodles cuff bangle set with diamonds DAVID

MORRIS rose-gold Astra cuff set with diamonds CHOPARD ethical rose-gold Ice Cube rings – one with

diamonds, one without NADINE AYSOY yellow-gold Catena triple-link earrings set with diamonds

67

HEAT ISSUE – 2025


THE

GRILL LOVERSʼ

GUIDE

THE

FELLOWSHIP

OF FLAME

68

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

All around the globe, top chefs are rediscovering the elemental

pleasures of cooking with fire. Adam Sachs spoke to some of

the genre’s biggest names to find out what fuels their passion –

and how this ancient technique is reshaping fine dining 69


70

Right: Bittor

Arginzoniz coaxes

flavour from flame

at Asador Etxebarri

Previous pages:

everything from

radicchio (left) to

mud crab (right)

gets the charcoal

treatment at

Sydney’s Firedoor

restaurant

Primitive cooking,” shrugs Basque chef Bittor Arginzoniz with a modest smile.

Standing in the kitchen of Asador Etxebarri, the self-effacing fire whisperer,

as he’s been dubbed, is explaining how nearly every bite of the mind-blowing

meal we’ve just enjoyed has been touched and transformed by smoke and fire.

Mountains of holm-oak logs are slowly burned down to red-glowing embers

and transferred to the base of custom grills, where Arginzoniz expertly dials

the heat up and down, charring formidable txuleta steaks cut from mature

Galician cows over smouldering grapevines or preparing shoelace-thin baby

eels, delicately tossed in a steel basket, directly over the coals.

This is “simple” cooking in the sense that everything is straightforward

and militantly unfussy. But it’s also exceptionally well-sourced, artfully

executed, deeply original and just astoundingly delicious. Arginzoniz’s

monk-like devotion to the art of the grill has made this remote village in the

serene foothills of the green Atxondo valley a hallowed point of pilgrimage

for chefs and culinary thrill-seekers. Currently sitting at number two on the

World’s 50 Best Restaurants list (and notoriously hard to book), Etxebarri

is at the forefront of a new breed of eateries forgoing modern methods and

finding inspiration in that most ancient of sources: the wood-fired hearth.

The new fire movement is more than just a culinary nostalgia trip or an

excuse for pyrotechnic machismo (though a touch of dazzling flare-ups can

certainly light up a chef’s social-media feed). Rather, it’s a style driven by a

reverence for ingredients and a desire to transform them using smoke and

fire, for learning to do new things with old techniques.

At Firedoor in Sydney – where a meal might include local Murray cod

grilled over paperbark, or pork and cabbage seared in cast iron over a hot

flame and dusted with roasted yeast, and conclude with a dessert of charred

pineapple and finger lime – the kitchen is entirely powered by wood. Not

a combi-oven or sous vide circulator in sight. Chef-owner Lennox Hastie

worked in the kitchen at Etxebarri and credits Arginzoniz with teaching him

that “fire isn’t just about heat; it’s about control, restraint and, above all,

respect. He wasn’t overpowering ingredients – he was listening to them,

letting them speak and revealing their true character.”

MARIANO HERRERA; PREVIOUS SPREAD: NIKKI TO (2)

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

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72

“Fire is inherently wild,” Hastie adds. “But it isn’t always about brute

force. It’s about allowing it to whisper as well as roar. At Firedoor, fire is

more than just a source of heat; it’s an ingredient in its own right.”

At Fire in Chicago, Grant Achatz – the celebrated chef of the city’s

three-Michelin-star Alinea known for supreme control – found a kind

of release in “trying to harness the wildness” of cooking with wood

and coals. “Every culture cooked over fire,” he says. “Fire transformed

humans.” Looking to the past of human ingenuity for inspiration, Achatz

and his team – who are currently planning a new, expanded location for

Fire, which recently closed due to a spike in rent – compiled a deeply

researched compendium of what’s been burned to feed people over time:

olive pits in Morocco, birch in Scandinavia, pine needles for smoked duck

in China, carbonised banana peels in Uganda.

“You had to be scrappy,” Achatz reflects. “These nuances allowed

people to survive with fire. Now I look at them creatively. So if, out of

necessity, you had to burn banana peels in order to cook something, I

NIKKI TO

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

SIMON PYNT

read that, and I’m wondering ‘What does that smell like? How could we use

this?’ So what’s old becomes – no pun intended – creative fuel for moving

forward. All these techniques and means of preservation and flavouring

really opened this Pandora’s box of creative opportunity for us.”

At one-star Humo (Spanish for “smoke”) in London, Robbie Jameson

sources up to 15 different varieties of wood from sustainable British

forestlands. Eschewing the standard headers (starters, mains, etc), his à la

carte menu is divided into four sections: Ignite, Smoke, Flame and Embers.

The young Scottish chef worked under Lennox Hastie at Firedoor, where he

fell under the spell of the flame. “The way I like to look at wood-fire cooking

is that every tree has its own personality,” he explains. “It’s individual and

it’s unique. And the only way that you can access that is by breaking it down.”

“I don’t just do grilling and smoking,” he adds. “I do infusions. I do

fermentation, like the seven-day-aged Spanish bluefin tuna we serve with

oak-roasted Madagascan vanilla ponzu and a Korean-inspired daikon radish

that’s been heavily smoked, then fermented and pickled.”

From left: Lennox

Hastie mans the

open kitchen at

Firedoor; flamegrilled

marron is

topped with paperthin

black truffle at

Singapore’s Burnt

Ends restaurant

73


74

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

“A lot of people see a wood-fired restaurant and they assume char, burnt,

crisp, smoky,” he says. “I didn’t want to be just another grilling restaurant

that was a steakhouse. And we’re not a Spanish restaurant, even though

our name is Spanish. And we’re not Japanese, though we are inspired by

Japanese techniques. We are none of the above. What we are is a woodfired

restaurant, inspired by the fire. And if that means that I want to use

a Chinese style or Indian style or British, Spanish, Irish, whatever it is, if it

cooks over fire, I’ll make it. I just want to really push and show people the

possibilities of wood.”

Ben Eisendrath, whose company, Grillworks, supplies Argentine-inspired

custom hearths to many of the best kitchens around the world – from Dan

Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York state to The Agrarian Kitchen

in Tasmania – has had a front-row seat to the rapid proliferation of firefocused

restaurants over the past two decades. One big change Eisendrath

has witnessed is the evolution of how chefs think about cooking with

fire, going beyond the concept of just grilling to a more expansive, genreencompassing

approach to open-hearth cuisine.

“The requests coming in now have evolved to include uses of fire in all

sorts of creative ways,” he says. “These include means of suspending food

over the fire, direct-coal cooking, smoke boxes and more varied cookingsurface

types and techniques that use the fire’s residual heat for long,

gentle roasting on the hearth. In the simplest terms, fire is what brought us

here. We can’t help but be attracted to that flame in human history.”

A line that runs through many chefs working in this fellowship of flames

is an insistence on looking back to old techniques with an eye to developing

new flavours and ideas. At Burnt Ends, an exceptional fire-driven restaurant

in Singapore, chef-owner Dave Pynt never stops experimenting. “Cooking

with fire forces creativity, thought and experimentation,” he muses. “Your

first thought has to be, ‘How does this relate to fire and smoke?’ If you don’t

have a good answer, don’t do it!”

One example of a good answer was a dish Pynt recently developed that

revisits a classic: fish baked in salt. “The challenge with a salt crust is that

the smoke can’t penetrate the fish and give it that nuance of smoke flavour

we’re after,” he elaborates. “We overcome this in two ways. The first is, we

mix 20% ash into our salt crust, which gives it that charred flavour in direct

contact with the fish. Second, we burn the outside of the salt crust, which

transfers that burnt flavour delicately into the fish as well.”

At Ilis, a beautiful, airy hearth-centred restaurant in Brooklyn, Danishborn

chef Mads Refslund was looking for ways to expand the flavour profiles

beyond wood and coals. He hit upon the idea of using bamboo, dried autumn

leaves and herbs, lemongrass and blackcurrant leaves. “We take fig leaves

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: EVAN SUNG; © FIRE, MATTHEW GILSON, EVAN SUNG

Clockwise from top left:

countertop dining at Ilis,

Mads Refslund’s Brooklyn

hot spot; pineapples

are claimed by the

custom-built hearth at

Grant Achatz’s Chicago

restaurant, Fire; the

Michelin-starred Achatz

in his element; Refslund’s

asparagus is steamed

in bamboo with bone

marrow, lovage and wildherb

potato sauce

75


Above: wood fuels the dining

room’s moody vibe – and the fire –

at Burnt Ends

Facing page: thick-cut lamb saddles,

fresh from the wood-fired grill,

rest in Firedoor’s open kitchen

and we put caviar and fig-leaf oil inside of it and we go to the table and

we take the binchotan and we just kiss the leaves with it so it gets this

wonderful aroma,” he says. “It’s a very gentle, slow kind of cooking with fire.”

Indeed, adds Refslund, “working with fire changes your sense of control”

– something which doesn’t necessarily come naturally to the co-founding

chef of Noma in Copenhagen. “But I love that fire is alive. It has its own

movements, and you just have to dance with it.”

How we seek to tame this primary element is a theme that runs across

these chefs and restaurants scattered across continents. Each day, the fire

must be stoked and tended, its temperament and heat shifting with the

weather, the fuel burning, the ingredients at hand.

“Cooking with fire is a lifelong apprenticeship,” Firedoor’s Lennox Hastie

admits, speaking – it would seem – for many chefs. “Fire doesn’t care who

you are. It doesn’t respect ego. Every day is different, and every day I am

challenged. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to let something sit

quietly on the edge of the grill and just be.”

The key, he says, is to remember that fire isn’t just a means to an end:

“It’s a language that connects us to ingredients, to nature and, ultimately,

to ourselves.”

RED-HOT RESERVATIONS

Global hot spots where fire is a main ingredient

Modena, Italy

AL GATTO VERDE

Chef Jessica Rosval heads this woodfired

kitchen, exploring the flavours

of Emilia-Romagna at the heart of

Lara and Massimo Bottura’s dreamy

Casa Maria Luigia countryside escape.

ristorantealgattoverde.com

Brisbane, Australia

AGNES

From a roasted grape cocktail to

smoked and seared oxtail with

malted miso hollandaise, everything

in this sleek converted industrial

space gets touched by fire.

anyday.com.au

Singapore

BURNT ENDS

This is a top-rated Singapore classic

for ingenious dishes like smoked

quail egg with caviar or fire-roasted

bone marrow with curry, all prepared

in and on Dave Pynt’s custom brick

oven, which heats up to over 925°C.

burntends.com.sg

Vienna, Austria

DOUBEK

Stefan Doubek’s deft wood-fire-only

kitchen takes its inspiration from

the Basque country, Scandinavia,

Japan and beyond, with dishes

like turbot pil pil and fire-kissed

carabinero prawns with tamari

quickly earning him two Michelin

stars since opening in 2023.

restaurantdoubek.at

London, UK

HUMO

A Michelin one-star from fireobsessed

Scottish chef Robbie

Jameson, who divides his menu

according to the stages of a fire:

Ignite, Smoke, Flame, Embers.

Drawing from Asian, European

and South American techniques,

everything is cooked over

British-sourced wood.

humolondon.com

BRETT BOARDMAN; OPPOSITE PAGE: NIKKI TO

76

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

Axpe, Spain

ASADOR ETXEBARRI

Number two on the World’s

50 Best Restaurants list,

Bittor Arginzoniz’s understated

mastery of cooking over embers

brings devotees to a remote

Basque valley for perfectly

executed txuleta and more

delicate inventions like

smoked ice cream in a heady

smoked-beet reduction.

asadoretxebarri.com

Sydney, Australia

FIREDOOR

Chef Lennox Hastie’s place is a

Sydney institution, famed for its

uncompromising devotion to

wood fire. Every dish is cooked

to order over different woods,

with an open kitchen that lets

diners witness the alchemy of

flame and ingredient in real time.

firedoor.com.au

Washington, DC

MAYDAN

Its lively hearth the centre

of the action, the immersive,

communal experience here

encompasses the vibrant

flavours of the Levant and

North Africa, with chickens

and whole cauliflowers dangling

over the fire and flatbreads

pulled from clay ovens.

maydandc.com

Brooklyn, New York

ILIS

Witness a creative exploration

of the transformational

power of smoke and embers from

sure-handed fire tamer and

Danish-born chef Mads Refslund

in a soaring, art-filled space.

ilisnyc.com

77


Long prized for their medicinal properties as much as their

piquant flavour profiles, the world’s most notable spices still

have secrets to share, revealing glimpses of their botanical

homelands while offering the chance to indulge in a sensory

journey from the comfort of your kitchen. By Bill Knott

78

You might not imagine that something as

homely as a kitchen spice rack could tell a

thousand stories, but you would be wrong.

Cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, nutmeg – wars have been

fought over them, empires won and lost. They were used

both as medicines and seasonings, while the glories of

medieval Venice and Renaissance Florence owe much to

the vast profits made by trading in these exotic, socially

prestigious commodities.

Spices have the advantages of being lightweight,

concentrated in flavour and highly valuable: from a trader’s

point of view, they were much easier to transport and more

lucrative to sell than, for example, amphorae of wine or oil.

By the time the Pepperers’ Guild was established

in London in 1180, spices had already been traded by

land and sea for more than two millennia. In China and

India, where many spices were indigenous and – with

fewer middlemen involved – not so extravagantly priced,

these aromatic ingredients were vital components of

traditional medicine as well as cuisine, as evidenced in

Ayurvedic texts that champion cinnamon and cardamom,

among other spices, as remedies for various ailments.

In the West, this culinary/medicinal duality existed,

too: the Guild of Pepperers later spawned the Worshipful

Company of Grocers and the Worshipful Society of

Apothecaries. Modern medicine may dismiss these

ancient teachings as pseudoscience, but more than a

billion Indians, for example, still incorporate aspects

of Ayurvedic medicine in their everyday lives, and –

in a broader sense of wellbeing – the culinary use of

spices still brightens palates around the globe, adding

significantly to the variety of life.

HEAT ISSUE—2025

– Illustrations by Lina Ekstrand

79


SAFFRON

The world’s most expensive spice is made from the dried, orange-red stigmas

of a variety of crocus. About 150 flowers need to be handpicked to yield a

single gram of dried saffron, which explains its eye-watering price. But a little

goes a long way: just a few strands can lend a powerful, ethereal aroma and

a deep golden colour to a vast range of rice dishes, from paella and risotto

alla Milanese to biryani and tahdig (literally “bottom of the pot”), the Iranian

technique of cooking rice to form a crisp, buttery crust in the pan.

80

CARDAMOM

An essential component of Indian cuisine that has

spread to many other culinary cultures, cardamom is

a dried, three-sided fruit from a plant of the ginger

family. It has a long history of medicinal use, too:

Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (he of the doctor’s

oath) considered it an aid to digestion. Cardamom’s

dried, pistachio-green pods contain clusters of highly

aromatic black/brown seeds that are widespread in

Scandinavian cakes and pastries; powdered, cardamom

is hugely popular in the Middle East both as a topping

for sweet dishes and to flavour tea and coffee.

VANILLA

Often unfairly used as a synonym

for plain or dull, vanilla is anything

but. It is the dried seed pod of a

tropical orchid, native to Mexico,

now cultivated in many tropical

latitudes, firstly on Réunion Island

(its old French name, Île de Bourbon,

is the source of the name “bourbon

vanilla”) and now in many tropical

parts of the world: two-thirds of

global production today comes

from Madagascar and Indonesia.

True vanilla contains 171 aromatic

compounds; artificial vanilla is

often simply one of them: vanillin,

extracted from wood pulp during the

paper-making process. Make sure

you buy the real McCoy.

HEAT ISSUE—2025

– STAR ANISE

Indigenous to China, the dried fruit of star anise

is composed of eight (or occasionally nine or 10)

carpels attached to its central column, forming

its star shape, each containing a hard brown seed.

Although unrelated to the aniseed found further

west, it contains the same essential oil, anethole,

that gives both their distinctive aroma and taste.

It is one of the spices that make up Chinese

five-spice powder, and you might also find it in

an Indian biryani, a Vietnamese pho or in French

vin chaud (mulled wine). Star anise was also, until

recently, the major source of shikimic acid used in

the production of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu.

81


ASAFOETIDA

Literally meaning “stinking gum” and known as

“devil’s dung” in a variety of languages, asafoetida

is the dried sap of a species of giant fennel. It was

a favourite both of Arabic and Islamic pharmacists

(for treating respiratory problems) and medieval

apothecaries in the West, but its use now is mostly

in the kitchens of India, where it is known as hing,

its pungent, garlicky aroma often added to dal and

other dishes as a natural flavour enhancer and

antiflatulent. It is also popular with the “high-born”

Brahmin caste of Hindus and with Jains, neither of

whom are permitted to eat onions or garlic.

CLOVES

Taking their name from clavus, the Latin for nail, cloves

are indeed shaped like small nails, with each flower bud

consisting of a spiky calyx that holds a small ball of

four unopened petals. Their essential oil has been used

to flavour Indonesian kretek cigarettes, inhibit mould

growth on foods, for fragrances and aromatherapy, and

as a dental anesthetic. In cooking, they have conquered

the world, from India and Malaysia to Mexico and Peru,

and their nail-like shape makes them ideal for sticking

into a ham before roasting, or into an onion, which can

then be gently simmered in milk to make a white sauce.

82

SICHUAN PEPPER

The signature flavour combination of

Sichuan cuisine is ma-la – numbing

and spicy. The spice comes from dried

red chilli, the numbing sensation from

Sichuan pepper: only distantly

related to black pepper or chilli pepper,

it contains a particular molecule

that numbs the mouth and lends an

appetising citrus flavour to whatever it

is cooked with. The classic Sichuan

mapo dofu (“pockmarked grandmother’s

bean curd”, literally) is a perfect

example: beef mince stir-fried with

Sichuan pepper, chilli, cubes of silken

tofu and fermented beans. In traditional

Chinese medicine, it has been used as a

remedy for abdominal pains, toothache

and eczema.

HEAT ISSUE—2025

– NUTMEG & MACE

The fruit of the evergreen tree

Myristica fragrans is unusual for

producing two distinct spices: the

kernel of its dried seed is nutmeg,

while the seed’s lacy red sheath (aril)

is mace. Native to Indonesia, but

also grown in Kerala and Grenada,

nutmeg’s essential oil, myristicin, is

sometimes used in toothpastes and

cough syrups, and it has also been

touted as an aphrodisiac, but the

vast majority of its uses are in the

kitchen: nutmeg is widely used to

flavour egg custards, béchamel and

cheese sauces, and it has a great

affinity with spinach, while the more

delicately flavoured mace is famously

used to flavour potted shrimps.

83

CHILLIES 101

The potent ingredient in chillies is capsaicin, its concentration traditionally

measured on the Scoville scale, with values ranging from zero for bell

peppers to two million plus for the hottest. The reigning champion is

Pepper X, at almost 2.7 million Scoville heat units (SHU), bred by the aptly

named Ed Currie. Here are a few favourites, from gentle to scorching.

CHIPOTLE

SCOTCH BONNET

KASHMIRI

ESPELETTE

GUINDILLA

BIRD’S EYE

Lina Ekstrand

KASHMIRI (c1,500 SHU)

Dried and red, from northern

India, but also grown and used in

Goa: mild enough to use liberally,

giving a deep, rich colour and

a smoky flavour to a classic

mutton rogan josh, or traditional,

Portuguese-influenced Goan

dishes like vindaloo and sorpotel.

GUINDILLA (c2,500 SHU)

Mostly encountered pickled

and green in the Basque Country,

often threaded with anchovy

and olive onto a cocktail stick

to make a “gilda” pintxo, named

after the 1946 Rita Hayworth

movie. It’s also the perfect foil for

a dry martini.

ESPELETTE (c4,000 SHU)

Just the other side of the

border from guindilla country,

these bright-red peppers are

traditionally dried each September

by festooning local housefronts

with them. They add a pleasing

kick to piperade, among other

dishes; powdered, they’re often

used instead of black pepper.

CHIPOTLE (c5,000 SHU)

Jalapeños, but not as you know

them: deep red when smoked and

dried, they are best when soaked,

then slow-cooked in Mexican

soups and stews. They are also

available as a paste, giving a smoky,

barbecue-like heat to pulled-pork

tacos, for instance.

BIRD’S EYE (c75,000 SHU)

Thai cooks turn everything up to

11: saltiness, sweetness, sourness,

and heat, often provided by this

powerful chilli. Also known as

“mouse dropping” chillies because

of their shape, and either green or

red in colour, they put the fire into

prik nam pla, the Thai condiment

based on fish sauce and lime juice.

SCOTCH BONNET (c225,000 SHU)

With a kick like a mule, and an

unmistakably fruity aroma that

smells like a melon that’s been in

the fridge for a fortnight, Scotch

bonnets are some of the fiercest

chillies on the market. Use them –

sparingly – in a classic Jamaican

jerk marinade for pork or chicken.


Illustration by Jörn Kaspuhl

84

PLAYING IT COOL

If summer has a downside, it’s an increased risk

of heat-related health issues – preventable if

a few simple guidelines are followed, as the

experts at Mayo Clinic remind us

AWAKENING HEAT ISSUE – ISSUE—2025

As summer forges on in the Northern Hemisphere, so, too, does

oppressive heat and humidity for many in hotter climates.

High heat and humidity make for a dangerous combination

that prevents the body from properly cooling down, increasing

the risk of heat cramps, exhaustion and heatstroke. According to

Dr Jesse Bracamonte, a Mayo Clinic family medicine physician, this weather

pattern is a perilous one for many.

“High heat and high humidity can place one at risk of serious illness if people

aren’t careful. The heat can affect people’s bodies by increasing the core body

temperature and ability to sweat, and cause dehydration that can lead to

further medical problems. The heat can eventually elicit heat exhaustion, and

in some cases, severe heat illness, known as heatstroke,” says Dr Bracamonte.

Heat-related illnesses can range from mild to serious. Some of these include

heat rash, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heatstroke. “Illness can be

something mild, such as heat cramps, which is usually the first stage, consisting

of cramping and abdominal pain in some instances,” continues Dr Bracamonte.

“Then, it can progress to heat exhaustion, which is nausea, feeling an inability

to cool, increased warmth, cramping, dehydration or mild dehydration. And

that can become severe – and that’s known as heatstroke, which can cause

disorientation, confusion, the inability to cool yourself, nausea and vomiting.”

Heat exhaustion happens when the body loses too much water or salt

from heavy sweating or dehydration, usually after being active in the heat.

Heatstroke is more serious and happens when the body overheats and is

unable to cool down.

WHAT TO DO FOR HEAT-RELATED ILLNESSES

Seeking care promptly for heat-related illnesses is crucial. You should try to cool

down quickly, drink cool fluids and stay out of the heat until your symptoms get

better. “If you have symptoms of heat cramps or heat exhaustion, it’s important

to stay cool,” says Dr Bracamonte. Seek a cool, shaded place, go indoors and

drink fluids. Consider hydrating with sports drinks containing electrolytes

as well – just watch for heavy sugar content. If you think someone has heat

exhaustion, act fast to prevent heatstroke – which can be life-threatening.

Here’s what you can do for them:

• Move them to a shady or cool area

• Lay them down and elevate their legs

85


• Loosen tight clothing

• Give them cool fluids to drink

• Cool them with water and a fan

• Monitor their condition closely

SIGNS OF HEATSTROKE

Heatstroke is a medical emergency characterised by a body temperature

above 40°C, confusion, nausea and even loss of consciousness. It is

imperative to call emergency services immediately if you think someone

may have heatstroke. Some signs of heatstroke are:

• High body temperature (40°C or higher)

• Altered mental state (eg, confusion, agitation, slurred speech)

• Dry, moist or flushed skin

• Nausea or vomiting

• Rapid breathing

• Racing heart rate

• Headache

RISK FACTORS

Some things can make people more sensitive to heat:

• Certain medications (such as beta-blockers and antihistamines)

• Obesity

• Sudden changes in temperature (like moving to a hotter climate

or early heat waves)

• A heat index of 33°C or higher

• Age, especially young children and elderly adults

While we often talk about heat-related illnesses as one-time problems

related to a plethora of factors, chronic exposure to heat can also

exacerbate existing health problems. People with cardiovascular

diseases, diabetes, respiratory conditions like asthma, and mental-health

disorders are particularly at risk. Stress on the body that is caused by

heat can also increase the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes, while

dehydration caused by excessive sweating can lead to kidney problems

and electrolyte imbalances. Globally, about half a million people die each

year from heat-related incidents. Most of the time, these deaths are

preventable with access to cooling centres and hydration resources, as

well as with public awareness and weather warning systems.

COGNITIVE EFFECTS OF HEAT

ON HEALTH

Prolonged exposure or extreme

temperatures can place a significant

burden on cognitive function. Research

shows that high temperatures –

particularly above 32°C – can reduce

performance on cognitive tasks,

especially those requiring complex

reasoning, attention and working

memory. The reasoning behind cognitive

problems related to temperature involves

the brain’s response to thermal stress.

When the body overheats, it works

hard to trigger cooling mechanisms like

sweating and increased blood flow to the

skin, which can reduce blood flow to the

brain. This shift can disrupt the balance

of brain chemicals like serotonin and

dopamine, which are crucial for mood

regulation, focus and decision-making.

Heat can also increase irritability,

impulsivity and fatigue, all of which

negatively affect cognitive performance.

People may find it harder to concentrate,

make decisions or control their emotions

during heat waves. Additionally,

dehydration – common in hot conditions

– can further impair concentration,

memory and executive function.

Mayo Clinic & NetJets

86

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88

ite

by

ite in

exico

City

Quirky cantinas,

gourmet-level street-food

stalls and Michelin-gilded

culinary temples: the

Mexican capital’s eclectic

dining scene is a

full-course feast

of flavour, says David

Lida, who offers a

no-holds-barred guide

to one of the world’s

great foodie corridors

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

89


Over the past

two decades,

90

Mexico City has emerged as one of the world’s great

gastronomic capitals. Nearly every visitor tries to get a

reservation at those white-tablecloth restaurants that

have given the city its culinary clout: Pujol, Rosetta,

Bistro Máximo, Quintonil et al. Their respective chefs

– many of whom worked or trained in Europe and the

US before opening here – successfully attempted to

redefine and modernise the experience of dining out

in the city that, in terms of cultural sway, is the New

York of Latin America.

It wasn’t always this way. When I came to live here

in 1990, most of the best food was eaten with your

hands, standing on the street at makeshift metal

stalls, or inside unprepossessing holes-in-the-wall,

chowing down on what Mexicans call “vitamina T”:

tacos, tortas, tlacoyos, tlayudas and tostadas. You’d

eat them right by the grill, under fluorescent lights,

sitting in plastic chairs.

In those days, there weren’t many more than a

handful of high-end restaurants worth the trouble,

and even there, as good as the food was, they tended

to be stuffy affairs, with servers ineptly attempting a

simulacrum of French service. Today, by comparison,

you’d need a whole book devoted to the myriad great

places to eat and drink in Mexico City.

But don’t let the sheer sprawl overwhelm you.

To help navigate Mexico City’s deliciously varied

culinary landscape, here’s a guide to a few of the

locals’ most beloved restaurants, ranging from highend

places where reservations are recommended, if

not essential, to that still incalculably important part

of capitalino culture: street food. Just one note before

you dig in: most Mexicans don’t eat lunch before 2pm

or dinner before 8.30pm. Some of the restaurants will

accommodate you earlier, if you like, but be aware that

the only other diners will be tourists.

FROM LEFT: JEREMIAH AMAYA / UNSPLASH, © CANA; PREVIOUS PAGE: NICOLAS WACHTER

Right: Cana’s

kale chicharrón,

accented with

chile powder and

crème fraîche

Left: the city’s

iconic Palacio de

Bellas Artes

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

Previous pages:

a feast of small

plates at the

Michelin-starred

Expendio de Maíz

RECENT VINTAGE

Diners in Mexico City

are promiscuous in

their tastes, and they

love novelty. Among

the hot spots to have

opened within the

past few years (and

almost instantly to

have become part of

the city’s firmament)

is Mux (@mux_mexico),

which serves innovative

versions of regional

cuisine in a relaxed

setting. Here, the

portions are so

sufficiently generous

that you can make a

meal sharing appetisers,

such as the bountifully

stuffed taco placero,

or the esquites (corn

off the cob with lemon

and chile). If you like

mole, this is your place:

Mux offers six different

versions. Another fan

favourite is Voraz (voraz.

com), which bills itself as

a “gastro cantina” and

is an especially lively

place serving mussels

topped with ceviche, a

grilled corn cake filled

with fried oysters or

roasted broccoli with a

sunflower-seed sauce.

(Unlike most restaurants

here, Voraz’s kitchen is

open late.) In the lively

borough of Cuauhtémoc,

there’s Cana (canacdmx.

com), which manages to

be informal and elegant

at the same time, its

waitstaff making it a

particularly friendly

locale. Notable options

are arroz meloso, a moist

paella with clams and

calamari; and kale that

has been fried to a crisp,

crowned with crème

fraîche and lumpfish

caviar. At the corner

of Calle Sinaloa and

Avenida Veracruz in

the Colonia Condesa

neighbourhood, you’ll

find Bar Nino. The

setting is basic French

bistro, and the menu

is mostly Italian, using

only the freshest of

local ingredients. Among

the best dishes are a

salad of raw tuna and

fava beans, asparagus

in anchovy butter and a

few impeccable pastas.

For the best chance of

scoring a table, show

up early – shoot for

1pm for lunch and

before 8pm for dinner.

91


From left: whole-grilled pescado a la talla at Contramar; Meroma’s minimalist-chic dining room;

Nicos drenches its soft crab in a fish mole

92

TRIED & TRUE

Some standout

establishments have been

around for quite some

time but are nonetheless

always packed, their chefs

each having come up with

a winning formula that

has kept their clientele on

their feet for at least two

decades. Hands down the

finest fish and seafood

restaurant in town is star

chef Gabriela Cámara’s

Contramar (contramar.com.

mx; see page 94), which

serves a reconsideration

of the kind of food that

Mexicans customarily

eat at the beach under

an umbrella, their toes in

the sand. Culinary calling

cards include sautéed

shrimp in adobo, octopus

with potatoes in olive oil,

and some things that have

been widely copied, such

as fresh tuna tostadas

with chipotle mayonnaise,

and pescado a la talla,

a whole fish paired with

red and green spice rubs.

Even if it’s a little off the

beaten path in residential

Azcapotzalco, Nicos (nicos.

mx) is worth the trip.

Since 1957, it has cooked

up heritage-steeped

Mexican food in its

maximum expression.

Among the specialities:

meatballs in chipotle

sauce; rabbit in a sauce

made with chile, cacao

and Mexican brown sugar;

and fish in a garlic,

herb and chile sauce.

Up in Roma Norte, Meroma

(meroma.mx) is a small

place with an invitingly

tranquil ambience and

impeccable service.

Here, you’ll find a menu

that’s more international

than Mexican: think

romaine salad with a

delectably creamy lemon

dressing, topped with

furikake and crunchy

smoked tofu; soft-shell

crab with curried rice;

and a spicy orecchiette

with lamb sausage, broccoli

and breadcrumbs.

FROM LEFT: © CONTRAMAR, ANA LORENZANA, © NICOS; OPPOSITE PAGE: © LIMOSNEROS

DOWNTOWN HUSTLE

All seven centuries of Mexico City’s history,

from the age of the Aztecs to the present,

are represented in the Centro Histórico,

the old downtown. For visitors, this is

sightseeing central, and a stroll across its

beautifully eclectic avenidas is an almost

obligatory experience – one well worth

braving the heat for, despite the intensity

of its dense crowds. Its finest restaurants

are oases among the ruckus: La Casa

de las Sirenas (lacasadelassirenas.rest),

with a terrace overlooking the back of

the Metropolitan Cathedral; Limosneros

(limosneros.com.mx), which offers an

inventive menu served in what feels like

the interior of a castle; and El Cardenal

(restauranteelcardenal.com), which has been

home to traditional dishes since 1969.

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

Limosneros’s churro de

feria, with orange blossom

and a creamy grilledbanana

mousseline

93


The lunch rush at

Ricos Tacos Toluca

BOTTOMS UP!

Trendy or traditional –

what’s your poison? If your

answer is the former, good

news: over the past decade,

many groovy cocktail bars

have cropped up around

town. But beware: quite

a few of them (including

one that inexplicably made

its way to The World’s

50 Best Bars List) are

tourist traps that will

STREET SMARTS

94

On my first night in Mexico

City, a taxi driver, trying

to be helpful, told me that

if I saw a lot of people

gathered at a taco stand,

it meant one of two things:

either the tacos were

very cheap or very good.

Sometimes, they’re both.

The sidewalk is a perpetual

picnic here, but not all

street food is created

equal, and if you don’t know

what you’re doing, you (and

your stomach) may live to

regret it. Get the good stuff

at Ricos Tacos Toluca

(@ricostacostoluca_), whose

proprietors travel more

than an hour each day from

Toluca – Mexico State’s

capital – to their downtown

CDMX locale, where the

speciality is sausage tacos.

Try the green sausage,

which gets its colour not

from food dye but rather

from epazote, an indigenous

herb. Just down the street,

El Taco de Oro XEW (Calle

López 107) serves cochinita

pibil, the signature dish

of the Yucatán Peninsula

comprising cubed pork in

a sauce of oranges and

spices. If there’s any such

thing as a municipal dish

in Mexico City, it’s tacos al

pastor. They are made from

spiced slices of pork loin,

mounted together in the

form of a top, and roasted

on a spit. (If this reminds

you of shawarma, you’re

right: tacos al pastor were

the invention of Lebanese

immigrants.) My go-tos

are nearby, at El Huequito

(elhuequito.mx). When I took

Anthony Bourdain here in

2009, he liked them enough

to order seconds.

ANDREW REINER (2)

leave you feeling dispirited

rather than buzzed. Good

options include: Felina

(@_f_e_l_i_n_a_), where

you’ll find mid-century

modern decor, excellent

music and a half dozen

variations on the Negroni;

Bar Brujas (lasbrujas.mx),

a relaxed locale where

the owners, managers

and waitstaff are all

women; and Cananea

(@cananeamx), which

has a retro appeal in

the afternoon and on

slow nights but can get

extremely boisterous,

especially on weekends.

Old-school souls will want

to try one of the city’s

traditional cantinas, such

as La Opera (laoperabar.

com), which opened its

doors in 1895, a time

when Mexico looked

toward France for cultural

inspiration. The woodwork

on the mahogany bar and

booths, gold mouldings

along the ceiling, and

diamond-shaped lamps

are the hallmarks of an Art

Nouveau gem. At Cantina

Salón Paris (@salon_

paris_1934), as long as you

keep drinking, the staff will

bring you delicious food

at no additional cost. And

don’t miss the San Angel

Inn (sanangelinn.com),

a restaurant housed in a

colonial-era hacienda.

Here, in the lovely plantfilled

courtyard, you can

enjoy the best margaritas

in the city, served in

individual decanters in

buckets of crushed ice.

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

The lush open

courtyard at San

Angel Inn

95


Where the

Chef Eats

James Beard Award

semifinalist and bestselling

cookbook author

Gabriela Cámara

Gabriela Cámara’s signature restaurant

is the perennially booked Contramar,

which for 27 years has dished up the best

fish and seafood in town. Cámara’s other

restaurants include Entremar (entremar.

com), which offers the identical menu but

is easier to book, and Caracol del Mar

(caracoldemar.com.mx) – both are centred

on a catch-of-the-day bounty reaped

from the Gulf Coast and Pacific Ocean.

A groundbreaking chef, activist for social

justice and sustainability, and a sometime

government adviser, Cámara is a longtime

resident of Mexico City and one of the

greatest cheerleaders of its culinary

offerings. Here are some of her favourite

places to go when she has a day off.

96

ALANNA HALE / NYT / REDUX / LAIF

There are about 400,000 Mexicans of

Lebanese descent – and, as such, no

dearth of Lebanese-inflected eateries

around town. Cámara’s pick, which

has been there since 1930, is Ehden

(Venustiano Carranza 148), which she

adores because of its traditional

roots. “Families have been coming

here for generations,” she says (and

indeed, Ehden is packed with them on

weekends). Cámara especially likes the

stuffed cabbage and stuffed grape

leaves, as well as the kibbeh (spiced

ground meat with bulgur wheat), which

here is served raw, fried or in soup.

In business since 1950, El Sella

(barelsella.mx) is a cantina-style

restaurant favoured by doctors and

nurses in two important nearby

hospitals. “I like everything at El Sella,”

admits Cámara. Among the memorable

dishes are the parsley fried in bacon

fat, the variations on the tortilla

española, and the seared and then

slow-cooked chamorro (pork shank),

which is served whole at the table and

looks like a fragment of dinosaur. The

implausibly tender meat falls off the

bone with the tap of a butter knife.

Then there’s Expendio de Maiz

(@exp_maiz), which opened seven

years ago and, as noted by Cámara,

has spawned several imitators since.

There’s no sign above the door,

no reservations, and not even a

menu – dishes vary on a daily basis

according to what’s available in the

market. Everything is prepared over

a wood-fired grill, and they utilise

cornflour that has been nixtamalised,

a Mesoamerican process of alkalising

maize that goes back to 1500 BC.

HEAT ISSUE – 2025

97


ART OF THE SEASON

DAVID HOCKNEY, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 242.5 X 243.9 X 3 CM, © DAVID HOCKNEY, TATE, UK

98

A Bigger Splash, 1967,

by David Hockney

David Hockney, 25 is a comprehensive celebration of seven decades

of the British artist’s work that takes over the entirety of Fondation

Louis Vuitton, in Paris, until the end of August. Hockney’s remarkable

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painting to digital works, are featured. As, of course, are his homages

to the Californian sun – a great theme in his prolific career.

Through 31 August; fondationlouisvuitton.fr

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