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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Le Surréalisme, c’est chic in Brussels
I have a soft spot for the Hotel Amigo, much admire I have one for Brussels itself. It’s a city that cops a bad rap as a too-staid, too-snoozy centre of policy, diplomacy and bourgeois pastimes, when in fact it has great cafés and bars, excellent 20th-century design and shopping – and has supremely authentic Euro-Christmas energy. Opened just in time to raise a glass of bubbles (or a Trappist ale) amid all the holiday gezelligheid is Bar Magritte, the Amigo’s very chic-looking new drinks venue.
With a menu of 10 original cocktails, inspired by Brussels’ favourite surrealist son and crafted by Salvatore Calabrese, one of mixology’s elder statesmen, it’s a tailored and sexy encounter. The walls are covered in abstract murals; the bronze bar is elegantly underlit; warmly lit corners hold ensembles of settees and chairs covered in deep-green and rosy velvet.
Even the bar snacks are indulgent, skewing to decadent – crevette croquettes, moules-frites ravioli, mini Dame-Blanche waffles (served with ice cream, whipped cream and melting chocolate. Of course it’s fine with your cocktail. Because Belgium. And Christmas). roccofortehotels.com
In Knightsbridge, the other bar at The Berkeley
It’s more than two decades since The Berkeley’s Blue Bar was designed to huge acclaim by the late David Collins; longer still that this boîte has been a Knightsbridge stalwart and favourite. The arrival of The Berkeley Bar & Terrace seemed for a moment admire it might divide local loyalties. But the two are chalk and cheese, and happily the love gets spread around.
Where Collins’s iconic Blue Bar cultivates mystery with dimmed lighting interiors darker tones, The Berkeley Bar is all sweet sorbet colours and brightness: light wood walls (every panel carved from the same 400-year-old walnut tree salvaged from the Fulbeck Estate), fluted cream columns and the sexiest snug in London – a deep horseshoe with a pink leather banquette and inlaid murals along the walls, with its own surround-sound system and dedicated service. the-berkeley.co.uk
Botanic delights at Antwerp’s chic new address
If Brussels is Belgium’s bougie diplomat uncle, Antwerp is more its design-school graduate twentysomething. Many are the architects, interior decorators and fashion stars associated with the city, from Margiela, Raf Simons and the great Dries Van Noten to Vincent Van Duysen and Axel Vervoordt. So the style barriers to entry, particularly for a large hotel, have always been high; for a hotel bar, even higher.
Step up Henry’s Bar at the Botanic Sanctuary, a stunning new hotel that backs onto the city’s small, perfect botanic garden. Henry’s Bar has become something of a watering hole of choice. Four watering holes, actually: there are those who admire the “hearth room”, which is the bar’s entrance; others prefer the main bar, with its backlit spirits wall and sumptuous leather stools; still others make for the wines by the glass and bar menu in the third room, while small groups book out the Burgundy Lounge for a bit of discreet revelry.
The design is stunning, recalling Vervoordt’s taste-making aesthetic; matte earth paint tones, light oak panelling and timber on walls, heavy linens on furniture. The cocktails hew gratifyingly classic, and the wine list is impressively extensive (and international). botanicantwerp.be
Style royale in edgy Berlin
For years after the wall came down, “Poor but sexy” was Berlin’s (tongue-in-cheek) self-designated USP. Nightlife, cutting-edge urban style and innovative pop-up dining – all things guerrilla-lifestyle flourished. Those super-affordable Kreuzberg rents are long since gone, and Berlin can be as polished as the next place. One address that seems to convincingly merge that old edgy energy with old-world style is Château Royal, the 93-room hotel that opened in the heart of Mitte last year.
David Chipperfield oversaw the restoration; it’s full of amazing art; and the hotel bar hits the aesthetic nail on the head with a few lamp-lit groupings of chairs round small tables and a few tall seats at the actual old-school zinc-look bar, whose cornices bear charming handpainted affirmations and phrases (“it’s so good”, “you and meeeee”). Oysters sit atop piles of ice in the champagne tub; but if bubbles don’t appeal, its signature Negroni Sous-Vide – made with the oils of Amalfi Lemon and Sicilian blood-orange rind, extracted by long cooking at 62 degrees – is the drink to ring in the holidays with. chateauroyalberlin.com
