A Luxury Travel Blog

Head chef Lisa Sutherland leads No. 20, a great little restaurant at the boutique hotel Sanctum Soho, where she serves modern British cuisine; she has previously worked at The Park Lane Hotel and The Savoy.

No. 20 opens at 6:30 during the week, making it a great destination for an intimate breakfast meeting. In the evenings, the restaurant adds a bit of glamour to Soho, and after dinner, guests can enjoy a drink at the rooftop bar, which is also an ideal space for private events.

Western Australia grows more French black truffle than the rest of Australia put together and the Mundaring Truffle Festival, is an ideal opportunity to taste and learn about the fabled fungi from some of Australia’s top chefs and food producers.

The festival is set in unmistakable Australian countryside providing a taste of the old world firmly rooted in the new. Located in Mundaring in the Perth Hills, a 45 min drive east of Perth, the event celebrates the annual harvest and includes truffle tasting, hunts and master classes with truffle afficionado Alain Fabregues, owner-chef of The Loose Box restaurant in Mundaring. There is also a wine show, cooking classes and a gourmet food market as well as art exhibitions and workshops.

Fancy seeing camels being raced up a dry riverbed? That’s exactly what happens at the now famous annual Alice Springs Camel Cup which will take place tomorrow. A must see event; visitors can watch brave/crazy riders whizz past on the temperamental and unpredictable camels. Created in 1970 as a way to settle a bet between friends, camel racing up the bed of the Todd River is day of pure fun. Punters can vote for the prettiest camel and both Mr Camel Cup and Miss Camel Cup are crowned on the day – after some camel comedy!

The team at the Hilton Maldives Iru Fushi Resort & Spa joined forces to create a giant human version of the Hilton logo on their beach to celebrate their launch a year ago and have re-created a giant ‘1′ in celebration of the anniversary this month. To get in the spirit, the luxury private island resort is asking their Facebook fans to create their own version of the Hilton logo in the most innovative way possible for their chance to win a complementary holiday at the resort. The image most liked by fans will win and the lucky creative whisked off to paradise.

There is also the chance to receive a complementary upgrade to a stunning Aqua Retreat for the 100th booking to the resort made on Hilton.com this month. Guests simply need to write ‘Happy Birthday Hilton’ in the booking notes for their chance to win. And for honeymooners staying at the resort this July, the resort is offering an exclusive 30% discount off a return visit to celebrate their own 1st anniversary.

Due to open next month, The Blackman is the final instalment of the Art Series Hotels that have popped up in Melbourne over the past six months. Following in the footsteps of The Cullen Hotel (Adam Cullen) and The Olsen (John Olsen) which opened last month, The Blackman will offer an edgy, boutique interior and an enviable St Kilda location. Named after illustrator Charles Blackman, the hotel will showcase his artwork throughout. Rates start from $195 (approx £100) per room per night based on two people sharing.

Visually startling – a small, ornate Turkish building in the shadows of City steel and glass – the Bathhouse has been open as a bar since May 2009, but now its ‘through-the-looking-glass’ interior has been reworked to include a gourmet restaurant. The whole establishment is infused with Victorian-style opulence, and the menu is similarly inspired by British classics – mouthwatering items from the menu include confit of Middle White pork belly with veal marrow risotto and crackling; organic chicken and chorizo pizza; and Eton mess with summer berries and popping candy. People-watchers will be pleased to note that the clientele is equally ostentatious.

Nicola Di Luzio is an intern at Hg2 luxury city guides.

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After the recent political upheaval in Bangkok and civil disruptions, which resulted in many deaths and a large amount of destruction to property, I was a bit wary of what we might find in the Ratchaprasong district. This is the business and shopping area where the red shirt protesters created a no-go area with barricades of burning tyres among other things. They also set fire to CentralWorld, which was one of Bangkok’s newest and finest shopping malls. As well as department stores, shops, cinemas and restaurants, it’s also the site of the luxury hotel Centara Grand at CentralWorld.

I had no real idea of what to expect, but the trip to Bangkok was necessary, and there hadn’t been any recent horrific headlines about battles in the street, so off we went. Here’s a quick report of what I found.

The BTS (sky train) is running as normal. The streets show no sign of the earlier troubles, and it’s business as usual in most places. The big exception to this is that much of CentralWorld is now a black, burned out empty hulk. I did attempt to take photos for you but reconstruction is well underway and the building is clothed in massive green tarpaulins, so there’s not much to see from behind the camera lens.

I’ve heard that the department store Isetan is open for business in CentralWorld again. I also checked out the Centara Grand at CentralWorld’s website and there’s nothing on there to suggest that they’re not open for business. It looks as though the fires didn’t reach the northern end of the complex. (Sorry, I didn’t have time to go and verify that for myself.)

However, I did manage to check out the Grand Hyatt Erawan, which is directly across the busy Ratchaprasong crossroads from CentralWorld. The good news is that it is most definitely business as usual here. Having stayed at this hotel before, and enjoyed the magnificent dinner buffet in their Dining Room restaurant, I was delighted to discover that there’s also a superb lunch buffet on offer in the Dining Room too. Highly recommended!

As usual, Bangkok residents seem to have bounced back from their troubles. I wish I didn’t feel the need to add “until the next time”.