Do you use your Sunday to look back over the past five or six days and take stock? Or are you one of those look-ahead types who ploughs on and does little in the way of a weekly audit? Or are you something of a seventh-day swinger and find moments for reflection while also eagerly entering plans and lists in the diary for the weeks and months ahead? To stay crisp, I like to play back the week on Saturdays and Sundays and recall the high points (and lows), who was brilliant, what was tasty and where was worth documenting and might demand a return visit. Most importantly, I ask: “What did I learn and who taught me?”
 
Fellowship
On Tuesday morning, I had the honour of sharing the stage with Tilda Swinton. The venue was the Capitol Theatre in Singapore and in the audience were several hundred students from universities across the city-state. I was moderating and Ms Swinton was there to talk about her career, new projects, the creative process and to take questions from the students. Best of all, it was a trip down memory lane as she reminded me about our days in London in the early 1990s, the people we hung out with, the clubs we frequented and the wonderful jobs we did for very little money. About halfway through our talk, Tilda hit upon the importance of fellowship and how we’ve somehow landed in a place where the individual and personal brand has become far more important than being part of a troupe or team. It was a simple observation but refreshingly on point. “Aren’t we motivated by the process and the people we work with? And the people we return to work with?” Tilda asked. “It’s about fellowship.” This definitely struck a chord with the students and it has stayed with me all week.

Chairman’s flight 
On Thursday it was another talk – this time I was answering the questions on stage at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong. Before taking up my position, I was chatting to one of the club’s leaders and he mentioned the beauty of flying around Asia from HK and catching the chairman’s flight to Tokyo, Singapore and Jakarta. Chairman’s flight? I’d never heard the term. And given my card says chairman, right below my name, why wasn’t I aware of this service, concept or secret society? “The chairman’s flight is a weekday departure that leaves midmorning and means that you can have a gentle start, do a little work in the lounge, have a drink and lunch onboard and maybe there’s even a little nap,” explained the club grandee. “And given these are all three-to-four hour sectors, the meeting at your destination is most likely drinks and dinner.” I’ve now instructed my travel agent, Jill, that chairman’s flights are the only way to go.

Secrets are important 
I just landed in Tokyo and I’m meeting my friend Noriko for dinner at the same restaurant that we sampled two weeks ago. It’s hidden away up a staircase on a third floor in Hiroo. It’s open late and the kitchen will cook up pretty much any classic dish that you fancy. The crowd is exclusively Japanese and it feels a bit like Tokyo circa 1998. Heaven. The lesson here is that personal connections are everything, as this semi-secret establishment needs to know its patrons before allowing them to book. Not only does this keep the tourists out, it also creates a certain kind of intimacy between staff and patrons. I’m looking forward to going back for thirds.

Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns. 

British entrepreneur Nick Jones can’t get a table at his own restaurant (writes Claudia Jacob). “It’s a good problem to have,” he tells Monocle at Corner Shop 180. As we queue, a customer recognises him and offers some unsolicited praise. “Great job,” he says of the space off The Strand in London. “Thank God for that,” says Jones. The restaurateur is humble about what he has achieved since stepping down as CEO of the membership club Soho House in 2022, though he remains a stakeholder.

Part of 180 Quarter, designer Alex Eagle’s new development, the venture is a one-stop shop. “It’s a café, bakery, grocery store and wine bar,” says Jones. Hybrid and multi-hyphenated hospitality “concepts” might be in vogue but the founder’s thinking is more practical. “I have never liked the idea of creating something that’s closed in the evenings or on weekends. In a city like London, it doesn’t make sense.”

By day, a tidy stream of well-heeled thirtysomethings comes for patisseries handmade in-house by Populations Bakery. By night, locals and residents of the development’s 115 apartments drop by for a glass of wine, picking up a red lentil dhal for dinner. “I envisage this as the place where people come to find the last 20 per cent of their groceries and have a bite to eat while they’re at it,” says Jones. So are there reasons to be optimistic about the capital’s dining scene? “Ignore the naysayers,” says Jones. “Londoners are still obsessed with eating out.” 
7 Arundel Street, WC2

Monocle’s London City Guide offers our insights into the restaurants, hotels and galleries to have on your list.

Singapore-based Dan Terry Jacobson is the founder of Oo La Lab, a craft fragrance brand with studios in Singapore, Bangkok and Dubai (writes Joseph Koh). Here, he shares how gardening informs his business, his favourite Greek restaurant and his go-to Singaporean breakfast.

Where do we find you this weekend?
Either buying plants at the nursery or holed up in my garden – watering, grafting, replanting. Gardening feeds back into my work because we wouldn’t have a fragrance industry if there were no flowers. It’s a blessing to be in Singapore where we’re surrounded by the jungle all year long: green and verdant beauty is everywhere.

Ideal start to a Sunday? Gentle or a jolt?
After getting a coffee, I’ll either take a walk around the Tanglin or Dempsey Hill neighbourhoods or take an ice bath. Sometimes I drive my kids around in the company van with no destination in mind – we get lost and that is the whole point.

What’s for breakfast?
Caffe Beviamo in Tanglin Mall. They do staples really well. My go-to order is scrambled eggs on sourdough toast with a dash of salt and pepper. It’s so simple but so perfect.

A Sunday soundtrack?
My SoundCloud mix is pretty eclectic, spanning from nostalgic 1980s rock and modern house to electronic music and reggae. Some of my favourites include songs by The Cure, Satin Jackets, Bob Marley and lately, remixes of The Weeknd’s hits. 

News or not?
Fortunately or unfortunately, that’s part of my routine. I’ll start with The Sydney Morning Herald then flick on CNN and end on The New York Times.

What’s on the menu?
There’s an amazing Greek restaurant in Dempsey Hill called Blu Kouzina. Start with a feta salad, then the meat skewers and saganaki (fried cheese). If there’s still room, I like to close off the meal with some baklava.

And to drink?
I love to amble along the Singapore River and pick a spot there. It has a host of great bars where you can take in the city views while having a drink.
oola-lab.com

This week’s Middle Eastern-inspired recipe uses quality chicken marinated in plenty of spices, accompanied by a punchy garlic dip. Easy does it.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients
For the chicken shawarma
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp turmeric
2 tbsps apple cider vinegar
3 tbsps olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
500g boneless chicken thighs, roughly chopped with skin on
50g Greek yoghurt

For the ‘toum’
5 garlic cloves peeled
½ tsp salt
250ml mild olive oil
3 tbsps lemon juice


Method
1.
Mix the spices, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and yoghurt, then refrigerate for at least an hour.

2.
To make the toum, halve the garlic cloves and remove the germ. Blend with ½ tsp salt and 3 tbsps oil. Slowly drizzle in the remaining oil and lemon juice (as if making mayonnaise) and chill the mixture. 

3.
Preheat oven to 250C.
 
4.
Thread the chicken onto skewers and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once.

5.
Serve with the toum as well as some flatbreads, red onion and a squeeze of lemon.
ralphschelling.com

“To be surrounded by so many artworks and artists is a form of nourishment,” says Aicha Benazzouz (writes Liam Aldous). As part of Izza’s art-direction team, she conducts several tours per day. As she leads Monocle up a slender stairwell to a balcony overlooking one of three interior courtyards, she details the hotel’s years-long renovation.

“We connected seven adjoined properties on a quieter part of the medina,” she says. Having started as the project’s interior stylist, Benazzouz now oversees the entire operation, which functions as both a hotel residence and museum. Typically, riads are inverted houses that shelter inhabitants from the bustle beyond. Izza takes a different approach, which makes the property like a labyrinth with surprises at every turn. Moroccan and African artists are given pride of place and interiors riff on Morocco’s rich heritage, with woodwork as well as zellige, tadelakt and arabesque tiling providing the backdrop. The head chef, Ahmad El Hardoum, fuses Moroccan flavours with Mediterranean touches. 
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