Get the low-down from the original style-seekers' latest good-time hunting expeditions, find destination inspiration and insider tips from around the world. Welcome to the official Smith blog: we hope you enjoy your stay
We’re satisfying our craving for fine food and stylish stays by taking a peek at Spicers Clovelly Estate, a boutique retreat in Australia’s Sunshine Coast Hinterland, home to the award-winning Long Apron restaurant.
At twice Michelin-starred Ria restaurant at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago, chef Danny Grant serves elegant French fare, presenting a symphony of flavour and texture from only a few carefully chosen ingredients. We’re not the only ones in Grant’s fan club: the chef has just been named one of Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs. [...]
Not decided what to do for Easter with your family yet? You’d better get cracking! (I know, but seasonal themes just lend themselves to awful punnery. You’ve been warned). So, to make sure your Easter is eggsellent (rather than rotten), we’ve brought you a last-minute child-friendly boutique stay that will make everyone – big or [...]
How far are you willing to travel for a good feed? The Smith team has planned holidays to Shanghai in search of xiao long bao soup dumplings and lost countless hours in Ho Chi Minh alleyways hunting bánh xèo pancakes. We also think nothing of making a six-hour round-trip for dinner, recently setting out for [...]
Stylish bar 1105 mixologist Gromit Eduardsen – inventor of the delicious Copenhagen Cocktail – knows a thing or two about where to go for a good time. He shares his recipe for a top night out with Smith reviewer and travel blogger Heather Cowper… If you were taking friends out dinner in Copenhagen, where would [...]
On a recent weekend away in the Queensland capital, we hit up some of Brisbane’s best bars and restaurants before our heads hit the pillow at designer haven Spicers Balfour Hotel. Here are our tips for eating and drinking in Fortitude Valley, just a short hop from this hip urban bolthole. If you’re staying at Spicers [...]
To keep our inventory of insider city tips fresh and shiny, we regularly ask our style-spotting spies to report back from their trips with the latest travel news and views. Here, magician-slash-comedian-slash-hotel-reviewer Chris Cox shares his learnings from La-La Land and reveals how to live like a big-shot (Edinburgh Festival) star in Los Angeles… LA, the [...]
For round two of our Sri Lankan flavour festival, Amangalla boutique hotel in Galle, Sri Lanka, shares recipes for a tasty beetroot curry and refreshing mint sambol, the perfect accompaniments to Wednesday’s seafood curry. BEETROOT CURRY INGREDIENTS 1 tbs vegetable oil 1 onion, chopped 5 garlic cloves, cut into thin strips 2 tbs curry powder [...]
On our last scouting trip in search of hotels in Sri Lanka, the Smith team soaked up the local flavours with a cooking class at Amangalla boutique hotel, set in a historic fort in the coastal town of Galle, three hours south of capital Colombo. Here we share a no-brainer seafood curry recipe… Admittedly, it can [...]
On a recent 17-hour stopover in Singapore en route from London to Melbourne, Smith discovered that the Lion City’s charms can be discovered in a day. We recommend you book a hotel in Singapore for lengthier stopovers, but if you’re not overnighting in town, here’s our guide to making every hour count… TOUCHDOWN Changi Airport is [...]
