Mantra Samui

On a recent business trip to Thailand we had the pleasure of stopping over for a few nights at the Mantra Samui. An eighty-eight room brand spanking new property with a view to die for.

Mantra Samui is a trendy 5-star hotel with a management thinking outside the box. Other than the spectacular, panoramic views from the 76(!) square meter rooms, Mantra Samui boasts an oversized infinity pool, a proper gym (with equally breathtaking views) a yoga studio, and two restaurants with exquisite Thai and western cuisine.

If you’re 30 or 40 something, want to do the Thai islands and feel like avoiding the backpacker-crowd, I couldn’t think of a better place to play.

The bar is the best stocked one on the island (thorough research was made) and the staff will treat you royally. 

To sum it up: Mantra Samui in no-doubt Stockholm-Dubai endorsed. 

The Small Bang Theory

We love Denmark, we also love Danes, and many of the products that they are gracing us with. So when rumor hit us that our trusted HiFi supplier Bang & Olufsen was branching out by launching a daughter company that is teaming up with young creatives, from all walks of life (designer walks that is) to make funky standalone sound systems we were very excited.

Now the first product has now seen the light of day, the B&O Play, BEOLIT 12, an Airplay compatible 21st century boombox. We have not yet had the chance to try out the sound quality but judging from the mother companies previous record, we have no doubts it will be divine, and for the design…we say A-OK!

Cerdo encantadora

You might think that your city has a leg up on our city when it comes to delicatesse’s originating from cerdo’s due to the religious nature of the region. That might have been true until the french teamed up with their neighbor in the south the Spaniards and with some help from some black legged pigs we are almost at par.

At Galeries Lafayette, behind those frosted doors hides a gold mine for the pata negra lover, it will dig a decent hole in your wallet but we can assure you it is certainly worth it, for 7k AED (~$1.9k) the leg is yours, for that kind of marbels they will throw in a wooden stand for your kitchen counter. Enjoy.

in the Boiler Room

Another advice from your friends at Stockholm-Dubai on how to look like a pro in your apron, as you probably have figured we are all about the gear and having good looking pots and pans can make the difference between foe and pro, few cooking gear is better looking then the classic, Le Creuset. The french know how to look good in the kitchen, and this orange cast iron thing of beauty is perfect for a boeuf bourguignon but as you can see works well even for a simple bolognese. In Dubai they can be picked up at Tavola.

Who has time for hours?

Now a good week after Christmas when the dust hopefully have settled and you have had time to reflect over the outcome of the season of giving, you might come to the conclusion that the long-johns Santa brought you was not as great as your face expression had it to be on Christmas eve. So to ease all worried souls our friends at the International Watch Company has launched a new addition to their Pilot Top-Gun line, the Miramar. This über cool fighter-pilot inspired watch named after the mythical location known to have fostered legends like, Ice Man, Goose, Viper and of course Maverick is crafted for you whose life is moving far too fast to be counted in days and hours, rather than minutes and seconds. For that reason the hours has been lifted from the outer ring to make those precious ticks even more visible. If this in an indication that the watch year of 2012 will continue to go in black is perhaps too early to say, might be true what they say about going black…however we are certainly off to a good start.

When you have seen it all…

…we advise you make your way over to the newly opened hotspot in our fair city, Cirque du Soir, as the name suggests this ultra chique supplier of decadence has picked up most its inspiration from a traveling circus. Spend a night here and you will be subjected to boxed in half-naked females showing off the incredible simultaneous capacity only ladies posses, another more burlesque influenced lady on stilts can also be seen roaming around the champagne filled tables in this basement location. If you did not think that was enough to add some diversity to your night on the town, perhaps the number of little people that are showing of their dance skills on top of the backrests of the sofas might rev your engine, our favorite is the guy dressed like Elvis, you can simply not just love the guy.

We strongly suggest a visit, a table reservation is advised though, considering the compact interior, so if the wallet permits, dig up that old red clown nose and make yourself over to the Fairmont Hotel.