Search results for

The name Nude Espresso might suggest something more racy than you find when you enter this Brick Lane coffee shop. However, if a perfect cup of coffee does it for you, then your pulse may race anyway. And not from the caffeine. Nude takes the creation of a good cup of coffee very seriously so this is the kind of shop for true connoisseurs, not those simply in need of a fix. From the website, “Obtaining the finest coffee is a labour of love. We scour the World hand selecting only the fittest, ripest green beans [...]. We grade them by eye and sort them before putting them through their paces [...]. Only then can they be tasted, blended and packaged, creating the perfect ingredient for a sublime sensory experience.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Indeed, a cup of coffee at Nude lives up to the promise of being a sublime sensory experience. Nude really stands for stripping out anything unnecessary from the process of providing a truly excellent cup of coffee, and in simplicity that satisfies, Nude Espresso truly excels.

This unassuming trailer in a parking lot opposite a port in Kawaihae serves what may be the best shave ice on Hawaii Island, and possibly in the whole state. Why? First up, the syrups (divided into artificial, creamy, and fruit) really taste of what they are supposed to. This is one shave ice where you need to be careful which flavors you combine, because they don’t just bleed into each other. (Also note that the li hing mui comes with the powder, too, so get ready for that strange salty/sour/sweet hit.) More importantly, however, is the texture, which is smooth and creamy and more like compacted snow than ice. It was so different from anything we’d had before that we asked the staff whether they used a different machine than everyone else. Nope—they just make it using the technique their grandmother passed down to them.

While this complex for the Cao Dai religion—which was founded in Vietnam in 1926 and combines elements of a number of other faiths—includes offices and a clinic, the real draw for tourists is the great temple. The giant, bright, surreal building is located some 50 miles northwest of Ho Chi Minh City and it is the most important shrine for the religion’s 2 million followers. The temple has an eclectic design, with front towers that resemble those of a mosque coupled with pagoda-style roofs along the sides. More striking still are the interiors, with brightly colored dragons wrapping themselves around columns and the ubiquitous symbol of a giant eye (the movement’s emblem is an eye inside a triangle), including on the large, orblike main altar.

If you’re looking for cozy, casual, and tasty with an Azorean island ambiance, look no further than Café Acoreano. Located near the Hamilton Bus Station, Café Acoreano blends Bermuda’s Portuguese heritage into its selection of pastries, tarts, and other delicious baked goods. They are open for breakfast and lunch. The lunch buffet consists of Portuguese specialties and fish, pork, and potato dishes as well as beef stew, pumpkin soup, and red bean soup.


Be sure to try the malassadas. These tasty treats, made of fried dough and sugar, are known as “Portuguese doughnuts” to the locals. Café Acoreano also serves a variety of Portuguese coffee and beer, though we don’t recommend trying both at the same time. Talk about a buzzy day after that!

You don’t have to be a guest at El Fenn’s hotel to relish the eclectic surroundings of its gallery and boutique—all ruby red tadelakt around a gleaming silver bar, with a chest-high fireplace and a trompe l’oeil of strutting pink flamingos. As spaces go, it’s a work of art in and of itself. Put it on your list for lunch, dinner, or drinks so that you can also delight in the frequently changing exhibits of contemporary Moroccan and international artworks. Recent highlights featured a showcase of the best of Essaouira art naïf painters and the late, great photographer Leila Alaoui’s moving portraits entitled simply The Moroccans. Peruse the boutique for a carefully curated selection of made-in-Morocco housewares, fashion, and gift items by local designers and artisans before heading upstairs for a long, lazy lunch of market-fresh salads and grilled meat and fish served family style on the rooftop. If it’s too cold for dining alfresco, grab a perfectly crafted negroni from the bar and snag a spot by the fire for an intimate tête-à-tête.

After Carcassonne in southwest France, Visby lays claim to the most important and best-preserved medieval city walls in all of Europe. The town’s citizens began building the original six-meter-high (20-foot) fortified walls in the 13th century, and they eventually grew to over 11 meters (36 feet). Today, the wall still stretches for 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles). Walk in its shadow and explore the 36 intact medieval towers as well as numerous gateways. The North Gate offers the most impressive view of the wall, providing a sense of its enormous scale. St. Mary’s Cathedral, a few blocks inland, also dates to the 13th century.

225 meters below the surface of the earth, visitors make their way through dim passageways that miners in the late 1800s had navigated in search of gold. The tour guide ‘jokingly’ points out that if for some reason we get stuck down there, the only way out is a via a steep emergency exit tunnel. In the photo for this post, there is a miner located beyond the struts (which are used to support the ceiling), who’s job it is to demonstrate what it was like in the past when miners excavated the gold bearing ore with nothing but a candle for light! During the tour, you’ll learn about the gold rush that caused the formation of Johannesburg and you’ll also be shown some interesting historical items, like dynamite which was manufactured by Alfred Nobel

See proof that the idea behind national parks—preserving spectacular landscapes—has been successful at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. In 1871, William Henry Jackson took more than 100 photos with an 8x10 plate camera. (His photos were a large part of why Yellowstone was, in 1872, named the world’s first national park.) Jackson took several shots of various places in the 24-mile long Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, including of the Upper and Lower Falls. In 2017, Jackson-based photojournalist Bradly J. Boner published the book, Yellowstone National Park: Through the Lens of Time, in which he rephotographed all but one of Jackson’s images. The book shows Boner’s modern-day photos side-by-side with Jackson’s. It turns out the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is very little changed.

With its tiny, intimate location (inside a 1920s-era former home) and all the accolades (including a James Beard semifinalist nod for Best Chef, Southwest), this Bishop Arts District spot remains one of the harder reservations to snag in town—but it’s well-worth it to keep trying. When you do make it in, you’ll be treated to chef/owner David Uygur’s seasonal Italian-inspired menus, which might include crostini topped with a Calabrian chili and bacon pâté, risotto with celery root and foie gras, or duck leg confit served with polenta, topped off with olive oil cake with prune jam and burnt-cinnamon gelato. The meats are house-cured, the pasta homemade, the ingredients local, and—with Uygur’s wife overseeing the dining room—the atmosphere full of charm, all of which has helped make this a favorite for date nights, special occasions, and foodie splurges.

It’d be challenging to find a more remote place to get fish and chips than The Bus. Yet another Alaska restaurant in a bus (the state is peppered with them), The Bus serves up what could be one of earth’s most delicate fried halibut and chips. Moist fish and a crispy and golden brown crust create layers of flavor. There’s a good chance one of Hyder’s own residents caught the halibut the day before. The fries are so good you’ll keep eating them long after you’re full. Very full. Important: Check The Bus’s Facebook page before you make the drive to Hyder. Owner Diana Simpson shuts down from time to time to do some fishing of her own. Road-tripping without a stop at The Bus would make for a very sad day indeed.

The bright colors and floral patterns that adorn Lisa Corti fabrics are inspired by her childhood in Ethiopia and her lifetime of travel to India and Asia. The inventory is extensive, with housewares, women’s clothing, children’s wear, and ceramics. Each handmade item reflects Italian design sensibility and craftsmanship. At her shop in the Sant’Ambrogio district, you will find hand-blocked tablecloths, bedspreads, and pillows alongside blue Jaipur tiles and ceramic serving bowls. Beach lovers can savor multicolored caftans and strappy sandals in the same riot of colors and prints.

Even though Thailand is thousands of miles from Telluride, Siam has perfected an edible ode to the country. In fact, the food here is so good that 5280 magazine named Siam one of the best Thai restaurants in the entire state of Colorado. At this downtown spot, Thailand-born and -raised chefs cook the dishes of their home country, using as much local and organic meat as possible. The king crab and lobster tempura, pineapple-and-red-curry mussels, and peanut-dusted pra ram stir fry will have you so besotted with Thai cuisine, you’ll be digging for your passport to take the next flight to Bangkok.

When Mozart was a child, he performed here for Empress Maria Theresa; Franz Joseph I was born and died here, and his unhappy wife, Sisi, presumably sulked inside. Schönbrunn Palace, in the western Hietzing district, naturally invites comparisons to Versailles, as the Hapsburgs built it to rival the French palace. Today, the 1,441-room baroque masterpiece designed by Fischer von Erlach is a World Heritage site, with its Great Gallery and carriage museum among the draws. Its gardens are so vast that a small train takes you around to the palm house, an orangery, and a zoo. The recently renovated, columned Gloriette structure and its café look over the palace and, beyond, Vienna. Schönbrunn’s grandeur never ceases to impress—not bad considering that the palace was only a summer retreat for the Hapsburg rulers.

Named for Singapore’s highest point, the 163-meter-high (534-foot-high) Bukit Timah, the nature reserve of the same name encompasses 1.64 square kilometers (405 acres) of green in the middle of the city-state. Some 40 percent of the nation’s flora and fauna is represented here, including the greater racket-tailed drongo bird and the crab-eating macaque. An “ecological bridge” allows animal life to pass over an expressway to an adjacent reserve.

Just seven hectares (17 acres) in size, the Botanical Gardens in Scarborough pack a tropical punch. They were founded in the 19th century on a former sugar plantation, with views of the town and bay. Visitors will see orchids and bromeliads, royal poinciana and silk-cotton trees, a huge saman tree with spreading branches and an allée of stately palms. Keep an eye out for the island’s colorful blue-crowned motmot bird flitting about the grounds.