The New Rose Kitchen
On a steamy summer Monday in Paris’s 11th Arrondissement, the chef Rose Chalalai Singh, 43, is unloading a suitcase of cooking equipment at her new private dining space, Rose Kitchen. The kitchen is still in its final stages of refurbishment but, says Singh, “I can cook anywhere as long as there’s water and gas.”
That attitude has served her well on her unconventional path through the culinary world. After moving to Paris from her native Bangkok in 2009, she opened a small Thai grocery called Ya Lamaï in the Marais. At first, the shop offered only a few takeout options, but her customers wanted more, as well as a place to sit. Eventually, Ya Lamaï relocated to a bigger space and became a full-scale restaurant, with Singh, who’d never worked in a professional kitchen, as the head chef. In 2017, she left the role to focus on her catering company (Hermès and a number of Paris galleries are clients). Four years later, when a spot became available in the historic covered market Marché des Enfants Rouges, she opened a home-style Thai cafe (also called Rose Kitchen) that quickly became a favorite of the art and fashion crowds. But Singh struggled with the nonstop schedule and closed the place after 18 months. “Restaurants aren’t my thing anymore, because I love to travel,” she says.
At her new space — in a vine-covered cobblestone mews off a quiet block — she’ll focus on invitation-only events, leaving herself plenty of time for research and sourcing trips to places like Majorca, where she found the painted pottery that today is laid out on the long communal table that accommodates 30. Diners will have views of the open kitchen, and of the shelves of kitchenware and ingredients, some for sale, like olive oil, homemade jams and colorful Japanese table linens. Upstairs is a tatami room for tea ceremonies, where Singh will host tea masters visiting from Japan.
While Singh’s food has always had Thai roots, she incorporates influences from her various journeys: Papaya salad might come accompanied by lemongrass and bay leaf-stuffed guinea hen and her hybrid dumpling-ravioli. Or she’ll collaborate with her catering partner the chef Petra Lindbergh on a South Indian curry with shrimp, coconut milk and tamarind. No matter what’s on the menu, though, “I don’t doubt myself,” she says. “I just do my job.” Her only request is that guests come hungry. “We never make it a party,” she says. “This is an eating place.” — Lauren Joseph
Photo assistant: Elie Delpit
The Thing: David Webb Brings an Archival Sketch to Life
In 1948, David Webb, a debonair jeweler originally from Asheville, N.C., opened a shop and atelier on West 46th Street in Manhattan. Possessing a savant’s skill when it came to anticipating — and adapting to — the zeitgeist, he became a favorite of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor, both of whom loved his work. In the 1960s, Webb created enameled brooches and bangles shaped like frogs and zebras; the following decade, he again used enamel in chunky abstractions of hammered 18-karat gold and brilliant cabochons. Now, nearly a half century after Webb’s death in 1975, the company that bears his name continues to mine his archive of more than 40,000 drawings, producing designs such as this tassel necklace with small beads of pale purple chalcedony, buttery coral, milky green chrysoprase and cobalt-hued lapis lazuli. It feels uncannily attuned to what’s in the air these days: a longing for movement and escape. David Webb Bead and Tassel necklace, price on request, davidwebb.com. — Nancy Hass
Chairs and Tables for the Young Design Enthusiast
Five years ago, when the New York-based interior architect Anne-Sophie Rosseel became a parent, she was dismayed by the cutesy, flimsy children’s furniture available. Most of it was “designed to end up in the landfill,” says the Belgian-born 41-year-old. “But it wasn’t always this way.” In the mid-20th century, she points out, Modernists including Charles and Ray Eames, Enzo Mari and Bruno Munari created thoughtful pieces that didn’t look out of place in the pared-down living spaces of that era. Now Rosseel is hoping to revive that tradition with her new line of kids’ furniture, House of RoRo. Named after her son’s favorite teddy bear, the collection, debuting online this month with six items and expanding in the coming months, includes a stackable blue-and-green side table with an optional pair of eyes painted on the interior; a pink-and-red chair with an arched back and seat; a rocking chair with a vintage silk cushion; and a round table with a sculptural base. The pieces, constructed from plywood stained a variety of hues, arrive in flat packs and can be assembled in just a few minutes with a rubber mallet. Rosseel hopes her youngest customers will participate in the process. When children “make an impact on their environment,” she says, “it cultivates their sense of agency.” From $240; available at houseofroro.com. — Siska Lyssens
Another Thing: A Sporty Louis Vuitton Watch Gets a Streamlined Reinvention
Since the 2002 release of Louis Vuitton’s Tambour, the sturdy timepiece named for its drum-shaped case (tambour is French for “drum”) had remained relatively the same. But in 2022, when Jean Arnault, 24, the youngest son of Bernard Arnault, the chief executive officer and chairman of the LVMH luxury conglomerate, became the French house’s director of watches, he arrived with a plan: to build what he’s called a “real boutique horology brand,” partly by discontinuing about 130 existing watches and redesigning some of the classics. One of the division’s first big moves under his leadership is the release of this new Tambour — a slimmer, more streamlined sports watch for men and women — which was developed for over two years by the team at La Fabrique du Temps, Louis Vuitton’s workshop in Geneva. The case of the watch, which is now available in five versions, including stainless steel, 18-karat yellow gold or 18-karat rose gold in combination with either a gray, blue or brown dial, no longer connects to the bracelet with statement lugs; instead, the two integrate in a way that’s nearly as subtle as the 12 letters of “Louis Vuitton,” each corresponding to an hour’s position, engraved into the side of the sandblasted bezel. The goal was to make a famously bold timepiece thin enough to slip under the cuff of a dress shirt — an inconspicuous symbol of luxury in keeping with the times. Louis Vuitton New Tambour watch, about $26,500, louisvuitton.com. — Megan Conway
Photo assistant: Maria Ordoñez-Cruz
Proof in the Pudding
Alcohol-drenched desserts like bananas Foster and baba au rhum have been around long enough to be considered retro. But a new wave of boozy confections are now showing up on menus, many featuring bitter drinks rather than the sweet wines and rums that bakers typically depend on. One favorite: bright green Chartreuse, the liqueur that’s been made by Carthusian monks since the 1500s. In England, the pastry chef Sarah Johnson, 42, of Hampshire’s Heckfield Place and London’s Spring, adds it into ice cream, which she serves alongside roasted pears with warm chocolate sauce. Also in London, Bomee Ki, 35, the pastry chef and co-owner of Sollip, uses ssuk, a plant (known as mugwort in English), to complement the drink’s floral notes; her take on an ice cream sandwich includes cake soaked in ssuk syrup and Chartreuse. At Contra and Wildair in New York, the co-chef Fabián von Hauske Valtierra, 33, has been using digestifs to update classic recipes. His tiramisù calls for Marseille amaro from the Brooklyn-based Forthave Spirits in place of the usual rum, brandy or Marsala. “The bitterness balances everything out,” says von Hauske Valtierra, who also uses the spent — a bracing, syrupy byproduct of distillation — from Forthave’s coffee liqueur in the sabayon that tops his chocolate mousse. At Miro Kaimuki in Honolulu, the chef and owner Chris Kajioka, 40, favors Ramazzotti amaro, poaching pears in the spice-infused brew before topping them with banana-caramel sauce. “It offsets the sweetness,” he says. And in Melbourne, Australia, Charley Snadden-Wilson, 32, the chef and a co-owner of the wine bar Clover, recently made bright red gummies with Campari, piling them on top of lemon posset ice cream in a creation he designed for the gelateria Piccolina. The flavor profile, he says, is “mainly based around what I like to drink.” — Lauren Joseph
A Fine Jewelry Collection Inspired by Palm Fronds
Since launching his business in 2008, the jewelry designer Eddie Borgo, 45, has crafted custom runway pieces for designers like Joseph Altuzarra, Phillip Lim and Proenza Schouler and found commercial success with his namesake costume pieces. Now, after 15 years in the business, he’s finally fulfilling his longtime ambition of creating fine jewelry. The new collection features vintage and antique diamonds set in 18-karat gold and is informed by something Borgo’s been seeing a lot more of since gradually moving his business — and his home — from New York to Los Angeles over the past five years: palm fronds. “On the most basic level, palms represent relaxation,” he says. Their leaves serve as inspiration for Borgo’s handcrafted drop earrings and glittering, one-of-a-kind collars, which will be sold at Bergdorf Goodman in New York. “The palm has been revered throughout history as a symbol of victory, peace and eternal light,” he says. “It’s the embodiment of all that is exotic.” — Jenny Comita
