Latest news with #Dardenne
Vancouver Sun
4 days ago
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Halifax's sleek Queen's Marque development woos visitors
With the Atlantic Ocean at high tide behind him, Fred Dardenne is down on his hands and knees so that we don't have to be. A half-hour's drive southwest of Halifax, the veteran forager is rooting for tasty wild food, kneeling on the grassy fields of Prospect Bay and amid the rocky crevices beside the rolling waves. Those of us taking part in Dardenne's foraging tour are blind to all the deliciousness growing around us. But Dardenne, a Belgian-born lover of the land who moved to Nova Scotia 18 years ago and immediately started his business, sees all. His eagle eyes spot sheep sorrel and wild cranberries, caribou moss, sea asparagus and sea truffle. Soon, he's handing out samples that are as tasty as they are novel. 'It's a little garden,' Dardenne says, of the patch of land that he knows so well, close to where he lives. That mid-May outing with Dardenne was one of several tasty highlights during our visit to Halifax. Our trip focused on the new and transformative Queen's Marque District, a $200-million development along the Halifax waterfront that's been opening in phases since late 2021. The complex is flush with high-end accommodation, appealing restaurants, tempting shops and attractive public spaces that nod to Haligonian culture and history. At Queen's Marque, they know Dardenne too. His just-found wares bolster dishes at several of its restaurants and above all at Mystic, a fine-dining destination that opened in the fall of 2024 but has already been celebrated as the 71st best restaurant in the country, according to the latest Canada's 100 Best Restaurants list. Before this spring, it had been more than a dozen years since I'd visited Halifax on a family vacation. Returning this year, I didn't recognize the striking waterfront that Queen's Marque had helped revitalize, or the crowded boardwalk adjacent to the district that is lined with more restaurants, bars, craft shops, bike rental shops, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and more. Between the boardwalk and Queen's Marque, Halifax has a new hub for tourism, in addition to its long-standing attractions, museums and festivals. Nova Scotia's capital should appeal to vacationing Canadians seeking to visit more of their own country, especially with direct flights that connect Halifax to Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, in addition to other Canadian Maritime cities. My three days in Halifax were focused on the culinary appeal of Queen's Marque, the luxurious accommodations at Muir , the district's luxurious boutique hotel that opened in December 2021, and the pleasures of two day trips including the outing with Dardenne. Muir, a 109-room property whose name means 'sea' in Gaelic, is at once sleek and dramatically modern, yet also tied to the heritage and history of both Halifax and Nova Scotia. Built primarily of Nova Scotia sandstone and featuring Muntz metal, an alloy of zinc and copper that's used in building ships, Muir lives up to its tagline, 'Born of this Place.' I was comfortable and even pampered in a spacious, harbour-facing room decorated with landscape paintings, photographs and ceramics by Nova Scotia artists. Everything about the room's ambience felt artful and local, down to a cosy wool throw blanket on the king-sized bed displaying an original Muir tartan. The room's visual centrepiece was a striking, well-stocked bar in a lighted, porthole-shaped display case. But the granite and marble bathroom with twin sinks, a heated floor and a rain shower vied for attention too. Guests at Muir wanting to stay active can rent kayaks or paddleboards or make use of a large fitness centre with state-of-the-art equipment and a swimming pool. The centre and pool are part of Muir's Windward Wellness spa, which also includes an infrared sauna, a eucalyptus steam room and a halotherapy salt room. I confess that we professional food lovers spent less time exercising and more time at the restaurants and bars of Queen's Marque. For fine-dining fans, the district's must-visit highlight is Mystic, where the main draw is an evening's culinary journey through a $165 multi-course tasting menu filled with exquisite, delicious creations. Dishes such as smoked egg yolk with wild sea flora, sea mustard and Acadian caviar, and lobster ravioli with Nova Scotia saffron, trumpet mushrooms and seaweed brioche were standouts. I've had significantly more expensive meals in other Canadian and American cities that fell short of what Mystic offered in terms of taste, sophistication and surprises. Other Queen's Marque restaurants, all classy and eye-catchingly appointed, offered dining options at different price points as well as a range of cuisines and concepts. Muir's ground-floor restaurant Drift, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, modernized Atlantic Canadian cuisine with dishes such as Hodge Podge (butter-braised cod filet, salt cod croquette, green beans, new potatoes, carrots, buttered leeks), sunflower-crusted salmon filet with land and sea asparagus fregola and Nova Scotia lamb shoulder with Lunenburg lamb sausage. Nearby, Daryâ, which translates to 'sea' or 'ocean' in Persian, specializes in elevated Eastern Mediterranean fare, reflecting influences from multiple countries in that region. Mezzes and dips hit the spot here but still left room for appetizers such as tuna carpaccio with charred eggplant and beef tartare with merguez spices, as well as mains like charred octopus with black garlic harissa and lamb tagine. The most popular restaurant at Queen's Marque is Salt + Ash Beach House, a relaxed spot that can boast about its live-fire cooking while turning out approachable fare including sandwiches, a variety of pizzas, jerk cod and clams and haddock tacos. The only lobster roll that I managed to snag while I was in Halifax was served at Sal + Ash, and that iconic sandwich, along with some impeccably crisp fries, did not disappoint. We also enjoyed the intimate setting, small plates and wines by the glass at Peacock Wine Bar. Some of those glasses, to our pleasant surprise, were sparkling wines and whites made by wineries in the Annapolis Valley, an hour northwest of Halifax. In fact, we made the hour-long trip to Nova Scotia's wine country to visit Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards , a veteran winery in the valley that launched in 2009. The setting there was idyllic, with the spacious, inviting, organic- and biodynamic-certified winery backing onto its gorgeous vineyard, with the shores of the Minas Basin in the background. Lightfoot & Wolfville is well worth a visit, given its busy tasting room and shop (some of its wines are also available at the Liquid Assets shop at the Halifax Airport), as well as its restaurant that turns out wood-fired pizzas and refined salads. We wound down our stay in Halifax at BKS, a speakeasy inside Muir that is open only for hotel guests and locals who buy memberships. Forward-thinking but whimsical cocktails here were top-notch — especially those that we ourselves made at a 'Maritime mixology' class led by beverage director Elise Sergerie. She, like many of the Queen's Marque District staff we met, had 'come from away' to bring hospitality skills honed in Montreal, Toronto or Fogo Island to Halifax. After our nightcap at BKS, we ventured out one last time into the district's public space. Earlier in our trip, we had walked one sunny afternoon up the two-storey set of wooden steps called Rise Again to take in the view from its pinnacle. Then, we stood beside a 60-foot-tall art installation called Tidal Beacon. On our last night, Tidal Beacon was transformed into a 12-minute light show, as its directional spotlights shone into the sky and across the harbour. It was a prolonged, lovely sight that sent us home with one more bright, pleasant memory. phum@ The writer visited Halifax as a guest of Queen's Marque, which did not read or approve this article prior to publication.
Calgary Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Halifax's sleek Queen's Marque development woos visitors
Article content With the Atlantic Ocean at high tide behind him, Fred Dardenne is down on his hands and knees so that we don't have to be. Article content A half-hour's drive southwest of Halifax, the veteran forager is rooting for tasty wild food, kneeling on the grassy fields of Prospect Bay and amid the rocky crevices beside the rolling waves. Article content Article content Those of us taking part in Dardenne's foraging tour are blind to all the deliciousness growing around us. But Dardenne, a Belgian-born lover of the land who moved to Nova Scotia 18 years ago and immediately started his business, sees all. His eagle eyes spot sheep sorrel and wild cranberries, caribou moss, sea asparagus and sea truffle. Soon, he's handing out samples that are as tasty as they are novel. Article content Article content 'It's a little garden,' Dardenne says, of the patch of land that he knows so well, close to where he mid-May outing with Dardenne was one of several tasty highlights during our visit to Halifax. Our trip focused on the new and transformative Queen's Marque District, a $200-million development along the Halifax waterfront that's been opening in phases since late 2021. The complex is flush with high-end accommodation, appealing restaurants, tempting shops and attractive public spaces that nod to Haligonian culture and Queen's Marque, they know Dardenne too. His just-found wares bolster dishes at several of its restaurants and above all at Mystic, a fine-dining destination that opened in the fall of 2024 but has already been celebrated as the 71st best restaurant in the country, according to the latest Canada's 100 Best Restaurants list. Article content Article content Article content Before this spring, it had been more than a dozen years since I'd visited Halifax on a family vacation. Returning this year, I didn't recognize the striking waterfront that Queen's Marque had helped revitalize, or the crowded boardwalk adjacent to the district that is lined with more restaurants, bars, craft shops, bike rental shops, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and more. Article content Between the boardwalk and Queen's Marque, Halifax has a new hub for tourism, in addition to its long-standing attractions, museums and festivals. Nova Scotia's capital should appeal to vacationing Canadians seeking to visit more of their own country, especially with direct flights that connect Halifax to Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, in addition to other Canadian Maritime three days in Halifax were focused on the culinary appeal of Queen's Marque, the luxurious accommodations at Muir, the district's luxurious boutique hotel that opened in December 2021, and the pleasures of two day trips including the outing with Dardenne.
The Age
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Arson, dissidents and jabs at Trump: The biggest moments from the 78th Cannes Film Festival
Overall, it was a good festival for young women. The Dardenne brothers' Young Mothers, about a group of girls in a Belgian shelter for single mothers, won best script. The Little Sister star Nadia Melliti won best actress for her portrayal of a teenage girl in a traditional Moroccan family living in France who realises she is attracted to women. And the superb German film Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski, about four women living in different eras on a remote farm, shared the jury prize with Sirat, by French director Oliver Laxe, which kicks off at a rave in the Moroccan desert, where the drugged-up dancers have little idea that war is on the doorstep. And so much more that was worth seeing, even if it didn't win anything. Keep eyes peeled for Julie Ducournau's Alpha, her follow-up to Titane and just as confrontingly weird; Romería, Carla Simon's semi-autobiographical search for the story of her parents, who died of AIDS in '80s Spain; and the glorious Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater's French-language imagining of the making of Jean-Luc Godard's pivotal film Breathless. Watching young French actor Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, permanently behind sunglasses and smoking like a tramp steamer, was one of Cannes' greatest pleasures. Trading places Three debut films by big-name actors screened in various sections of the festival: enough to constitute a trend. Scarlett Johansson's Eleanor the Great, starring 95-year-old June Squibb as an American-born Jew who passes herself off as a Holocaust survivor to make new friends, was not a hit: critics found itsentimental, offensively cloth-eared about the significance of survivor status or, in the worst reviews, both. Kristen Stewart's The Chronology of Water, a young woman's tortured story of survival, was emotionally raw but formally complex – all rapid cuts, odd angles and muddled timescales – in a way that puts it out of the running for multiplex play. The most warmly received was Urchin by Harris Dickinson – the beefcake boy from Triangle of Sadness – whose film featured a bravura performance by Frank Dillane as a London street-dweller. Definitely watch out for that one. Political realities Robert De Niro set the tone for this year's festival on opening night, where he used his acceptance speech for an honorary Palme d'Or to have a dig at the ' philistine president ' of the United States where people 'are fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted'. President Donald Trump's mooted 100 per cent tariffs on films 'made in foreign lands' didn't seem to dampen the market, which exists to sell films internationally and enable co-production deals. But it drew scorn from director Wes Anderson in a press conference for his typically whimsical film The Phoenician Scheme. 'The tariff is fascinating because of the 100 per cent. I feel this means Trump is saying he's going to take all the money,' he mused acidly. He also wondered whether a movie could be held up in customs. 'I feel it doesn't ship that way.' Cannes continued to declare its support for Ukraine, including an entire day of documentaries about its continuing resistance to the Russian invasion, while more than 900 actors and filmmakers signed an open letter condemning the continuing Israeli onslaught on Gaza, declaring themselves 'ashamed' of their industry's 'passivity' in the face of the siege. On the opening night, Jury president Juliette Binoche paid tribute to photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed in an Israeli air strike the day after learning that a documentary about her work, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, had been chosen to screen in Cannes. Hassouna's portrait hung in the press room for the festival's duration. But perhaps the most vivid political presence was Julian Assange, who posed for the cameras wearing a white T-shirt inscribed 'Stop Israel' and bearing the names of 4986 Palestinian children killed in Gaza. He was in Cannes to support Eugene Jarecki's documentary about his work, The Six Billion Dollar Man. Cannes craziness Loading Before the power failure, the biggest disaster on the Croisette came right at the beginning, when tumultuous winds blew down one of the Riviera beach's famous palm trees, injuring a passing Japanese producer. The natural world isn't usually much of a felt presence in Cannes, but there was a more cheerful story about one of the biggest luxury hotels, the Majestic, employing a falconer and team of hawks to chase away seagulls that dive-bomb celebrity plates and have been known to make off with entire lobsters. Shark attack Australia didn't have a film in competition, but Sean Byrne's bloody genre romp Dangerous Animals had a triumphant showing in the parallel program of the Directors' Fortnight before its release in Australia next month. Women screamed as Jai Courtney, playing an ocker villain obsessed with shark behaviour, dangled his kidnapped shark bait over the side of his tour boat.
Sydney Morning Herald
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Arson, dissidents and jabs at Trump: The biggest moments from the 78th Cannes Film Festival
Overall, it was a good festival for young women. The Dardenne brothers' Young Mothers, about a group of girls in a Belgian shelter for single mothers, won best script. The Little Sister star Nadia Melliti won best actress for her portrayal of a teenage girl in a traditional Moroccan family living in France who realises she is attracted to women. And the superb German film Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski, about four women living in different eras on a remote farm, shared the jury prize with Sirat, by French director Oliver Laxe, which kicks off at a rave in the Moroccan desert, where the drugged-up dancers have little idea that war is on the doorstep. And so much more that was worth seeing, even if it didn't win anything. Keep eyes peeled for Julie Ducournau's Alpha, her follow-up to Titane and just as confrontingly weird; Romería, Carla Simon's semi-autobiographical search for the story of her parents, who died of AIDS in '80s Spain; and the glorious Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater's French-language imagining of the making of Jean-Luc Godard's pivotal film Breathless. Watching young French actor Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, permanently behind sunglasses and smoking like a tramp steamer, was one of Cannes' greatest pleasures. Trading places Three debut films by big-name actors screened in various sections of the festival: enough to constitute a trend. Scarlett Johansson's Eleanor the Great, starring 95-year-old June Squibb as an American-born Jew who passes herself off as a Holocaust survivor to make new friends, was not a hit: critics found itsentimental, offensively cloth-eared about the significance of survivor status or, in the worst reviews, both. Kristen Stewart's The Chronology of Water, a young woman's tortured story of survival, was emotionally raw but formally complex – all rapid cuts, odd angles and muddled timescales – in a way that puts it out of the running for multiplex play. The most warmly received was Urchin by Harris Dickinson – the beefcake boy from Triangle of Sadness – whose film featured a bravura performance by Frank Dillane as a London street-dweller. Definitely watch out for that one. Political realities Robert De Niro set the tone for this year's festival on opening night, where he used his acceptance speech for an honorary Palme d'Or to have a dig at the ' philistine president ' of the United States where people 'are fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted'. President Donald Trump's mooted 100 per cent tariffs on films 'made in foreign lands' didn't seem to dampen the market, which exists to sell films internationally and enable co-production deals. But it drew scorn from director Wes Anderson in a press conference for his typically whimsical film The Phoenician Scheme. 'The tariff is fascinating because of the 100 per cent. I feel this means Trump is saying he's going to take all the money,' he mused acidly. He also wondered whether a movie could be held up in customs. 'I feel it doesn't ship that way.' Cannes continued to declare its support for Ukraine, including an entire day of documentaries about its continuing resistance to the Russian invasion, while more than 900 actors and filmmakers signed an open letter condemning the continuing Israeli onslaught on Gaza, declaring themselves 'ashamed' of their industry's 'passivity' in the face of the siege. On the opening night, Jury president Juliette Binoche paid tribute to photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed in an Israeli air strike the day after learning that a documentary about her work, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, had been chosen to screen in Cannes. Hassouna's portrait hung in the press room for the festival's duration. But perhaps the most vivid political presence was Julian Assange, who posed for the cameras wearing a white T-shirt inscribed 'Stop Israel' and bearing the names of 4986 Palestinian children killed in Gaza. He was in Cannes to support Eugene Jarecki's documentary about his work, The Six Billion Dollar Man. Cannes craziness Loading Before the power failure, the biggest disaster on the Croisette came right at the beginning, when tumultuous winds blew down one of the Riviera beach's famous palm trees, injuring a passing Japanese producer. The natural world isn't usually much of a felt presence in Cannes, but there was a more cheerful story about one of the biggest luxury hotels, the Majestic, employing a falconer and team of hawks to chase away seagulls that dive-bomb celebrity plates and have been known to make off with entire lobsters. Shark attack Australia didn't have a film in competition, but Sean Byrne's bloody genre romp Dangerous Animals had a triumphant showing in the parallel program of the Directors' Fortnight before its release in Australia next month. Women screamed as Jai Courtney, playing an ocker villain obsessed with shark behaviour, dangled his kidnapped shark bait over the side of his tour boat.
Morocco World
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Morocco World
Blackout Disrupts Southern France Ahead of Cannes Festival's Closing Ceremony
Rabat – A major electricity outage struck France's Alpes-Maritimes region on Saturday morning, cutting power to 160,000 homes and affecting the city of Cannes as it hosts the final day of its internationally renowned film festival. Local authorities confirmed that the outage, which began shortly after 10:00 a.m. (08:00 GMT), was caused by a fire at a power substation in the nearby village of Tanneron. Police sources, speaking anonymously to AFP, said the blaze was likely the result of arson. Despite the disruption, the Cannes Film Festival announced that the official closing ceremony would proceed as scheduled at 6:40 p.m. local time (1640 GMT), thanks to backup power systems. 'The Palais des Festivals has switched to an independent power supply, allowing all scheduled events and screenings, including the Closing Ceremony, to proceed as planned and under normal conditions,' festival organizers said in a statement. Read also: French Culture Minister Visits Moroccan Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival However, screenings at the Cineum cinema were temporarily suspended and will resume once the main grid supply is restored. Morning sessions at other festival venues were also briefly interrupted during the switch to generator power. The outage has caused widespread issues across the glamorous Mediterranean city, knocking out traffic lights and forcing the closure of several shops along the city's main commercial avenues. Nevertheless, the festival continues undeterred. Press events for films such as the Dardenne brothers' Young Mothers and Martin Bourboulon's 13 Days, 13 Nights are still going ahead. The final ceremony, where French actress Juliette Binoche and her jury are expected to announce this year's Palme d'Or winner and other top prizes, is set to close out nearly two weeks of red-carpet premieres, international film showcases, and political discourse. This comes weeks after France was impacted by a large-scale power outage on April 28 that struck the Iberian Peninsula. System operators reported that three significant incidents together caused a loss exceeding 2.2 gigawatts of electricity, which led to the automatic separation of the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Europe's power grid. Tags: CannesFrancePower outage
