Latest news with #FrancesHodgsonBurnett
Spectator
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
‘Italian that just works': Broadwick Soho reviewed
This column sometimes shrieks the death of central London, and this is unfair. (I think this because others are now doing it.) It is not the city we mourn but our younger selves. Even so, the current aesthetic in restaurants is awful and needs to be suppressed: beiges and leathers, fish tanks and stupid lighting, all are nauseating. But I hated Dubai. You say Atlantis, The Palm, I say enslaved maid crying for her dreams. But there is refuge, at least from the aesthetic, and it is as ever the child of imagination and nostalgia. Broadwick Soho, the newish hotel in the street where typhus was chased down to a water pump, is a rebuke to desperate minimalism. It is a bronze and brick palace decorated, I think, in homage to Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess, or perhaps Citizen Kane's Xanadu, because all the treasures are here. In response, because most people do not want to feel dead when they are not dead, it has been named the best new hotel in London for decades, and it is, if you can still feel joy. It has welcomed Taylor Swift and Zoë Kravitz and many people more attractive than you and me. I forgive it that, because I have a quest of a very particular kind: one that perhaps only I care about. Do you want to know where all the flounces are, children – the flounces the Connaught threw out? They are at Broadwick Soho, courtesy of its founder Noel Hayden, the son of a Bournemouth magician, who has, in his parents' honour, made a hotel that Norma Desmond would love, because it is one long opening night. There are maximalist hotels in London, of course, principally the Savoy, but the Savoy has gone mad (if it was ever sane) and thinks it is a florist or a jeweller now. Broadwick Soho has balance. It must, because it has taken all the flounces, and its broader theme is elephants, then leopards. It has two restaurants, Dear Jackie in the basement and its diminutive Bar Jackie on the ground floor, both named after Hayden's mother, who apparently loves them (as Princess Diana loved Café Diana in Notting Hill) – and a rooftop bar called Flute, named after a local flute shop, now gone. Drinking here is like drinking inside a lushly planted garden, or a paint chart. The views are of Mary Poppins's own London, the attics of Soho, and it is fantastical in rain. I eat in Bar Jackie on a summer evening. It is slightly more restrained than the rest of Broadwick Soho, which is high-kicking into the dawn: red ceilings and red awnings; floral wallpaper for the comfort of theoretical elephants; immense, soft lamps; floral tiling on the bar. It must be hell to clean, but that is not my problem, not here. As if for contrast – I couldn't eat mezze here either – the food is plain American-style Italian, as at the lost 21 Club in New York City, and it works. We eat a very fine focaccia; soft, dense Cobble Lane salami; an extraordinary salad of trevisano and gorgonzola, walnuts and balsamic vinegar, which I will not forget; a delicate, not overlarge veal and pork ragu (there is too much stimulation to eat your feelings here – nausea will follow you); a tidy tiramisu. It is pleasing to be somewhere that cares so much about aesthetics, when there is so much carelessness around. If you are very thrifty, you can eat for £50 for two and, considering all the agony in the world, I think you must.
Tatler Asia
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
Celine Song breaks down modern love in ‘Materialists'
Julianna has been interested in leading a literary life since she first read Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess at eight. Before working with Tatler , she was an archive intern at The Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York. She is a textbook Pisces who devotes most of her spare time to her crochet projects, watching classic films, and going through her never-ending pile of unread books. She studied creative writing, global literature and art history at Sarah Lawrence College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2022. Toni Morrison, Nora Ephron, Clarice Lispector and Jia Tolentino are among her all-time favourite writers. Work Julianna writes about fashion, beauty, sustainability, and the arts. She is always keen on conducting interviews with talented women who are changing the game in their respective fields. For event invites and story leads, hit her up at
Time Out
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Central Park is offering free senior portraits at the Conservatory Garden next week
Calling all Class of 2025 grads: Central Park is giving you one more reason to celebrate before tossing that cap in the air. The Central Park Conservancy is offering free senior portraits at the newly reopened Conservatory Garden next week and trust us, your Instagram feed will thank you. Photographers will be on site Monday, June 16, and Wednesday, June 18, from 1 to 4 pm, snapping pro portraits in one of the city's most jaw-dropping green spaces. Reservations are required and slots are first-come, first-served, so now's the time to lock in your 10-minute fame window. The Conservatory Garden is made up of six manicured acres of formal gardens tucked into the northeast corner of Central Park, just off Fifth Avenue between 104th and 106th Streets. Recently reopened after a multi-year, $17 million renovation, the Conservatory Garden is looking fresher than ever—think crabapple allées, blooming borders, vine-draped pergolas and fountains worthy of a Bridgerton shoot. Grads are encouraged to show up in whatever outfit suits their vibe, whether it's a classic cap-and-gown look or a stylish statement piece that says, 'I'm done with cafeteria food and AP Chem.' There's no dress code, no awkward studio lighting and no fees, just a stunning backdrop and photo to mark the milestone. And while you're there, it's worth taking a lap around the three distinct garden styles: the French-inspired North Garden with its orderly lawns and fountain; the Italianate Center Garden, flanked by wisteria and yew; and the English-style South Garden, home to the beloved Frances Hodgson Burnett sculpture from The Secret Garden. Portraits will be emailed to students within 10 business days, which gives you just enough time to get them printed before the graduation party—or, let's be honest, to post with a carefully chosen Drake lyric.
