Lavender's Blue: Wherever there's design there's Lavender's Blue

The Sky’s Not the Limit

Where to, where to? Andaz Hotel, Doha? Armani Hotel, Dubai? Bab Al Qasr Garden, Abu Dabhi? Il Baretto, Riyadh? Jumeirah Muscat Bay, Oman? Reyna, Paris? Sachi Milano, Milan? Wassim Aal Baher, Anfeh? Paris (and everywhere else) can wait. We’re off to the Shangri-La Hotel in London’s most striking cloudscraper. The Hall of Abstinence in Beijing’s Forbidden City already a fading memory, today is all about the bottomless Veuve Cliquot Champagne Sunday Brunch in the Sky Lounge on level 34. No rest for the wonderful. SupperClub Middle East has 700 plus exclusive worldwide offers and Shangri-La is just one of them in the English Capital.

Britain’s tallest building – all 95 storeys of it – is the ultimate vertical town. It replaced a titchy 24 storey office block on this valuable site next to London Bridge. Owned by the State of Qatar (95 percent) and Sellar Property Group (five percent), The Shard contains shops, offices, restaurants, bars, apartments, a public viewing gallery and of course the 202 guest room Shangri-La Hotel which takes up the middle 18 floors. Italian architect Renzo Piano took inspiration from the spires of London churches and the masts of tall ships in Canaletto paintings of Venice. On 5 July 2012, The Shard was formally inaugurated by His Excellency Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabor Al Thani, Prime Minister of the State of Qatar. Its name should really be pluralised: the exterior comprises eight shards of glass slicing through the air.

“Standing at almost 310 metres,” says His Excellency Sheikh Abdulla Bin Saoud Al Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank, “The Shard is one of the tallest buildings in Europe. For me, however, the height of The Shard is only a secondary feature. What is special is the solid and continuing relationship between two nations, Qatar and Britain, which was an important factor in completing this project.” Just into its second decade, the point of The Shard is already as integral to the London skyline as the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. Lunching two years ago in Passionné restaurant, Paris, the waiter and waitress (a couple) excitedly told us about their first visit to London. Where did they head for first? The Houses of Parliament? The National Gallery? The Shard.

The double height Sky Lounge lives up to its name. Fully glazed sloping walls face the ever changing elements while framing views of the Capital far below: Blackfriars Bridge to the west; the City of London to the north; Tower Bridge to the east. Even the bathroom has its own panorama with Southwark Cathedral in the foreground. The three course menu is long enough to satisfy the carnivore to vegan spectrum and short enough not to be hard work on the day of rest. Devon Crab Pancake (avocado, lemon aioli, rainbow relish) and Beetroot Tartare (St Ewe’s organic egg yolk, walnuts, beetroot cracker) are wonderfully light, full of taste and textural contrast. A double buffet follows: The Cheesemonger and Sweet Sensation. Belt bursting Continental and British cheeses vie for attention with irresistible cakes and puddings.

This is our third venture up The Shard. The first was a (very memorable) Royal Town Planning Institute party in December 2019 commandeering the Sky Lounge to crown a year of professional accomplishments. The second (somewhat memorable) was the launch of the Essex Mayoralty Race in December 2025 in the private dining room of Mitie on Level 12. The election was postponed the night before but the breakfast went away anyway. Sunday brunch in the Shangri-La Sky Lounge will soon become a new memory of an elevated afternoon. As winter light glistens over the River Thames in the distance, we raise our crystal Champagne flutes to this 21st century Crystal Palace.

Le Neuvième

“It is true that I put a certain amount of effort into my trimmings, and as for feathers, everyone wears them; what would seem extraordinary would be to wear none.” Marie-Antoinette, 1775

Paris, the city of cafés and restaurants, where there’s always room for one more. The latest addition to the 9th Arrondisement is Passionné, immediately south of St Eugène and St Cécile’s Church in what was once a Jewish quarter. This is the real city, just far enough away from Gare du Nord and les Anglais. Le Magnum Bar on Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière with its cat silhouette sign is typical of the area: chic understatement. The bar backs onto the 95 metre long Rue Ambroise Thomas which is terminated by a rusticated stone wall. You can always catch a performance of Carmen or Lakmé at the Palais Garnier (after all this is Opéra Arrondisement) further to the south again but this part of the Haussmannian grid – Rue Bleue, Rue du Conservatoire, Rue de Paradis, Rue Richer – is slightly off the tourist track.

The 4th Edition of the Michelin Guide was published in summer 1960. It contains pointers for visitors to the 9th Arrondisement: “The Rue de Rivoli and the Rue St Honoré draw women in great numbers, for many elegant shops are in these two streets.” And reiterating the message, “The elegant shops of the Rue St Honoré from the Rue de Castiglione to the Rue Royale are the great attractions for the ladies.” Ladies (and some gentlemen) like to lunch and Passionné had barely opened its discreet doors when it received a Michelin star.

Discreet – make that very discreet. The charcoal grey exterior fronts onto the genteel Rue Bergère and sides onto the gated Cité Rougemont. Translucent window blinds give nothing away. The only clue of an exclusive restaurant’s presence is a brass name plaque beside the entrance door. Inside, it’s all about good looks. Good looking interior: designer Kuniko Takano has created a cocoon of darkness in the city of light. The midnight blue walls could be an advertisement for the 2013 film Blue is the Warmest Colour (like Adèle Exarchopoulus’ blue cardigan; Léa Seydoux’s blue hair; Stéphane Mercoyrol’s blue jacket; the blue disco light; the blue protest march smoke; Baya Rehaz cries, “I love the colour blue”).

Good looking staff: Vanessa Paradis and Jérémie Laheurte types (all assassin black suits and killer cheekbones) deliver concise explanations (“Take one bite because inside it’s liquid!”) and precise instructions (“Eat the dishes in this order!”). Bread is constantly replenished; glassware and cutlery continually renewed. The ground floor service bar and basement kitchen are kept busy. Good looking clientele: goes without saying, birds of a feather.

Les mots du Chef: “Passion is at the heart of our gourmet and seasonal menu. I am delighted to welcome you to our restaurant for an extraordinary culinary experience. I source all the ingredients myself and express my passion in making dishes. I also want to express and honour the French terroir with a selection of delicious vegetables. Hokkaido where I was born and raised is a region of Japan close to the same latitude as Paris. My cuisine is where Japanese spirit and French passion come together.”

Lunch is the Menu Carte Blanche and the Prestige Sept Étapes can be wine paired with Évasion (trois verres) or Prestige (cinq verres). For the truly oenologically curious, start with Philipponnat Champagne, the imbibed equivalent of caviar. And then there is caviar, plenty of that too. Chef Satoshi Horiuchi creates colourful edible artworks in an array of contrasting flavours and textures (beetroot and oil for starters). There may be no feathers but there are plenty of trimmings, some edible (flowers), some decorative (steaming shells). And foam – this is Michelin dining. Courses arrive in baskets, in boxes, on rocks, on pebbles and on smooth or textured crockery. Tablescape as topography.

Ian Nairn (Nairn’s Paris, 1968) calls the French capital, “A collective masterpiece, perhaps the greatest in the world.” Abbott Joseph Liebling (Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, 1986) calls it, “A city of colonnades.” Jonathan Meades (The Times Restaurant Guide, 2002) features just one restaurant in the 9th Arrondisement, Charlot Roi des Coquillages on Place de Clichy. It closed in 2017. Jonathan stated, “The suited service is charmingly urbane.” A tradition that continues on Rue Bergère. Paris, the city of love, where there’s always room for more romance. And a restaurant living up to its name, Passionné.

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