The Quiet Season
Where the Mediterranean empties just enough to be alone, the tables that stay open for one, and the villas that close their gates behind you.
A Note from Us
The Month AheadSeptember is the month the coast forgets it has a crowd. The heat softens, the charter flights thin, and the people who own the houses — rather than rent them — begin to arrive. This is when we do our best work: quietly, in places that have stopped performing for an audience.
This letter covers the month ahead: seven events worth knowing about, five London tables to hold, one escape worth the journey, and a single tip from the desk. Read it in five minutes. Then keep your evenings free.
The Endless Calendar
7 events worth knowing about- Sept 3
Frieze Seoul opens
COEX, Seoul
The fair that quietly outgrew its elder sibling.
- Sept 7
La Biennale di Venezia — final weeks
Giardini & Arsenale, Venice
Go early on a Tuesday. The crowds are half what they are on weekends.
- Sept 12
Ryder Cup practice rounds
Bethpage Black, New York
We hold a hospitality pass for the Tuesday walk — the players are looser, the course is empty.
- Sept 18
Paris Fashion Week begins
Across Paris
The shows are invitation-only; the after-parties are where the access matters. We can place you at two.
- Sept 21
Autumn equinox at Stonehenge
Wiltshire, England
Dawn access to the inner circle — a handful of passes, released to us each year.
- Sept 24
Giuseppe Penrose retrospective closes
Punta della Dogana, Venice
The Pinault collection's most quietly remarkable show of the year. Last week.
- Sept 28
Berlin Art Week
Across Berlin
Less scene than Frieze, more substance. The gallery nights on Thursday are the ones to attend.
The Endless Table
5 London restaurants to knowThe Connaught Grill
British · Mayfair
Reopened table service in the grill room. Order the duck for two and the '96 Krug.
Kappou Onodera
Japanese · Mayfair
A seven-seat counter. The chef will not speak unless spoken to. The meal takes forty-five minutes.
Chishuru
West African · Marylebone
No reservations, but we hold a table for the first sitting on Wednesdays.
Le Comptoir du Relais
French · Notting Hill
The London outpost. Ask for the chef's hand — Yves Camdeborde sends what is good that day.
The Clove Club
British · Shoreditch
The tasting menu has changed for autumn. The game course is the reason to go.
The Escape
Destination of the monthPaxos and Antipaxos, in the Ionian. By the third week of September the day-tripper ferries from Corfu have stopped running, and the water at Galazio beach is still warm enough to swim at six in the morning. The tavernas at Lakka will set a table for one without comment.
We hold a villa on the east coast of Corfu with a boat on the quay — a Riva, a skipper who knows the archipelago, and a path to a beach that is, by local arrangement, private after ten at night. The whole of Paxos is a morning's journey. You will not see another soul after sundown.
The Experience
A recent client arrangementA member asked, on a Wednesday, for a table for two at a restaurant in Paris that had closed its books in March. The occasion was a birthday on the Friday. We did not call the restaurant. We called the owner, whom we have known for nine years, and proposed the name. The table was set for 8:30.
The kitchen was asked to hold back the tasting menu and send the courses at the couple's pace, not the room's. A bottle of the house's private cellar Champagne — not on the list — was waiting. The total cost was the menu price. The favour was not.
Concierge Tip
One insider recommendationIf you are flying into Nice this month, do not take the coast road. Take the middle road — the D2207 through the arrière-pays — and stop at the village of Gattières. There is a single restaurant on the square that does not take reservations. Arrive at 12:45 and ask for the daube. It is the best meal between the airport and Cap Ferrat, and almost no one who is not from there knows it.
The Final Note
Until next monthSeptember is a month for keeping your evenings open and your plans loose. We wish you a prosperous month ahead — one with a long lunch, a quiet swim, and a table held in your name.
The next letter arrives at the turn of October. If there is anything you need — a villa, a table, a journey — One Call. Endless Possibilities.
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Leave your details with the desk. The next letter arrives at the turn of the month, addressed only to you.