New World Mall is amazing. Particularly the food court in the basement, with its 26 or so regional Chinese and East Asian food stalls. The best dish Iâve had here is Chong Qing Xiao Mianâs (look for stall 19) braised rib noodle soup with peanuts. It lights a gemlike vermilion flame inside you. Mala red and torn-coriander green. It makes your whole body tingle.On your way home from New Earth, pick up a brown sugar pearl milk from Tiger Sugarâs stand by the subway. Tiger Sugar represents the bleeding edge of third-wave Taiwanese boba shops. They claim to have invented pearl milk: delicious, painterly cups of warm tapioca pearls, caramelized syrup and sweet cream. So much sugar it gives you a real body high, it spins you out.
Itâs at 100 Bowery, more on the fringes of Chinatown and not on one of the major tourist streets. Genuine Cantonese âhole-in-the-wallâ kind of place. You will not find a single non-Chinese person in there at any given time (except the handful of friends Iâve turned onto it). Sweet hardworking staff, super affordable, probably in danger of going out of business like a lot of the other old school Cantonese places in Chinatown. If you go, order Mushroom E Fu Noodles (Yi Mien) and Snow Pea Shoots with garlic.
A new version of an old song; an old song, âLâAmour Toujoursâ by Gigi DâAgostino, made slower and more lethargic by a teenage Lithuanian DJ. A song about dreams, about the things youâve been waiting for, coming down to you, but only in your mind. A tale as old as time!In London in the Noughties I never went to Italo disco clubs. But my buddy Joel, a fantastic furniture designer, did. He told me the first time he went, as a teenager, he was standing in line outside, hoping to get in, and an elegant lady stepped out of the club wearing a silk gown, smoking, walking a ferret on a leash. Thatâs how he knew he was in the right place.DâAgostino wears a lot of hats. Often he dresses like a pilot. Heâs been a mega Italo disco star since the Eighties, his music gives the feeling of driving around Tuscany at sunset in a sports car. His âBitter Sweet Symphonyâ is sublime. The sound of Italy and England in perfect romantic harmony; Byron swimming to Shelley across the Bay of Poets.
The most magical view of the most beautiful city, for me, is the quiet overlook from the top of Parc de Belleville, below the painted and mosaiced arches. Few things are better than waking up on a clear summerâs day, picking up a coffee and a pain au chocolat, or an ĂŠclair, or Paris-Brest, from one of the neighborhood patisseries high up on Rue de Belleville, and strolling along Rue Piat until, by the BelvĂŠdère, the whole of Paris and the day opens shimmering up under you. There are guys selling weed, half-naked people sunning by the fountains. Itâs a good place to have breakfast. Or, for lunch, a carrot salad from the Franprix, or at night some vin rouge.
Nestled in the heart of old Padua, a short train ride from Venice, the Cappella degli Scrovegni is a âthin placeâ, a place where our world grows closer to others; so close we can feel them, might reach out and touch them. Thin places are good, like blue flowers.The chapelâs an unprepossessing medieval stone building of modest size. Before you go inside, you have to wait for 15 minutes while your body humidity is lowered. Itâs important that you reserve a ticket in advance because theyâre always sold out. Though when I visited I didnât know this, and was able to sneak up to the chapel doors through the Augustinian monastery, where the guard kindly took pity on me. Inside is the most beautiful room in the cosmos. If you go now, right now, this summer, only ten visitors are allowed in at a time. Youâll never have such an opportunity again.Painted by Giotto, the great Pre-Renaissance painter, maybe the greatest artist, its frescoes tell the story of Christâs life, and of his mother Maryâs life, her role in our salvation. In this room youâre floating with the angels. Youâre caught between worlds, out of time. The ceiling is blue and full of stars.