The Arbuturian

1 week ago | arbuturian.com | Katie Monk

Could there be anything nicer than spring in Seville? The flowers are in bloom, the scent of orange blossom floats on the breeze, the weather is warm but not scorching, and the summer hordes have yet to descend. As long as you avoid Semana Santa (unless you love crowds and incense), spring in Seville is where it’s at. Naturally, there are myriad hotels to choose from as your base, but I wanted to stay central – and ideally, not on a main road.

1 week ago | arbuturian.com | Anna Selby

English National Ballet is, of course, best known for its classical ballet productions – Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and, albeit with a decidedly ghoulish twist, the Akram Khan retelling of Giselle. It does, though, also have a longstanding relationship with the work of the New York choreographer William Forsythe, whose love of classical technique is deconstructed and lovingly teased across the triple bill of his work currently on show at Sadler’s Wells.

2 weeks ago | arbuturian.com | Anna Selby

I think I have just discovered my favourite London restaurant. And it’s a win on all fronts. The food is Japanese – already my favourite cuisine for some time now. The setting is a delight with an elegant interior and outside a magnificent rooftop wrap-around terrace with some of the best views in London. The service is charming, the staff are knowledgeable and the sake list is the most extensive in the capital. So let me roll back a bit here.

2 weeks ago | arbuturian.com | Douglas Blyde

There is something deliciously reassuring in the knowledge that, while the world burns through trends like kindling, a few restaurants remain gloriously, defiantly themselves. No QR codes. No disco cauliflowers. No chefs wielding tweezers like scalpels, arms inked with semiotic intent. Just courteous service, elegant food – and, yes, if required, a gentle, unironic chorus of Happy Birthday.

3 weeks ago | arbuturian.com | Anna Selby

The southernmost of all Greece’s islands has, unsurprisingly, the longest summer. This is why at almost the end of October, it is still swimsuit weather by day and the evenings are balmy enough for outdoor dining. Some 260 miles from Athens, Crete’s long hot, dry summers are more similar to the north coast of Africa (187 miles away) than those of many Mediterranean islands.