Good morning, ohayogozaimasu, bonjour and bom dia. Wherever this column finds you today, I hope that you’re having a fresh and lively start to your Sunday. Over this way it’s a quick pit stop back home (23 hours) after 14 days in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangkok and Tokyo. Then it’s a peppy dash up to Copenhagen and across to Abu Dhabi before coming back to base on Friday. As there have been a lot of flights, terminals and early starts these past two weeks, aviation and the general state of it have been front of mind. And because it has been a while since we’ve had a Faster Lane quiz, I thought I would turn my observations into a series of questions that will hopefully challenge even Monocle’s most frequent flyers.

Of course, every quiz requires a prize, so if you’re a paying subscriber you get this rather fancy Trolley tote (valued at more than $400) and if you enjoy this newsletter for free and are yet to join the subs club then we will send along one of our new Cotton Tenugui designs from our summer 2026 collection. The cutoff for answers is 10.00 Zürich time on Monday. Ready? Here we go!

1.
Which airline has understood that the ground experience is integral to overall brand enjoyment and provided a lounge concept so good that you arrive early? A little clue: one of Monocle’s favourite designers is responsible for the award-winning approach.

2.
Name the European carrier with the best make-up and hair? And yes, I am talking about the girls and not the boys. Good heavens. Another clue: think Med.

3.
Staying with the aisles of an Airbus, which European airline wins for having the most masculine, capable crew and consistently good beards? And yes, I am talking about male crew.

4.
Can you name the carrier that has a newish in-flight safety video in which the passengers who have been cast for this film are so dreamy, medicated and generally checked out that they don’t stand a chance of evacuating an aircraft that has done a belly landing?

5.
Which supposedly premium airline has made the very bad decision to remove all magazines (including Monocle) from the front of its long-haul aircraft? What will the crew now read during those endless hours crisscrossing the Arctic?

6.
Can you name the Asian airline that has no sense of how to conduct service on a six-hour, north-south, overnight flight and thinks it best to just serve dinner, then go straight into breakfast and clatter the night away with the clanking of cutlery and crockery?

7.
Which carrier has had the good sense to build loyalty and create a sense of occasion by introducing a collectable series of destination-focused ceramics for its top customers?

8.
Name the G7 nation that is technologically advanced and a master of big infrastructure and innovative design solutions – but somehow continues to have the most arse-backward immigration and arrivals procedure. 

9.
Which airline has chosen to fill its home tarmac with decommissioned, sun-baked Boeings and Airbuses when these hulls should really be sitting mothballed in Jordan or Arizona and away from its newer fleet? Talk about a brand killer.

10.
What is the most efficient, perfectly designed, best little hub in the Gulf, and will be even better when the home carrier takes delivery of more long-haul aircraft?

P.S. Bonus question: Who used to fly 747s from London to their base at the far end of the Med and had Sunday roast beef trolley service, complete with dangerously long carving utensils? I’m talking very early 1990s here.

Send your answers to tb@monocle.com and if you’re enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’, click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns.

Kenneth Karjane poured his experience founding Tallinn institutions Barbarea and bakery Karjase Sai into his new venture (writes Petri Burtsoff). In a former industrial storage depot in Telliskivi – Tallinn’s current food-and-drink hotspot – Café Tempo doubles as a café and bakery in the morning and an eastern Mediterranean grill in the evening.

The menu might include the likes of charcoal-grilled Adana kebab and socca (a Niçoise pancake) with pumpkin satay and chicken thighs in a brown-butter sauce. Mop it up with slabs of barbari, a fluffy Iranian flatbread. 
cafetempo.ee

You can find our global gastronomy round-up in Monocle’s May issue, which is on newsstands now.

After working at Mirazur in Menton and under the guidance of David Toutain in Paris, Uruguay-born chef Nazareno Mayol Curti opened his first restaurant, Eme, in Le Marais in late 2025. Here he tells us where he finds his caffeine fix, the Brazilian beats on his Sunday soundtrack and why butter will always be a staple of his cooking.

What do we find you doing this weekend?
I’ll go drink coffee at Télescope and then head to a wine salon to discover new bottles for the restaurants. Tasting, meeting growers, talking – it’s both work and pleasure. For dinner I’ll go to L’Arlequin in the 10th arrondissement, a recently opened bistro that serves French classics.

What’s for breakfast?
A proper filter coffee from Coffee Collective roastery. Then simple scrambled eggs and a loaf from Ten Belles bakery. Great bread, butter and eggs – when the ingredients are right, you don’t need anything else.

A Sunday soundtrack?
“Alexandra” by Bebeto. There’s something about Brazilian music. It has warmth and rhythm but still feels relaxed. It sets the tone without overwhelming the morning.

Sunday culture must? 
Either Bourse de Commerce or the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

What’s on the menu?
Chinese at Ô Grand Bol or Thai at Lao Siam. Vibrant flavours, spice and warmth. It’s the kind of food that brings people together around the table.

And to drink?
A glass (or bottle) at La Cave de Septime or Delicatessen Cave just before dinner. I enjoy the ritual of standing at the bar and discovering something unexpected. 

A favourite product for the pantry?
Butter. Always butter. It’s the base of so many beautiful things – sauces, pastries or simply spread on warm bread. 

Which brands does your wardrobe currently consist of?
I gravitate toward timeless, well-constructed pieces. Comoli from Japan for its understated elegance, Studio Nicholson for its clean silhouettes and textures, and Aurora from New York for shoes. They’re beautifully handmade and full of character – these are the shoes that I use for work every day in the kitchen.

Next on the travel itinerary?
Copenhagen. It’s such an inspiring food city. I’m going to eat at some great restaurants, such as Kadeau, and cross the border to Sweden to eat at Vyn.

For all the best spots in Copenhagen, consult Monocle’s City Guide.

An Italian breakfast special, this rustic tart features a simple sweet pastry filled with spring strawberries. Instead of a lattice top, chef Ralph Schelling recommends folding the pastry inwards to make a fuss-free, galette-style crust.

Serves 4

Ingredients
200g wholewheat flour
50g cane sugar
½ tsp salt
100g cold butter
1 egg
300g fresh strawberries
1 tsp cornflour
1-2 tbsps cane sugar

Method

1. 
Mix the wholewheat flour, cane sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the butter in small pieces and work into the flour with your hands or a fork to form a crumbly mixture.

2.
Add the egg and knead into a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3.
Slice the strawberries and gently mix with the cornflour and remaining sugar. Leave to sit during next steps.

4.
Roll out the chilled dough into a large circle (approximately 30cm diameter) on baking paper. Place the strawberries in the centre of the dough, leaving about a 5cm border.

5.
Fold the edge of the dough over the filling to create a rustic crust.

6.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 30-35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is soft and fragrant. Leave to cool slightly before serving.
ralphschelling.com

A restored 19th-century textile mill in upstate New York is now home to Pocketbook Hudson – a 46-key hotel, restaurant, shopping hub and bathhouse (writes Sonia Zhuravlyova). Interiors include lamps and mirrors by American designer and sculptor Misha Kahn, millwork by woodworkers Primary Visual and custom water jugs by New York’s Mamo. In the bathrooms you’ll find robes by avant garde fashion brand Eckhaus Latta. 

At Ambos restaurant, overseen by Argentine chef Norberto Piattoni, there’s a celebration of the Hudson Valley’s regional bounty, plus plenty of fermentation and open-flame cooking. “It takes me back to my roots in Argentina,” says Piattoni. Try the pork chop cooked over embers and served with charred Asian pear. 
pocketbookhudson.com

Monocle’s annual travel special, ‘The Escapist’, has insights from travel and hospitality leaders so that you can plan your next adventure. It’s time to pack your bags.

The Venice Biennale has inaugurated its first official cocktail (writes Gabriele Dellisanti). A refreshing blend of hibiscus, lemon and pink grapefruit, the star of the show is Quattro Gatti Olive Grove, a dry gin made with botanicals sourced in Umbria and distilled with olive leaf, olives and olive oil. “Some of the best juniper in the world grows in the valleys between Umbria and Tuscany,” says the brand’s co-founder Simon Mordant.

The collaboration is a natural fit. A longtime resident of Umbria, Mordant has deep ties to the Biennale, having served as commissioner of the Australian Pavilion for several editions. In 2015 he also worked with Australian firm Denton Corker Marshall on the pavilion’s redevelopment. Now Quattro Gatti becomes the first spirits sponsor in the Biennale’s 130-year history. “We envisioned bringing the gin into cultural conversations that matter to us,” says Mordant. “Something site-specific, something that belongs.” We’ll drink to that.
quattrogattigin.com

Heading to Venice this weekend? Monocle’s City Guide has you covered.