Latest news with #FourSeasons'
CairoScene
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
FSNP's Upper Deck Lounge Might Be Cairo's Most Polished Levantine Spot
At Upper Deck Lounge, Levantine cooking isn't romanticised or dressed up in nostalgia. It's calibrated and precisely what it should be. Jul 18, 2025 On a Cairo rooftop where the air seems to thin just enough to carry the scent of charcoal and cardamom, the Four Seasons' Upper Deck Lounge has quietly recast itself as an ode to the Eastern Mediterranean. The new Levantine menu, unveiled this July, reads like a well-travelled dinner guest - someone with good taste, impeccable manners, and a nostalgic memory of Beirut before traffic, Damascus before dust. From the fifth floor terrace, the city performs its nightly shimmer. Below, the Nile gurgles and mutters; above, a pool glows like an expensive secret. And in between, plates begin to arrive. Mezze, the opening act, comes in confident little bowls: pistachio labneh made silkier by grilled olives, smoked eggplant ajami that tastes like someone told baba ghanoush it could dream bigger, and a tomato kasoundi hummus that borders on flirty. Heartier fare follows with deliberate drama: shish tawouk, burnished from the grill, comes skewered like a declaration; lamb cutlets with freekeh arrive tender and smoky, and lamb chops threaten to unseat Cairo's grill hierarchy. The manakish are soft, the wraps streetwise, and the drinks are politely persuasive. At Upper Deck Lounge, Levantine cooking isn't romanticised or dressed up in nostalgia. It's calibrated and precisely what it should be at sunset, when Cairo glows like an ember and dinner feels like a pause in time.
Chicago Tribune
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: Grant Park Music Festival is lifted by an artist-in-residence and a poignant ‘Enigma Variations'
Everyone, it seems, needs to have an 'artist-in-residence' these days. Though lofty, the title, as interpreted in recent seasons by the Grant Park Music Festival and the Chicago Symphony, tends to overpromise. It's becoming industry parlance for 'has at least two bookings with us a season' — significant for the artist and presenter, maybe, but mostly a blip for audiences. Cellist Inbal Segev's residency with the Grant Park Music Festival, which concluded on Wednesday, felt closer to a fair billing. The Israeli-American cellist was here for just a week, but it was a packed one: a Pavilion concert on July 9 (playing Mark Adamo's 'Last Year,' a latter-day 'Four Seasons' inflected by climate change), a recital on July 13 which included some of her own music, and a masterclass on July 15, before concluding with another concert in the Pavilion on July 16. In grand-finale spirit, Segev dusted off Anna Clyne's 'Dance,' a calling card of hers, for the occasion. Not that she needed to do much dusting: Guest conductor Courtney Lewis noted in comments to the audience that, since Segev premiered the concerto in 2019, she has performed about half of its 80 performances since. That deep experience was manifest in Wednesday's performance. Like 'Masquerade,' another widely programmed piece by Clyne, 'Dance' dresses up centuries-old musical forms in 21st-century clothing — the placid round of the third movement, the striding ground bass of the fourth. But even amid more fervid movements like the second and fifth, Segev radiated calm confidence through their percussive chords and fingerboard-spanning dexterity. She often smiled encouragingly at Lewis, or, in the finale, at concertmaster Jeremy Black, with whom she swapped knotty, bluesy solos. Her coolheaded virtuosity soothed, even when the music didn't. As an encore, Segev brought the same tranquil command to the Sarabande from Bach's Cello Suite No. 3. Her sound was magisterial and rich, a full-bodied account — until the very end. On that final resolution, she quieted to a mere, otherworldly wisp, like a final wave from a distance. Lewis and the Grant Parkers were every bit as unflappable in their accompaniment. Voices in the orchestra step forth to double the cello here and there — a tricky alignment in any acoustic. But from my vantage in the Pavilion seating area, these all converged impeccably, most especially the ghostly bowed vibraphone supporting Segev's harmonics. Against 'Dance,' a frazzled 'Fledermaus' overture sounded like it might have gotten the short end of the rehearsal stick. Lewis's sudden, tensile beats left the orchestra guessing at subdivisions, nor did they give Strauss's beloved Viennese waltzes much freedom to bounce. Other gestures — scrunched shoulders, a finger to the lips to hush the orchestra — seemed patently superfluous for a group of Grant Park's caliber. But if Lewis spent Grant Park's blink-and-you-miss-it rehearsal time preparing his poignant 'Enigma Variations,' that was a worthy tradeoff. Lewis cultivated an entrancingly variegated ensemble sound, adding new dimension to even Elgar's most familiar strains. The yin-and-yang themes of 'R.P.A.' seemed somehow connected at the hip, rather than starkly juxtaposed. Later, the seafaring variation which Elgar laconically titled '***' — spurring avid speculation about whose initials, exactly, he was redacting — gained might the same way an ocean storm does: gradually at first, then all at once. Then, of course, there's 'Nimrod,' the piece's most famous excerpt. Strings played the opening with no vibrato, sounding for all the world like the stillness before daybreak. When the sun rose through mounting crescendos, the orchestra was bright but not blaring, the Grant Park brass offering sculpted support. The final variation, named for Elgar himself, likewise refused to be weighted down. The opening scampered with tricksterish levity; later on, when the movement cycles through vignettes from earlier in the piece, Lewis balanced the orchestra so that they sounded like flotsam bobbing in '***'s' surf. Now that's how you play the 'Enigma Variations.' A postscript: Inbal Segev's Grant Park week would have been even more packed, were it not for a day-of cancellation of her Monday recital repeat at the Columbus Park Refectory. Festival spokespeople explained the performance, co-presented by the Chicago Park District's 'Night Out in the Parks,' was canceled due to noise-bleed concerns from a 'Bike Night' hosted on the adjacent parking lot, an event they say the festival learned about that morning. In truth, Columbus Park has hosted hundreds for Bike Night every Monday all summer, complete with food-truck vendors, signage and traffic cops. The most generous read of the snafu suggests this was just an awkward breakdown in communication between the festival and the Parks District. It's worth noting, too, the Refectory building itself, where the concert was supposed to happen, was not double-booked, and was thus available on paper. But the broader cluelessness here from Grant Park strikes at a deeper issue, one certainly not unique to this festival. What, exactly, are arts organizations hoping to achieve through neighborhood events if they don't know all that much about the neighborhoods in question? The festival should take the fumble as a learning opportunity as its 'Night Out' partnership continues: July 17 at Olympia Park, July 24 at Indian Boundary Park, July 31 at Lake Shore Park, Aug. 7 at Jefferson Memorial Park and Aug. 14 at Lincoln Park Cultural Center. The Grant Park Music Festival continues July 18-19 with Augustin Hadelich playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, 201 E. Randolph St. Free; more information and ticketed Pavilion seating at
The Star
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Afternoon tea ripe with tropical fruit delights
Guests can enjoy the limited-time summer-inspired afternoon tea in a cosy corner. While those living in colder climates typically anticipate the arrival of summer, Malaysians enjoy perpetual warm weather. This year, The Lounge at Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur is offering 101 Days of Summer Afternoon Tea, as part of the Four Seasons' Asia-Pacific hotels and resorts seasonal offerings. Hotel executive pastry chef Yann Roumanille has crafted a creative menu that highlights the best of Malaysia's tropical fruits. Coconut, passion fruit, pineapple and banana are some of the tropical fruits that take centre stage. The result is an elegantly curated afternoon tea that transforms the country's produce into a luxurious culinary experience. The savoury offerings feature five distinctive bites. There's the Summer Vegetable Pie Tee Hat, a playful twist on the classic Nyonya snack. The crisp pie tee shells are generously filled with chive mousse, diced jicama, mung bean sprouts, roasted peanuts and a hint of black truffle. Seafood lovers will appreciate the Sustainable Snapper Hinava and Smoked Coconut Husk Mackerel. The snapper, cured in zesty calamansi lime, hot sauce, kulim vinaigrette and infused with local herbs, offers a tropical twist to the dish. The platter of savouries consists of (front row, from left) Jellied Beef Short Rib Terrine and Smoked Coconut Husk Mackerel. Roumanille said textures were an important part of this year's menu, as seen in the mackerel, which is wrapped in charcoal bread, reminiscent of a finger sandwich but with a denser bite. 'Curried Chicken Salad Tartine features shredded chicken delicately seasoned lightly with spices, served atop a crumbly Parmesan sable, with roasted pineapple, sultanas and salted walnuts, creating a delectable savoury bite. 'The Jellied Beef Short Rib Terrine provides a unique texture experience, with the tender and slow-braised beef encased in a delicate jelly alongside vegetable pickles and fermented black garlic. It has been the topic of discussion among guests,' he said. The scones, warm and inviting, come with a choice between the classic version and one with trigona honey called Honey Comb Scone with Bee Pollen. Both are accompanied by whipped butter, hibiscus strawberry jam and Four Seasons' signature pandan kaya. The scones' crisp golden exterior gives way to a soft, buttery interior that melts in the mouth. The sweet creations are delicious and visually stunning works of art. The Banana Cake Planifolia resembles an actual banana, while the Tropical Coconut is shaped like a halved coconut with its creamy mousse centre bursting with mango flavour and encased in milk chocolate. The Chocolate Umbrella is a prettily designed rich dark chocolate indulgence. The Passion Fruit Savarin is a combination of a moist sponge cake soaked in passion fruit syrup with layers of chocolate mousse, coconut essence and crunchy peanut while the Citrus Sunshine offers a tangy burst of pomelo mousse and kaffir lime sponge cake. Completing the experience are live piano performances that add a cosy ambience to the afternoons with a city centre view. The 101 Days of Summer Afternoon Tea is available daily, from 3pm to 5.30pm until Sept 9, priced at RM242+ per person, inclusive of tea or coffee and a special beverage. THE LOUNGE, Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur, 145 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. (Tel: 03-2382 8602. Business hours: 10am-10pm. This is the writer's observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
Tom's Guide
13-06-2025
- Tom's Guide
What pillows do Four Seasons Hotels use? Plus where to buy them
There's something undeniably luxurious about sinking into a hotel bed — especially at the Four Seasons. And one of the key elements behind that 5-star sleep? The pillows. We know from testing that the secret of this years' best pillows lies in the fill composition, which is crucial in delivering comfort, support and temperature regulation for a good night's rest. Four Seasons has mastered this with its signature plush pillows, and if you pair them with one of the best mattresses you'll be guaranteed outstanding sleep night after night. Here we'll be looking at the pillows the Four Seasons use, why they feel so good and how you can bring home the same luxury comfort. Read on for all the juicy details... The Signature Four Seasons innerspring bed is complemented by Four Seasons' plush Down & Feather pillows. These are crafted from a hypoallergenic blend of 25% white down and 75% feathers, striking a perfect balance of fluffy comfort and support. The Euro pillow model, on the other hand, consists of 20% down and 80% feathers. Both come encased in a 240 thread count calendered (a finishing process to smooth out the fabric) cotton cover with double-stitched piped edges to complete the luxury look. All materials used are OEKO-TEX certified, which means that they're free of harmful substances and are safe and skin-friendly. When it comes to maintenance, Four Seasons Down & Feather pillows can only be dry cleaned. The brand also recommends fluffing up the pillows in a dryer at a no-heat setting for 20 to 30 minutes before use, as they may have become compressed during transit. Four Seasons Down & Feather Pillow: from $190 at Four SeasonsThe signature Four Seasons pillows are available in three sizes: standard, queen and king. You can buy these at the Four Seasons store starting from $190 for a standard size. Once ordered, these are delivered in bespoke grey woven dust bags with the Four Seasons logo, which are handy for storage. Beyond hotel pillows you can create the whole Four Seasons top-tier sleep experience at home by adding its luscious linen sets, duvets and other bedding. Four Seasons currently offers three sheet sets at the store: Acacia, Willow and its Signature Hotel linen bundle. These are crafted from premium materials to deliver the sumptuous sleep that hotel guests love. The Signature Hotel Linen set, for instance, is made using long-staple Supima cotton that's better at holding its shape, retaining its lustrousness for years. Each collection is available as a sheet set and a duvet set. A sheet set includes a deep pocketed fitted sheet, a flat sheet and a pair of French closure pillow cases. You can also grab three types of duvets from Four Seasons: All Season, Lightweight and Down-Alternative (100% polyester fiber). Each duvet set consists of a duvet cover, a pair of bordered pillows shams and two euro shams. Signature Hotel sheet set: twin was $300 now $150 at Four SeasonsYou can now find the Signature Hotel sheet set with up to 50% off in Four Seasons Summer Sale, which brings the price of a twin set down from $300 to as low as $150. A queen, on the other hand, can be found for $250 (reduced from $500). These sets are available in 10 chic color options, however Turkish Silver and Balinese Pearl come with a smaller discount, and there's no saving on the Signature White set. Beckham Hotel Collection Down-Alternative pillows: queen bundle was $109.98 now $99.99 at AmazonIn our tester's own words, this delivers a "5-star luxury sleep within a budget" earning it an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 in our Beckham Hotel Collection pillow review. You can now get two queen Beckham bed pillows and a pair of Euro throw pillows for just $99.99, which is great value compared to the Four Seasons Down & Feather pillow starting at $190. Coop Cool+ Adjustable Pillow: queen was $145 now $116 at Coop Sleep GoodsPlush cooling gel-infused shredded memory foam and microfibers mimics the cooling comfort and support of natural down in the Coop Cool+ pillow. Our tester recommends this for hot sleepers and those looking for a comfy adjustable headrest in our Coop Cool+ Adjustable pillow review. You can find this with a time-limited 20% off which reduces the price of a queen from $145 to $116. This also includes a 100-night trial, 5-year warranty and free shipping. Tempur-Pedic Tempur Cloud pillow: from $89 at Tempur-PedicOur stomach sleeping tester was impressed by this ultra-soft Tempur pillow during her Tempur-Pedic Tempur Cloud review. Not only does it prevent the head from going forward but it also provides pressure relieving support for the head, neck and shoulders, resulting in restful sleep all night long. A queen pillow is priced at $89 while a king will cost you $109, however if you buy a pair you'll get a bundle saving: you can get two queens for $119 (saving $59) and pair of kings for $149 (saving $69). You'll also get a 5-year warranty and free shipping. The Four Season Down & Feather pillow is carefully crafted with a dreamy blend of premium materials, making it suitable all kinds of sleepers. We expect the natural down and feather mix to be supremely plush yet supportive, and a strong choice for those prone to hot sleep, thanks to its 240 thread count cotton cover. However as you might expect considering the brand and the materials used, the Four Seasons Down & Feather is an expensive pillow with prices starting from $190 for a twin. Unlike with other bedding brands, these pillows also lack a warranty or sleep trial. This means you'll be stuck with these costly pillows even if you're not satisfied with the purchase. The lack of benefits aside, Four Seasons is a luxury name and if you're planning on recreating the same hotel experience at home, investing in a set of Down & Feather pillows from this prestigious brand is one great way to go about it.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nick Kroll Reveals Lady Gaga and Howard Stern as the Two Stars ‘Big Mouth' Just Couldn't Get
Big Mouth, Netflix's hit animated series following a group of friends navigating puberty, is coming to an end after eight seasons, following a rare model where its characters actually grow up. 'It is puberty and we really covered so much of what we set out to do and about this journey,' co-creator and star Nick Kroll told The Hollywood Reporter at the show's Los Angeles premiere on Thursday of the decision to wrap up. 'Most animated shows, they go on forever; people are frozen in whatever time they are in. Our show evolved and the kids evolved and they moved through time and they grew and they changed, and that was part of the joy of making the show.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Lady Gaga Inches Closer to EGOT Status After Sports Emmy Win John Krasinski Didn't Know Brother-in-Law Stanley Tucci Was His 'Fountain of Youth' Co-Star Until Midway Through Filming Tina Fey Explains That 'Four Seasons' Death and Teases "Starting From Scratch" for Season 2 Co-creator Andrew Goldberg echoed that after working for over a decade on Family Guy, where those characters all stayed the same age, 'I kind of assumed that our show would be the same. I remember having a conversation in season two where my other collaborators were like no, this is a show about changes, the kids have to get older and puberty is a discrete time of life, it doesn't go on forever. So it only made sense to end it once they were getting to that age.' On top of Kroll voicing dozens of characters himself, the show has welcomed over 200 guest stars throughout its run — but that doesn't mean they've gotten every A-lister they wanted. While celebrating Steve Buscemi — as a little cat called Mr. Pink — joining the final season, Kroll also noted they 'wanted to get Howard Stern and we couldn't get him. He did so much in inspiring the show; he's the best, he's the king. And Lady Gaga we tried to get as well, turns out she's busy.' Goldberg echoed, 'We really, really wanted Howard Stern to do the show; he doesn't do anything and we were no exception' and additional co-creator Mark Levin added they 'asked Lady Gaga to do a song in the last season and she was too busy, that was sad. But not surprising.' And when it came to deciding exactly how to end the show, the team, 'really went on a journey of figuring out how do you end the story of characters who are just beginning their lives? And that was a big challenge to figure out,' Levin explained of its teenage protagonists. 'Fear of the future and fear of the unknown is the thing that really jumped out as the biggest monster of all for them to confront.' Big Mouth's eighth and final season is now streaming on Netflix. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
