Attaché Dispatches No. 1

Welcome to Issue 1 of Attaché Dispatches, a regular collection of travel discoveries collected on our recent travels. Each issue is built around our familiar format of Transport, Food, and Money - along with a little section for other flotsam and jetsam that intrigues us. I hope this gives us a chance to connect in between and alongside full Attaché episodes. You’ve received this because you signed up for Attaché updates somewhere along the way, so if you’re picking up what we’re putting down, feel free to forward to a friend, colleague, or pet. But hey, if you don’t want to hear from us again, unsubscribe at anytime, no hard feelings.

I recently went to Vietnam for the first time. I know. I don’t know why it took me this long either. Rather than skip across the surface of several cities in this deceptively large country, I decided to base myself in Hanoi. Partly based on recommendations from some of you (thanks Kobus) but also because it’s home to a bit of a bucket-list place for me - The Metropole Hotel.

The Metropole has been one of the few constants in Hanoi’s turbulent modern history. Built by the French in 1901, it retains a lot of its “Old World” charm, both architecturally and experientially. It’s also where several of my favourite authors wrote several of my favourite books. Gavin Young, Anthony Bourdain, and Graham Greene all frequented the Metropole - the latter apparently wrote most of The Quiet American while resident. Apart from the geopolitical and cultural history, it’s also a very, very good hotel by any measure. Definitely worth the eye-watering amount of Amex points (more on that in the Money section) I used for my 2 nights there. 

I’m excited to use this section to share all of the wonderful food spots I discover on my travels, both for the show and otherwise. There are so many little culinary treasures out there that turn a trip from the mundane to the truly unforgettable. And I look forward to sharing them with you in upcoming newsletters. But for now…

Baked Goods in Berlin: My wife is a cinnamon roll connoisseur. She once tried 3 cinnamon rolls from 3 different Edinburgh bakeries in one morning…for science. She also said the ones at Zeit für Brot in Berlin are the best she’s ever had. So I tried one. Holy wow.

Eel in Hanoi: Stay with me, this was life-changing. Stir fried noodles with crispy eel (miến lươn xào) was easily the highlight of all the food I ate in Hanoi. And I ate a lot of incredible food in Hanoi. Thanks to Minh who took us to Miến Lươn Chân Cầm as part of her excellent food tour.

Accessible “real” French food in Paris: I’ve been to Paris dozens of time but only recently discovered Bouillon thanks to Fred at Le Foodist. Classic French dishes at mercifully un-Parisian prices. Steak frites, œufs mayo, escargots, chocolate mousse. Fast service, lively room, no nonsense. Go hungry.

Travel Credit Cards: It feels slightly gross doing this, but a lot of you have asked. I use the Amex Platinum to accrue frequent flier/hotel points. The annual fee is hefty but I appreciate the travel perks; lounge access (including a Priority Pass membership), 5x points on flight bookings, great insurance, etc. It also lets you transfer your points to a lot of different airline and hotel programmes - which is how I booked the Metropole, a hotel I could absolutely not afford otherwise. (BTW this isn’t sponsored, hence no links. It’s genuinely the card I use.)

TIL: You can use Hong Kong Dollars in Macau. They are, within a cent or two, worth the same and widely accepted. So don’t bother changing HKD to MOP if you’re going from Hong Kong to Macau. You cannot, however, use MOP in Hong Kong.

Coming Soon: We continue to work on our latest project which I’m very excited to share with you all. It’s an ambitious, multi-platform project (including a book!) focussing on casual eateries around the world. We shoot a pilot in Hong Kong in the coming weeks, and we’ll be able to share it with you (in one form or another) soon after. In the meantime our episode output won’t be quite as prolific as it’s been in the past but I promise it will be worth it. The image above is a little teaser…

Our Latest: Our latest episode seems to have intrigued (and also annoyed) a lot of people. Thoughts?

A travel read I enjoyed this week: Beyond the Blue Horizon - re-reading this for the umpteenth time. Recreating the 1930s air route from London to Australia I think it might be the perfect piece of travel writing. It was one of my grandmother’s favourite books too, made all the more resonant by the fact that she took the same Imperial Airways service to India on many occasions. Maybe one day I can try and recreate that journey.

I’d love to ask you a favour - can you let me know what you thought of this email? If you simply reply to this email, it’ll go directly to me. Anything you were hoping for from the food section? Do you want more travel/city tips and less travel writing? The opposite? More pictures, less pictures?  Please, let me know your “it’s fine, but….” And if you have any thoughts on Attaché in general, I’m all ears.

Until next time…