Good Finds: Transparent E-Bikes, MoMA Art On Your Samsung Frame, & More
โ€” 18 October 2024

Good Finds: Transparent E-Bikes, MoMA Art On Your Samsung Frame, & More

โ€” 18 October 2024
Randy Lai
WORDS BY
Randy Lai

Every week, Boss Huntingโ€™s editors spend far too much time scouring the web: in search of the coolest gear, food & drink, and destinations worth trekking to across the globe.

In our latest edition of โ€˜Good Findsโ€™, weโ€™ve got Nintendo-looking electric motorbikes, an intimate revamp of a beloved omakase in Sydney, probably the worldโ€™s most beautiful stovetop coffee maker, and much more.

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The DAB 1a โ€˜Transparent Editionโ€™

Given how much time Nick Kenyon, BHโ€™s man in Saigon, spends zipping through traffic on two wheels; Iโ€™m not the least bit surprised his weekly recommendation has taken the form of an e-bike.

What is surprising however is how heโ€™s elected to go with this DAB โ€˜Transparent Editionโ€™: a limited production from Peugeotโ€™s e-motorbike subsidiary, of which six have been produced at a price of โ‚ฌ19,900 ($32,150) apiece.

Thatโ€™s almost a 25% premium over what well-salaried cyclists will pay for the standard DAB 1a but I guess the translucent violet bodywork, akin to a Nintendo 64 controller, is worth every penny?

Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing

Good Finds

Geopolitics and tired clichรฉs mean that, even in 2024, Mainland China is unlikely to be a bucket list holiday destination for many Australians. And thatโ€™s a shame really, since hotels like the newly unveiled Mandarin Oriental Qianmen โ€” so close to The Forbidden City the two locales are practically kissing โ€” show how much Chinaโ€™s global metropolises have to offer.

The Asian hospitality giant (whose hotels in Hong Kong and Bangkok are legendary) has conceived this as a sister property to its larger, more conventional offering at Wangfujing.

But if you want to experience rarefied hutong living, inside what local Beijingers refer to as the cityโ€™s โ€˜Central Axisโ€™, I doubt youโ€™ll find a better lens than the one Mandarin Oriental Qianmen can provide.

Serene and remarkably private, guests have a total of 42 courtyard-style lodgings to choose from. And if you manage to tear yourself from Yan Garden, the hotelโ€™s traditional Cantonese restaurant by Michelin-starred-chef Xiao Fei, staff are happy to curate all sorts of thrilling cultural excursions.

The ultimate? An introduction to tai chi with a local master on, of all places, the Great Wall.

Samsung Frame TV x MoMA Artworks

Good Finds

One of the Samsung Frameโ€™s oft sung advantages is its ability to function, when not in active use, as a static artpiece. However, until recently, the majority of what youโ€™d be able to display on your Frame would be art that is already in the public domain โ€” not necessarily the most inspiring of stuff.

That is until earlier this week: when MoMA announced its partnership with Koreaโ€™s favourite tech conglom. The former has granted Frame owners access to a total of 27 works for display at home, through the Samsung Art Store.

These include Vincent van Goghโ€™s The Starry Night or, for something markedly more modernist, Evening Star III.

Besuto Omakase, Sydney

Located previously in Sydneyโ€™s Quay Quarter complex, Besuto has recently upped digs and secured a new home inside Sydney Place: in the vicinity of other culinary hotspots such as Matkim and Malay Chinese Noodle Bar. As far as my own 10 cents go, I think the relocation hasnโ€™t hurt this upscale Japanese dining concept one little bit.

On the contrary, Besutoโ€™s new underground enter-through-the-bar setting helps prime diners for the house specialty: elemental, traditionally prepared sushi; broken up by the obligatory procession of Western-inspired small plates that involve such popular produce as Patagonia toothfish and Kagoshima beef.

Head Chef Michiaki Miyazaki and Sommelier David Jin encourage patrons to leave formalities at the door โ€” an approach to service that works much better in Australiaโ€™s relaxed hospitality climate.

And not for nothing, at $250 and 15 courses, the Besuto experience offers a relative value against many of Sydneyโ€™s other trendy omakase vendors.

Atomicยฎ Coffee Maker

Handcrafted and chrome-plated, this โ€˜Made In Italyโ€™ masterpiece is the superior way to make a cup of stovetop espresso at home. And, versus the average Moka Pot, looks a damned sight prettier while doing so.

โ€œDuck-looking steel makes my dopamine centres go โ€˜brrrr,'โ€ as my colleague Garry would say.

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Randy Lai
WORDS by
Following 6 years in the trenches covering consumer luxury across East Asia, Randy joins Boss Hunting as the team's Commercial Editor. His work has been featured in A Collected Man, M.J. Bale, Soho Home, and the BurdaLuxury portfolio of lifestyle media titles. An ardent watch enthusiast, boozehound and sometimes-menswear dork, drop Randy a line at [email protected].

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