Sandra‘s Closet

Salsa has rhythm, whether you dance it or spoon it. This summer, the Aquazzura Bar serves both at once with an exclusive taco that lands every Tuesday in the Secret Garden of the Hotel de Russie, styled with tequila, salmon and lime.

The Aquazzura Bar is the result of a remarkable collaboration between the Italian luxury brand Aquazzura and Rome’s legendary Hotel de Russie. Tucked into the hotel’s Secret Garden, it unfolds as a small oasis of calm where Mediterranean flair meets Italian elegance, the perfect hideaway for intimate summer evenings under the open sky.

Throughout July and August, every Tuesday brings exclusive tacos to the menu, created especially for Taco Tuesday and available for a limited time only. Fresh and smoked salmon meet creamy avocado, fiery jalapeños and the delicate citrus note of finger lime, a harmonious composition that pairs beautifully with one of the bar’s signature tequila cocktails. Taco Tuesday becomes a delicious summer ritual: relaxed, refined and full of intense flavour.

Taco Tuesday Experience: € 32

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Hotel de Russie / Aquazzura
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STRAIGHT OUT OF A MOVIE: AFRICAN QUEEN ARRIVES IN SARDINIA

African Queen, the legendary Riviera restaurant founded in Beaulieu-sur-Mer in 1969, has opened its first Sardinian outpost right on the beach of Hotel Cala di Volpe at the Costa Smeralda. Two Mediterranean icons, one address.

Named after the film classic starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, African Queen has been one of the most famous meeting spots on the Côte d’Azur for decades. Since Riccardo Giraudi, Philippe Schriqui and Patrick Gioannini took over the brand in 2023, the concept has been carefully expanded to selected destinations, from Beaulieu-sur-Mer to Dubai and now Sardinia.

The new African Queen Beach Club & Restaurant brings that unmistakable Riviera feeling to the Costa Smeralda: warm materials, timeless design and subtle nods to the movie that gave the restaurant its name. On the menu you will find the signature dishes that have defined African Queen for generations, among them Grandma’s Niçoise Salad, the 1969 Truffle Pizza, the Old-Fashioned Artichoke & Truffle Salad, freshly caught fish, Giant Camarones and prime cuts from the grill, complemented by seasonal creations.

The setting could not be more fitting. Hotel Cala di Volpe, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, was commissioned by Prince Karim Aga Khan IV in the 1960s and designed by French architect Jacques Couëlle, whose organic architecture was inspired by a Sardinian fishing village. It remains one of the Mediterranean’s most celebrated luxury hotels to this day.

Long lunches, barefoot elegance and dinners by the sea: the Costa Smeralda just gained a new favourite address. I already know where I will be booking a table this summer.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Cala di Volpe
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London is having a moment. Galleries are unveiling new exhibitions, restaurant terraces are buzzing with an international crowd, and the city’s royal parks are drawing the global it-set like nowhere else this season. At the centre of it all sits The Lanesborough Summer Picnic, a collaboration with Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé that turns an afternoon in Hyde Park into a masterclass in effortless luxury.

Forget the beach. The most stylish escape this summer comes in a picnic basket from one of London’s most storied addresses. Perched at the edge of Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, The Lanesborough has long been synonymous with Regency grandeur and impeccable service. Its 93 rooms, 48 suites, and signature butler service set the tone before you even step outside.

Executive Chef Shay Cooper has designed a menu that feels as considered as a couture look: smoked London Cure salmon with blinis and capers, burrata with Marinda tomatoes and pomegranate, wild mushroom and truffle filo parcels, and a Sutton Hoo chicken terrine. Scones with clotted cream and fresh English strawberries with vanilla Chantilly cream bring things to a deliciously classic close. Every course finds its match in a perfectly chilled bottle of Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé.

Available daily until 6 September 2026, priced at £295 for two with champagne included. Summer in London, done right.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of The Lanesborough
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Pink Paradise: My Visit to the Malibu Barbie Café in Boston

If you follow me on social media, you already know I have a soft spot for immersive experiences and anything that comes wrapped in a generous shade of pink. So when the Malibu Barbie Café landed in Boston, a visit was absolutely non-negotiable. Though honestly, it was not even planned. My daughter spotted it on a spontaneous walk past Faneuil Hall, and within seconds we looked at each other and the decision was made. We are going to make a reservation.

The pop-up has taken over a space at 101 South Market Street, right in the heart of the Faneuil Hall neighbourhood, one of Boston’s most historic and lively corners. Cobblestone streets, a buzzing marketplace, the waterfront just steps away, and that unmistakable New England energy all around. It is an area where centuries of history meet a very current, very vibrant city scene, which makes it the perfect backdrop for something as boldly out-of-time as this.

The moment you step inside, you are transported to 1970s Malibu California. Every corner is drenched in that iconic Barbie pink, layered with beachy motifs, retro details, and a whole lot of glam. It is the kind of space that makes you reach for your phone before you have even sat down.

And that, honestly, is the main event. For anyone who loves photography, fashion content, or simply living their best Barbie life for an afternoon, this place truly delivers. There is a life-size Barbie Box made for stepping into with your best pose, a scenic lifeguard chair, a wave arch, and several other photo moments scattered throughout. Every corner has been considered with the perfect shot in mind.

Now, a word of honesty about the food and drinks: it is not the reason to go. The menu leans heavily into the aesthetic rather than the culinary. Everything felt a little artificial and very calorie-laden without a lot to show for it in terms of actual taste. We ordered drinks, but truly just for the photo. The menu simply did not tempt us beyond that.

Every ticket does include a ten dollar food credit and a five dollar merchandise credit, which is a nice touch. Just be aware that the food credit applies only to food, not to drinks. The gift store is worth a browse, though I personally did not find anything I could not live without.

None of that took away from the experience. We had a genuinely wonderful time, and the atmosphere is joyful and immersive in a way that is hard not to smile at.

One tip I would give anyone planning a visit: we went on a Tuesday morning, and it made all the difference. The space was calm, relaxed, and the photo moments were completely free to enjoy without crowds or waiting. If beautiful, uncluttered shots are your goal, I would strongly recommend choosing a weekday and an early time slot. Weekends and peak hours will be a very different story.

The Boston pop-up runs until July 19, 2026, so there is still time to plan your visit if you are in the city this summer. And the Malibu Barbie Café has already toured quite a number of cities across the US, including New York, Miami, Chicago, Austin, and Las Vegas, before recently making its very first stop outside of America in Melbourne, Australia. As for Europe, there is nothing announced yet, and as someone based in Switzerland, I will be the first to say: we would absolutely be ready for it. Fingers crossed that Mattel is listening.

Tickets start at 25 dollars per person and include a 90-minute seated experience. All ages are welcome, and children under two do not need a ticket.

As for what I wore, I had not planned the visit at all, so I put together a fitting look entirely from what I already had with me that trip. I will be sharing the outfit details very soon, so stay tuned.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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Where Wine Meets Performance: L’oscar London Launches Cabaret & Cabernet

Some evenings are simply dinner. This is not one of them.
L’oscar London, the discreet five-star boutique hotel housed in a former Baptist church off Holborn, has created something genuinely hard to categorise. Cabaret & Cabernet is a monthly experience series launching this summer, held on the first Friday of each month in the hotel’s extraordinary Committee Room. Just 25 guests per evening, no exceptions.

The premise is seductive: each wine is not merely poured but performed. Working with Crowd Pleaser Events, a collective with over two decades of theatre production experience, L’oscar has choreographed bespoke cabaret performances for every pour. Movements mirror tannins, rhythm follows acidity, gesture tells the story of origin and vintage. The table becomes a stage. The glass becomes a prop. The sommelier, armed with expertise and a flair for dramaturgy, guides the room through it all.

Executive Chef Arturas Kondratjevas completes the picture with a multi-course menu designed not to accompany the wines but to meet them as equals. Textures, temperatures and flavours are calibrated with precision, always leaving space for the real conversation happening between glass and stage.

The setting feels almost inevitable for this format. Teal walls, peacock motifs, bespoke chairs and a sweeping 19-foot table create a room that sits beautifully between opulence and intimacy. Jacques Garcia’s baroque reinvention of the original church interior is the kind of backdrop that makes everything feel slightly theatrical already.

Cabaret & Cabernet runs on the following Fridays in 2026: 5 June, 3 July, 7 August, 4 September, 2 October and 6 November. More at loscarlondon.com.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

L’oscar London, 2-6 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AA
+44 20 7405 5555

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © L’oscar London
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Family Time 🤍… some things are just universal. A day in Boston with my daughter Anouk, my favorite kind of time. We ended it with Peking duck at JIANG NAN – Chinese Fusion, simple and perfect.

Wearing Alice + Olivia – I love how the brand creates pieces that feel playful, bold, exactly my style and with a fit that feels made for me.

And every time I watch the stories of Stacey Bendet, I can’t help but smile, the way her daughter Scarlet captures her, the little comments, that mother-daughter rhythm… it feels so familiar. Alice + Olivia was founded in 2002, the same year Anouk was born. A full circle moment.

My look: Bradley stretch cotton equestrian cardigan, and gorgeous corduroy jumpsuit, both by Alice + Olivia, Paris metallic leather ankle boots and Monogram fringed shoulder bag, both by Saint Laurent, cat-eye sunglasses by Gucci, and crystal-embellished clip-on earrings in gold by Alessandra Rich.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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As summer settles over New York City, one of the Upper East Side’s most refined addresses, The Mark Hotel, reintroduces its quietly iconic ritual: an evening at sea aboard its elegant 70-foot Herreshoff sailboat.

Beginning May 30, 2026, guests are invited to step seamlessly from the polished calm of Madison Avenue life into something altogether more cinematic. Departing from Chelsea Piers, the two-hour voyage glides across the Hudson at golden hour, offering uninterrupted views of Manhattan’s skyline and landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, as timeless as the vessel itself.

On board, the experience unfolds with studied discretion. A curated selection of gourmet bites arrives courtesy of The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges or the storied Caviar Kaspia, paired with wines chosen by the hotel’s head sommelier. The mood is less excursion, more floating salon, intimate, indulgent, and unmistakably New York.

Sailings run from 6:30 to 8:30 PM throughout the season (with the exception of a special Father’s Day cruise on June 21). Tickets are priced at $640 per guest and may be arranged through the hotel.

For those seeking something more private, bespoke charters for up to 25 guests offer a heightened level of exclusivity, with tailored menus and minimum spends beginning at $15,000.

It is, in essence, summer in New York at its most rarefied, where the city’s energy softens into something slower, quieter, and infinitely more decadent.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © The Mark Hotel
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La Petite Maison arrives on Marbella’s Golden Mile with a new beachfront outpost at Puente Romano Marbella, bringing its unmistakable Riviera spirit to the Costa del Sol.

There are places that feel instantly familiar, no matter where in the world you encounter them. For me, La Petite Maison has always been one of them, whether in Cannes, where it has long been a favorite, or in moments that carry a more personal resonance. Hosting my wedding welcome dinner here in Marbella at the Puente Romano many years ago made it more than just a place; it became part of a memory I return to often, before the celebrations continued at the Marbella Club Hotel.

The new seaside setting feels like a natural extension of the house’s philosophy: light-filled, effortless, and quietly refined. Under the direction of chef Yiannis Kioroglou, the menu remains true to its essence, ingredient-led, generous, and unmistakably Mediterranean. Signature dishes, from delicate yellowtail carpaccio to the iconic sea bass «à la Nicole,» speak in the same clear, elegant language that defines the brand.

From long, sunlit lunches to evenings that unfold into something more vibrant, the rhythm of the day is seamless, guided by music, atmosphere, and that particular art de vivre La Petite Maison embodies so well.

A new address, perhaps, but one that, for me, feels deeply, beautifully familiar.

And, as I’m writing this from Boston, it feels especially fitting that La Petite Maison is also set to open here in summer 2026 at Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street in Back Bay, its first address in the Northeast, bringing a touch of the Riviera to the city.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © LPM
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The Mark Hotel serves the 90s cocktail everyone wants right now.

As New York slips deeper into a 90s state of mind, much of the current mood can be traced back to Love Story, which follows the magnetic, much-mythologized relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. Their understated elegance, their quiet confidence, their distinctly New York kind of romance, it’s all back, and it’s shaping everything from fashion to the way the city feels right now.

Naturally, The Mark Hotel understands the moment. With its Cucumber Martini, the hotel offers a drink that feels almost like a continuation of that narrative, crisp, refined, and effortlessly composed.

Fresh, clean, with just a whisper of nostalgia, the cocktail captures exactly what defines this revival: a return to simplicity that doesn’t try too hard. Much like Carolyn’s pared-back silhouettes or JFK Jr.’s innate polish, it’s about precision rather than excess. The influence of the series is unmistakable, what we see on screen translates almost instantly into a renewed appetite for a certain kind of East Coast minimalism, where restraint becomes the ultimate luxury.

The Cucumber Martini fits seamlessly into this world. It doesn’t announce itself; it lingers. It belongs to a time when elegance was instinctive, when style was something lived rather than performed.

And truly, where better than The Mark? If there were ever a place where their paths might have crossed, amid quiet glamour, soft lighting, and that unmistakable Upper East Side ease, it would be here. The mood hasn’t been recreated. It was simply waiting.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © The Mark Hotel
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On a quiet, cobbled corner in Zurich’s Old Town, and just around the corner of my favorite lunch place Bindella, Ralph Lauren has opened a new chapter. Tucked away at In Gassen 20, the store features a selection of apparel across Purple Label, Ralph Lauren Collection and Men’s and Women’s Polo Ralph Lauren, alongside a range of accessories including watches and jewelry, handbags, small leather goods, shoes and home offerings. It is second location in Switzerland after Gstaad, but notably the first to include Ralph’s Coffee.

I’ve lived in Switzerland for over twenty years, and quietly, I’ve always wondered why Ralph Lauren never really arrived here in a meaningful way. Because if any market feels instinctively aligned with the brand, it’s this one.

The store itself is exactly what you would expect: composed, polished, and confidently consistent. Ralph Lauren doesn’t reinvent its language, it refines it. Warm wood, tailored interiors, a sense of order and permanence. It’s less about surprise, more about precision. And that’s precisely why it works so well in Switzerland. There’s a shared appreciation for craftsmanship, for things that are made to last, for a certain understated idea of luxury that doesn’t need to announce itself.

At the same time, there are very few brands that have built such a complete lifestyle universe around themselves. Ralph Lauren doesn’t just sell clothes, it constructs a world. And you feel that here. It’s one of those spaces where you actually enjoy looking around, taking in the details, the textures, the way everything is put together. Not forced, not overdesigned, just coherent.

What makes this opening feel more complete, though, is Ralph’s Coffee, finally making its way to Switzerland. Not as a gimmick, but as an extension of the brand’s world. A place to pause, not just to shop. For me, this isn’t just another store opening. It feels slightly overdue and entirely right.

Ralph Lauren
In Gassen 20, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
Store Hours:
Monday – Friday: 10:00 – 19:00
Saturday: 09:30 – 18:00
Sunday: Closed
Phone: +46 300 69 97 10

LoL Sandra

Photos: © Ralph Lauren
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