Roman and Williams Guild/La Mercerie
When we are finally back to normal, I want my first trip to be to New York City, even though three of my favourite shops: Dean & Deluca, Apartment by the Line and the original Barney’s are now gone.
The perfect place to have a galette and a coffee. La Mercerie
Luckily, at the bottom of Soho, between slowly gentrifying Canal Street and Howard Street, sits Roman & Williams Guild, the most beautiful home store with a French restaurant, La Mercerie, in the front. (I so miss eating a crêpe while people-watching-slash-evesdropping.)
I regret not even even buying a small bowl or this little scallop edged bread plate. Photo: Liza Herz
The furniture and housewares at Roman & Williams Guild are so beautiful and so expensive that it’s best not to get too tipsy at lunch because you may start planning how to sneak a $9,000 leather couch across the border. Better to focus on something small and portable. (I really regret not buying this little scallop-edged butter plate the last time I ate there.)
And the glassware! La Rochere’s Zinc glasses, are often available online. With their vertical ridges and softly fluted shapes, they are less purely functional and more decorative than say, a classic Duralex Picardie tumbler.
There’s even a shorter Zinc espresso glass, that Ottolenghi carries in London. Which reminds me, that’s another town I want to visit.
Ottolenghi usually has the espresso glass in stock.
La Rochere’s Zinc glass brings style to your morning coffee.
They also add sparkle to the bar nook in Athena Calderone’s Brooklyn home.