City Locations

Hektor’s is one of the best-known and busiest eating houses in the City Tier, occupying a prime position on Bazaar Circle where its indoor tables and broad exterior seating allow patrons to watch the life of Aranthaes pass by from morning until late evening. If The Silver Fish is where one goes to dine and be admired, Hektor’s is where one goes to eat well, be seen, and keep an eye on everything. The café is lively rather than refined. Its shaded outdoor tables are almost always full, while inside

Aranthaes Palace is the Crown Jewel’s great rival, and makes no attempt whatsoever to disguise the fact that it considers itself superior. Where the Crown Jewel offers polished grandeur, Aranthaes Palace embraces extravagance without apology. Its entrance hall rises through several storeys beneath painted ceilings and cascading chandeliers, while marble floors, gilded columns and vast arrangements of fresh flowers announce immediately that restraint is not part of the experience. The guest suites are enormous, with private salons, dressing rooms, heated bathing chambers and balconies overlooking the Restaurant Quarter. The finest

The Haven is where wealthy Aranthaens go when privacy matters as much as comfort. From the street it is understated by Restaurant Quarter standards: dark stone, discreet lanterns and a polished entrance without gilded signs or shouting doormen. Inside, however, the restraint becomes its own form of luxury. Boutique suites open onto private balconies, bathing chambers are kept continuously heated, and each guest is assigned a personal concierge capable of arranging almost anything the city can provide. The Haven attracts nobles, senior merchants, diplomats, celebrated performers and others whose presence

The Crown Jewel Inn is less an inn than a grand hotel in everything but name, sprawling across an entire block at the heart of the Restaurant Quarter and catering to visitors accustomed to being extremely comfortable. Its rooms range from richly appointed chambers to vast suites with four-poster beds, marble fireplaces, private sitting rooms and baths supplied with heated water at any hour. The finest overlook the city from high balconies, while the rooftop terrace offers sweeping views across Aranthaes and has become a fashionable place for breakfast, evening

Honeyed Delights is less a restaurant than an institution dedicated to the proposition that dessert deserves an evening of its own. Everything served here is built around two of Aranthaes’ great island luxuries: fragrant local honey and exceptionally rich dairy. The result is a menu of creams, custards, pastries, frozen dishes and elaborate confections that have made the establishment famous far beyond the Restaurant Quarter. Among its signature dishes is Mother’s Gold, a warm honey custard baked beneath a thin caramel crust; Cloud Cream, whipped island cream folded with blossom

The Golden Temple is one of the Restaurant Quarter’s great destinations: an extravagant dining house devoted to rare ingredients, unfamiliar flavours and the idea that a meal should feel like a journey somewhere far beyond Aranthaes. Its rooms are warm with gold light, carved screens, lacquered wood and richly patterned fabrics. Perfumed steam drifts from the kitchens, carrying scents of spice, citrus, smoke and unfamiliar herbs, while dishes arrive in carefully arranged courses designed as much to surprise as to satisfy. The menu changes constantly according to what its buyers

Mother’s Plate occupies a peculiar and very Aranthaen space between restaurant, devotional exercise and social performance. Its menu is drawn from dishes described in the Holy Book of Bune, prepared as faithfully as possible from surviving recipes, temple traditions and scholarly interpretation. The result is food presented as pious simplicity, though little about the experience is actually simple. Lentils arrive perfectly seasoned, breads are made from carefully sourced heritage grains, river fish are served with herbs grown in temple gardens, and humble stews emerge from the kitchens after hours of

The Cat’s Cradle is where prosperous City Tier residents go when they want to feel as though they are eating somewhere simple. Its long oak benches, open hearths and crowded tables suggest an old neighbourhood tavern, but the illusion is carefully maintained. The timber is polished, the pewter spotless, the ale excellent, and the enormous iron pots hanging over the fire contain stews made with prime cuts of meat rather than scraps. Thick roasts arrive with glazed roots, fresh bread and rich gravies, while pies emerge from the kitchens large

The Silver Fish is perhaps the most renowned restaurant in Aranthaes, a palatial temple to seafood where dining has long since ceased to be merely about eating. Its velvet seats, mirrored walls and crystal chandeliers provide the setting for some of the richest meals in the realm, served beneath ceilings painted with shoals of silver fish moving through an imagined blue-green sea. Everything about the restaurant is intended to impress. The main dining room is vast without feeling crowded, broken into sweeping curves of tables, screened alcoves and raised galleries