Luna, De Pijpescort withauburn fire

De Pijp at night is loud, young and hungry. Wine bars spilling onto the pavement. The Albert Cuyp shuttered and silent. Kitchens on the Ferdinand Bolstraat still sending out plates at midnight. Luna fits this neighbourhood like a signature. She knows the bars. The bartenders know her. De Pijp is her home turf and she treats it like a private members' club with no membership list. Midnight is when the neighbourhood is at its best, and so is she.

She is twenty-two, 171 cm, curvy, with long dark auburn red hair that turns heads before she says a word and brown eyes that hold a look one second longer than expected. Bold. Independent. Sensual in the elegant sense, all presence, no performance. She makes her own plans and invites you into them, and she speaks English with a directness that saves everyone a lot of time. Nobody talks Luna into anything. Everybody gets talked into something by Luna.

Wine tasting is her serious side. Natural bottles, old world labels, strange grapes from small islands. She will try anything once and remember all of it. Bianka is her match on that front. Photography is the second habit: a battered film camera, grainy night shots, faces lit by neon signs. Theatre is the third, front row where she can get it, verdict ready at the interval and not always kind. Her pictures never flatter; they tell the truth, which is exactly why people love them.

Her look is bold modern glamour. Strong colour, clean shape, zero apology. It works in a dark wine bar and on an opening night alike. Book Luna if you want someone who picks the place, picks the bottle and makes the whole night feel as though it was always the plan. You just have to keep up. Heels optional. Opinions mandatory. Tell us your hotel and she will already have a wine bar in walking distance in mind.

Luna does not do fixed plans. She does rules. Rule one: the first glass is natural wine, poured by someone who can describe the vineyard, in a small De Pijp bar with the door propped open. Rule two: the film camera comes along, and she only shoots strangers who do not notice. Rule three: if a fringe play is on anywhere nearby, you go, you sit near the front, and you form an opinion before the interval. Rule four: dinner happens after the show, never before, at a late kitchen near the Albert Cuyp that still takes orders at eleven. Rule five she announces over dessert, and it changes every time. Once it was that the night could not end until you both found a bottle neither of you had heard of.