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‘She’s one of the few hostesses who really knows her traditional cuisine and yet is able to transform it in a balanced way.’

Down a palm-lined avenue within spitting distance of the 3,000-year-old ruins of Queen Dido’s palace, and with the ultramarine Mediterranean as a backdrop, stands a large, comfortable 1960s villa. The white, neo-modernist style would not look out of place in Miami; Carthage is the smartest of the so-called northern suburbs of Tunis. Inside, contemporary artwork, Tunisian handicrafts, French art books and modern furniture contribute to a unique tone created by its owners, the interior designer Mina Ben-Miled and her architect husband. This dauntingly dynamic, chic woman in her 40s manages to juggle her business with trips abroad, intellectual interests and a string of dinner parties, all accomplished in an atmosphere of measured mayhem.