Dessert choice tonight..?
Tonight’s dessert choice is easy. What do you think we shared?
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food
New York food roundup
There is no doubt that food is something New Yorker’s take food seriously. Every day we found a an impressive food experience. Let’s share just over a week of great experiences with you.
Saturday
We arrived from Australia on Saturday night and headed straight for Eataly. A food store, bakery, gelateria, brewery, kitchen store all in one. I posted this blog entry about Eataly.
Eataly
Sunday
On Sunday night we went to Paulie Gee’s, we’ve shared our story in this blog post.
For lunch, however, we had some fantastically simple lobster at the fish store in Chelsea market. It’s hard to believe how cheap lobster is over here. Supply and demand? There is a lot of demand… But is there a lot more supply? Or is there something else happening in Adelaide.
Lobster
Monday
11 Madison Park was a fantastic experience. It was the story of New York imaginatively presented. We had the perfect NY picnic, NY cookies, NY soda, NY cheesecake. The dining room seemed to be an old bank and the service was friendly ant attentive. Highly recommended for people to get a NY feel through food. There has clearly been a lot of collaboration between the chef and local producers.
Steaming
Tuesday
Perfect spring weather demands a salad outside the New York Public Library does it not? Fortunately there is a great little restaurant just out the back overlooking Bryant Park.
K waiting
Wednesday
You know we love sushi and sashimi in Japan. But, for an innovative French treatment of fish, there is no doubt that Le Bernardin is the best fish we have ever had outside of Japan. The service was impeccable and the environment created inside and outwardly plain building near time square was quite impressive. The matching of the wines with the dishes was perfect.
Yummm.
Thursday
Well, I could talk about eating at the Crab Shanty Shack and H’s ordeal with crabs… But I won’t.
Crabs anyone?
Instead I’ll tell you about Junior’s. Junior’s is a famous Brooklyn institution – known around the world for its cheesecakes. It opened a satellite store in Grand Central Terminal in the early 2000’s. In 2009 they opened a new restaurant near Times Square. We just happened across walking back to the hotel from Kinky Boots…. We had to go in.
Junior’s BLT
Friday
Friday was a food expedition day to lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. There is no doubt that one of the food discoveries of the week was humble flat bread from SCRATCHbread. H had the chopped egg salad melt and K had the mushroom melt. Fan-bloody-tastic, Adelaide needs these!
Flatbread Brooklyn Style
Saturday
So many amazing food options in New York. We spontaneously decided to check out Momfuku Ssan Bar. With a no reservations policy it was easy, turn up put your name on the list, go for a walk, and return when you get your e-mail or SMS. Return and eat fantastic food. The atmosphere is energetic and communal. Focus of the food is local.
Veal’s head terrine and sardines
Sunday
Hungry after a big bike ride. We needed to replenish the fuel tank, but we really didn’t want to walk too far. Yelp to the rescue – oh mighty yelp, where can we eat within a few hundred metres from the hotel? Mighty yelp told us that Pio Pio 8 had pretty fantastic Peruvian chicken. We agree.
Better than take away BBQ chicken
Wine and cheese at the library hotel
Helen enjoying wine and cheese on the 2nd floor of the Library Hotel!
A walk, a ferry, a wait, a pizza, a train.
A Walk
We needed our pizza fix. We were told that Paulie Gee’s could fix all of that. There was a problem, however, the East River stood between us and pizza.
I had utilised my trusty tablet to find out there was indeed a water crossing with a connecting mid-town bus. On closer inspection of the timetable, however, it only ran peak hours Monday-Friday. Quite alright if you are in Australia, but we’re not… It was Sunday. Quick examination of Google Maps (how could Apple even think of releasing a map without public transport) showed that it took 17 minutes to walk to the ferry terminal or 15 minutes by public transport. With 20 minutes to go we legged it.
With only a little jogging we made the ferry with 30 seconds to spare. $4 not too bad for a few stops on the Ferry.
A Ferry
The East River Ferry was quite effective. It had an outdoor deck on the second level, although no seats. The service was fast and efficient.
Ferry
Like the group of orthodox Jewish young men, we enjoyed taking photos from the deck.
The UN
Empire State amongst the skyline
It only took 10 minutes to cross the river to Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Greenpoint – amongst deserted warehouses.
A wait
While the street was quite, save for a wedding party taking photos in front of a graffitied warehouse door – we presume that they had taken over the local pub for their reception, Paulie Gee’s was busy. We approached reception and placed our name on the list and waited on the seats outside.
Helen waiting
A pizza
That’s not quite fair. It wasn’t just a pizza. It was a bloody good pizza – there were so many to choose from. They were mostly American inventions – good ones at that. We had a Delboy. A good base, but not good as some (wink), top quality toppings. Local ommegang witte beer was fantastic, but what is with the slice of orange attached to my glass?
Delboy
We surprised the waiter by only ordering one pizza and salad (our usual order). We were disappointed seeing how many people didn’t finish these great pizzas, or left their crust behind (my god). Others were so full that they couldn’t fit in dessert. Boy, are they silly. The deserts were fab. H ordered a chocolate orange pot and I order a sundae with Mike’s hot honey (bloody hell it was spicy) and candied walnuts.
Chocolate pot
We had a great time there. There was something strangely déjà vu.
Looks familiar
A train
Well not a train, but two. The G and then the 7 back to Grand Central.
7
.
Sunday Breakky view
Walk to Eataly
After more than 20 hours of flying in a big jet plane we finally made it to NYC.
After all that time you build up a big hunger, but have no real desire to sit down. The perfect solution is to walk to Eataly. It came with some very strong recommendations from people we trust. It certainly lived up to expectations. We ate mozzarella, crostini, and cured meats. It was delicious. I was so absorbed with the flavours, I have no photographs – you’ll have to look at H’s Flickr photo stream.
I did take some photos walking to Eataly.
We’re staying near the NY Public Library.
Walked down Fifth Avenue.
Ate some food.
Crossed Madison Square Park – will return on Friday for Eats Your Heart Out
Walked back down Madison Avenue – with evocative night time steam.
Laduree part 2
What should you do when you have 27 hours left in Paris?
As a tourist, it is a difficult question to answer. There are so many options available. Do you go shopping, or try to fit in a couple of galleries? Added to this, prior to leaving, we received a list of top patisseries in Paris worth visiting, provided by Jonny and Eddy who run “From Scratch…” at the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market. We certainly had a tough time deciding. The decision was easy – it was patisseries! The reviews to follow:
Laduree (many places all over Paris), on Rue Bonaparte. We decided to take afternoon tea. I had lemon citron tart, and Kym had pistachio macron with berries. The tart was delightful. The pastry edging was even with the filling smooth, and was perfect for my liking…ah. I can not comment on what Kym ate, as he refused to share – it must of been good!
Transit again
This morning we find our shelves up early and on board a Thalys high speed train to Paris, from Amsterdam. The journey across a couple of countries will take three hours. Oh, to be in Europe and have this ability to hop aboard a train and end in Brussels, Paris… Ah. Here is the breakfast on board.
Celebrating the ride
We arrived in Tynemouth around 3:50pm. We hadn’t eaten since 10am, and cycled straight to the recommended fish and chip shop “Oceans”. We celebrated the end of the ride with fish, chips, scraps, pineapple ring, mushy peas, and curry gravy. Food always tastes better when you’ve really earned it!
