I’ve been a tad lazy of late with the baking so I thought I’d write a post about my recent trip to New York with my mam and all the delicious food we had over there, for a change.
On our first day in New York we popped into Becco, an Italian restaurant on 355 W 46th St. I had read about this restaurant in the DK New York guide, they have a fantastic 2 course lunch menu for $20. From the outside Becco looked like it was closed but once inside it was absolutely hopping, after all it was lunchtime on a Saturday. Mam and I ordered the same thing, the antipasto misto to start and the sinfonia di paste for mains. We were served a trio of breads and then our starter came out. The roasted vegetables were very tasty but the octopus in balsamic vinegar was my favourite. We were given a plate for our mains and waited while three waiters came around with dishes of freshly made pasta, we waddled out of the restaurant in a pasta coma.
Later that evening we went to Magnolia bakery beside Radio City for a cupcake only to land in baking heaven. I walked up and down in front of all the cakes, traybakes, flapjacks and cupcakes trying to make some sort of decision.
I finally decided on the chocolate cupcake with the marshmallow ghost icing and my mam had the apple and walnut cupcake, yummy.
Sunday was spent in Harlem eating some Southern soul food, waffles and deep fried chicken in Sylvia’s Restaurant. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to check out the gospel singers, another time. That evening we took shelter from the stormy weather by stopping into Mad Dog and Beans, on 83 Pearl St, for a burger and chips. It was a monster of a burger and the starter of coconut covered prawns was delish.
Halloween began with an oatmeal cookie and an americano in Dean and Deluca off of Times Square, a great start to the day. It was my first oatmeal cookie and I can see what all the fuss is, another recipe to add to the list.
That night we went to Tertulia, on 359 6th Ave, for some mouthwatering tapas dishes while we waited for the Halloween parade to come up the street. We ordered nuestras patatas, roasted beetroot with toasted hazelnuts, gambas and clams in a cider juice, all absolutely delicious and fantastic service too.
Tuesday morning we went to Cafe Luluc, near Bergen St. subway in Brooklyn, for a proper American breakfast of a stack of pancakes with coffee. The pancakes were quite cake like, really tasty with the fresh fruit and drizzled with plenty of maple syrup. After a stroll around Brooklyn Heights I tasted some butter pecan ice-cream at the Brooklyn Ice-Cream Factory under the Brooklyn Bridge.
The next day after plenty of sightseeing and walking we dropped into Serendipity 2 for some sugar overload. I had a frozen hot chocolate which was made up of a variety of different types of chocolate, it was surprisingly light and quite impressive too of course. They also had some interesting themed sundaes for the week that was in it.
That night we went to Bubba Gump and shared some shrimp cooked three ways, grilled, breaded with coconut (I really have to try this out at home, love it) and a popcorn style batter. Added to the Forrest Gump themed meal were some refreshing drinks in sparkly lit up glasses, so much fun.
The following day was a proper foodie day, we went to the supermarket in Grand Central Terminal and took in all the lovely displays. I particularly enjoyed Spices and Tease where I bought a few little pouches of their teas and spices that I’m still enjoying.
We went to Bouley for a five course tasting lunch to try out some New York fine dining. It was quite a meal. We were served a complimentary starter with a chinese cracker and a savoury profiterole. For my first course I got Hawaiian hiramasa and Nantucket blue fin whish was served rare, so fresh. We were served a slice of bread from the very impressive bread cart, in between courses.
For my second course I got the porcini flan which had crab in it, the colour and texture were quite unusual. For main course I got duck with polenta, grains and apricots, loved it. To cleanse the palette I the had apple – carrot sorbet which had a lovely apple salsa with it, very refreshing.
Finally we were served dessert which also came with a complimentary dessert. I had the frivolous of 70% Valhrona chocolate which was a chocolate fondant served with Colombian coffee gelato, little brownie pieces and a chocolate wafer. Mam had the Vacherin d’ete, a salad of raspberries, lime meringue, vanilla cream and a basil cloud. The complimentary dessert was a scoop of blackcurrant sorbet served with blackcurrants and vanilla ice cream, absolutely delicious.
To end with we were served some complimentary chocolates with our coffee and a lemon loaf each when we got our coats. We really enjoyed our fine dining experience and it was fantastic value for money at $59 each, I’d definitely recommend it to anyone.
We had another visit to The Magnolia Bakery, this particular one was in Sex and the City. We tasted a vanilla cupcake with a blue, vanilla buttercream and a hummingbird cupcake too. The final foodie stop was at Filaga in the Chelsea market where we had some traditional Italian pizza, an arancini and some delectable cannoli.
It’s safe to say that when in New York you are spoilt for choice for food, whether that’s street food in Bryant Park, fun dishes at themed restaurants like Bubba Gump or fine dining in Bouley. No matter what you will find something that suits all tastes and I can’t wait to go back and try many more different treasures.
Fernweh with T 