New York City Food Guide – Part 2

My wife and I didn’t do much research on the places to eat. Most of the places we were found using Yelp when we were around a particular area. Fortunately, free Wifi was ample in Manhattan and we could surf the net anywhere we wanted. In fact, you can even get Wifi at parks!

Cafe Lalo @ Upper West Side

Apparently Sarah Jessica Parker, the star of War Horse, goes here. Famed for their organic food, you won’t find any pork or poultry on the menu.


Notwithstanding that, food was pretty good especially their Belgian waffles. Their crispy waffles is served with maple syrup, cream and fresh strawberry. Heavenly I must say!

There is usually a queue to get a seat especially during peak time e.g weekends.

Address
201 West 83rd St.
New York, NY 10024

Website: http://cafelalo.com/cafe/
Opening Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 8am-2am

Friday: 8am-4am
Saturday: 9am-4am

Sunday: 9am-2am
Holidays until 4am


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Clinton Street Baking Company

This place is located amongst the good eateries of Lower East Side of Manhattan. So good that the queue is extremely long queue. The wait can go up to 1 hour but fortunately we got in within 20 minutes. There is a cafe, namely Pause cafe, which serves good coffee and free WiFI. We had coffee there while waiting for our turn to be called.

We ordered Pancakes with warm maple syrup (USD12) and Southern Breakfast.


Blueberry pancakes was extremely good. Fluffy and large in portion. Maple syrup complements the dish.


Southern dish on the other hand was interesting. Their sugar cured bacon was awesome but the rest was just okay. I would order something else if I had another chance.

Address
4 Clinton Street (btw. East Houston & Stanton)
New York, NY 10002

Website: http://www.clintonstreetbaking.com/

Opening Hours:
sunday:
open 9am to 6pm (no dinner on sundays)
monday thru friday:
open 8am – 4pm and 6pm to 11pm
saturday:
open 9am – 4pm and 6pm to 11pm
The restaurant is closed Monday thru Saturday from 4 to 6pm.


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Yonah Schimmel Knishery

With over 100 years of history, the premise aged together with the business. Yonah Schimmel Knishery doesn’t have beautiful decor but it does have a lot of history on its walls. Sitting in the shop itself can be a history lesson of the place.

A knish consists of a filling covered with dough that is either baked, grilled, or deep fried and it is a Jewish snack food. To me, it taste like a savory tar sar peng but with potato fillings.

Address
137 East Houston Street
New York, NY 10002
Between 1st & 2nd – The Lower East Side
Phone/Fax (212) 477-2858

Website: http://knishery.com/


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Laboratorio del Gelato

As the name suggest, this place looks like a laboratory. Its interior is mostly white and the walls are made of glass.


You can actually see how gelato is made in their kitchen.

It’s just a few streets away from Clinton Street Baking Company. It’s been featured in many mainstream medias.

We had their strawberry gelato. It was not bad. Salted caramel seems to be pretty popular as it was the only flavour that ran out.

They also have other unique flavours. Ginger is one of them. Big fat Euw!

Address
188 Ludlow Street
(at East Houston)
New York, NY 10002
Te: 212 343 9922

Opening hours:
monday to thursday 7:30am – 10pm
friday 7:30am – midnight
saturday 10am – midnight
sunday 10am – 10pm

Website: http://www.laboratoriodelgelato.com/


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La Mela Ristorante @ Little Italy

Another Zagat rated restaurant on Little Italy. This Italian ristorante occupies three lots.


Three Types Pasta was awesome. Although small in proportion, one dish was enough to feed my wife and I.

Surprisingly, their cafe latte was not bad.

Tirasmisu on the other hand was just alright. Nothing to shout about.

I would recommend people to come here for their pasta.

Address
167 Mulberry Street
New York,
NY 10013, United States
Tel: (212) 431-9493

Website: http://www.lamelarestaurant.com/


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Norma’s @ Le Meridian

This place was a little bit upscale. Food starts from USD20. Cappuccino was USD7 and orange juice was also USD7!

Apparently this place is well known but Yelp criticized this place like mad.

But I must say that their Crispy French Toast (USD21) was great. Sprinkled with crispy rice, it was massive in size. Crust was crispy but the bread was soft. My wife and I shared it and it filled the both of us up!

[Note: Also try Burger Joint if you’re in the same building]

Address
119 West 56th Street
New York, NY 10019,
United States
Tel: (212) 708-7460

Website: http://www.parkermeridien.com/eat1.php


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Totto Ramen
After waiting for 30 minutes for a spot, we finally managed to squeeze ourselves into this small tiny Japanese restaurant.


Maximum 4 people per table.


Niku Ramen was good. It was a meat galour. Full of yummy tender beef!


Half meat, Half Fat. Ah.

Broth was thick and flavoured. But it is not as good as Ichiran in Fukuoka. Although the first few bites were good, the taste sort of died down towards the end. It is no where near Ichiran in Fukuoka!

Address
366 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019,
United States
Tel: (212) 582-0052

Opening Hours:
Mon – Fri 12pm – 12am
Sat 12pm – 11pm
Sun 5pm – 11pm

Website: http://tottoramen.com/


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New York City: Food Guide – Part II

This entry marks the last entry of my New York City 2010 series. Finally!

Cafe Sabarsky

I found this place through the recommendation of Yelp (popular social media website in the US). I was searching for a good place to eat around the Met Museum and this place was highly recommended by some people.

This Viennese café is located inside the Neue Galerie’s museum. The cafe is not visible from outside but you can see it once you enter the museum.


Although the cafe is quite small, the atmosphere was really, really nice.


fourfeetnine and TimothyTiah!


Latte to kick start my meal 😀


Sabarsky Heiße Schokolade (House made Viennese Hot Chocolate with
Whipped Cream) :D~~~~~~~~


Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut & Röstkartoffeln (Roasted Sausage with Riesling Sauerkraut, Roasted Potatoes & Dijon). Izz zoooo zesmalllll


Apple strudel here is highly recommended. Looks awesome. Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of cooked fruits. Hence the apple strudel tasted so-so for me.

Address
Neue Gallerie
1048 5th Ave
New York, NY 10028
Website: http://www.cafesabarsky.com/

Map

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Magnolia Bakery

This bakery was featured in numerous movies and sitcoms – recently being Sex in the City.

This bakery has a few outlets around New York City and the one that I went was not the one featured in Sex in the City.

The highlight of this bakery is their cupcakes.

I think it was so-so. It was a little bit too sweet for me. But if you’re a big fan of cupcakes and have a sweet tooth, do try this.

Address
1240 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Website: http://www.magnoliabakery.com/

Map

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Burger Joint @ Le Parker Meridien

On my last night in New York City, Raymond said he will bring me to a place to eat burger. He brought us to an office building and I was wondering where could this burger place be. He then lead us to one small corridor and voila! a burger joint! It is tucked in a small part of Le Parker Meridien!

The interior, of course, was not fantastic. In fact, it was quite messy. The walls were scribbled with writings and there were left over food strewed here and there. We even had to clean the place ourselves.

However,the burgers were awesome! Many thanks again to Raymond for buying us supper!

According to many reviews, Burger Joint serves one of the best burgers in the city. Do try it out when you’re in NYC!

Other reviews
DMANBURGER “Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel

Website: http://www.parkermeridien.com/eat4.php

Address
119 W 56th St,
New York‎

Map

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Bloom’s Delicatessen & Restaurant

Sarah brought me to this place on my last day in New York City. According to her, this is a “crew joint”. That means a place frequent by steward and stewardesses.

The reason she brought me here was to try out this restaurant’s breakfast set. She said the food is good and huge. I usually have no problem in eating large meals but the breakfast in Brooms brought me down to my knees. It was huge!!

I had this breakfast set called Lumberjack – came with pancakes, eggs and bacon. There were 3 slides of pancakes and the pancakes were as big as capati!!

After my second piece of pancake, I surrendered. My “bottomless stomach” does have its limits. Those who wishes to try this, I would recommend you to share it with a friend unless you’re 130KGs.

Website: http://www.bloomsnewyorkdeli.com/

Address
350 Lexington Avenue,
New York, NY,
United States‎

Map

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That’s all folks!

New York City: Food Guide – Part I

Before my trip to NYC, I was told that I should try the hot dogs on the streets. Well I did and I must say it was great!

American diners were another thing recommended to me. I am glad that I manage to eat there. It’s nothing special but it’s the experience that matters.

Anyway, here are some good places that I went.

Lombardi’s Pizza

This place was recommended by Raymond. It is recognised as the first pizzeria in the United States and was opened in 1905.

We were brought to the upper floor of the restaurant which only has a few tables. We ordered 2 awesome pizzas and I must say that they were awesome!

32 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012-4173, United States
(212) 941-7994
Website: http://www.firstpizza.com/

Open Weekdays 11:30am-11pm; Weekends 11:30am-12am

Map

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Junior’s Cheesecake

On the next day, Raymond brought us to another awesome place for dessert – the famous Junior’s cheesecake. They’ve been around since 1950s and they have few branches all over NYC. Raymond brought us to the one at Times Square. In fact, it was so good that I went to Junior’s twice!


I would highly recommend the plain cheesecake. It’s quite big hence sharing is recommended.


Red velvet is good as well.


Devil’s Food Cheesecake was too rich for me. I was full after half a piece of this thing.

West 45th St. between
Broadway and 8th Ave.
Phone: (212) 302-2000

Hours (EST):
Mon–Thurs: 6:30am–12am
Fri & Sat: 6:30am–1am
Sun: 6:30-11pm

Map

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Sushi Ichimasa

Timothy Tiah, fourfeetnine and I found this place by chance while waiting for our play to start. It is a small Japanese restaurant. Chefs were Japanese and one of them even visited Malaysia!

Food was fresh. Service was good. Price was reasonable. Place was cozy. It was perfect. What else more can you ask for?

I tried ordering my meal through Japanese. It’s been a while since I spoke Japanese. I managed to order my meal but the lady thought I was some second generation Japanese that cant speak proper Japanese -_-

302 W 50th St
(between 8th Ave & 9th Ave)

New York, NY 10019

Map

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