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
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.
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/
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/
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/
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
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/