New York City, 2012

So this is a post from a while ago from my old blog, transferred over here so apologies if this gives you déja vu.

When I was visiting my friend in Washington DC last year, we decided it would be a crime if we didn't visit New York City too as it is so close. My first trip to NYC was in 2009, with Nisha, and that is when I fell so deeply in love with the city. It was such a special moment and to be with my best friend too made it even sweeter.

So, it was time for a two year reunion. We took a Megabus there - a four hour journey, but a lot cheaper than taking the train, a return trip was around $30, and still comfortable. We did have to pull our cases some way to our hotel when we got there (luckily the return journey meeting point was just a block from our hotel - perfect) but our hotel was wonderful and so welcoming and helpful! We stayed at the Distrikt Hotel, a hidden gem of a hotel just off of Times Sq. Not too expensive, but we could afford better than usual as we were only staying 2 nights, so we decided to splash out a little. 

TIP: If you tweet them on twitter (@distrikthotel) that you're staying with them, they are likely to upgrade your room!! 

We both decided, having been to New York numerous times between us, that we didn't want to do the usual site seeing. We just wanted to explore all the cute little areas New York City had to offer. We also, of course, had a pre-made list of restaurants we wanted to explore, so we knew what areas we would roughly be staying in.

When walking around randomly, we realised we'd come to the Brooklyn Bridge just before sunset. Timing couldn't have been better. It lead to my favourite pictures of all time being taken:

Keep in mind in DC, just a 4 hour drive away, it was around 25 degrees, in NYC it was about 5 degrees. We were not prepared. It was freezing!!

The one place we did know we wanted to visit, however, was the New York Public Library. I've never been there and I have a thing for a good library. It was so beautiful! The Americans know how to do a grand library.

That day, we had wanted to go for lunch at a place called The Eatery, I'd seen that Kanye West had mentioned it on his twitter and naturally I trust Kanye's judgement. Their brunch menu sounded incredible, (ice cream stuffed french toast!!) but due to weird circumstances in the restaurant, we weren't able to eat there. The waiter told us of a great Italian restaurant down the street. So we headed there....

It was fantastic, great food, so unassuming and a really cute little joint. I would never have set foot in it from the look of it from the outside, so it was such a great turn of events. 

I honestly can't remember the name of the little Italian, but I know I've written it down somewhere, so as soon as I find it I will update!!

Nisha had ravioli and I had a Mediterranean pasta dish.

DELICIOUS desserts!! Me - tiramasu, natch and Nisha - vanilla panacotta with balsamic vinegar. You may not think that works but trust me - it's amazing.

Hope she doesn't mind - had to add this pic of Nisha, because she looks so beautiful and glowing!!

Then from this area, I discovered the place I want to live in NYC. When I have millions and millions of dollars, of course....

In the Chelsea District

That evening we stayed in watching a Bravo Housewife marathon because it was so cold outside, we couldn't bare to leave our hotel room. We took a quick trip to Times Sq. to take a picture of the lights and night but that was enough!! So we were boring. But it was freezing.

The next morning, I had seen a brilliant breakfast place I wanted to try, called Good Enough to Eat.

It's pretty well-known, so be prepared for a wait and for it it to be very busy and to be sat in a pretty cramped area!! But honestly, so worth it. JUST LOOK:

Now, I love my breakfast/brunch places in London, but they will never be able to emulate these kind of beauties that only the Americans can seem to do.

That, right there, is cinnamon french toast, with walnuts and maple syrup and strawberry butter on the side, with Belgian choc chip pancakes with orange butter - one of the most amazing things to have ever entered my mouth (get your mind out the gutter). 

It truly was heaven.

It was our last day and so we had to go to "our spot". The spot in Central Park, where two years ago, we sat down and we said to each other that in that blissful moment of clarity in NYC, we were truly happy. Not a feeling of ecstasy but a feeling of true contentedness - true happiness. 

And here it is, two years on:

It was perfect. For our last meal we had wanted to go to La Esquina and I wish we forced ourselves to make that trip now because I hear about people going there all the time - even Tom Hanks!! But instead we went to a restaurant nearer our hotel, a restaurant that Justin Timberlake owns, called Southern Hospitality. It does traditional southern food with a modern twist. I've never had southern food before so I thought why not, besides on their twitter (have you noticed that I live on twitter?!) they said if you say a line to one of their waiters you'll get 15% off your meal. Deal!!

The place was cool, it was loud and had an interesting modern decor. Just letters hung from the ceiling with exposed lightbulbs all around. Clearly a lot of money spent to look like not a lot of money had been spent. We shared a plate of ribs in some kind of sticky barbeque sauce with tater tots, which are essentially fried potatoes, like hash browns, and some potato tortilla thing.

The ribs were great, I am a sucker for ribs (little tip: never order ribs on a first date. I tried and, to cut a long story short, it did not look cute). 

Anyway the meal in general was ok but I wouldn't shout about it.

The pecan pie for dessert was pretty great though, I have no other pecan pie to compare it to:

So. At the end of the meal I repeated this line from twitter to get our discount and my worst nightmare came true. She looked at me like I was crazy. She said "What?" and so I explained that I saw on twitter if you said that you would get a discount. Again, she gave me crazy faces. She went to talk to the manager and he said he had no idea either. So we didn't get the discount. Boo. Later we tweeted the Southern Hospitality account telling them about it, and they apologised and said they should have communicated it better, so gave us vouchers for a free meal there!! Which was a great thing to do and the only thing that would tempt me to eat there again since I do not have fond memories of my waiter's looking-at-me-crazy face.

So unfortunately, not the best end to the two day stay in NYC, but all in all a wonderful trip. I don't think I'll get to go in 2013, but hopefully in 2014 I will be back.