My Foodie New York City

I spent the past week in New York City exploring all its delights with around twenty friends from university. We were attending the National Model United Nations Conference and found the entire experience, both the conference and the city, to be exhilarating. While the conference did not allow much time for serious foodie expeditions, I did manage to come across some wonderful delights which I am sharing with you now:

1. Teuscher Chocolates, 620 5th Avenue, New York


Absolutely delicious truffles and an even more amazing window display for Easter. It's located in a wonderful spot between 5th Avenue opposite Saks Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center. 

2. Rock Center Cafe, 620 5th Avenue, New York


Looking over the ice rink, you have to take a special elevator to the basement to get to this cafe. The cafe is wonderful and the ambience is lovely. Best of all is this dessert which was two whoopie pies sandwiched with a coconut cream layer in between. And that chocolate glaze? Heaven. 

3. Tartinery, 209 Mulberry Street, Nolita, New York

Wonderful for a light lunch, Tartinery is super fab, sleek, and modern. The best part is the seating area in the basement- it's wide, bright, and airy. I had a roasted vegetable tartine which tasted fantastic.

4. Breakfast at a diner on Broadway and Times Square.


I cannot seem to remember the name of this diner, I guess because we were all super-hungry and rushed in as soon as we saw it. But the pancakes were WONDERFUL. I was caught between choosing this (old-fashioned pancakes) and their lemon and ricotta ones.. for once, I decided to go with the "safe" option. My friend had the delicious chocolate pancakes below.

5. Fluffy's Cafe, 855 7th Avenue

Good, cheap, filling, and wholesome food. Fluffy's had a wonderful variety of wraps, sandwiches, and baked items. The cafe was supercrowded and I had to improvise by sitting on the counter. One thing I noticed about NYC was that there were a lot of wraps everywhere- and being my favourite sandwich- I was in heaven! My friend had this gorgeous chocolate cake below. My sandwich was already devoured before I had the energy to dig out my camera.

6. The Halal Guys- 53rd and 6th, New York


The longest lines ever outside this place- and well worth it- or so everyone I knew told me. I was attempting to be vegetarian that week and didn't try the meat. Although now I wish I had.

7. Ray's New York Pizza, 736 7th Avenue, New York

Wonderful pizza which we first had late at night the day we arrived and once again at 11pm when my friend and I were super hungry. Yes, they sell you one slice (you can obviously have more) but that one slice is sooo filling and delicious.

8. Sarabeth's, 40 Central Park South, New York


WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL French Toast. It was soo good and crispy and sweet but not too sweet and HEAVENLY with the fresh strawberries. I want to make French Toast like that. And their jam was the icing on the cake. They had an apricot and orange flavoured one and a raspberry and rhubarb if I'm not mistaken. My friend recommended this restaurant to me before we left Dubai and I made sure I went there to try it early one morning. GREAT breakfast. GREAT jam.

9. Armani Restaurant, 717 5th Avenue, New York


On our second last day in New York, I had some last minute shopping to do.. (I always have last minute shopping to do...what gives?)... anyways, on our second last day in NY, I quickly took the bus to 5th Avenue to finish some retail therapy...and halfway through I felt very hungry.. shopping is an exhausting activity, let me tell you. I wanted a good place to eat, I wanted to sit down in a nice, quiet restaurant and relax for a while, and savour my meal.. unlike the other days when all I was doing was rushing everywhere. And so I spotted Armani Restaurant. And there I discovered the best bread I have ever had. They brought a little basket filled with around five different kinds of bread, each more amazing than the other. There were parmesan flavoured breadsticks, sage flavoured bread like pappadums, and best of all, soft bread that was baked in a cupcake tray (I could see the paper case lines) and was savoury but had the slightest hint of a raisin flavour. It was mindblowing. Yes, I do realize I'm talking about bread. The bread went amazingly with this tomato gazpacho that was courtesy of the chef, and the risotto reminded me so much of the one I make back home. All good, but nothing beat the bread.

10. Novella, 191 Grand Street, Little Italy, New York

I went here for lunch with three really good friends and although the food was good, the service was horrible. The food took more than half an hour to bring (AFTER we got our appetizers) and the staff were extremely rude. I asked one waiter for the bill and he gave me a dirty look and walked away. Before that, when I asked for chili flakes, I got the same expression. It didn't bother me much though. I just wanted to have a good time with my girls and eat. Which we did. The food was good. I had the spring vegetable pasta with pink sauce (although I couldn't reaaally see the pink sauce). The bruschetta we shared was very, very good, especially the one with avocado on it, and the artichoke starter was lovely as well.

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And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a quick roundup of my foodie picks of NYC (without prior research or true exploration).