New York Food

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Eileen's Special Cheesecake, Soho

Well, where to begin. This whole trip has centred around 2 things, food & Tim's painting. We have been seriously blessed with the weather too. Clear blue skies almost every day have made exploring both New York and Chicago even more enjoyable. I'll get onto Chicago in a later post but heres a little roundup of some of the food we have enjoyed in Manhattan & Brooklyn. One thing we have both struggled with is the amount of rich food we've been eating, I know, woe is me. All I'm craving right now is super fresh, raw salads.

I thought that the best way to round up the highs and lows was to split it all into smaller categories.

South American
Returning to Cafe Habana for their grilled corn was such a treat. The chicken quesadilla with smoked cheese were pretty special too. I'm hoping its BBQ time when I get back to Cambridge because I want to make their corn for friends.

Cafe Habana grilled corn (blogged about here)and chicken quesadilla

Fast Food
Burger wise, we've been pretty restrained only eating 1 the whole time we have been here. Shake Shack really did live up to expectations, for a chain their burgers were high quality, it would be dangerous if they opened lots of stores in England.

Shake Shack

I was eager to try Gray's Papaya as its a bit of a New York institute. Super cheap but tasty hot dogs to help fuel walking around the city but special mention has to go to the Papaya juice, I would go back just for that.

Grays Papaya Hot Dogs

Breakfast
I had read about Egg in a copy of Food & Travel magazine and knew I had to pay it a visit. It was a truly indulgent breakfast covered in melted cheese, great if you've had a few drinks the night before but if you fancy something lighter theres always the homemade granola or caramelised grapefruit with mint.

Ham Biscuit at Egg, Brooklyn, Biscuit (or scone to Brits) with fig jam, ham, cheddar and grits on the side

Eggs Rothko at Egg, Brooklyn- An egg cooked inside a brioche slice topped with cheese with tomatoes & bacon

Another great breakfast spot was Bushwick's Living Room just around the corner from where we were staying, their eggs benny with homefries were delicious.

'The Sea' Eggs Benedict with Homefries at Bushwick's Living Room

For a cheaper weekday breakfast we really liked the bagels at Swallow cafe in Bushwick and their coffee was great too.

Bagels and Coffee at Swallow, Brooklyn

Street Food

The only street food we ended up eating in New York was from Delany Smokeline at the Highline in Chelsea. Served with Brioche and potato salad it definitely wasn't the lightest of lunches but a nice treat nevertheless.

Smoked Ribs at Delany BBQ Smokeline Food truck at the High Line, Chelsea 

Brisket at Delany BBQ Smokeline Food truck at the High Line, Chelsea

Middle Eastern

I am a huge fan of Middle Eastern food so when doing my research I discovered Miriam's. It was a little out of the way for us but it was definitely worth it. With 4 meze plates for just $14 its incredibly good value too. Our favourites were the feta & watermelon salad and the za'atar bread with truffle oil. It would be a great place to go with a lot of friends so you could try even more dishes.

Haloumi & Artichoke salad at Miriam's, Brooklyn

Za'atar bread with truffle oil at Miriam's, Brooklyn

Watermelon & Feta at Miriam's, Brooklyn

Pizza

We were lucky enough to be staying 1 block from this place. Its super popular and its easy to see why. Great pizzas and salads, a bit on the pricey side though. Get there early or expect a wait. We were told 2 hours one night so went somewhere else instead. They also do a great brunch too apparently.

Roberta's Pizza (photo from their website)

Asian

So, I finally made it to the famous Momofuku Noodle Bar and what can I say, it was all ok but I think it has been so hyped up that I left feeling a little disappointed. The biggest disappointment was their pork belly buns which were really greasy and a little unpleasant to eat. Maybe I got spoilt by The Three Horseshoes version which comes with delicious crackling. The beef buns were better and came with a horseradish cream and a fresh salad. We opted for the noodles which were fine but not spectacular. I think the sage soft serve was the saving grace but we couldn't work out what the pancake truffles were trying to be. They were like super dry, crumbly cookie dough balls. A few nights later we headed to a fairly new place called Shinobi in Bushwick (not pictured). A really small ramen place which does about 5 different noodle dishes and a bunch of sides. We shared the Chicken Karaage and dug into huge bowls of ramen for a much more reasonable price. Shinobi wins hands down in my book.

Momofuku Beef Buns

Momofuku Pork Belly buns

Momofuku Chicken Ramen

Momofuku Pancake Truffles and Sage Soft Serve

Sweet Treats
I couldn't leave New York without trying a Momofuku crack pie first hand. Both the pie and the compost cookie we bought were tasty but it all being pre-packaged made me feel like it had all come from a big factory rather than a quaint little bakery.

Momofuku's famous Crack Pie

Whilst painting one of Tim's murals we were taken for a little treat to Circo's Bakery where we were bough Cannoli and Pignoli biscuits (the South Italian version of macaroons) I had never seen those before but they were incredible, I'll be attempting them when I get back home.

Cannoli from Circo's Pastry Shop, Brooklyn