I'm pretty disappointed that I haven't blogged in so long. I've had a crazy month with so much Uni work to do, I've also started my driving lessons and been working and co-running the dance club at Uni on top of all of that so I've not had a second to breathe let alone blog! However... I am specially making time to write this before my memories of the wonderful world of New York fade into the abyss.
If I could go back to NYC purely to explore the quirky little coffee shops, the hidden restaurants and the amazing diners scattered around then I most definitely would. Hopefully I will someday but looking back on this trip I definitely didn't get to appreciate the food as much as I'd have liked! We had so much to get through in those few days that food wasn't really a priority. Don't get me wrong we still found some absolute gems but me being a greedy moo would have liked to have found more!
All my friends know how much of a foodie I am but a lot of my friends that were on this trip and that I spent the most time with loved their clothes and make-up and wanted to spend any free time here and there kidnapping the shelves of Sephora or Victoria's Secret. This was probably a good thing for me as I had never really appreciated clothes or make-up before but I actually picked up a few goodies!
Now for the food...
The one thing I will say about New York is that I do believe the tips are a bit crazy. I don't think people should feel forced to tip and have heads shaking at them as they walk out the door for not doing so. As a waitress I only expect a decent tip if I've gone out of my way for a big party because I'm sure a couple of quid between a party of twenty people is nothing but in America if it's four of you dining and they give less than average service they are still expecting twenty dollars? To me that's absurd.
I found that Hooters food wasn't actually as good as I'd expected, it was really just an average sports bar- good for a plate of hot wings or tater tots. The food was barely warm but it was still quite tasty. I had this buffalo chicken burger which I added mushrooms too as extra with tater tots. This was my first meal in NY and I was starving so I did enjoy this, however I mostly enjoyed the iced tea!
Ruby Tuesdays- I wrote about this in my last post and I posted my steak, sweet potato fries and green beans. The portions were amazing in most places in NY but I genuinely felt like I'd eaten a decent meal in here that wasn't overly greasy or unhealthy. You could select which sides you wanted with your meat which I thought was really good and the mushrooms that came with my steak were cooked with fresh garlic and I love my mushrooms! I also thought the raspberry iced tea was incredible here too!
Magnolia Bakery....my my my. Again I wrote about this in my last post however I can't not mention this in my food post about NY. This was part of the sex and the city tour but there are a couple of these dotted around NYC. I'm not even kidding when I say the aroma hits you as soon as you open that door. The air is filled with the sweet scents of sponges being baked, I physically couldn't leave without buying myself something so this had to be the caramel pecan cheesecake...I've been dreaming about it ever since.
This was my first breakfast in NY and I was so excited to be able to order cawfee and pancakes. This was actually just from a small, crappy shop/diner but we all loved it there! The pancakes could be made fresh and there was a big fruit bar where you could make up your own box of fruit and add french toast or pancakes to it and they gave you little pots of maple syrup to pour over them. It was cheap and cheerful with a huge cup of black coffee (never tell them to put the sugar in for you, I said I took sugar and I had a crazy sugar rush headache afterwards from the amount they had put in lol!). The pancakes were gorgeous and fluffy and I really don't think anywhere can do pancakes as good as the New Yorkers.
This was from another little shop/food place round the corner from the New York film academy. After we had a workshop we all wanted to grab a quick lunch before we moved onto more sightseeing and this was the perfect spot. There was a chinese buffet, a sandwich bar and a pizza spot all crammed into the same shop- it was amazing! The slices of pizza were huge and one was enough to fill me up. This one had a hot sauce base and it was then topped with mozzarella and chicken, amazing!
Ellen's Stardust diner- I would go here again and again just for the experience! It was so amazing to be in a restaurant full of singing waiters, I can't even explain how happy it made me and my friends. I had the flatbread which had slices of lamb- a little like donner meat but much more fresh and tasty than the crappy, cheap meat you get from your local kebab shop, topped with salad and a mint yoghurt dressing. It came with waffle fries and I couldn't resist the coffee shake too which was insanely good! I could actually only manage half of my flatbread, I think I took so long to eat because I was so in awe of the performers that I didn't really realise whether I was hungry or not at all.
The salads of all salads! This was in another little diner called Andrew's coffee house- this was a late night meal and they still produced the most fresh, amazing tasting salad I have ever had! Chicken cooked in fajita spices with avocado, tomato, mixed leaves, onion and tomato which came with a pot of ranch dressing, I loved it! I also had to get sweet potato fries because I'm a greedy bugger but these were amazing too, as I said earlier the portions in NY were crazy so it was really hard to finish but incredible all the same.
The olive garden was a real people-pleaser restaurant. One of my friends is a vegan and there was plenty of choice for her here too. Her and a couple of others got a meal deal where you get unlimited doughsticks- these were to die for!!! They were freshly baked, brushed with salty butter and the soft dough just melted in your mouth (my stomach is rumbling just thinking about them!), they also got unlimited soup and salad and the salad was gorgeous too. I got chicken breast cooked with red wine and mushrooms with roasted sweet and normal potatoes. I think I just ordered this because I love mushrooms and sweet potato but for me this was fairly bland but I would go back just for those amazing unlimited doughsticks!
I hope this post has given you all a better view of the food in New York, apologies for the pictures, the lighting was a little crappy in some of the restaurants.
Thanks for reading.
H. x
