medgirl's Profile
Rooftop bar recs for anniversary evening
@PigsOnTour,
that looks brilliant, don't know if we are beautiful enough to pass the 'controlled door entry', but will give it a go!
Rooftop bar recs for anniversary evening
@thegforceny, thanks for the salon de ning tip. In the UK people are obsessed with the weather, because it is mostly crap year-round. As an American living in the UK for the past 10 years, I have developed crap-weather-fatigue and have stopped bothering with the weather forecasts: if the sun comes out, what a nice surprise! So thanks for reminding me that i can check the weather online, though it looks like I'm not going to have much luck during my stay in NYC and will have to rely on heat lamps if I want to have a drink outside.
@kathryn, you are really one of the most helpful hounds on this board, thanks v much for those links. Thanks again for your previous tips when I was shortlisting restaurants, and those awesome Manhattan brunch OPs you write. I will report back!
Rooftop bar recs for anniversary evening
It's for next Tuesday. Will the weather be bad? Should we stick to an indoor space?
Rooftop bar recs for anniversary evening
Hi, I am visiting from London, England and will be in Manhattan for my 9th anniversary. Hoping to hit some bars in the evening with my other half. I was thinking maybe Death and Co and/or Booker and Dax, which seem to be near each other. Again, I was wondering if you know of any rooftop bars with great views and decent drinks. We are not a lovey-dovey sort of couple, so it doesn't have to be dripping with a romantic vibe. Thanks!
Shortlist for April trip: constructive criticism welcome!
Thanks sgordon. Marc Forgione sounds like our kind of place for a nice dinner, that's a great tip. We are staying in the UWS, which if I remember correctly, is near Harlem, so Patsy's shouldn't be a problem to check out.
Shortlist for April trip: constructive criticism welcome!
OK, you've convinced me to try Ssam Bar with the kid. If it's an interesting plate, and if he can see ducks on a rotisserie, he will be very happy.
Shortlist for April trip: constructive criticism welcome!
kathryn,
:)
thanks for warning me about the del posto dress code. Especially as my husband is from Australia and when we visited the Parliament House there, a sign at the front requested that visitors should be wearing a minimum of shorts and sandals!
Shortlist for April trip: constructive criticism welcome!
Thanks, Del Posto's lunch prix fixe for $29 looks great!
Shortlist for April trip: constructive criticism welcome!
Well, the kid is drawn like a magnet to anything with pork fat and loves duck as well, so I guess David Chang would become his favourite chef if he had any idea who DC was! I guess if we can't find a sitter, we will be ok taking him to Ssam bar, given everything seems to be cooked with pork fat!
I know the touristy aspect of Katz's is cringeworthy, but if you can suggest somewhere to get a pastrami sandwich to share that has some seating and a good vibe, I'd love to try somewhere different.
Shortlist for April trip: constructive criticism welcome!
Hi all, thanks so much for your responses, which have already made me get my pencil out and start making changes.
I will leave out Dino BBQ.
I will prob leave Katz's in just because of the point nmprisons makes: it has a seating area indoors, which makes dining with a kid so much easier. It also has a kind of retro New York feel that is kind of corny but we like! We did pass Russ and Daughters on the way there last time and in the intervening years, the little boy has developed a taste for smoked fish, so will definitely get some from R&D.
Good to know taking a kid to the duck lunch is possible, but we will leave him with a sitter if possible.
Will keep lunch at PL and ditch dinner at Keen's. Will think of an alternative to Keen's. Am trying to think of a place that is kind of grown-up but not too upmarket, for my husband and me to have dinner alone at. We are not into high-end dining like at EMP or Per Se.
Will pursue the Babbo option, if I can snag a reservation.
London does Naples-style artisan pizza nowadays, so what kind of pizza is specific to NYC? I would be looking for a kind of pizza that can only be had in NYC. I've been to Rome and had tons of pizza there, which was brilliant. So looking for a true NYC experience.
Thanks kathryn for all the specifics regarding reservations, extremely helpful.
Shortlist for April trip: constructive criticism welcome!
Myself, the husband and our 4 and a half year old boy will be travelling to NYC for 2 weeks in early April (around Easter break). We will be staying with my sister and her husband on West 106th Street. We have been to Manhattan before just for a couple of days when the boy was only 6 months old, which limited us a bit in terms of eating options, but we did manage to get to Katz’s, which was unlike anything we can get in London (England). I’ve been trying to draw up a shortlist of places and would love your expert feedback. Already learnt that Momofuku Noodle Bar fried chicken dinner is perhaps not the greatest thing to attempt with a 4 year old. My current list, in no particular order:
- Spotted Pig (lunch without 4 year old, for the Cubano sandwich and gnudi, maybe the burger, but I don’t like rare and hubby not into blue cheese)
- Maialino (Is the Maialino al forno good for a family dinner, ie 4 adults and a small child? We would order other stuff as well, another special, or a couple of pastas. Of the lot of us, only my husband has a massive appetite)
- Shopsin’s plus a wander round Essex Street Market
- Babbo lunch (just me and sister), but might try Scarpetta (we will probably look at the menus and see which ones has the pastas we like the sound of most)
- Katz’s for the pastrami sandwich (lunch, with 4 year old, who had a great time at Katz’s last time round, the sandwich was almost bigger than he was! But recs for anywhere else with a good atmosphere and great pastrami sandwich would be much appreciated. We are more tourists than pastrami connoisseurs though!)
- Momofuku Ssam Bar for the duck lunch (probably without 4 year old)
- Momofuku Milk Bar
- Peter Luger’s (lunch, with the 4 year old)
- Keen’s (dinner, just me and hubby)
- I need to research posts on pizza in Manhattan, haven't got round to it.
- Amy Ruth’s (with whole family, mainly for fried chicken and waffles)
- Dinosaur BBQ (I grew up in Kansas City, so I’m not really looking for great BBQ in NYC, just somewhere where I can take a kid and maybe use the discount from savored.com)
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My husband and I love walking round markets, so we were going to have a wander round Chelsea Market as well. Apart from Katz’s and Milk Bar, do all of the other places need reservations in advance? How far in advance?! I’m keeping my plans pretty loose at the moment and will fix them properly once I’ve made reservations that need to be made. Thanks!
Recs near Hilton at Marble Arch [London]
I'll second Harters' rec. An Arab colleague of mine organised my leaving do at Maroush on Edgware Road (I think it was the original branch) and we had a great time. Set menu and tons of red wine came to 55 pounds a head. The menu included dips (hummus and baba ganoush) with raw vegetables and flatbread, kibbeh, falafel and little filled pastries (cheese and meat) for starters, kebabs (chicken and lamb) and roasted lamb shanks on rice. Dessert was fruit and inexplicably tiny baklava. They have music and bellydancing on from after 9:30pm. I think there is a cover charge if you stay for that, but as far as I recall (we did drink an awful lot of red wine) it came to 55 pounds a head including everything.
London - Foody Trip Review
i think Howler is being unreasonable here. There is no law against Indian food being presented in innovative ways. If it exposes a larger audience to Indian flavours, then why is it such a bad thing. Some people may prefer to experience Indian food in an upmarket setting; if sufficiently impressed, they may choose to seek it further in a more 'authentic' form.
Momofuku Noodle Bar dinner: can I take a 4 year old?
Hi coasts and loratliff,
thanks for your input. having read more about the experience and taking on board your advice, i think we might try a noodle bar duck lunch instead and do some korean fried chicken on a smaller scale elsewhere.
we need to take my sister and her hubby out to dinner one night (they are the sitters for my and my hubby on other night during the visit!) and will by necessity need to tow the 4 year old along. we may do something family-friendly and non-breaking-the-bank in Chinatown for that occasion.
thanks again for your advice, probably saved me a ton of trouble!
Momofuku Noodle Bar dinner: can I take a 4 year old?
I'm visiting NYC in April and am hoping to book the fried chicken dinner for 5 adults and potentially my 4 year old son. Do they allow children to be included in the booking? Is it ill-advised to take a 4 year old to dinner there? My son is a normal 4 year old, not hyperactive but not a total saint either. Any advice is much appreciated.
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Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave, New York, NY 10003
London - Sunday Brunch at the Bombay Brasserie
Hi klyeoh and howler!
Yep, klyeoh is right about Bengalis being very particular about the order in which a formal meal is eaten. And howler, I did point this out previously in one of the 'Indian food debates' on this board. Bengali wedding feasts are served in a very fixed order of dishes if they are being served to seated guests rather than as a buffet. Even with everyday meals, Bengalis will have a portion of rice with daal and perhaps a vegetable dish, before proceeding to the non-vegetarian dish with some more rice, followed by some chutney to cleanse the palate before finishing off with some milk-based sweet dish and then some betel leaf stuffed with betelnut, spices and lime paste to chew afterwards as a digestive. I don't know if this comes from being 'Anglicised', because even in villages this is the way meals are constructed.
An interesting form of Indian cuisine I have only read about but never had the chance to try is the Kashmiri 'wazwan', where the meal is served around a huge central plate of rice. The plate has a sort of gutter running around it's border where the various dishes are portioned out for the guests who sit all around the plate together and eat from the same plate. It sounds charming and I was always curious to know if anyone had ever experienced this. klyeoh, maybe?
BTW your Bombay Brasserie lunch sounds amazing, I need to go and try it out someday.
A NY'er in London - Calling all Anglophiles
Wagamama is NOTHING like Momofuku. Wagamama is a mediocre chain of restaurants selling 'oriental' food. No London chowhound worth their 'hound' status would eat at a Wagamama's.
Brixton Village Market: open between 26th and 30th December?
Oh well, will have to skip Brixton for this visit then. Thanks for making enquiries.
Brixton Village Market: open between 26th and 30th December?
Daytime probably better, but either! Ta.
Brixton Village Market: open between 26th and 30th December?
Thanks very much greedygirl, I'll wait for your confirmation of the situation. If you have any other recommendations in Brixton that would be open during that time frame, please let me know.
Brixton Village Market: open between 26th and 30th December?
Hi, my sister is visiting from NYC between the 26th and 30th of December and I was hoping to take her to sample some food at BVM. I've heard it is only open Thurs-Sat evenings, which would just leave us with the evening of the 29th. Does anyone know if the restaurants/cafes will be open during that period between Xmas and the New Year? Thanks very much.
24-hour restaurants in Central London?
Thanks brokentelephone and ManInTransit, but I don't think we will be wanting to go anywhere by taxi.
24-hour restaurants in Central London?
Thanks everyone for their input. Looks as if it might be 1997 to while away some time, followed by Balans for breakfast. Thanks for comments on Bar Italia, I did read some reviews mentioning the eye-watering prices.
24-hour restaurants in Central London?
Hi, my work Christmas party is in Piccadilly on a Saturday a few weeks from now and is likely to finish at around 3 am. A friend and I were planning to hang around till the first trains and I'm wondering if anyone can suggest restaurants/cafes open at that late (early!) hour that will be open and safe for a couple of women to hang out in for a few hours.
Doing a bit of internet research, it seems that the nearest places are Bar Italia in Soho and a Chinese restaurant called 1997 in Wardour Street. Any info on these places? Bar Italia has had mixed reviews on london-eating.
London - BBQ Recommendations
The pork 'kebab' bun at Leong's Legends in Chinatown is probably about as close as you'll get in London to the legendary Momofuku pork bun.
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Leong's Legend
4 Macclesfield St, London, Greater London W1D 5, GB
Relaxed, friendly brunch place with the best banana bread dish I've had
We went to St Ali for breakfast/brunch today. It was pretty busy at 10am. We ordered coffee to start, while we looked at the menu. But while my hubby's capuccino came within 5 minutes, I was still waiting for my latte even after he had finished. Then the waitress brought along another capuccino which we hadn't ordered but as soon as she realised that, she offered it to us for free. So my hubby finished another capuccino while I waited for my latte. It did eventually arrive along with the French toast (with maple syrup, vanilla marscapone and caramelised walnuts) and toasted banana bread (with orange-date jam and espresso marscapone). The coffee was great, so much better than the dishwater that Costa/Starbucks et al dish out. I'm not a coffee connoisseur, but just want something that tastes of more than milk and water. The food was really good. I would rate the banana bread over the French toast. Toasting banana bread is an Australian thing - my husband used to have it regularly for weekend brunch in Canberra. Good portions for the price for this part of London.
The service was a bit all over the place, epitomised by the coffee confusion and delay in our case. There were quite a few wait staff, but it was difficult to catch their attention. But, to their credit, they had the good grace to charge us for only one coffee. All the waitresses and waiters were very friendly as well. We will definitely return to this place with friends. It has a cool vibe, good coffee and good food.
fresh fenugreek leaves - central london?
Not in central London, but the 24 hour Asda in Greenwich stocks fresh methi leaves (fenugreek) a lot of the time. A quid for a substantial bunch.
Gordon Ramsay
It's true that Ramsay doesn't cook in any of his restaurants anymore. But he has left behind a group of extremely talented proteges who do cook in their own restaurants at the moment. Perhaps you could go somewhere run by Marcus Wareing, Angela Hartnett or Jason Atherton? A search on this board should reveal more about them and their restaurants. Sadly, I have never been to one...only read about them in magazines!!
