New York City 2

I was lucky enough to be in New York to celebrate my friend Steph's birthday who was in New York for a wedding and visiting her sister with her boyfriend. This meant birthday celebrations with the organising by a real live New Yorker! 

La Esquina

La Esquina was on every person's (read NY expert) 'oh New York you should go to...' list. After walking down stairs and through the kitchen you could tell it was very cool. The mexican food was good, albeit a little over hyped. At the stroke of midnight at La Esquina we all did tequila shots to celebrate Steph's birthday.

Lavo Brunch

Catch & I 

Steph, Brooke & I

Nothing could quite prepare you for a Lavo brunch. It was quite an odd experience, but a bloody great time! There was time for a quick bite to eat before tables got wisked away to create a dance floor with the best music playing that I had heard in a very long time. Yes Andy Murphy even better than Seven on a Thursday night underage. It was when the tubs of Moet appeared on the table when I really got excited! The after party at the Dream Hotel watching the sunset turn the skyline pink was also incredible and something that the camera couldn't quite capture. 

Smorgasburg

On a beautiful sunny New York day we tripped accross the river to the Brooklyn flea market then Smorgasburg in Dumbo. We felt we hadn't tasted some true American dishes and ate some crunchy fried chicken and veal schnitzel sandwich. Walking back to Manhantten via the busy, yet beautiful Brooklyn Bridge.    

Balthazar

Our final dinner together was a surprise to me and I couldn't have been more happy with the choice of Balthazar. French food & wine yes please. I also think I have never eaten so much in one sitting, steak tarter, lobster AND dessert! It was a bitter-sweet last night to say the least. 

The Butcher's Daughter

With still time for a few more restaurants I said my goodbyes to Steph & Luke at The Butcher's Daughter in Little Italy. It was such a gorgous little vegetarian eclectic place and really made me miss the cafe's in Melbourne (and my friends who I used to visit them with!) The avocado on toast was out of this world. 

Although this was my second trip to New York I left thinking of the restaurants and places in this city I was still yet to discover, hoping that one day I will get to go again. 

New York City Part 1

New York seems like an age away. It sort of was & I have been lazy again with the blog... But reliving it through writing this just makes me realise what an incredible time I had. I still cant believe how many restaurants we managed to squeeze into our time in New York! The week was straight out of a fairy tale for me. Meeting up with my man-friend in New York after 2 and a half months of anticipation, our first night strolling down the high line hand in hand,watching the sunset from the roof top at the Standard and things only got better.

I am going to split my New York posts on the blog into two. There are just so many places to cover and I don't want to miss a thing. 

We stayed at a great AirBnB apartment in Chelsea near the market & high line, this picture was a block away from where we were and captures my feelings of the trip! 

Catch

Catch - Seafood restaurant in Meatpacking district. For obvious reasons with the name we wanted to go here. For our first meal in NYC it set the bench mark pretty high. Couldn't fault a dish although the popcorn shrimp was a highlight. 

Central Park - Beautiful, we got Wholefoods from Columbus Circus and ate it in the park. I still haven't made it up to the 'boat house' but I will one day! 

Daniel 

Great selfie mirror picture here before Daniel. What an incredible dining experience that was, our booking was for 5:45pm so that we could order the 'pre-theatre' menu. I must say the meal itself was quite a theatre, with the most attentive waiters I have ever experienced. 3 chosen courses with paired wines, 2 chefs specialties and a couple of petite fours later we rolled out onto 5th Avenue.  

Diablo Royale

We were on our way to SoHo for dinner when the cab stopped at some lights in the West VIllage, the vibe was so 'electric' we decided to jump out and have a drink in the area. Chatting to someone in a bar they suggested we go here for dinner. It was incredible Mexican food, interesting cocktails and Jason Wu was sitted behind us! It was also a street down from 'Carrie's stoop.' Where I made my man-friend give me a kiss after stumbling upon it - must have been fate!

Jack's Wife Freda

I am going to be completly honest here, I only found this place from Ashley 'Ring my Bell''s instagram! I was sort of hoping for a celeb spot, but instead we got to sit outside and watch all the gorgeous SoHo New York women pass us by. I also got to see my friend Steph for the first time in nearly 5 months!