Weekend In New York City Part II: EAT!

Here are the places we visited in New York for our meals.. There are overwhelmingly so many great restaurants and eateries in New York City but we just do not have enough time to visit them all. Luckily, the Waitress at Balthazar Restaurant and the Concierge at our Hotel at The Waldorf Astoria generously gave us great advice that did not disappoint.

I know I presented this restaurant in my blog yesterday but I would like to share it again as it is  a worthwhile  place to visit and have a meal in Midtown NYC. Photo credit: The National.

The interior of The National designed in the French Bistro style. The National is located at 557 Lexington Ave (at 50th st) New York, NY.  For more information: www.thenationalnyc.com. Photo credit:The National.

Chef Geoffrey Zakarian was the winner in the 4th Season of the Food Networks' "The Next Iron Chef, Super Chefs." Chef Zakarian is the visionary behind The National which brings all occasion dining to New York's Midtown. It was designed French Bistro style and offer Brunch in the mornings, has a lunch menu and also dinner menu. This restaurant was suggested to us by the Concierge at our hotel, Waldorf Astoria. It is located one block behind the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Photo credit: Phaedra Estrada.

My breakfast Berkshire Pork Benedict at The National. The pork bacon strip was actually made in the restaurant. It was delicious! Then of course, my Cafe Americano cup for the morning!

Chorizo Omelet.
Photo Credit: Phaedra Estrada

Genes@Co-op , Barneys New York

Genes @ Co-op Barneys New York is located in the 8th floor, Barneys Department Store . It is an Interactive, communal cafe with Digitalized table screens for each guests. Guests can Dine, order their meals from the Menu in the screen, Eat and also Shop on the same location.

Here is my digitalized screen right on my table. I just touched the screen to where I would like to go. If I want to order the food from the screen, even call the Server from the  screen,  then afterwards shop the Barneys store right there in front of me.  All with one touch! Isn't that innovative and cool? 

The Digitalized Menu Order screen.
 Photo Credit: Phaedra Estrada

Here is one of my friends browsing the Barneys store from the Digitalized screen  while waiting for our meal!

Here we are shopping for shoes that are on sale at Barneys New York. I just love this whole concept! Barneys New York is located at 660 Madison Ave, New York City. For more information: www.barneys.com.

B for  Baltazar NYC

Babycakes NYC

Bouchon Bakery

Here are other places that we visited while in New York City: Babycakes Bakery, Bouchon Bakery and Balthazar NYC.

We had dinner last Saturday night at the fully packed Balthazar Restaurant.  I was impressed that even though we did not have any reservations plus the place was already full, the hostess was able to accommodate us and gave us a table in about 1/2 an hour! She was also very calm on that Saturday night accommodating all of their guests! The food was delicious! We all ordered their famous Duck Confit! This same dish was also featured in the Balthazar NYC Cookbook.  The Duck Confit meal has the marinated duck on top with wild mushrooms, crispy fried potato chips and frisee salad. It was one of our best meals in NYC!

Balthazar Restaurant is located at 80 Spring St, New York (in the Soho area between Broadway and Crosby St).  I highly recommend this restaurant but maybe next time we should make a reservation in advance. For more information: www.balthazarny.com. Photo credit: Balthazar NYC.



Babycakes Bakery NYC

My two dear friends were kind and patient enough to indulge my interest in visiting this bakery after dinner. Unfortunately, when we arrived that night, they only have the spelt and cookies available. No more cakes! I love sweets!  So any places like these really sparks my interest to visit it anywhere in the world! I learnt about this bakery from a fellow blogger Garance Dore. To check out her feature: http://www.garancedore.fr/2012/01/05/career-girl-erin/

Babycakes Bakery is an all-natural, organic, vegan bakery that does not use common allergens like wheat, eggs, gluten and casein. Based on what I read, they use Rice flour, canola oil, virgin coconut oil and agave nectar. The Bakery is located at 80 Broome Street, New York. For more information: http://www.babycakesnyc.com.  Photo credit:Babycakes Bakery.

Bouchon Bakery

My friends and I visited this Bakery for breakfast on Sunday morning. This was the site of the former Dean & Deluca in the corner of Rockefeller Center. This Bakery is just in front of the NBC Today Show studio. The Bakery was inspired by the Parisian Boulangeries and Cafe. This Bouchon Bakery is owned by the famous Chef Thomas Keller, owner of The French Laundry in Yountville, California.  Bouchon Bakery is located at One Rockefeller Centre, New York. For more information: www.bouchonbakery.com/rockefeller-center.  Photo credit: Bouchon Bakery.

Street Food NYC

Save the best for last -  the street food of New York City.

Freshly made New York Pretzels.

My friends favourite - Roasted Chestnuts!  They bought some and we all ate it while walking along Fifth Avenue.

I thank God for great friends who love to Eat! We truly enjoyed each others company not only in shopping, travelling around but most of all in our meals too!  There are many great restaurants and eateries in New York City to discover!

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Weekend in New York City

My High school best friends and I spent last weekend in New York City. Here is our weekend adventure...



Classic Yellow NYC Taxicab on Fifth Avenue.

Rockefeller Centre famous Skating rink.

Kids Sunday Morning Skating Rink session at Rockefeller Centre.

NBC Today Show at Rockefeller Center.

Brunch at The National Bar & Dining by Chef Geoffrey Zakarian

Chef Geoffrey Zakarian was the winner in the 4th Season of the Food Networks' "The Next Iron Chef, Super Chefs." Chef Zakarian is the visionary behind The National which brings all occasion dining to New York's Midtown. It was designed French Bistro style and offer Brunch in the mornings, has a lunch menu and also dinner menu. This restaurant was suggested to us by the Concierge at our hotel, Waldorf Astoria. It is located  one block  behind the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

My breakfast Berkshire Pork Benedict at The National. The pork bacon strip was actually made in the restaurant rather than commercially bought. It was delicious! Then of course, my Cafe Americano cup for the morning!

The interior of The National designed in the French Bistro style. The National is located at 557 Lexington Ave (at 50th st) New York, NY.  Check out their website: www.thenationalnyc.com

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met, world renowned Museum located at Upper Fifth Avenue near Central Park. After our big breakfast, we spent the Saturday morning exploring The Met and its various collections.

The Gals at The Met!

Grand Entrance. As my 3 year old niece would say, "let's go! go! go!"

Lots of Cherry blossoms arrangement in the entrance. A sign of Spring to come!

A Cherry blossoms arrangement at The Met. I love this design! So simple yet so grand!

An Egyptian Statue at the Main Entrance. The Met  has many different collections inside this huge building.

The main staircase entrance to The Met Collections.

Grand arched ceilings of The Met.

Greek/Roman Collection

On the Left is the Spanish Collections. On the Right is the Japanese Art collections.

Monet's Water Lilies.

Middle Eastern Art.

The Damascus Room.

The Temple of Dendur.

Armoury.

The View outside The Met on a lovely, mild winter Saturday afternoon.

View of the Upper East Side Fifth Avenue Apartments. Where are the Gossip Girls?

After The Met Museum, we rode the taxi  to Madison Avenue to visit the Hermes Store. Nearby is Barneys which we also explored.

After some more shopping along Madison Avenue, we decided to go downtown along Broadway to have dinner at Soho. This day was a fun and relaxing day, spent chatting with my dear friends, discovering new restaurants like The National for our brunch, also exploring the numerous collections at The Met and walking around Madison Avenue to discover the shops like Hermes and Barneys. I truly enjoyed our visit to The Met. Their presentation in the Museum was very authentic. It felt like we were in the actual region.  We also visited other shops along Madison Ave which I will feature in my blog  next week. Hang on for more this weekend and next week!  There is more to New York! 

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Friday Night at Times Square NYC

Times Square, New York City.


My  best  girlfriends from High School  and I met last weekend in New York City for a mini-reunion. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Park Avenue. For that Friday night, we decided to walk around the mid-town area and visit the famous Times Square. We were fortunate that the weather last Friday night was quite warm at 10C in the middle of winter!

The other part of Times Square is now car free and for people to walk back and forth and to sit to enjoy the lights of the Square!

Never ending visitors and action in Times Square, NYC.

There are numerous hotels, shops and Theatre shows around Times Square. Which one would you like to watch?

This is part of the Car free section of Times Square. Try climbing the red stairs?! Of course! My friends and I climbed up for some pictures!

The lights of Times Square!

Toys "R" Us Store in Times Square NYC. This is the Ferris Wheel right inside the store. Isn't this amazing? I love it!


How about dinner?

We had dinner at Carmine's...

At the Bar with my Cosmopolitan Martini Drink.

Our Calamari appetizer...

The family size Caesar's Salad with Anchovies and Calamari. Then we ordered the Pasta with mixed seafood and cream sauce.  Carmine's is located at 200 West, 44th Street, near Times Square, NYC. I highly recommend this restaurant as the food is served family size, reasonably priced, very good service and the restaurant is always packed with guests!
After dinner, we walked around Time's Square more to check out the shops - Disney Store, Toys "R" Us, the M&M Store and many other shops in the area. Being in Times Square truly felt like being in the centre of NYC - full of action! The City that never sleeps!

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