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I made the original criticism of NY’s restaurants, so let me explain what I mean.
You can, of course, eat well in NY. But American tastes differ markedly from European tastes, with the UK occupying its usual mid-Atlantic position. Almost everywhere I ate, I found NY food to be too flavoursome, to sweet, too rich. Personally, I much prefer European cuisine with its emphasis on simplicity and first rate ingredients.
Shortly before my last NY trip, I went to Venice. The weakest meal I at there was better by some margin than the best meal I found in NY. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the food in NY; it’s just that it fell very far short of European excellence.
Of course, your tastes may differ, and my experience is just an anecdote. If you love NY food, that’s absolutely fine.
They do some food styles well and some not, I think.
At one extreme: had dinner once at Le Bernadin. Have absolutely no idea how it had/has 3 Michelin Stars to be honest, or even one; unless you like food so over-prepared that it has gone cold and a waiter focusing so hard on placing your fish-knife perfectly that they forget to be human.
In contrast high end and even mid-range steakhouses are often excellent (even if the menu is predictable) – far better than UK/Europe. Benjamin at the Dylan is a favourite.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
My top tip.
Use the bale car with your metro pass. It’s a massive car which rides for a short distance to the island where you can walk to Starbucks for a coffee and loo back at the big apple.
Good luck getting decent dim sum or Korean food in most European cities. Just because NY pizza isn’t Neopolitan doesn’t mean it can’t be good; one of my favourite pizza memories is a cheap slice from a hole in the wall and the other a very old-fashioned place in Naples.
Steak as @The Savage Squirrel has said is awesome and I have yet to eat steak in the UK that comes close. Neither is as good as Japan, but still NY is a great place to eat steak. Expensive, but great.
I will agree with @jj on Italian food in the NY (and the rest of the US) generally being rubbish. But if you find a small neighbourhood mom and pop Italian then you get something completely different and it’s just a different cuisine and well, just different. I’ve had some great Italian American food in small restaurants. Not the least bit Italian, but delicious.
Don’t dismiss bars and put that British reserve away and talk to the barman and your neighbours at the bar. The US really rocks for that culture.
Basically, avoid Midtown and avoid tourists.
Yes 100%. Many new visitors to the USA don’t grasp that American Italian is a whole different style of food and preparation only vaguely related to Italian. If you get your head round this then you can judge it on its own terms and will find some good and some bad within that style.
We have never had a good Indian in the States either
We have never had a good Indian in the States either
Had a lovely tandoori half leg of lamb in Dallas once and the chef refused to share his recipe, but I think that’s it for me. Not my go-to US cuisine I have to say. Chinese food in the US outside of the main Chinatowns is also rubbish and even worse than UK Chinese food. Neither of them bears any resemblance to Chinese food.
If you want a more traditional Italian (to a European taste) then Supper on the lower east side is as close as you’ll come and it’s very reasonable cost wise compared with most Manhattan eateries
We booked a walking tour , it’s pay what you think it’s worth . Did the Brooklyn tour, really interesting , brilliant guide .
https://freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-toursAlso enjoyed Ellen’s stardust diner but thought it was starting to look a bit shabby – hopefully it’s been refurbed since I’ve been. We went for breakfast as apparently the queues get longer throughout the day . Fun experience but the food is nothing special.
Echo what others have said about the shopping.
+1 for walking tours and a big shout for Big Apple Greeters (https://www.bigapplegreeter.org/) – when we were last in manhatten a lovely lady took us on a three hour tour of the village – when we mentioned an interest in New Ypork’s gay history she diverted to the original stonewall inn. For the cost of couple of cups of coffee we got a completely different view of new york/manhatten.
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