Or something like that. Well, now that I’d landed, what should I do?

I actually was waiting for a friend, who was landing a few hours after me, and since I knew it would take a while to clear customs, I decided to spend my remaining time just chilling at the airport. Firstly, I had to change terminals, and I could do that using the AirTrain. Wow, the train has really tiny carriages. By tiny, I mean that it seats 4 people and maybe a maximum of 4 standing? Once I’d boarded, I can’t remember exactly what happened, but basically, I ended up in a conversation with the other passengers, and they immediately asked where I was from because of my accent, and then they talked about stuff and things, but I no longer recall what it was about! Anyway, I got off on the next stop and proceeded to discover a Starbucks at this terminal, which seemed to be least boring eatery around, if you could even call it an eatery because it was a tiny stand that served only takeaway. I paid far too much for a sausage and egg muffin, and sat down in an out of the way spot to eat it, since all the seats were taken. As I was minding my own business, I hear a voice really close to me, and when I turned to look, I realised it was just some person talking on the phone. He sounded disgruntled because his flight just got delayed and so he was stuck at the airport now, and something about it becoming expensive for him because he had to make alternative arrangements? I’m not too sure since I didn’t really care to eavesdrop. However, after a while, I got the odd feeling he was talking to me, because he was still there and no longer talking about his flight. He was saying something about how he’d had one too. One of what??

So I look again, and he really is talking to me! He saw me eating the sausage and egg muffin and felt the need to comment on my one? So he repeated himself and said that he ate one too, and that it wasn’t all that tasty, and I basically said “yeah, but it’s better than nothing” and he agreed or something along those lines. I was more bewildered that he randomly started speaking to me even though I wasn’t paying any attention to him! Then he started telling me about the call he’d just had, and repeated much of what I’d already overheard, and then as I was politely acknowledging his comments, he finished up what he was saying, bid me farewell and walked off. Wow, that was random. Please tell me not all Americans are like this?? Like, sure, it’s normal that sometimes you strike up conversations with strangers, but this was sort of really one sided… what a first impression!

I didn’t have to wait too much longer before my friend got here, and it was time to figure out how to use the train system. This is going to be a bit wall of texty since I don’t have any photos, so it’s more a test of my ability to write, which I already know is very spammy and not very tidy at all. Good luck to those who read this! I’d only read up very briefly on the AirTrain, and it didn’t seem to complicated – buy a ticket and you end up in the city – how hard could it be? Well the machine stumped me for a good while. There were three options – Penn Station New Jersey, Penn Station New York, and a third one that I can’t remember. Probably the carpark or something. But why would two different places have a station with the same name? I called over an attendant and eventually she pressed all the buttons for us. We ended up with tickets to Penn Station New York, which cost about 13USD. Luckily, navigating to the platform was quite straightforward. And fresh air! Fresh, crisp air! I’d managed to wear enough that I could tell it was crisp, but not be cold. Good on me!

To this day I still have no idea exactly what type of train we got on, was it a PATH train? Was it LIRR? Basically, this was not the subway. These trains were very Sydney style – double deckers that were not luggage friendly, and interconnecting carriages. And it was so “old” style that the little paper ticket that I had, was presented to a conductor who patrolled the train and used a little hole-puncher type device to basically swiss-cheese the docket (yes I just turned a food into a verb) and poof! No more ticket and just confetti on the floor. Other people were more environmentally friendly and had purchased a ticket via a phone app, so no tree deaths there.

Hello Penn Station! We were finally here! Now to figure out how to actually get to my accommodation… because we had luggage, it was easier to get an Uber so I let my friend do that. We couldn’t check in yet though, but luckily, it’s big enough here that Airbnb-style apps for luggage storage exist! This was really useful because major train stations no longer have luggage storage facilities, for security reasons, so all these little cafes and restaurants who have spare space, can take on extra luggage and make a few dollars.

They give you tags like these when you present the app, and you have to take a photo cause it’s the only evidence the bags belong to you! But at a dollar an hour per piece, it’s not too bad and reasonably safe according to reviews. We had no issues with dropping off and collecting our luggage later that day, so it was all fine and dandy! Hooray for big cities and their abilities to cater for tourists!

Now that the luggage was taken care of, food was the next priority. But here are some pictures along the way! I had no idea what I was taking photos of at this stage, but I took pictures of everything. I couldn’t figure out why the street lamps looked like Pokeballs, and it wasn’t till later that I realised that these are some of the “signs” for subway stations, other variants being green pokeballs, and “M” signs. I guess at some point the subway was actually called Metro? I use so many of these terms interchangeably now that I even accidentally called them trams sometimes! Ok, time to officially start the clock on my grand adventure.

Day 1 – 04/04/2019

I generally put the most thought into only my first meal in a new city, by making sure it provides the kind of food I think I might enjoy, and it’s generally an extremely safe choice. However, my expectation is that from this single choice, my possibilities multiply, or something! Bluestone Lane has several outlets, with varying levels of food offerings. The first one I encountered had very little food, so we had to walk around until we found the next one. I’d originally flagged the one on Amsterdam Lane as the top choice since it had a full food menu, but since I had no idea where I was in relation to anything, we went by proximity instead (there will be a lot of I/we mixing here and I’m going to state this in case I myself forget!). This one had a bit more in the way of food, so we settled for this location, near the 42nd Street Port Authority Bus Station.

Their menu was so Melbournian that the magic was even listed as a drink! That’s an off menu item!!! Why is it on the menu? It was cool to see though, because it speaks of the city that this cafe is inspired by (plus the founder is Aussie). I got an espresso and a flat white to taste both and baseline them against both my Aussie expectations, and to set myself up for New York baseline. It was spot on for an Aussie drink! The espresso was well flavoured with good balance between acidity and chocolateyness. The texture extraction is pretty standard for espresso too.

The flat white was pretty good too! It was sweet and creamy – the milk texturing was also something that matched Aussie standards (compared to say, Singaporean or some Japanese cafes where the milk is just a tad thin), and while I didn’t know it at the time, this was a rare 1-shot espresso in a 5.5oz cup. Perfect!

This is how you get tap water at most cafes. It’s super cute that they’ve branded it, because it looks really nice, and the plastic is sturdy enough that I consider it re-usable for personal stuff (i.e. take it home and drink out of it a couple more times, or grow a plant in it), but too flimsy for cafe re-use. Why not just have glasses or even solid plastic cups? That was odd. Apart from that, the water actually tasted quite nice! MUCH better than the weird tasting tap in LA!

And an avocado toast. I actually felt really lame for ordering this, because I felt it was so typical when I’ve also got a super noticeable accent… it was like, just too Aussie! But none of the other menu items looked enticing at the time, so I settled for this because it was simple. The avocado itself was tasty, but the bread was interesting since who does avocado on square slice toast that’s not even sourdough! But that’s just the “avo smash” purist in me. It served the purpose of satisfying my tummy!

Since we had time to kill before we could check in, we wandered around the area. I looked around in a Muji store but nothing was really that cheap, plus I didn’t actually need to buy anything. And I also found the New York Times building!

We ended up exploring a nearby park, which actually ended up being pretty cool! This was Bryant Park, and it was notably different from some of the other city parks because this one has so many activity areas, such as petanque, table tennis, juggling, and probably more things! There was the merry-go-round and a massive green lawn in the middle. But the other thing I noticed, was that the park had so many chairs and tables! And all of them were in use! How can so many people be out and about, because not all of them looked like tourists? Maybe New Yorkers just liked enjoying eating their lunch out in the sun!

Bryant Park is actually next to the New York Public Library! Hey, isn’t this a Person of Interest location?

It really does have payphones inside!!! Though people were mainly using the space to just to chill or eat their lunch…

The decor in here is pretty cool, as expected – I love seeing ceiling paintings cause they are generally super epic!

However, it is first and foremost a library, and people do use it – many sections of the library were sectioned off and had signs up to keep noise to a minimum. That’s pretty cool to see!

Some of these books bring back memories of my own local libraries that I used to visit as a kid!

It was about time for more food though, and luckily, there was a Shake Shack nearby. May as well hit the ground running and try a burger now! There was actually a bit of a queue (there’s always a queue), but the line processes pretty fast. What was cool was that this burger tasted good. The same good as the one I had in Japan, and on par with its similarities/differences/quality against Burger Project in Sydney. What that means, is that they are consistent, even across different countries! That is really impressive! This burger was great!

Because it was spring, they had a cherry blossom shake available, so I had to order it. Because I always associate cherry blossoms with Japan, I accidentally called this a sakura shake and then realised what I’d said and had to rephrase! Cherry trees are actually quite plentiful in New York, so I felt like I got to experience my own hanami party (without the blue tarp) here. However, it seems like I got hit by jetlag, because I lost my appetite very quickly as soon as I started on the chips and shake, and even though it was enjoyable, I found it hard to convince my body to keep eating it. Since Perth and New York were exactly 12 hours apart, it meant that in theory, my breakfasts and dinners aligned, mealtime-wise, but lunch would have been out of sync by 12 hours so my body thought I was in a sleep-phase, causing the sudden loss of appetite. Since I was aware of this, I could take it into account and just monitor my fatigue and hunger levels.

After Shake Shack, we explored a bit more, wandering pretty aimlessly but I think we did try to head to Koreatown since we were nearby. I ended up spotting this cute little restaurant, and they do ramen and yakitori. It looked really interesting and I added it to my list of places to try, but I never actually ended up returning here (mainly because I have a Japan trip planned soon so I don’t really need ramen here. Speaking of, there are so many ramen places that it really doesn’t need a list; most of them are so small that each one does actually look really good, just like how all the ramen shops in Japan are small! But I might make a shortlist later on because there are a few notable places that I spotted).

Behold, Grand Central Terminal! It is quite a glorious building indeed, even the exterior is pretty impressive as there’s a massive eagle statue outside! However, the jetlag was really creeping in by this point, so we didn’t explore the inside much. That would be a quest for later on!

As we finally headed back to check in, I spotted these tulips! I remember overhearing a lady talking about how “they were planting tulips now at Grand Central” and here they are. It looks like in spring, they plant daffodils and tulips all over the city, which is really cool. It adds so much colour to an otherwise dreary skyline since the trees hadn’t started growing leaves yet to hide all the plastic bags stuck in the branches….

Day 2 – 05/04/2019

Our first full day began on Friday, and it was time to get ourselves a metro card. They still use flimsy magnetic stripe plastic cards that you have to swipe just right at a turnstyle. There are a few fare options, but the cards have a very quick expiry (1 year) so I realised that I couldn’t keep this as a souvenir that could also be used if I could ever afford to come back! This felt quite antiquated, especially comparing to London’s Underground, which looked older, and had tap and go systems already in place. There are a variety of different carriage types, the more modern ones had a digital display showing which stops the train was going to make.

Our goal was to get to Russ & Daughters, and the train ride was pretty straightfoward. But when we got to the famous cafe, it was already packed (this would have been about 11AM so it was both suprising and not surprising at the same time) and had a 1.5 hour wait for a table for two! No way I was going to do that for my first meal of the day since I get very hangry if I don’t eat in the morning. Instead, I noted that Katz’s Deli was nearby, and that was on my list, so we headed there instead.

Woooah yeah look at this! A real deli! How old school and how PACKED!!! This was absolutely amazing to see, and not only were there heaps of people ordering, but people in the back of the lines also taking pictures of everything! This place was huge, with the front section of tables having waiter service, while walking further in and turning the corner lead to the unserviced elbow-to-elbow packed tables (this makes a different with tipping, I bet). They did bagels, a few different sandwiches, but my eye was only one thing: the half [pastrami] sandwich, and matzo ball soup. That is what you come here for, though historically, corned beef sandwiches were more popular, but in recent years, it’s pastrami that’s taken over. I like both, but I like the flavour of pastrami more which is why I chose it. Also, while I had no idea what a matzo ball soup actually was, I really wanted one because I saw a chef (Adam Wolfers, 2017) in Sydney once post about making some matzo ball soup at one of my favourite cafes, Room 10. Yeah wow, so I’ve been waiting two years to eat a matzo ball soup. Am I crazy???

Also, they give you one of these tickets when you enter. Hold onto them, because that’s your receipt for when you complete your meal and have to hand it in to pay. And don’t lose it, cause if you do, they’ll charge you for losing it. Not sure how much though, so just keep an eye on it :)

Wow yeah. Wow. Oh my goodness. Stop now, and just GO TO THIS PLACE. AND EAT THE PASTRAMI SAND-WICH. That’s all I have to say. The marbling on this beef is unmatched. And the flavour!!! The flavour and the beef just had the best, tender texture! It was super melty in the mouth! And the mustard made it so good too!!! YES I AM RAVING ABOUT THIS PLACE GO NOW. For all sandwich places that don’t make reubens and beef sandwiches with this ratio, you’re doing it wrong. This is the only way to make a meat sandwich. I cannot describe just how good this was, but there’s a reason this place is BIG and PACKED. And it feels like the perfect environment to eat it in, too! What I mean by this, is that in one of my Singapore trips, I made the horrible mistake of going to a branch of a hawker market that was too clean and it ruined the experience. Don’t make this mistake ever. Always choose the messiest, busiest, the “I’m not sure I can squeeze past these back to back chairs to get to the tiny space available on that table that looks dirty” spot that you can get. It makes your food taste so much better than it already is! Also, spoiler alert: I tried two more pastrami places and neither was half as good at this. If you had any other pastrami places on your list, ditch them now and go only to this one.

!!!!!!!!!!

WOAH MATZO BALL SOUP. It looks rather simple but that flavour and texture! The soup was mainly just a tad salty for me but it tasted good! And I got some veges in since there were carrots in here! But the ball itself. Yeah. It’s like mostly floury stuff? But there were binders and stuff in it that made it taste SO GOOD. It wasn’t soggy like it thought it might be, but rather had like… a bouncy texture like a good meatball. It held together really well and just had good chew (not pasta style chew, it was just… meaty for something with no meat in it, is probably the best way to describe it), possibly because this one was made with a decent amount of egg. I LOVE MATZO BALL SOUP. Yes, this was the best version of mazto ball I had on the trip too. Another place (Frankel’s Deli) came close, but this one. This one because the combo CANNOT BE BEATEN. SEE MY CAPS HERE? IT MEANS IT’S AMZAZING. I LOVE THIS PLACE SO MUCH.

Can I ever hope to maybe think about attempting to make my own mazto ball soup with the goal of achieving even 1% of the greatness that I have tasted on this day?!?!?!?!?!?!

!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, here are some more pics of the place! That sign right down the bottom right is pretty hilarious, it says the men’s bathroom is to the left because women are always right!

Oh, here’s a street picture of the area. It was a very cold day, the coldest during my trip, actually, at 5°C during the day, and raining and windy, so the wind chill would have dropped that down even further… good thing I had gloves, scarf, and 4 layers on top and 2 layers on bottom, of which, one of each was thermals. It was very, very crisp!

So crisp that somehow I decided it would be a smart idea to walk across a bridge… over the river… where it would be cold. But I’m silly like that. So silly that my head and ears did actually start hurting part way through, so I used the scarf as a headwrap/makeshift earmuff instead, which helped so much!

I think Williamsburg is meant to be a red bridge, but I’ll always remember it as a pink bridge! Because of the cold, it felt like it took a very, very long time to cross, but hey, I love walking over bridges and I didn’t really want to turn back… and we eventually ended up in Brooklyn.

A cool place! It immediately felt more spacious and less busy, and the buildings weren’t as tall. I’ve made touchdown on borough #2! Though I wasn’t sure where this was relative to things I’d marked down in the area, but I figured that surely this was close to Sey Coffee?

Okay, so Sey was actually a fair bit away. My friend used a Lyft to get us there so I’m not sure exactly how difficult it actually is to get here, since I never did a revisit.

The reason Sey made my list is because my local cafe, Modus Coffee, featured their beans once, and I marked them down because they were quite nice and based in New York! I didn’t get good shots of the interior mainly because it was also a very busy space. Like A Coffee in Melbourne if it was two thirds of the size and packed. They had so many plants and a large skylight system too, which was really nice, and they were also in a garage – but they’d converted the rolling door into a clear window – again more natural light! Pretty cool idea!

They had a few coffees on offer but only a small pastry selection when it comes to food, and because they were busy, the recommended the batch brew over the filter coffee because there was a wait time on it. I’m not fussed either way since I’ll take anything that’s tasty. I also decided to order an espresso, because baselining. The Burundi filter was really nice!

I actually call this the “modern” espresso style. It’s where there’s not really any crema, and not because of the vessel shape. I feel like there’s just a different brew method to it compared to “old school espresso” (think of the years just after tiger striping), like, closer to what Neighbourhood by Sean McManus (but no longer owned by him) was doing where the espressos were longer and had a more filter-like drinking quality to them, and the flavour profile could be appreciated by sipping over time rather than all in one go.

It’s a really lovely and relaxing place, if you can get a seat! They even have a roastery at the back, but it wasn’t open to the public so I didn’t get to close, but it is cool that they have such a big space to themselves!

After that, did some exploring of the area. Lookn at this mural which doubles as the storefront for a cafe called Swallow! That’s so cute! This particular area of Brooklyn feels a lot like Redfern back in Sydney. It’s old, it’s heavily industrial, but it’s got a lot of cafes and other small, hipster, out of the way and unusual shops.

We also found this chocolate shop, called Fine & Raw. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the smell. Woah. Have you ever tried cacao nib tea? This place smelled like the mouthfeel of such tea. Okay, it’s a bit hard to explain unless you’ve had a good version of it. The word “tea” sounds watery. Cacao nib tea therefore, sounds like a thin, sour hot drink. At least, that was my first impression. But I tried some at my local farmer’s market in Perth once, and that’s not what it is at all! It was smooth, rich, and chocolatey (yes it tasted like chocolate, not cacao nib), and I mean real chocolate, not the sugary stuff, without any dairy added. The mouthfeel was indeed quite rich, it didn’t taste like something that had been brewed in just hot water. It had like, a lickable feeling to it? but not coating. Like creamy, but without cream? lol. Hopefully that ramble will help me to convey that this place’s smell gave me the same fuzzy happy feeling that the cacao nib tea did.

They had an interesting selection of chocolate, with “half-raw” chocolate and “fully-raw” chocolate, and how they were made. They had heaps of merchandise too, and an interesting menu which included the sale of unicorns – which were free! So very hipster!

After our little taste of Brooklyn, we headed back into Manhattan and managed to surface at Union Square Park – which I knew to be the home of Greenmarkets on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It wasn’t the right day yet, but it was good to get an idea of what this park was like beforehand!

One of the views from this park is this sculpture-like thing, and a set of ticking numbers. The ticking numbers were really interesting. I had no idea what they were doing, but I did notice that certain sets of digits in there were ascending, and a certain set was descending. I also noticed that the middle digits moved too fast for me to tell if they were just oscillating or actually counting. The actual artwork is called Metronome, and is pretty cool! So Wiki will tell you about how to actually read the numbers :D

What’s a trip to USA without photos of squirrels? :)

I wanted to scope out Washington Square Park, as it’s featured a lot in Person of Interest. However, since it was a dreary day, there weren’t many people, and everything just looked so sad and downcast! So hopefully my pictures from later in the trip will make this place look good. Also, there’s no sencha green tea cart here, though that could have just been an actual actor and install just for the show. Or it was the wrong season! And Grace’s apartment, I’m pretty sure, was blocked off by scaffolding, so I couldn’t take a picture of that either.

Well, it was dinner time, and if walk-ins at popular places has taught me anything, it’s to get in early. Momofuku Noodle Bar was up!

Woot, seats at the kitchen counter, my favourite! Their menu was short and simple, but they had a blackboard with a decent number of specials. I think they ran out of room or something because the waiter mentioned the tofu dish wasn’t on the blackboard, but was a special, and could be served with an optional trout roe topping. Oh yes, tofu! Trout roe! I love both! What a great combination!

When a Momofuku establishment does pork buns, you order pork buns. I wasn’t really feeling the pork bun craving but my friend wanted them, so here they are! I feel like these were quite bacon-like, whereas I like the braised, melt in the mouth style better.

To be honest, I had no idea what kind of noodles this noodle bar specialised in. Ramen? Their own creation? Whatever. This garlic chicken noodle with egg yolk was tasty nonetheless! The egg yolks here are a more pale yellow compared to what we get in Aus, which was interesting. This was a really nice sized portion (not too big, not to small) and really clean tasting! Good stuff!

Day 3 – 06/04/2019

I decided to explore on foot today, and I have this tendency to just step out of the house and kind of just start walking in whatever direction I feel. This lead me to a really tall building and something about Jimmy Fallon? Not sure who that is but he sure sounded famous and this was probably some kind of recording studio and maybe this building is really tall for a reason?

Ah, but of course! It’s Rockefeller Centre! Now everything makes sense! And I had no idea there was an ice rink in here too! Am I just really bad at researching touristy things as a tourist? Do most people just know this because it’s general knowledge? Sometimes I wish I knew stuff about things other than food! Good to know that it was close by though, as I had plans for this place, but for a later day.

Instead, it was breakfast time and Little Collins looked “close”. Wow, it is packed on a weekend! It’s already a small hole in the wall that had a very decent selection – drinks, pastries, lighter food, heavier food. With only a very narrow space for staff, their option of using a Modbar or similar setup really helps reduce the feeling of being cramped. Having just a steam wand and two group heads on the bench and everything else tucked below in this kind of sense is not just pretty, it’s also practical! Without any seats or even a bench spot I could stand at, this was gonna be tough. I placed my order, and ended up slight invading the barista’s serving area. I think I managed to mostly stay out of the way though, and she didn’t seem to mind.

Their coffee was good, and their barista was awesome! I really enjoy watching the workflow of busy cafes, she was totally in the zone and pumping out coffees so efficiently, super aware of the staff moving about around her and still chatting to customers! I mean, most cafes I go to actually have this same energy and organisation, but sometimes it just feels so much more special for some reason! This espresso was lovely to sip on!

They also do filter coffee, which is surprising for a cafe this size, but they do it well! They were using Counter Culture coffee roasters, and I really like them, seems to be roasted to my taste!

This was a spanish omelette, and it was actually bigger than I thought it’d be. It was also really tasty! This was the “least” Aussie thing on the menu and I was so glad I chose it! Definitely worth trying, though the panna cotta with granola did look tempting too. Interesting to note that they served vegemite toast too, and they call the dish “The Convict”, of course!

And now to stroll towards Central Park. I had to start exploring this place early on in my trip since I knew it would take me at least a few visits to cover a decent chunk, this epic park of my dreams! On the Western/North Western entrance, there are heaps of horse carriages!

Woah, there’s even an ice rink in here!

I love the birds in New York, because they sound so much nicer than the silly crows in Perth. Also, funny looking dogs.

This sounds really dumb, but I didn’t expect Central Park to not be green, even though I knew it was just out of winter, so the bare branches were a little bit of a surprise to me! I almost feel like I need to come back to see how this place looks for each season, because I imagine they’re all different!

It didn’t take long before I reached Bethesda Fountain, which was really cool. It was such a lovely sunny day too, so I actually sat down and just kind of enjoyed the sun and watching everyone else enjoy the sun too, it was so relaxing!

Look at this bubble blower! Under those archways, there are lovely paintings on the wall and ceiling, but I don’t think I had any pictures for it though. So you will just have to see for yourself!

There are also a set of restrooms at this spot, but they’re so old school! The stall doors are actually “small” in terms of being lower than head height, so you can actually see exactly which stalls are occupied. It’s kind of unnerving!

What I love about travelling, is that there’s always something to see. This shot might not look like much, but what had happened was that the guy in the grey shirt and sunnies and proposed to the girl in blue, and she said yes! Then the people around them cheered and went to congratulate them. Isn’t that so cool???

I love walking over bridges. And look at the view from this one! That almost castle-like looking building is so pic in the background! The number of people in the park at this time of year is perfect, too. Enough that it feels alive and full, but not enough to feel crowded.

More squirrels!

I took this picture out of focus, and even though I was sure I got one where the focus was on the people on the rocks, it was too sunny at the time for me to confirm in my viewfinder, so this was the best shot I got. I have no idea why everyone was on the rock, maybe it was just a cool thing to do?

More walking eventually lead me to an exit, I think I made to to Upper West Side. Not really sure where I was, it was time to keep walking aimlessly!

And with a little help from Google Maps, I found my nearest Milk Bar. Yes!! Cereal milk and birthday cake time, how exciting!! It was kind of hard to figure out exactly how many things I wanted to eat, because I wanted to try everything, but I knew I didn’t have the stomach space for it. Also, the birthday cake itself was only available whole by the looks of it, so I needed to figure out another way to obtain it. They had a “starter” pack that included cereal milk soft serve, a compost cookie, a slice of crack pie, and a packet of birthday truffles. That was too much for me though… so in the end I went with cereal milk soft serve with sprinkles, a marshmallow chocolate chip cookie, and a packet of birthday cake truffles. Good choices! The cereal milk actually had a good saltiness to it, and was really enjoyable to eat! I chose the marshmallow cookie since I wanted the chewiest cookie, and I love the chew of marshmallows. Yeah, that was good too. And the birthday cake truffles!!! Yes!!! They were delicious mooshy mouthfuls, kind of like cookie dough truffle texture! So addictive, I’m so glad it came in a pack of three!

I felt it was time to head back home, but I was going to do it on foot. It was just a straight line, so I didn’t think it was very far. And the best bit about walking is that you can get distracted by everything you see on the way, like a Luke’s Lobster! Well it’s here, so I kind of have to try it… luckily I didn’t completely sutff myself at Milk Bar so let’s give the lobster roll a shot!

Their winter special was still on, so this is actually the white truffle lobster roll! It was smaller than I thought it would be, but that’s a good thing. I was so worried that everything here would be too big, but for the most part, the serving size of all my food was perfect for my pace of eating! That didn’t stop me from getting fat though! Anyway, back to the lobster roll. That light brioche roll was toasted with a healthy amount of butter. It was so lightly crisp and butter on the outside. Mmmm butter. And the truffle aroma was pretty strong on this, and so much more butter from the sauce too! Butter everywhere! What tasty lobster bits! This is so much better than the attempts at lobster rolls in Aus, because again, here, they get the meat to bun ratio right. When I had a lobster roll at Regiment in Sydney, the lobster itself was very lacklustre, it tasted very defrosted and on the edge of mushy in some bits. The New England lobster roll at Supernormal’s flavours are great, but not enough lobster!!! This was definitely enjoyable! I had several Luke’s Lobster cravings after that, but have to keep trying new things :(

Oh yeah, all Luke’s Lobster places are tiny, but they have such cute decor!

So the whole walking in a straight line to get home was become way more of a quest than I thought! What looked like a “few” streets, or twenty something blocks, was actually forty something blocks because my estimation abilities are atrocious! It wasn’t that I was getting tired; I love walking! It was more, “are we there yet?” “oooh look a cool orchestra/symphony place!” “are we there yet?” “oh look it’s Epicerie Boulud, I have to backtrack and look inside!” “oh whoops now I have to re-walk that distance” “are we there yet…?”

Yep, being me is both great and not great. I think it took me 2-3 hours to get home because I kept getting distracted! Eventually I saw this building, and realised it was the International Trump Hotel. Oh, and some pretty statues. Lots of food trucks, too. Oh, I was at Colombus Circle!!! And it has a nice, posh shopping centre too!

Again, I love seeing all these people! Perth is so boring…

This photo is actually out of order but I’m putting it here anyway. All those years ago when I went to LA, coconut water was my thing because their tap water was so bad. Also, coconut water was so abundant and tasted good, and this was before it became the cool thing to drink. This trip, it was maple water! It has a very subtle taste and its texture is also similar to water. I really enjoyed it because it kind of reminded me of what I think all clear liquids and foods taste like (I get so curious about the flavour and texture of clear and white coloured foods, especially jellies and liquids).

Day 4 – 07/04/2019

A new day, a new area! While still in Manhattan, we were out of the CBD. We’d entered hipster central areas, think Surry Hills in Sydney or Fitzroy and the surrounds in Melbourne.

I think I discovered Banter when I was reading through an article about the success of Aussie cafes in New York. Also, being a weekend, it was risky to travel so far for brunch because it was now busy time, and I was worried it was going to be a long wait. Luckily, it was only about 20 minutes or so, so I randomly took pictures while waiting.

Don’t forget to look up! Luckily, there was nothing to really see here. It becomes important later today!

You can see Empire State from here, too!

We finally got seated. I didn’t really feel like drinking a coffee, but I was at an Aussie cafe and it felt wrong to skip a drink, so here’s my flat white. Now my memory is a little faint, but I’m pretty sure this was my first strong tasting milk drink, as if there was a double shot in here. The reason I’m not sure if I remember is because every now and again I end up with strong tasting flatties, so it’s not really a super outlier or something unpleasant, so stuff like this doesn’t stay in my mind half as much as say, receiving a 12oz coffee when not expecting one.

Also, the layout of this cafe is cool, but also weird! It’s like a U shaped cafe. At the very entrance of the cafe, their front of staff control seating and queues, and that’s also where the barista is. the seating areas flow into left and right ends of the cafe, and the kitchen is actually a closed off section in the middle, and the only way to get from the left dining area to the right dining area is to pass through the entrance area where the barista is. This is important to note, because the kitchen pass is on the right hand side, and the only toilet is also on the right hand side. The layout seemed to work for the staff, but it’s just a bit of a weird thing for my brain to digest in terms of workflow.

There were some tasty and interesting looking menu items, such as the golden scrambled eggs with prosciutto and peas that looked really tempting. My friend also wanted that, but the rule of cafe dining is that you don’t order the same dish twice unless you really really want it and there isn’t anything else you’re missing out on. But since there were other tempting things on the menu, I got the Banter Bowl. Good thing, too, because I could get my vegetable fix here, and it’s important to eat your vegetables! The carrots were pickled so this dish had more flavour than I anticipated!

I liked this place, but there was nothing particularly “special” that would make me go back. It’s one of those ones that immediately come to be as a reliable eatery in a pinch! Oh, this kind of reminds me of Archie’s in Melbourne, even though they don’t really bear resemblance to each other. Just the feeling I get!

While looking for Banter, I believe Dominique Ansel popped up on the map close by, so it was time to go questing… of course, I got distracted by the bright red cart that said “free coffee!” I didn’t get any though, since I didn’t want any, plus I’d probably get hassled by the people in red for the newspaper subscription they were advertising.

While Google is pretty accurate in New York, it was not good at determining orientation. I could never quite tell which way I was facing, so trying to figure out which way to turn was a challenge. Most of the time I had to rely on my “hispter sense”, which was sort of successful some of the time. With a combination of walking the wrong way and partial psychic abilities (not), we found the Dominique Ansel! What was interesting though, was that the start of the queue to enter was a door down, which can be confusing for people since it looks like you can just walk in. It’s actually really considerate, because it keeps the other shopfronts in between clear for their customers! The line actually starts at the sign over there…

So here we are at the back of the line. It wasn’t actually too long, though it moved with varying speeds. I didn’t realise, but this one in Soho is the original! How cool!

Remember how I said to look up? Yeah, the pigeons here know how to perch on trees. Better watch out in case you’re standing right under one! I wasn’t the only person to notice this, I think the two old men waiting behind me noticed the same thing. They commented in a way that may have been about watching out for birds overhead, but what I really remember from their conversation was that they were complaining about shops that had gone cashless. They were saying how there were cafes out there that were card-only, and how inconvenient they were, and how they were losing customers/opportunities for extra profit by turning away those who didn’t use cards. “Isn’t my money good enough for you?” They kind of sounded like dinosaurs to me, because I have a feeling the sentiment for hipsters, millennials and the like is that cash is dead, and card is king. Card is tidy, and it’s fast. They did have a good point that they’re losing a cut to the PoS merchant, but I’m pretty sure those shops take that into account to make sure they’re still profiting, obviously. Funnily enough, this wasn’t a once-off conversation. I got the impression that it’s a hot topic in New York because later on, there was another group talking about this exact issue too! It’s interesting to see that this city can be so old fashioned, and so progressive at the same time, and how those two cultures interact!

The other cool thing to do, other than eavesdrop while in a queue, is to read the board at the beginning of the queue. We were finally close to getting a table, so I took the opportunity to read about the cronut. They make a limited batch each day, but never state exactly how many they make. This is because there can be accidents, so they might lose a few along the way. They also said that contrary to what some people think, cronuts are not eaten warm. They have to be eaten at room temperature because that is the optimal temperature for them to insert the cream filling. Makes sense! There’s so much detail on it, even I found it educational!

I hate the dilemma of choosing only a few items out of all the things that look good! I spotted the madeleines and really wanted some, but I knew that I wouldn’t have room for them since they can be quite dense compared to other cakes. They also had a New York Paris Brest, but alas.. too many other things, and if Japan’s cronut was anything to go by, that pastry itself would be large and filling. Decisions!!

Behold, the one and only, original cronut. Another reason to read the sign while waiting in the queue – it’s not actually made of croissant dough. Dominique Ansel is very clear that this is his own laminated pastry style, and is not a croissant donut! Also, there is a limit of two cronuts per person per order. If you want more, you have to exit and rejoin the queue! That wasn’t a problem since I only wanted the one. I didn’t know what the flavour was (I didn’t ask either) but I was pleasantly surprised that it was a classic, cinnamony flavour! I was worried it was going to be some unusual flavour that might make it hard to baseline this against other cronuts I’ve had, but this made it easy. It’s good. Very good. This is a real cronut! The custard texture was indeed best at this temperature, as it held its shape, wasn’t runny, but wasn’t hard either. It was just right! The sugar/cinnamon balance was great too, and the lamination as you can see is very neat! And the best bit, the outside had a very good crispness to it, so there was a contrast in texture too! Yes, now I see why this is delicious! This was a vastly better experience than the one I had in Japan, but I also attribute Japan’s experience to a flavour that I didn’t quite love.

I agonised whether to get the madeleines or not, but in the end decided the cannele was the more sensible choice, based on how much I ordered. Plus, the best canneles are amazing. This had a really caramelised crust and soft insides, like a textbook cannele should! While it was very enjoyable, I’m going to say that Kaffeine in London still has the best canneles and portuguese tarts!

For my last dessert, I chose the black and blue pavlova because I love pavs, and I love blackberries. Blackberries are so expensive and hard to come by in Aus! If there was one thing I was disappointed about with this desert, is that the bases were all cracked. I’m not sure why this was, because I could see it on a few of them in the display cabinet. It only affected the bottom meringue, so maybe it has to do with the weight of the entire thing or maybe it was the only way to make it stick onto its little dish? Oh well. It didn’t affect the flavour though, just my petty desire for a pretty picture.

THE LEMON CREAM. Woah. The blackberries were great, as expected, the meringue was great, as expected, but I’d forgotten that this was lemon cream, not plain cream. And that lemon cream was amazing!!! It had so much zing to it, it was fantastic! I love it when thick textured cream has the super tartness of lemon, it’s like the perfect extreme balancing act! Yep, definitely glad I got this as my last dessert to try!

Alright. Now that all the eating was done, it was time to take advantage of the clear skies and go up a tower. Hello, Empire State.

Purchasing a ticket was very easy as there wasn’t really a queue and plenty of self serve booths. Unfortunately, the 102nd floor was closed, so we could only visit the 86th floor.

Going past the miniature version…

The Empire State theme/decor feels very steampunky like to me, even though it’s more about suns and planets and orbit-like details? You could say it was like Greenwich Observatory when it had a steampunk theme running!

Exit from dirigible!

And here we are at the observation deck! There’s a nice handy set of pointers, but honestly, I still had no idea where anything was, so I just went around taking pictures of things.

I’m pretty sure at this stage I hadn’t realised that I actually got the Statue of Liberty in this shot!

To this ate, I still don’t know what that tower with the cool looking balcony is….

Look at all the yellow cabs!

What a massive Macy’s banner, and look at all the tiny people on the street! Nothing at the gift shop was of much interest though, so it was time to get back on the ground.

Well look at that, I’m now right where my camera was pointing! This is Herald Square, and what always got me was that the subway announcement lady’s pronunciation always made it sound like “Harold Square” to me, but maybe that’s also some Person of Interest obsession seeping through!

The massive “Journey to Paradisios” sign was quite intriguing, as something similar actually appeared on my google maps, saying that this Macy’s had some sort of flower festival going on. Wow, on the inside, it was amazing! The whole place was absolutely decorated in flowers and space themes! There were spaceships and real flowers everywhere! There’s even an astronaut! It was really, really busy in here, with only some shoppers, and it seemed like most people were marvelling at the decorations and taking photos!

And I was still so full and slightly jetlagged that this was my dinner. I felt that I’d spent enough time here and drank enough tap water to start trying some street food. So finally, a street hot dog!! Yeah!!! Look at this dodgy little thing! It wasn’t terribly tasty, of course, but it was fun to eat! A lot of the trucks have the same branding, but every now and again you’ll see more uncommon trucks, or typos on the trucks. Luckily this is a hot dog, but you might see “hot gogs” being sold from other trucks! I didn’t suffer any negative effets from eating this, so hooray, I have the stomach of a New Yorker!

TO BE CONTINUED…