New York City

Okay, I'm not going to pretend to know all there is to know about the famed Big Apple and its eats, but I am one of "those" people that claim to love it. As stereotypical as it is, Manhattan is one of my favourite cities to visit, and I hope to possibly reside there at some point for a certain duration, or at least study there. If I never end up doing either of those things, I will most definitely at any given opportunity, be excited to go, just to visit these places I mention in NY.

The bustling city has a great abundance of restaurants, cafe's, bakeries and gourmet food stores, that really, it's almost THE place to go if you want to have the best of every cuisine. Mexican, French, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, you name it they've got the best.

This past December 2009, I had one week between final presentations and exams and a friend of mine who had just visited me in Toronto had moved on to touring NYC. Travelling by himself, on gmail chat on his iPod, he expressed to me that he was a little lonely. So I made a split second decision and booked a seat on a red eye bus to go join him in NY. Although it was my fourth time visiting, this time it was filled with so many more food adventures, as my friend shares my enthusiasm for great food. He had researched a number of places, and having been there before, I had a few places that I liked myself. Combined we had a gigantic feast nearly every meal, and consequently I think I had to loosen my belt. The great thing was, that he also studied architecture so we made the perfect travel companion as we ate and talked nerdy about art deco, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Sanaa as we slurped up delicious pho, ate thin crust pizza and drank great espressos. We didn't eat at fancy shmancy establishments, as I was a student, and he was a budget traveler with more destinations on his list, but we always finished everything to the last grain of rice, the last crumb and sip as these places we went to were amazing.

I hope you get to enjoy these places as much as I did. Let me know if you need any more information on the city, because I would be glad to give you a list of places you have to go see.

My Favourites: Pho Bang, Lombardi's Pizza, Barbuto, Boka, and Momofuku Noodle Bar

Map of Where to Go: Restaurants + Places you HAVE to go to in New York City


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