If you know me at all, you’ll know that I’m a gal who likes to EAT. I will pretty much eat anything you put in front of me as long as it’s not loaded with tomatoes (yuck). I especially like trying new foods which is why when I’m travelling I like to be adventurous with restaurant choices. Although New York City is in the USA, their large, diverse population means that you can find restaurants specializing in cuisine from all over the world – which means its a perfect place to try lots of new things!
Luckily my boyfriend shares the same, adventurous appetite that I do (actually, just the same appetite in general #phat) which means that options are endless. We were only in NYC for a few days, however, during that time we managed to sample the menu at quite a few different places so I thought I’d share with you the good, amazing, and never agains.
Totto Ramen
We went here on our first day in NYC. We’d been up since 4:15am travelling so we were hankering for some good eats. Neither of us had tried ramen before, and my boyfriend had found this place online and their reviews were fantastic (however online reviews aren’t always the best indicator of a good restaurant, as you’ll read later on).
We made our way to their Hell’s Kitchen location, which was relatively easy to get to from Times Square (about a 10 minute walk). The place itself doesn’t look like anything special, it’s small, a little cramped, and you can see right into the kitchen… BUT it was clean, the staff were friendly, and the service was quick.
I always say that if you see people of the same culture as the food that the restaurant serves – it’s a good sign. The food is mostly likely authentic/non-Westernized.
The idea of what ramen was in my head was far different to what I was served. I anticipated a bowl of broth with a few noodles and a bit of meat. I didn’t expect it to fill me up, nor did I expect there to really be much flavour. I was wrong.
I went with a Curry Paitan, and my boyfriend went with the Mega Paitan. Mine was their regular Chicken Paitan (a fan fave, apparently), with curry paste and a seasoned hard boiled egg added to it. Peter’s was about 50% bigger than mine and contained 3 different cooks of pork in it as opposed to the Chicken that I had. I guess what makes Totto Ramen’s ramen so good is that they use a chicken broth instead of the traditional beef broth.
I didn’t even finish my bowl as it was so filling! So full that we didn’t even have to go out for dinner, we made a student approved meal of Kraft Dinner back at our airbnb as a late night snack to tie us over until breakfast. Glamourous.
It cost us ~$30 for two bowls.
Caracas Arepa Bar
We found this place through a vlog that Chris Miciano made on good, cheap eats in NYC. An Arepa is a Venezuelan sandwich with a crunchy bun made out of cornmeal, that is usually filled with warm meats and vegetables; they’re typically known as the “queen dish” of street food.
Arepa’s were not a food I had ever even heard of until we saw this video and I do love a good sandwich! So, off we went to their Manhattan location. Talk about a divey looking restaurant (which may I add, is not necessarily a bad thing – have you seen diners, drive-ins, and dives???). Caracas Arepa Bar is a dinky place with only a few tables, and a little bar that overlooks their kitchen. Their chairs are made out of milk crates that have been turned upsidedown, and their walls are covered in knick-knacks.
I got an Arepa with chicken, avocado, onions, and peppers in it (it was called “Hot Queen” I believe), which actually looked like a big green mush in a bun when it arrived on my plate BUT it tasted great, especially with the table-side sauce they had. Peter got one with pulled beef, black beans, sweet plantains, and salty cheese which he also throughly enjoyed. Funnily enough, we just watched Chris’s video back and turns out we got the exact same sandwiches that they got – unintentional.
This place had a revolving door, man. Whenever a table cleared out, there was another group piling in through the door. So, safe to say it’s pretty popular!
~$30 for two sandwiches
Uncle Boons
Ok, so this is what I meant when I said don’t always judge how good a restaurant is by it’s online reviews (especially on a hoity toity website). Without being dramatic, this place was trash. We read many reviews that said Uncle Boons had a great vibe with a good selection of Thai food. We even looked at the menu beforehand and thought it looked good.
This place opens at 5:30pm and when we got there at 5:40pm and there was already a line OUT OF THE DOOR. We almost didn’t stick around to wait but figured it must be good if there was a line outside, so we joined.
While waiting to speak to the girls at the hostess stand we saw people leave, some go back to stand and wait outside, and some left with takeout bags. After hearing the group in front of us being told they would have to wait THREE HOURS for a table, we decided to order from the take-out menu so that we could eat from the comfort of our Airbnb. We waited 30-40 minutes for our order to be ready and we made the trek back to our Airbnb.
We ordered Mieng Kum, which apparently is a typical Thai snack consisting of a shrimp, peanut, coconut, and ginger/lime mix, wrapped in a betel leaf. Sounded safe. We also got Khao Soi Kaa Kai, which is a golden curry with chicken leg and noodles. Again, sounded safe. Personally, I felt like we couldn’t really go wrong with shrimp wraps and chicken curry. BOY WAS I WRONG.
First of all the servings were TINY. The curry came with a SINGLE chicken leg, a bunch of liquid curry, and a handful of noodles. The shrimp mixture came in a tiny little container with some leaves on the side. The curry was $22, and the shrimp was $13. Shook. I managed one leaf stuffed with shrimp and couldn’t bare to have another one. I HATE wasting food people, but I genuinely couldn’t eat this. The curry was good but not outstanding and like I said, the portion size was laughable. Would not recommend.
~$45
Dylan’s Candy Bar
This is the kind of place where parents take their kids for the “cute” factor and then regret within the hour because their kids are bouncing off the walls from sugar induced madness. I’m pretty sure we were the only people in there without kids. Whatever.
We actually didn’t plan to go here like we did all of the other restaurants, it actually happened on a whim. Dylan’s Candy Bar, upon first sight, is a candy store. To be honest we went in to get out of the cold and we left without buying anything. As we were standing outside trying to figure out a route to our next destination, I spotted the restaurant menu plastered to the window and almost like it was calling my name, the s’mores skillet cookie jumped out at me. After the most minuscule amount of convincing and “so what we’re on vacation” comments, we went and had a giant cookie for lunch #health.
Basically, it was a giant cookie baked in a small skillet, slathered in nutella with marshmallows toasted on top. Heaven for anyone with a sweet tooth (me).
Not going to lie though, the service was sub-par, and the cookie wasn’t AS amazing as I was expecting. But, a very nice treat considering I felt like I was lacking dessert in my life after a few days of ethnic main courses.
Joe’s Pizza
There’s no such thing as bad pizza. That’s a fact. I have tried MANY pizzas in my life and I can’t say I’ve come across a bad one. HOWEVER, rarely do I come across a pizza that I will never forget. It’s happened twice in my life: 1. Lou Milnati’s deep dish in Chicago, and 2. Joe’s pizza.
We arrived to a line out of the door, pizza boxes exploding out of garbage cans, and people shoving huge slices of pizza in their mouths in the park across the street. All good signs of some good ass pizza waiting for us to try.
You all know what a proper slice of NYC pizza looks like, right? Those thin, as-big-as-your-face slices? Now, imagine the size of the pizza those big slices came from. That’s what we shared between the two of us. Go big or go home, amirite? Hold the judgement, pls.
To be honest I can’t say too much about this pizza other than it was good. It was really good. Not too much sauce, a good amount of cheese, and super fresh. Think about a good thin crust cheese pizza that you’ve had. Think about how much you enjoyed it, then times that feeling by 7 or 8. That’s this pizza.
One whole large cheese pizza cost us $22. A STEAL.
Sunday in Brooklyn
Who doesn’t love a good brunch? I actually could probably eat breakfast foods for every single meal if I had too, so when my friend suggested we go for brunch at this yummy little place called Sunday in Brooklyn, I couldn’t say no.
It’s located in Brooklyn (you know… if the name didn’t give it away for you) and it’s relatively easy to get too via public transit (unless you’re taking a bus and it’s a holiday…). It was bumping when, too. I was starting to think at this point that business is just a New York thing in general. No matter where you are (literally even the bathrooms at McDonalds had a line), you will be surrounded by lots of people. We were seated relatively quickly though, and the staff were lovely.
I ordered a “typical” breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast, and my boyfriend ordered a stack of hazelnut pancakes.
I have to say, this bacon was the most bacon-y bacon I’ve ever had. It was delish. The scrambled eggs were cooked perfectly, and the seasoning on the potatoes was pretty good too. Peter’s stack of pancakes contained the fluffiest pancakes I’d ever seen. They were like little sweet clouds drenched in a hazelnutty syrup. Yum.
~$40 for meal
Other
Auntie Anne’s Pretzels – Considering this is a chain, I didn’t really expect much from this place but their pretzels are MASSIVE, and nice and fluffy without losing that soft pretzel-like density. I had cinnamon sugar and Peter had a salted one with a mustard dip.
McSorley’s Old Ale House – no food consumed here, just beer. This is the “oldest continuously operated saloon” in NYC – they literally still put sawdust on the ground to keep with “tradition”. They only offer two kinds of beer: dark, or light. 2 pints (which come in 4 half pint glasses) cost $11. We had the dark… No idea where it came from other than from behind the bar, but it wasn’t half bad.
All in all, I’d say our food jourey around NYC was a success. 4 out of 5 restaurants were good, and I would eat at at least 3 of those 4 places again.
Stay tuned for my full NYC itinerary coming soon – I’m going to include tips on traveling around the city, ways to see the sights without breaking the bank, and places that you shouldn’t eve bother visiting.
Until next time
xx
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