Where to eat in New York

We are still live in New York City (well at least for the blog). I’m back in London as I type but you get my drift. By now, I trust that you must have read the 1st part of the NY series all about where to go, what to do and what to see.

If you have not, click here.

So let’s jump into food. For all things food, we decided to go proper local. No fancy spots. No boujee service. No red carpets. Just good ol’ American spots. We had no reservations and just waltzed into restaurants either by fluke or recommendation.

Spoiler alert: We loved every single place we ate in! The food in NY is so tasty. Coming from London where most of our dishes are bland, I did appreciate the flavours and spices in our meals. 

DISCLAIMER – There are a lot of yummy food pictures coming up…..
Since I’m a lovely person *ahem* I strongly advice to read with care.

Ok.. first things first…

1. Street Food

I have to start with street food because this blew me away! I tried a few different things but my favourite thing which I got a few times was the lamb and chicken over rice. It came with some vegetables and pepper sauce. Let me tell you, this thing was EPIC!

There are food stands scattered around the city especially in tourist locations, selling all sorts of street food but my fave stand was the guy by Central park. His selection was the best and his chicken and lamb combo was the best thing ever! 

2. Hot n Juicy Crawfish, Manhattan

We had passed by this spot on a random stroll and thought we could have dinner there. We both love seafood SO much so this was definitely a must try. Fast forward, a couple of days later, we headed to Hot n Juicy Crawfish for dinner and loved it so much!

The service was lovely from the time we got in until we left! 

We ordered The Drool to share which was a combo of crab legs, shrimps, crawfish, sausages, corn and potatoes.  Oh and calamari on the side.

When the bag came, we were so overwhelmed. You get given an apron and gloves because you have to dig in and trust me, it gets pretty messy. It does remind me of the seafood spots here in London (same vibe) but the difference is in the taste. Our combo was so incredibly delicious that you just keep going even though it was spicy. Definitely lived up to the Hot and Juicy name!

3. Front Street Pizza, Dumbo

We stumbled upon this one when we were in Dumbo after taking pictures under the Manhattan Bridge. We could smell pizza and pasta from the streets and we literally followed the smell and it led us to Front Pizza. We ordered pasta, some sort of chicken and rice dish, prawns and some battered chicken on the side.

It was like diner style service. You point to what you want and it is served in paper plates which we thought was such a lazy thing to do. I mean it was a proper restaurant or at least, a cafeteria so why this cheap service? lol Oh well, we didn’t care too much as we were so hungry. We just found a spot to sit in the restaurant and devoured the food. 

Honestly, I ate everything in under 5minutes. I was that hungry. I was surprised at how tasty everything was especially my pasta. It was sooooooo good that we contemplated going back the next day to eat there again!

Anyway, if you are ever in the Dumbo area, look out for it.

4. George’s, Manhattan

George’s Restaurant is a few streets away from the World Trade Center. We stopped for a late breakfast and it was just a lovely spot, the food was great! We had waffles, pancakes, eggs, sausages and a chicken salad. We ordered some hot chocolate and freshly squeezed orange juice too.

Everything was tasty and as usual, in American fashion, portions were massive! 

5. Red Rooster, Harlem

We wanted a different vibe so we headed to Harlem for dinner and chose Red Rooster just because! We ordered the Chicken and Waffle and Spicy chicken wings as starters and a seafood platter as main (to share). It was a special for the night so we thought to try it and we were so shocked at how massive the platter was.

The portions were so large that we had to pack up most of the food to take home but we enjoyed it!

6. Red Lobster

Beyoncé said “when he *bleep* me good, I take his *bleep* to Red Lobster” hahaha

Red Lobster has always been on my list because of my love for sea food anyway so this time, we decided to go there for lunch on the afternoon before we had to fly back to London.

We ordered the Cedar Plank Lobster and Shrimp, Cedar Plank Colossal Shrimp and Salmon, Mixed Grill and some crab legs on the side. We also had a garlic biscuit basket (this was so yummy and I could not stop eating it) Drinks were peach ice tea, boston ale and sangria!

As you might have gathered, we loved every meal.

I think it is lovely that one has all these varieties when you’re in a city as diverse as New York.

Most times, street food is the best way to eat through a new city one is visiting and tbh, the cheapest. The food trucks are so cheap and it’s not just junk food they sell but full meals too! The best part is that you can just have your food on the go while strolling through the city and of course you don’t need any reservations! Win Win!

Hopefully, when you visit NY, you are able to visit some of these places and hopefully, enjoy the meals as much as we did!

Until the next post….

*hint* we are off to the Hamptons on that one 🙂

….Bisous, ‘Bugo x