Is it possible to be more NYC?

It's my final day in New York today and I think I have had about as stereotypical New York experience as it is possible to have.

It started with brunch at Penelope with my friend Kelly. A mimosa and the poached eggs wrapped in smoked salmon that Clint raved about last week, were the perfect start to the weekend. It was every bit as good as last time.

We then jumped into a yellow taxi and went up to Fifth Avenue to do some shopping. I got some jeans from Abercrombie & Fitch before we cruised across to Bloomingdales where I bought some sunglasses and Kelly got a rather nice pair of Dior shoes.

Too hot for any more shopping we went for a pedicure and foot massage. Very metrosexual. My former flatmates Emily and Andie will be relieved to hear this news as they were always telling my how disgusting my feet were!

It was all rather nice!

Dry Cleaning, the flip side

I've been raving about how good it has been to get my dry cleaning done and not iron 5 shirts a week.

When I was packing I realised that one of presses/irons they use had melted the little plastic collar stiffners they sometimes sow into shirts. There is now a yellow stain on each collar. One of my favourite going out shirts has been ruined. Gutted.

At least it might be the motivation I need to give up such an expensive habit when I am back in the UK.

Restaurant Review: Buddakan

I went to Buddakan on Wednesday night with my friend Julia from work. It's a trendy French Asian Fusion restaurant on the Meat Packing District. (I'm not sure I'll ever think that is a good name for an area.) It's next to Greenwich Market but due to its minimalist exterior I completely missed it last time I was there.

The food was light and fresh. All dishes are brought and served in the middle of the table encouraging you to share. We had their signature starter of edamame dumplings as well as the tuna tartare rolls. The edamame dumplings were certainly innovative, but I preferred the tuna tartare rolls. Which is ironic from a man who usually doesn't eat fish!

For the main course we had blackened cod and a duck dish. Again both were excellent. The duck came served with pancakes, it was very moist moist and tasted as if it has been steamed (?). (I've just checked the website and it says Peking Duck, but it didn't taste like anything I have had in a Chinese before.)

For desert we had the Crying Chocolate desert which was my least favourite dish of the evening. I didn't quite get the combination of chocolate, hot toffee and coffee ice cream.

After dinner we went to the fantastic roof top bar at the Gansevoort Hotel, a few steps away from Buddakan, for a drink. It's a really lively part of town and we rounded off the night with a night cap in Pastis. I was suffering a little the next day!

This is probably my final blog from New York as I am due to fly home tomorrow, its been a fantastic three months and I've really enjoyed it. Brockley here I come!

Restaurant Review: Shake Shack

Shake Shack is a cafe in Maddison Square Park, under the shadow the Flatiron building. Known for its burgers and frozen custards (shakes) it was on my to do list before I left NY.

I met Clint for a burger after work and to take some picture of the Flatiron. We didn't manage to take any pics as we went straight for the burgers, which will mean that I am leaving NY photo-less of the Flatiron. But when you can steal photos like this, do you need your own?

The unexpected bonus was that you can have a beer with your burger. I've had a drink in public in America without needing to put my beer in a brown paper bag. Woohoo!

Queues for the Shack are getting out of control and we had to wait in line for 45 minutes to order our burger. However, it was quite relaxing to stand in line with a beer in hand in the evening sunshine. The burgers were melt in the mouth tender. Clint was so bold as to say he thought it was the best burger he has had in America. It was a very good burger.

Restaurant Review: Penelope

Today I went to brunch with my trusty partners in crime Pen and Clint; for possibly the last time in New York.

Penelope is tipped in Zagat as one of New York's best breakfasts and is luckily just round the corner from my apartment in Murray Hill. I've walked past it quite a few times and was pleased to be trying it before I left NY.

You can't book a table, so I went round early to put our names down. Luckily our wait was only around 25 minutes. The restaurant has a relaxed and homely feel. With a brunch menu full of trusty favourites such as waffles, french toast, poached eggs with smoked salmon, homemade granola and omelets.

I had a BLT made by the fantastic mayonnaise. Pen enjoyed her waffles and Clint raved about his poached eggs with smoked salmon. We all enjoyed a mimosa (champagne cocktail) with our brunch. Pen a little too much as she spilt the end of her glass all over herself!

There was a buzzing atmosphere with groups of young people have brunch and an eclectic sound track in the background.

Most people know I have an idle dream to run my own restaurant one day. I'd like it to be a lot like Penelope if my dream ever comes true.

Photo Updates

I've updated my Canadian GP album now that I have got the pics from my SLR developed. I have also started a June album, with photos of my latest adventures.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Only a week left to go of my time in New York. Last week I was looking forward to going home, however, this week am I thinking there is not long enough left to fit in everything I want to do!

Yesterday I hit the tourist trail and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I really like the Met. The building is beautiful in itself, spectacular as some of the museums in London. My favourite exhibit is the Dendur temple, which was moved in its entirely from Egypt when the Aswan dam was built and would have submerged it forever. I visited a number of exhibits I didn't see on my first visit seven years ago. I also discovered the roof top bar which has fantastic views of Central Park.

After the museum I did some final shopping in Banana Republic and am wearing one of my new shirts now! In another first for the day I bought a gyro from a street seller.

Baseball: Newark Bears

Last night I went to see a Newark Bears baseball game with Pen and Clint, for Pen's birthday. The Bears won convincingly 10-1. I'm beginning to get into baseball and we saw several home runs and a couple of double plays.

I got a free baseball (pictured) when we arrived at the ground and the evening was completed with a fireworks display, billed as the best in New Jersey!

Tipping

Tipping is such a minefield in America. Everyone I know seems to struggle with it. I have been mostly hanging out with expat friends since I arrived and, even though several of them have been here for two years, they still get confused. Some of the locals I know still struggle with the etiquette sometimes.

I haven't been tipping my dry cleaner. There is no tips jar in the shop and if you pay by card there is no room to leave a tip on the cheque. I thought I was safe. However, the last couple of times my dry cleaning has been a day later than promised when I dropped it of. Now I don't have a clean shirt for tomorrow. Am I being given a message???

UPDATE: My dry cleaning didn't arrive again today. It is now 24 hrs late and I am beginning to think they may have eaten it.

UPDAYE II: Dry cleaning finally recovered, three days late. Not before I had to wear a distinctly "Friday" shirt to the office today.

What should I buy?

I've got one full weekend left of my time in New York. All my guests have gone shopping crazy while they have been here. There has been jewelry, laptops, cameras, ipods and lots and lots of clothes purchased.

I haven't actually bought that much stuff and am wondering if I should splurge before I leave? I've had varying thoughts of a new laptop or ipod touch, but have so far kept my wallet in my pocket. I am going to get a few more clothes, but can't decide on anything else. Any suggestions? What is the one thing you wouldn't miss out on if you have a weekend shopping in NYC?

Montreal and the Canadian GP!

I've been excited for the last few months about my trip to the Canadian GP, which took place last weekend. It was my first trip to Canada and everyone I know who has been raves about the place. Second, I haven't done a road trip in America before. Third, I was a GP virgin and coming from the same home town as Williams F1 team I had to put this right! So what did I think?

Montreal
Canada was lovely. Montreal has a very continental European feel and is the perfect antidote if you need a break from the US without having to go all the way back home.

Like Morocco, they have kept the best bits of French cuisine and have some excellent boulangerie and patisserie. Portion sizes were sensible and the food felt healthier than in the US. There are sins too and we had a plate of the local comfort food, poutine, which is chips with cheese and gravy. A bit of an odd combination like the take aways of Oxford meeting Hull!

My favourite meal was brunch on Saturday when we went to a great little restaurant, in the Holt Renfrew department store. I had a frittata, which was served on toasted sour dough with fresh tomatoes and a balsamic reduction. I thought that balsamic might be an odd combination, but it went perfectly.

The find of the weekend was a rooftop bar, opposite Notre-Dame Basillca in Place d'Armes. We enjoyed a couple of drinks from the top of a hotel as the sun set around us.

A bit of a strange habit, but I like going to supermarkets while I am on holiday as it gives you a feel for what the locals eat on a day to day basis. My impression of New York supermarkets is pretty bad, no wonder people eat out so much. The super marche around the corner from our hotel was great. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and they sold a good range of cheese (you'll think I'm bonkers if you are reading this from the UK, but you can't buy decent cheese at sensible price in NY!). We bought a pic nic to eat for lunch at the race.

The Grand Prix
The main focus of the weekend was the GP. We went to the Friday practice session, Saturday qualifying and the race on Sunday.

We had seats in a Grand Stand at the chicane on the back straight, and were treated to quite a lot of action. There was a big screen opposite us so that we could follow the race on the rest of the circuit.

During Friday practice we saw Timo Glock spin in front of us and his car had to be craned off. Mark Webber put is Red Bull in the gravel, but managed to get it out again. During quali Webber spun out again and wasn't able to take part in Q3. In the race we saw a Coultard, and the luckless Webber (again), spin and Alonso crashed out just after our corner. There was an over taking manouver, but I can't remember who was involved!

The mighty Nico Rosberg blew a great chance of a good result when he crashed into the back of Hamilton in the pit lane. From the replays I am not sure what he was up to as he seemed to have plenty of time to react.

A few people mentioned to me before I went about the need to take ear plugs and I was glad that I did!

For posterity I should mention that Robert Kubica took his, and BMW's, first win; much to the delight of the many Polish fans in our stand.

Road Trip
It wasn't really a proper road trip, more a charge for the border and back again. The roads were straight, drivers crazy, potholes many and the scenary of the Adirondacks beautiful. Being completely ignorant of geography I didn't realise that we would stay in the State of New York all the way to the border.

The border crossings caused the most excitment. Comically Clint gets a little bit nervous of immigration officials. On the way into Canada we got a bit of grilling from the border guard but once she established we were innocent tourists we were on our way. Coming back into the US, concerned about the fragility of the electric windows, Clint tried to avoid lowering them completely which raised a little bit of suspicion from the border guard about our objection to communicating!

Restaurant Review: Porterhouse

A couple of Saturday's ago I went to Porterhouse at Columbus Circle with Mike, Claire and Kelly.

I ate at Porterhouse for the first time last July and had a great experience. It is quite a smart steak restaurant in New York. I really like the wood panelled restaurant and if you are lucky; you can get a booth or a table with views overlooking Central Park.

A bit like Gordon Ramsey's the wine list was on the expensive side. The best discovery of the evening was the Bin End wine list. We ordered two bottles from the menu and they were both very good. The Sommelier even looked quite impressed with one of the choices, which seeing as I select on a purely random basis, I felt quite pleased with!

The other good discovery of the night was to order a hash brown instead of fries as a side order with your steak. Thanks Kelly! We all, predictably, had steaks. For desert I had a baked alaska, which I don't think I have had before. Very nice it was too.

The service started out as very attentive, without being overwhelming. However, by the end of the evening it had disappointingly dropped away quite markedly. It almost felt as if they were urging us to leave. We had enjoyed a relaxed evening, but there were a few tables still eating when we left at 10:30pm and they weren't turning tables, so didn't need the space.

Having enjoyed myself so much last July I didn't think it was quite as good this time. Having lived in the US for a couple of months now I also realise that good steaks aren't as expensive, and therefore such rare treats, as they are in the UK. It's good, but doesn't stand out from the crowd as much I as I thought it would. Perhaps I had built it up to much.


I've been for a few smart steaks during my time in America and I have started to change my opinion on a couple of things. I always used to order steaks cooked rare, but this often isn't the way to go, especially if you aren't eating a fillet. I have gone through a phase of eating obscure cuts, and I am now keen to eat something a bit more normal again.

Extreme Photo Uploading

I've just had a big photo uploading session:
NY May - messing about and my trip to Summit, NJ
Vegas Baby! A weekend in sin city.
Helicopter Ride Over New York
Canadian Grand Prix*

If you were there for the ride, thanks for the memories.


*I'm still waiting for some GP photos to be developed and will add more pics to the album when I get them back.

Movie Star

One of the things I noticed when I first moved to New York was the sheer amount of filming that seemed to go on. Roads were closed for, seemingly, big budget movies to be shot. I was walking down near the UN one afternoon and there were three mangled police cars that had been destroyed during a car chase scene. Even school projects in Central Park seem to warrant a crew of 10 people.

Last night there was some filming on the doorstep of my building. When Ed (who is over for the week visiting) and I got back from dinner we had to walk through actors and costume designers to get back through the front door.

Look out for us in the next block buster!

Arthur Daly

If you are in the New York or New Jersey area and looking for a new car. See no further than the mighty Jeta.


In the time of high oil prices (which seems to be obsessing the US), this is no gas guzzling SUV and what is more yours truly has ridden in it. If that is not enough to add to its value I am not sure what is........

Restaurant Review: Lombardi's

Following a tip from my friends over at Thailand Musings I went for dinner at Lombardi's in Soho last Sunday night.

Lombardi's is supposed to be New York's first pizza restaurant and gets rave reviews about its food. We shared a bruschetta as a starter. Simple but excellent with really fresh tomatoes and hint of garlic that has been rubbed into the toasted bread.

Mike, Claire and I shared two pizzas for our main course. They had a beautiful thin crispy base and a zingy tomato sauce. We had one plain pizza and the second had some roasted red peppers on top which were a definite winner in my book.

Lombardi's has sold out slightly to guide book commercialism, but it still has bags of atmosphere and great pizza. Soho is a great area to hang out in and if you are in the area I definitely recommend a visit.

Helicpoter ride over New York!

I went for a Helicopter ride over New York on Sunday with my friends (and flatmates to be!) Mike and Claire who were staying for the weekend. It was a fantastic experiences.

We took a flight with Zip Helicopter Tours. Taking off from Chelsea Piers we flew south, round Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, north up the East River and then cut across Central Park before returning to Chelsea Piers.

Just before take off the pilot us asked if we had any questions on the safety video, which we hadn't actually been shown. We all kept quiet as we didn't want to be prevented from flying! I think Zip is a slightly cowboy operation, although the flight felt perfectly safe and our pilot was a former Police flier.

I hadn't been in a helicopter before and I really enjoyed it. We got some great soaring views over the Manhattan skyline. For most of the way round we were at 1,000 feet and pretty close to all of the action. You can get a lot of good views of Manhattan from the Empire State, Rockefeller, Stattan Island Ferry and cruise boats, but none give them to you all in one go and let you fly right of Central Park! Loved it.

Photo of the day

I took this picture on Sunday and rather liked it.

Katz's Deli

I had heard a lot of recommendations for Katz's deli, and it is Zagat's top rated choice in the city. Mike, Claire and I headed their for breakfast yesterday morning. Katz's is famous for its' hot pastrami sandwiches and from being in When Harry met Sally (which I have to confess to never having seen).

We ordered two sandwiches to share between us, hot pastrami and roast beef. They give deep fill a new meaning. My favourite was the pastrami which was moist and succulent.

Mike was a massive fan of the Katz's experience. There is something unique about the traditional New York diner experience that blows you away. I had my own epiphany in the Summit Diner a few weeks ago. Katz has its own unique ticketing system, sawdust on the floor, the obligatory surly staff, pictures on the wall of famous visitors and signs hanging from the roof saying send a salami to your boy in the army. Classic.