USA (New York City) Itinerary - Day 3: Union Square, Joe's Coffee, ABC Kitchen, Madison Square Park, Flatiron Building, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty, DB Bistro Moderne, Times Square

Union Square and Joe's Coffee on this bright lovely morning. The weather was prefect on the third day of our trip and all our pictures looked awesome against that clear blue sky. It was truly such a beautiful day! One of the best weather we experienced in New York.

ABC Kitchen for brunch. Another amazing meal. We ordered so much food and washed everything down with wine. It was perfect, aside from the fact that the lady at the next table was making all sorts of hand gestures and tsk-ing each time I snapped a picture of my food. I guess I live up to the stereotype of Asians taking pictures of food? But frankly, I did not understand her distress since I was clearly not bothering her when I took pictures of my food! I was rather annoyed initially but made up my mind to ignore her. After a while, I started to feel pity towards her. I mean, she must be a really sad soul to spend her entire date checking me out instead of speaking to her partner. I barely heard a conversation from her table through the entire meal! How sad. On the other hand, I was having a whale of a time digging into our delicious brunch paired with moscato.

35 E 18th St, New York, NY 10003, United States

Madison Square Park and Flatiron Building. I love this area so much! The streets were lined with warm cozy cafes, people were out with their dogs, sitting around, enjoying the warm sun. There was a happy, laid-back vibe. Maybe it was the good weather? But I really enjoyed my time at Madison Square Park. 

Strand Bookstore for an amazing variety of books.

Wall Street, the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, and a thronging crowd at the Charging Bull.

Took the Staten Island Ferry and enjoyed the view of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty from the ferry. A tout, who was trying to sell the Statue of Liberty cruise, stopped us from entering the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and insisted that we should head for the other terminal if we "wanted to see the Statue of Liberty" and that we should trust him because he was "from around here and knows better". Word of advice - if you do not intend to take the Statue of Liberty Cruise, just walk right into the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and do not be swayed by the touts. The Staten Island Ferry is free!

Magnolia Bakery. The guys braved the crowd in the narrow bakery to bring some brownies, pies, and tarts back for us. The lemon tart was memorable!

Rockefeller Center 1240 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

We tried to get tickets to Top of the Rock on Rockefeller but failed to do so because the queue was so crazy long and the earliest slot was 10:30 pm! So much for online reviews which said that there was no need to reserve tickets online since tickets are readily available at the Rockefeller counter!

Trying to find something to eat in mid-town and decided on DB Bistro Moderne for the Original DB Burger with foie gras in a thick beef patty and Grilled Salmon on green beans. 

City Club Hotel, 55 W 44th St #1, New York, NY 10036, United States

Times Square at night with its bright dazzling lights and insane crowd. There was literally a sea of people in Times Square and so many tourists on the red steps! Of course we had to join in. There was a giant Revlon billboard in the heart of Times Square where the "Love is On" campaign was going strong. Essentially, a crowd of people gathered in front of a camera and tried to get themselves into a heart. Those in the heart were supposed to kiss. We squeezed ourselves in for the fun of it. I have to say that being squashed in a crowd was the perfect way to stay warm on a cold spring night. 

Empire State Building lit up at night. It was truly a perfect day.

Day 1, Day 2, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15 are up!

The Royal Mail and Mad about Sucre

So I turned 27 not so recently and had a delicious birthday dinner with Stef at The Royal Mail followed by desserts at Mad about Sucre. It was a fantastic night with loads of delicious food and desserts, and fantastic company. Thanks for the treat and for all the laughs! I will always remember how you told me about breathing at the meeting hahaha.

UPDATE: Omg, I just found out that the Royal Mail is closed?! Sigh but still, am going to post this to keep this night as part of my memories.

The menu at the Royal Mail below.

Fresh raw oysters as amuse bouche. So juicy and yums.

The Roasted Whole Chicken was a little small (for some reason we were expecting a bigger chicken?) but good. It was a little dry at parts but overall still a nice roasted chicken.

The Miso Black Cod was SO GOOD. Smooth fatty cod with bonito flakes and a light creamy sauce. The Miso Black Cod is a must order! We also had a side of straight cut chips with truffle mayonnaise which was pretty good. 

Took a train to Outram and walked to Keong Saik for Mad about Sucre. This place was so very pretty! Cute little golden trays dangled from the ceiling with colourful cake boxes stacked up high. The display counter was a bright glass case illuminated with white light and dainty little cakes sat in the counter waiting to be picked. The service at Mad about Sucre was flawless. The staff introduced each cake patiently and told us the highlights of each cake. They also had tea pairing so we could have a tea blend for each cake we chose.

We had the Luna de Miel (blood orange, french spring blossom honey and sponge) and the San Domingue (chocolate, rum and biscuit). Luna de Miel was light and sweet with a delicious blood orange layer in the middle. San Dom was heavier and more robust with the thick flavour of chocolate and rum. The tea blend went perfectly well with the cakes!

I truly had a great night :)

The Royal Mail
Ascott Raffles Place Singapore, 2 Finlayson Green
+65 6509 3589 

Mad about Sucre
27 Teo Hong Road
6221 3969

Mad for Garlic, Suntec

This was so bad that I think it deserved a one sentence review so here goes. The Lobster Cream Pasta ($23.50) was expensive with lobster meat about the size of braised peanuts and pasta limp with a heavy tasteless cream sauce while the Grilled Chicken and Mushroom Risotto ($23.50) was like soft mushy rice with anorexic dry chicken and some mushrooms. 

The end. 

USA (New York City) Itinerary - Day 2: Russ and Daughters, Dominique Ansel Bakery, 9/11 Memorial, Chalk Point Kitchen, Walking Tour, Brooklyn

Russ and Daughters for breakfast. Too yummy smoked salmon with bagel, tomatoes, capers and onions! It was a very cold morning and we hurried into Russ and Daughters to wait for our table in the warmth. Very friendly and cheerful lady at the counter. What a nice start to the day!

127 Orchard St New York, NY 10002

Stef and King collected their cronuts from Dominique Ansel Bakery super early in the morning (thank you!). I did not even know about the cronut craze until Stef told me about it and I am so so grateful that they made reservations for both the March and April flavours! The March flavour (Pineapple and Matcha) was delicious! We ate them in City Hall Park under bare trees and along quiet pavements in the park. You have no idea how much I miss those cronuts ahhhhh.

We walked to the 9/11 Memorial and followed the crowd to the fountains. The air hung heavy and solemn in this place. There were no giggling teenagers running around happily, no happy jump shots. Everyone was respectful and quiet. There was a lone red rose around the fountain and it felt so... lonely.

We were late for our reservation at Chalk Point Kitchen but managed to get a table after a short wait at the door. It is a rustic farm-to-table restaurant in Soho, serving delicious food. I love the tender juicy chicken, the runny poached eggs and the kale and apple salad! This is a good place to check out if you are in the Soho area.

527 Broome St, New York, NY 10013

We did a Walking Tour after lunch around Soho, Little Italy, Nolita, and Chinatown. It is interesting to follow a guide to hear about the historical significance of various buildings, beautiful details about certain architecture and to learn more about the downtown areas. That said, it was a mini shock when our guide announced to the group that we were from Shanghai as we entered Chinatown, despite us telling her earlier than we were from Singapore. Thereafter, she asked us to translate the name of a shop which was written in Chinese characters!

We walked through the Civic Center on our way to Brooklyn Bridge and saw various courthouses. "The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government." True that. 

I had SO MUCH FUN walking across Brooklyn Bridge. It was such an amazing experience, especially when we turned around to check out the Manhattan skyline which receded into the distance with each step we took towards Brooklyn. We bought ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory (the boyfriend and I had Vanilla and Chocolate Chunk) which turned out to be not that great an idea because it was positively freezing by then. The sun was beginning to set and we braved the cold to Brooklyn Bridge Park to watch the sun setting beside the Manhattan skyline. My hands were trembling so badly that many of my pictures were out of focus. When we were too cold to think, we stumbled to Luke's Lobster and bought a lobster roll to share! The lobster roll was so delicious! It was so good that Zg and I had another one on our last day. 

Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory: The Corners of Old Fulton and Water Street Brooklyn, New York 11201

Luke's Lobster: 11 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, United States

It was getting dark and the streets emptied out. We went on to the DUMBO area and found Washington Street where we captured the picture below. Empire State building in the arch of the Manhattan Bridge. The good thing about empty streets is that you can plant yourself right in the middle and take a picture without being cursed at. 

A light snow drifted down and the temperature dropped steadily. All of us were shivering madly by then and when we could not stand being outdoors any longer, we ran into Shake Shack and ordered some yummy burgers! If you can only have one cheat day in New York, devote your cheat day to Shake Shack. It is definitely worth it. I had the Shrooms Burger (crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheeses, topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce) with cheese fries and was so awed by them! I have no idea how they managed to fry the portobello mushroom to perfection yet sealing the juice within. How did that happen?! Must be magic. Stef, King and Zg had variation of their beef burgers and said their burgers were good too!

1 Old Fulton St Brooklyn, NY 11201

We stumbled out of Shake Shack when we were ready to brave the cold and willed ourselves to battle the strong wind and snow to the subway station. I was never that happy to see a subway station before!

Read on about Day 1, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15!