Farga

Icecream Spanish style.

Signs

New job and birthday required a proper celebration. In Denmark.

Misato

Misato is an amazing little Japanese restaurant in Chinatown, serving big plates of chicken katsu and a selection of bento boxes. This one, including 8 pieces of salmon sashimi, 2 rolls, 2 warm pork dumplings, fried chicken, seaweed salad and rice was only £8.50. Throw in some warm sake to share and you can eat your fill (or more than) for a tenner. It's usually packed and staff are run off their feet, but it's worth joining the queue for one of the best lunches in central London.

Borough Market

Nothing like a Saturday afternoon at Borough Market; sampling bread and truffle oil, cured salmon, and about 30 different cheeses. Dinner sorted!

Brunch @ Anna Blume

This time last weekend, we were having brunch at Anna Blume in P-Berg. It's a very cute florist/cafe that is heaving with local families and couples. We each ordered a breakfast platter which contained 2 choices of sliced meats, 3 cheeses and a selection of finely prepared fresh fruit. Mine also came with a delicious wasabi jam that was a perfect complement to the soft cheeses. In our bread basket, there was enough bread for twice the size of our group - my favourite was the pumpkin seed roll.

After a couple of hours strolling and checking out second hand shops, we were ready for a 'hot' hot chocolate (fortified with a shot of whiskey) and a small sliver of belle helene tart.

Sunday markets

The best hot pork roast with crackling, rocket and warmed apple sauce from the Hog Roast stand at Clapham food markets. This was followed by a huge raspberry jam-filled lamington from a French baker. Demolished sans picture.

Brunch

Weekend papers + homemade bacon/egg muffins.

Katz's Deli

Katz's pastrami on rye is a thing of beauty. At $14 it's not the cheapest sandwich in the city but my, that is a lot of meat for one sandwich. Warm and tender and with a peppery crust, it sets the standard on how pastrami should be made and served. The accompanying vanilla egg cream was too sweet for my taste (too much syrup) but that's a minor point when the meat is this good.

Even pre-midday the place is full and by the time we left, there was a queue out the door for lunch. I could make a few 'I'll have what she's having' references but since Katz's was opened for almost 100 years before that film, it's totally necessary.

El Aguila

It's somewhat of an embarrassment that after nearly a dozen trips to NYC, I had never visited Harlem. So this time around, we corrected this by making two trips, mainly to get the best red velvet cake ever and sample the tacos at El Aguila.

Located right by the 6 subway at 116th Street, this place is a local delight serving fresh tacos, burritos, bakery products and home-made drinks. We had the steak and chorizo tacos, made fresh while we waited. The meat was tender and each taco was served with a generous topping of onion and coriander (and big chunks of lime). One of the best budget meals in the city.

The Meatball Shop

After a visit to the New Museum (great building, shame about the exhibitions), we were well placed to have lunch a few minutes walk away at The Meatball Shop. We'd been hearing a lot about this place as it's been getting excellent press coverage in the last few months.

The menu is simple: choose the type of meat, the sauce, the type of bread and any side dishes by ticking the relevant boxes on the laminated menu. I chose a couple of sliders (pork and beef) with spicy sauce and a side of steamed spinach. The meat was juicy and perfectly cooked. The boy chose the same but added the special which was a sublime lamb with tandoori sauce, yoghurt and coriander. Miss F ordered the risotto for her side but it was overly salted. More PBR please!

We left some room for their homemade ice cream sandwiches: a choice of 5 biscuits with 5 ice creams. We sample the coconut and vanilla, ginger snap and espresso, and peanut butter and vanilla. Being a hot 30+ degrees outside, this went down a treat. We could have lingered all afternoon but the East Village thrift and record stores were beckoning.

Junior's

Strong black coffee. Plain baked cheesecake: the original; rich, not overly sweet with a buttery crumb base. Sometimes that's all you need.

Burger Joint

It's been a couple of years between visits to the Burger Joint and I was relieved to see that it was exactly as I remembered...the best burger ever. So good we visited twice in a week. Join that lobby queue now.

Momofuku

Yes, the whole no-reservation, add-your-name-to-the-list-and-wait is a bit of a pain but I'm certain it's a ploy to make the food taste even better. This was only my second visit to the Momofuku noodle bar in the East Village and being very hungover (from a night on the town with Miss Catherine) I was in the mood for pork, namely the sweet pork buns and pork ramen.

Our group of four was seated in the bar area right near the open kitchen and it was a delight to watch the chefs at work at their individual stations. Considering it's always busy, the service was exceptional and we had our starters on the table within ten minutes of placing our order. The pork buns were a twist on the classic dim sum favourite, using two slabs of pork belly served on a sweet flatbread. The ramen used the same cut of pork belly with additional pulled pork, braised mushrooms, a lightly poached egg and fresh noodles with just the right amount of bite. I left feeling restored from the nourishing broth and ready for another night out.

One Fish Two Fish

I've never really eaten much lobster, mainly because of the extortionate price in the UK. So when we were presented with the option of a $22 lobster feast involving a 1.5 pound(!) lobster, coleslaw, sweetcorn, green salad and garlic bread, it would have been rude to say no.

I don't know how One Fish Two Fish can serve this much quality food for the price but judging by the queue (even post-11pm) it's a firm favourite on the Upper East Side. They also have a substantial cocktail list and desserts from a number of well-known local bakeries, including a spectacular red velvet cake from Make my Cake in Harlem.

Good enough to eat

One of my favourite new discoveries on this trip was a brunch place called Good Enough to Eat, located on the Upper West Side, another part of Manhattan where I had spent little time exploring. We visited twice on this trip, both times waiting in a pretty substantial queue to get in. After talking to a few locals in the queue, it's always that busy on the weekend.

We were rewarded with friendly service and generous dishes that were quick to arrive. The pancakes were out of this world - made with fresh fruit (strawberry, banana and pumpkin and pear). I'm also a convert to the homemade strawberry butter.