There was a time when I went to New York City atleast once a year. Bryan and I started the ritual back in college. My aunt had a small apartment in Manhattan, and she was kind enough to let us (poor college students) stay with her whenever we visited.
After graduation, since we lived in Boston, it was easy to visit regularly. We visited our relatives, sampled exciting food, and just enjoyed the city. For work I would attend the annual black tie Judge's Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria, which was always exciting.
I even went once to attend the Saveur Best Food Blog Awards ceremony, where I won Best Restaurant and Dining Coverage in 2012 (yes, a loooooong time ago).
Fun memories, such as meeting Eric Ripert from Le Bernardin, being introduced to a secret "speakeasy" bar, discovering the best fried chicken Bryan's ever had, and seeking after food trends like Dominique Ansel's CRONUT® (or better yet, the DKA), the best NYC bagel, Thanksgiving turkey at a 3 Michelin star restaurants, and more . . .
So imagine what it was like to suddenly stop going to New York when we moved to Hong Kong. Suddenly New York City was thousands of miles away, not just a quick trip from Boston. So you can see . . . the blog sort of went silent on New York after the Girls Trip I took in 2016.
Never would I have imagined that a global pandemic plus other reasons would prevent me from going back to New York City until almost a decade later.
I had seen Hudson Yards on my IG feed during the pandemic, so I told Bryan I really wanted to see that. It did not disappoint! The High Line has had many updates since 9 years ago, and I really really enjoyed exploring that whole area!
Of course we had to get bagels.
We tried Best Bagels and Liberty Bagels in Midtown, and both were excellent!
Bryan stopped by his favorite camera store, B&H for old times' sake.
After never being able to get a reservation at Brooklyn Fare back in the day, we finally got to taste Chef César Ramirez's food at his eponymous restaurant, César.
The food was exquisite.
I'll be adding to this New York City series to write in more detail about some of the places we visited. Enjoy! So excited to be back after 9 years!
