The Loeb Boathouse - Central Park

The Loeb Boathouse is without a doubt one of the most famous icons of Central Park. The first boathouse was built in 1874, that one neglected and torn down eventually in 1950. The iconic Loeb Boathouse was built in 1954 and financed by Carl Loeb, the filantrhopist. Now it's both a place to rent rowing boats, as well as a place to have a snack, drink on the terrace, not to forget the full on restaurant experience. The restaurant has been used in several movies; When Harry met Sally, and more recently in the romantic comedy 27 dresses amongst others.

Of course my experience of the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park couldn't have started better. As me and my friend were walking up to grab lunch on a regular Wednesday we saw two people rowing on the lake outside the restaurant. As we looked closer we realized that the rowing had stopped, and we were witnessing a proposal. I had thought getting proposed to on a rowing boat in Central Park only happened in movies, but it most definitely lifted our spirit to realize romance is not dead!

We had not made any reservations, which even in the middle of the week is a bad decision. Fortunately there's a little patio/terrace where you can sit and enjoy some sparkling wine in the sun while waiting. I believe we waited something like 45min, which ususally is a lot for lunch, yet somehow sitting in a park surrounded by people, drinking sparkling wine, taking in sun, time just flew by...

The staff was super friendly and there really is no "bad" seat in the restaurant. Of course you're more lucky if you get to sit right by the water, but all tables are facing that direction so you are guaranteed a great view. We had decided to go all in this lunch, so for starter I had the Ahi Tuna tartar. Tuna tartar is one fo those things I love riddiculously much. I especially enjoyed this one, because it came with a crisp that cut the soft texture of the tuna.

As my main course, I had the whitefish crusted with pistacchio, served with fresh cucumber and a youghurt dressing. Because of the texture of whitefish I was in love with the idea to serve it with a pistacchio crust, not just for the taste, but to once again to break the softness. Then using yoghurt as a base for the dressing was brilliant, because it didn't add fat to the dish, instead it became an incredibly fresh experience. I have critiziced Muru for their whitefish. Ultimately it's personal taste, I just enjoyed this way better.

This might sound strange, but as much as I love to bake, I'm not a huge sweet thooth myself. For me the perfect finish to a perfect meal, is with a perfectly made cappucino. That was the end of this lunch as well.

All in all, probably the most expensive lunch I've had (around $100 including wine). Then again why always go all in on dinner? Of course a boathouse experience need not be this expensive, however I would almost recommend it for lunch - a long lunch so you can enjoy the view and the ambiance.

Morimoto

Another New York City restaurant week favorite is Morimoto. This restaurant is owned and run by renowned Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, and located in the trendy Meatpacking District on 10th avenue. Morimoto has a modern take on Japanese food and Sushi.

For restaurant week, Morimoto served a wonderful tasting menu. Texture, color and taste all matching perfectly. Perhaps some might think that raw fish is the easiest to make, you don't even have to cook it. Oh how wrong that is. This fish, as fresh as you can get, is by texture so soft it almost melts in your mouth.

I love sushi, and good sushi can be hard to find. Whenever in NYC I go to Morimoto, it's the place to go. As a tip, use the ladies room, you're in for a surprise ;)

Rooftop Lounges in NYC

One of the greatest things about New York in the summer, are rooftop lounges. The view is spectacular and the drinks even better. Unfortunately drinks at rooftop lounges are expensive, and sitting and sipping on the perfect mojito can easily add up to $70. Of course, it's always worth it, and if you're on a tighter budget, have just one drink.

The Empire hotel - rooftop bar and lounge
The empire hotel is famous as a hangout place in gossip girls. Most places that have become famous through tv series, aren't all that. But the empire rooftop is.

Located on the twelfth floor, on the upper west side, this rooftop gives an amazing view facing the sunset. During summertime, there's live jazz music every Monday. This is a very simple reason for it being my favorite rooftop bar. Also, the prices aren't that expensive and the drinks are beyond amazing!

The snack menu is fairly priced at around $14, their guacamole and shrimp Cesar salad are both very good. My favorite drink for the summer was a strawberry daiquiri style drink with chili making it fairly spicy. Oh if I could remember the name of it..  No matter, which ever drink you chose to try will not leave you disappointed.

Be careful though, drinks are pretty strong but they don't taste like it. In the heat is easy to not realize you've had a few.

The Dream Hotel - PH-D rooftop bar

Located in Chelsea, this is probably the rooftop bar with the best view. They know it though, and you'll feel it in their drink prices. Here I spent one of those "let's go out for one" with my friends, that turned into so many  I wondered how to make rent the next morning. Here they have the best ice tea drink I've ever had, the DD-tea. My other favorite is the ginger tower.

In the same building, you'll find "the beach". A few stories down and it's as the name implies a beach like bar. A place to hang out by the pool, have brunch, lunch, or drinks.







Hotel Giraffe - The Rooftop Garden
The rooftop garden doesn't have an impressive view, it's nice, but it's not the reason for being one of my favorite rooftop bars. The ambiance here is amazing, it's a fairly small place with no fuss. A great way to start off the evening. Plus, the white sangria here is incredible.

White Sangria

The view

Spice Market

Passionfruit Sorbet

One of my friends from Helsinki was in NYC at the same time with me, studying at Parsons School of Design for the summer. We met up at Chelsea Market to grab some lunch, and decided to head over to Spice Market located in the Meatpacking district.

Lamb Vindaloo

One of the best times to visit NYC is in August, why? Not the heat, but because it's restaurant week! That, and also summer clothing sales begin. Restaurant week means that most places have lunch menues for $25 and dinner menus for $35.So we jumped at the opportunity to eat a menu at Spice Market.

I love eating out with my friends, becaus we share the same passion for food. This means that we often get different menus and share everything together. I'm a sucker for spicy food, so I love the Lamb Vindaloo.

Cheescake

Chocolate Covered Watermelon

The food and the atmosphere is amazing at Spice Market, be prepared to stand some hot food. If you don't like heat, say so. When it's not restaurant week, Spice Market is pricy. However it is worth every dollar. I could go again and again.

Our dinner ended perfectly. My friend got a call that her brother just got engaged, now that's something to celebrate. A glass of Champagne spices up any lunch!

Beauty & Essex

Goodbye meatpacking district, hello lower east side. To some extent still bad areas, cheap real estate and chinese signs but now also filled with amazing restaurants and a vibrant bar life. This is also the location of Beauty & Essex The owner is the same as Stanton Social, and like Stanton Social Beauty & Essex is trendy, classy, elegant and combines wonderful food with well made coctails.

Two stunning observations off hand. The entrance does not look like a restaurant, because it isn't.
Beauty & Essex is a pawn shop. Wonderful if you feel like shopping and eating at the same time. Behind the pawn shop doors, the actual restaurant opens up.

The food is tapas style, and with a big group of people it was an excellent opportunity to try almost the entier menu out. Everything from fried oysters, to dumplings. My two especial favorites, which will forever stay in my mind were  the Oven Braised Chicken Meatballs, topped with

sheeps milk ricotta, wild mushrooms, and truffle oil. This is a recipe I will try to recreate some time.

The other absolute favorite was the roasted bone marrow with a rioja based shallot marmalade, and parsley. The idea is to spread the bone marrow on to the crostini and enjoy. Incredible.

Prices are acceptable, here is the benefit of paying for what you order. More tapas more dollars, the budget is up to you. For a NYC restaurant, it isn't that expensive.

To finish the night off, us girls went to the ladies room, to powder our noses and get ready for some clubbing. To our wonderful surprise, pink champagen was served there. Yes, in the ladies room. No better way to start off the night.

Tacombi

One beautiful summer day in NYC my friend from Stockholm came to visit. In Soho she felt like having fish tacos, and knew just the place. Just that place happened to not exist anymore. Wandering the streets of Soho, we asked some local bartenders where to get good fish tacos. They told us the place to go is Tacombi. Difficult to find, and only locals know about it. Sounded perfect.

The place was difficult to find, it is litterary a hole in the white wall on Elisabeth street as you approach the corner of Houston. Easy to miss. Technically it's not Soho, it's Nolita, but same general area.

The most stunnig feature of the place is that inside the restaurant there's a old Wolksvagen van. This van is used as the Taco kitchen.

This place has the best home made chips, and home made guacamole I have ever tasted. No doubt about it. The tacos are fairly small, so I would order two for lunch, three for dinner. Also the great thing about this place, is all tacos, and chips are 100% corn. That means gluten free!  Depending on the server, they recommend different tacos. My favorite was by far the Veracruzana fish taco, and Shrimp a la diabla.

Another seriously cool thing about this place, is that there is no coca cola, sprite, or any other non-mexican soda. The guys here make their own Horchata and Aqua de Dìa daily. I fell in love with their Horchata. I also fell in love with the servers, the owner, everyone and everything about this place, including the food. It became my go-to place.

Prices are low, any lunch will be around $10. Taco's are $3-$4 each, sodas $1,5. The good thing about this place is you set your own price range. If you have more tacos, it's more expensive. You can just have a snack for $4 if you like.