Jean-Georges

Shake Shack, Upper West Side

Located at the corner of the American Natural History Museum, this Shake shack is very accessible. It's also near central park, so in the summer you can ditch the indoor seating and grab some food for a picnic in the park. 

They have the Natural History Crunch-stellation concrete (ice cream) at this branch 

Located at Columbus & West 77th

Express Line

They're clear about what's served in the queue what isn't. This is great if you're just there to grab a drink or an ice cream; you wouldn't need to join the long queue for hot food.

Shake Shack Menu & Prices

If you ask me, I think shake shack is quite expensive. Its pricey considering the size of the meal. For about the same price, you can get five guys (post here and here) which has much bigger burgers. But of course, Five guys originated in Virginia and Shake Shack from New York City; so when in New York, have Shake Shack!

Frozen Custard - Coffee

Shack-cago Dog

Smoked Shack Burger

Tuck In!

New York City Central Park

If you're in New York City you've just gotta visit central park regardless of the season. This post covers some things you can do around Central Park :)

Central Park 77 - 84th Street.

1. Go on a picnic!

Its summer! The best way to celebrate that is to grab some food and head to the green lungs of the city, Central Park! My apartment was 3 streets away from the park so I went picnicking not once but twice!

Sunlights so great here! And I finally get to wear my halter neck polo ralph top that my mum got more than 10 years back. Its summer all year around in Singapore, and the radio station said temperature might go to a high of 40deg today! But I never get to wear this cos' anything that's not a tee shirt is seen as skimpy, or perhaps I'm just too self conscious to wear this out - asian girls are thin!

Nothing fancy, just some bread, some butterhead lettuce, some mustard, tomato and a hard-boiled (or supposed hard-boiled) egg.

Table under the shade near the Great Lawn

In the early summer, temperatures can dip to 12 degs suddenly and this is especially possible the day after a heavy rain. Been having crazy temperature fluctuation, hence I appreciated a picnic much more! The sun was greatly missed :)

Sandwich with Pastrami from Katz's

No pictures of Katz's but this the restaurant, located in lower east side. This deli was established in 1888 and the pastrami here is fantastic! The man behind the counter gave us a really huge slice of pastrami even after we'd bought some to go. :) Smokey, salty, moist, tender, its everything you'd want in a smoked meat! Haven't had better pastrami. I think its even more juicy than the one I had in schwartz's in montreal (Read about that here)! Of course its not fair to make a comparison like that, so try both out yourself! Montreal is a mere 1.5 Hr flight (of 10 Hr train - Amtrak) out of New York City :)

2. Listen to a busker :)

What's better than a picnic? A picnic with music of course! Totally serenaded by this busker who brought us popular musical theme songs.

3. Visit the Belvedere Castle

Mini Castle :)

The mini castle is the official location for the weather station in Central Park! They've info boards telling you about the biodiversity of the park. And if that doesn't interest you, perhaps this view would! Great photo op :)

View from the Belvedere Castle

Playing with my miniature mode - Broccoli 

Check out the people frolicking on the green, its a lovely cool summer day!

4. Visit the Natural History Museum

Check out the map on top, the natural history museum is located on the west of the park entrance between 77th and 81st Street and Central Park West. I did a post on this on my previous trip there, do check it out here!

Stegosaurus!

5. Grab Shake Shack!

Post here.

6. Watch a play at the Delacorte Theatre!

What? This is the 53rd year that Shakespeare in the park is running! Every year, Shakespeare's plays are performed here. 

Cost? Thanks to the Bank of America, we get to watch these productions absolutely free! Nothing ever comes completely free, so you have to queue for tickets in the morning or join the last-min queue in the late afternoon at about 4pm. There is no guarantee you can get tickets so if you're really keen on watching a play, I suggest you head down in the morning. 

One saturday morning, I entered the park and saw a queue around 92nd street. Puzzled, I asked what was on and was told its Shakespeare in the park! Means the queue spanned almost 10 streets because the box office is on 83rd. 

This year's schedule is here. 

I was really lazy to get up early to queue for tickets. It had been raining for 2 days straight now, so I didn't have high hopes that the show was gonna go on. But anyway, I eventually did join the queue at 11:50am (considered very late cos people start queueing at 8 or something - that's what I heard). 

Standing in line

When it reached me, they asked how many tickets I needed, and I only took enough. But that gave me the impression that you can actually ask for more, then pass them to your friends. o.o I don't know , if you're planning to queue for like 10 people then you should call the event organiser to check.

Was really happy when I got my tickets! But when I got there I realise I had gotten tickets for the highest row :( I guess, the early bird catches the worm! I woke late so there isn't much I can complain about. It really isn't that far from the stage but it was totally miserable at the top where its windy after the sun set and the temperature dropped to 11deg and I wasn't warmly dressed. 

W seats are the top row seats!

I watched The Tempest and Jesse Tyler Ferguson played Trinculo! Its Mitchell Mitchell from Modern Family! :O So cool I kinda got to see a Hollywood actor in real life :)

Cotton Candy Sky :)

This beautiful sky is filled with planes taking off and landing at the nearby La Guardia airport and people on the helicopter tours. 

Was in Central Park in the winter and the atmosphere is very different. In winter, people are balled up in heavy coats, some bury their faces in their scarves. Others enjoy a romantic stroll under the sparse trees which have started collecting snow. In summer, birds sing, ducklings follow their mum across the lake. Dads play baseball with their kids, mums are sitting under a huge shady tree with all the food she's prepared, watching them play. 

Summer, oh dreamy summer.  

Winter before the snow

Ending my post with a photo of Central Park in winter :)  Till later!

Momofuku Má Pêche

Yet another one of David Chang's restaurants, Momofuku Má Pêche. Má Pêche is quite different from Ssäm in terms of the type of food served and the ambience of the restaurant. 

When you first enter Má Pêche, you'll be greeted by the smell of coffee and a line of people buying their famous cookies. Then you'll be led downstairs to a seating area with a high ceiling. Its comfortable and bright :) Ssäm on the other hand, was rather tight and the ceiling was low, lighting was dim as well. But it may well be so, since Ssäm does more meaty-roasts than Má Pêche. Am thinking, Má Pêche's food seems to have more southern influence.  

The similarity of these two momofuku restaurants lies in that they serve fusion korean food. 

Wellfleet Oysters - Cape Cod, Ma 21 USD

So this time I was back, there were quite drastic changes to the menu. New items were added, some good dishes previously were removed and the worse of it all, they have decided to go "Dimsum Style".

The idea is great, having a dimsum cart pushed to people's table so they can select, a really simple way of ordering (note their menu has no pictures.) BUT BUT BUT. I didn't feel like I had eaten alot and the bill came up to $300+. It seems like what might have happened was, the portions went down but the prices didn't go down proportionately. 

$300+ for 8 people, we had:

Cod Fritters, Broccoli Salad, Lobster Rice, Country Fried Chicken (x2), Habanero Fried Chicken, Oysters, Soft Shell Crab Buns, Drinks for 5, Cereal Milk, 2 other desserts. 

Okay that seems like quite alot but they all came in small portions. To put it into better perspective, we spent $225+ at Ssäm for an entire pork shoulder and had extra to go. Check out Ssäm in my previous post.

So anyway, here are some photos from the meal. 

Soft shell crab buns - ginger scallion mayo, calabrian chili, cilantro 18USD 

Fried Chicken - Habanero 14 USD

Fried Chicken Country- Lime & Pepper 14 USD

See my older post on Má Pêche to compare the huge size difference of the servings now. 

Má Pêche

15 W 56th St, New York, NY 10019, United States

Check out their menu here.

Chipotle Mexican Grill

So, the main reason I came to NYC again this time was because the sister was graduating from the School of International & Public Affairs at ColumbiaU. American Universities do graduation so different from Singapore Universities. It was such a grand affair held at the South Lawn in front of the Alma Mater Statue affectionally referred to as 'Alma'.  

Singapore had this service by the Coca Cola company to customize your name for every $10 of coke bought. And so, got this for my coke-addict sis' grad. :) Way cool! 

We got there at 8 in the morning to get the best seats in the house. And the entire ceremony went on till 1pm or somthing, I remember it was very late and I was cold but sunburnt and really hungry. Once inside, security didn't allow us to exit the campus to get food and even flowers which was annoying, but oh well. Now you know. If you're going for a Columbia commencement grab food and flowers before heading in. 

Finally the ceremony ended and it was too late to make reservation for lunch and head downtown so we settled for Chipotle, thanks to the very resourceful cousin. 

Chicken Burrito with brown rice, black beans, sour cream and guacamole

Prior to eating Chipotle, I had never noticed it around. But after this meal, I saw it all over NYC! Its an easy place to grab a bite when desperate haha. They have a phone app as well, allowing you to order food online and simply pop by a convenient store to collect the food. :) Thankfully we had the app else we'd be even more hungry and cranky by the time we waited for the food. 

It's so easy to get mexican food here in the US. And its so nice and not overly pricey :) I really like that :) The burrito had everything you'd have on a plate all packed into one. Oh but don't get those corn chips or whatever they are, they were cold and hard (hard, not crisp. hard.) Anyway, it was an easy process ordering from Chipotle and the collection was a breeze too, really appreciate that our huge order wasn't messed up. 

My family and extended family were planning for a picnic but the weather was too cold for a meal outdoors. We had a picnic though, an unplanned one, indoors haha. This is great picnic food in my opinion!