Howells.

A few people have asked me where I enjoy going in New York City, so it seems like a good idea to write them all down publicly. I’m also building up a list of other places I should visit on my next trip (in May), so please add any suggestions in the comments please. There are many, many more that I haven’t included here so I could go on, but the longer the list of recommendations, the less useful it becomes.

The Burger Joint — http://www.parkermeridien.com/eat4.php Creep into the corporate Parker Meridien restaurant and make a bee-line for the neon burger sign. This place looks like it has been lifted from somewhere many miles from the mid-town location it’s in, graffiti and atmosphere included. Astonishing burgers.

Saturdays NYC — http://www.saturdaysnyc.com/ Gear for the discerning surfing gentleman. A wonderful shop on Crosby and Grand, even if you just want to grab a coffee and sit in their back yard on a sunny day.

Kiosk — http://kioskkiosk.com/ Don’t be put off by the entrance looking like the route to a crack den: this store is full of lovely unusual objects.

9th Street Espresso — http://www.ninthstreetespresso.com/ (for example, in Chelsea Market) I keep returning to this coffee shop again and again. It feels special, especially amongst the hustle and bustle of Chelsea Market.

The Standard Hotel and Bar — http://www.standardhotels.com/new-york-city/ I don’t stay at hotels much when I’m in New York, but when I have this is easily the best, with magnificent views of the High Line below. Make a trip to the Standard Bar: go early to avoid the ponces, and make sure you pay a visit to the toilets. You’ll understand why.

The Standard Grill is also pretty special.

Death & Company — http://deathandcompany.com/ Possibly my favourite bar of the “faux prohibition” genre that seems to have spread like a weed. Solid drinks, nice atmosphere and friendly staff. No reservations: just turn up, get your name on the list and wander off to kill time in any of the other local bars.

Monofuku — http://www.momofuku.com/new-york-city/ Momofuku Ko and Momofuku Noodle Bar are very different, and I’ve only been to the latter, and dying to try the former. Pork buns in the Noodle Bar are astonishing.

The Clover Club — http://www.cloverclubny.com/ A dimly lit jazz bar on Smith Street in Brooklyn. Feels way more friendly and authentic than many bars of the same type in Manhattan.

DUMBO Plenty to see and do, and seems to be sprouting new places every time I visit.

Freemans — http://freemansrestaurant.com/ Everything on the menu is delicious (especially the artichoke dip appetizer), and the atmosphere is fun. It’s like dining in your eccentric grandfather’s hunting lodge. You should also check out Peels nearby, which is part of the Freemans group, and serves probably the best burger I have had in the city.

Please Don’t Tell — http://pdtnyc.com/ This was a fun place to visit, until last time I saw a giant queue lead out from it, meaning many hours of waiting. I don’t think waiting is worth it, but if you get a reservation it’s a fun place to check out.

Sleep No More — http://sleepnomorenyc.com/ The now infamous Punchdrunk production of Macbeth (kind of) will be on for much longer, and it’s well worth checking out if you can get tickets. Make sure you hang around afterwards to enjoy the jazz in the “hotel” bar. I wrote about the show in an earlier post.

Pastis — http://www.pastisny.com/ Ignore the mainly pretentious guests and enjoy the food at this faux French bistro. The mac and cheese is particularly brilliant.

Brooklyn Heights The promenade commands the best views of Manhattan, and the community feels cozy and interesting.

MoMA Design Shop in SoHo — http://momastore.org/ I’m recommending this rather than MoMA itself because a) everyone knows MoMA, and b) MoMA itself is horribly, horribly busy all of the time making a visit there stressful and detracts from the point of a visit. The store in SoHo is rarely busy, yet sell a superb range of design items and books.

The Metropolitan Museum — http://www.metmuseum.org/ Another obvious choice but ignore the crowds, and make sure you go on a highlights guided tour to discover parts of the ginormous collection you would have missed anyway. My favourite parts are the historic American interiors and the Japanese garden.

The Strand — http://www.strandbooks.com/ Miles of books, new and second hand.

High Line — http://www.thehighline.org/ Especially with the new phase two extension, this is the greatest attraction in Manhattan, in my opinion.

Eataly — http://eatalyny.com/ An incredible concept: a ginormous Italian grocery store, with different restaurants and bars peppered throughout. Lovely food and atmosphere.

Milk & Honey — http://www.mlkhny.com/newyork/ A little tricky to get in since you either have to be a member, or be referred by another barman, but worth a try.

Brooklyn Museum — http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/ You can probably tell I hate busy museums and galleries, but this is a wonderful escape from the rest of them. Interesting collections in a great building. It’s also worth checking out the Botanical Gardens next door.

MoMA PS1 — http://momaps1.org/ Over in Queens, a stunning contemporary art museum housed in a old public school.

La Colombe — http://lacolombe.com/pages/cafes I’ve been to all the cafes and they are amazing.

The Naguchi Museum and Sculpture Park — http://www.noguchi.org/ An out-of-the-way museum in Long Island City, but well worth the trip if you have the time to spend. A wonderful collection of Naguchi’s work, housed in a contemporary concrete building, with a small garden.

Katz — http://katzsdelicatessen.com/ This place should be a tourist hell-hole but thankfully isn’t. The most wonderful pastrami sandwiches I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t even bother trying to find anywhere better.

Ace Hotel/Stumptown Coffee/No. 7 Sub/No. 8a/The Breslin — http://www.acehotel.com/newyork/ A visit to the Ace is like a one-stop-shop for sleeping, eating, shopping, and drinking, with the opening of a few new eateries and shops since I last visited. The hotel itself is superb, and the coffee from Stumptown even better. The sandwiches from No. 7 are incredible, and the things that 8a stock are interesting. The Breslin is a must for brunch: you should try their famous, very rare, lamb burger.

Bluebird — http://www.bluebirdcoffeeshop.com/ A tiny, very charming coffee shop serving delicious coffee and pastries.

Schiller’s — http://www.schillersny.com/ I’ve only been here once to eat and once for drinks. I don’t actually recall the food from the former visit (!) but everyone loves it so I assume it must be great. A very quintessential L.E.S. place, with decent wifi if you want to hang out there during the day.

Ground Support — http://www.groundsupportcafe.com/ There are surprisingly few premium coffee places in SoHo it seems, so if you get bored of Le Colombe, Ground Support is a good spot to check out.

Nom Wah Tea Parlor — http://nomwah.com/ It’s not a place you’d normally go into unprompted but the place services fabulous dim sum, at insanely low prices.

There are plenty of dive bars that I love too - the Botanica, Punch and Judy, Arrow Bar, Max Fish, Barramundi, etc. (all around SoHo/L.E.S.).

So that’s it for now. I’ll continually update this post as and when I find new places to check out.

• Never trust a barista who isn’t wearing a jaunty wooly hat. If they’re not wearing a hat, they’re an imposter, not a barista.
• You need to go to see Sleep No More at least three times. It’s a piece of theatre that just keeps on giving.
• Queens is going to be the new SoHo/Dumbo quicker than you think.
• Hanging out with Eli, Allan, Johnnie, Mark, and Cameron is the making of a very drunken but fun and interesting night.
• Traffic on Broadway always goes downtown. Know that and you’ll orientate yourself quickly.
• Studiomates is a wonderful place to be, and thank you to Tina for letting me be an impostor for a week. (I wrote more about them in a recent post.)
• I really like ramen now, after being quite unsure for a few years.
• Staying in an apartment is superior to staying in a hotel in New York. Especially if you are right in the middle of Chinatown/L.E.S. like I was.
• Art.sy is going to be huge. (Read more on a recent blog post.)
• Coursekit is going to be huge.
• For British designers/developers who might want to spend some time in New York, now is the time to explore the opportunity. Every. Single. Start-up. Is. Hiring.
• I’m excited to see the launch of Wander and it was good to meet Keenan Cummings.
• Hyperakt makes me warm and fuzzy inside every time I visit them.
• Yardbird can mean a mixture of chicken, turkey, and chopped cabbage.
• Twitter has exciting plans afoot. Yaron told me son.
• If you are ever asked if you want a “waterback” in a hipster bar, it just means, “water”.
• If you meet Frank Chimero, just ask him to talk about Jazz.

Thanks to everyone for making it another wonderful and insightful trip.

In preparation for an upcoming trip to New York City, I’m contemplating seeing Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More for the third time.

Like the memory of a strange dream I can’t quite shake off, the experience keeps coming back to me. There are bits I didn’t understand, bits I completely missed, and nuances I want to explore again. It’s like watching Mulholland Drive twelve times and still picking up new pieces of the puzzle.

The first time I went, I went alone and a bit drunk (I went immediately after the 99% Conference, not because I’m a lonesome alcoholic…). The second time I went with a friend and I was very drunk. Sleep No More is best experienced somewhere in between: shore yourself up with a few glasses of wine, and if you go with a friend, just arrange to meet at the bar afterwards: the experience is intense enough without having to maintain contact with anyone.

I was also told by my pal Burks that there are secret places in the environment only a few people have found, including an additional floor. That’s a compelling reason enough to pay another visit to The McKittrick Hotel…

☛

Whilst in Sweden for a few days this Christmas, Cecilia and I visited Copenhagen for the day. I hadn’t been to the city despite travelling through its airport many times before, so it was great to spend a few hours exploring it. Despite it being bitterly cold, I found the city vibrant and interesting, reminding me a lot of Amsterdam. We certainly didn’t have enough to do it justice – we only skimmed the surface in terms of places to see and visit – but here’s a very short run down of some must-visit places that we loved.

• Peder Oxe Graabroedretorv 11 – based on a recommendation for a place that might serve authentic open sandwiches and other Danish food, Cecilia was recommended this restaurant: an ancient, traditional restaurant in the heart of the city. It’s charming, and – dare I say it – felt authentically Danish in its design. We opted for the novel lunch menu rather than a la carte, which allowed you to choose three open sandwiches (for instance, I had wonderful smoked salmon, rare roast beef, and breaded plaice), all washed down with a bottle of Jacobsen and schnapps. http://www.pederoxe.dk/

• Ruby Nybrogade 10 – a lovely, cozy bar with hushed music and a terrific cocktail menu. In London or New York it’d be seen as a prohibition style bar given the relatively hidden location and moody lighting, but feels more comfortable and less scene-y. It is similar in style to Zetter Townhouse in London, but styled to feel more like your sensible grandfather’s living room, rather than that of your insane grandfather… http://rby.dk/

• Kødbyens Fiskebar Flæsketorvet 100 – the first thing that strikes you about this place is that it is in the heart of a fish and meat market. I have read that some compare the area to Meatpacking in New York, but they miss the point that this isn’t some gentrified district, it’s an actual working market. At night, the Fiskebar seems to be the only place open, and inside it is busy with a diverse crowd - from very casual, to very hipster. The food balances the fine line between chef-y and delicious, but was all superb. Brace yourself for some steep prices, but it’s well worth a visit. http://fiskebaren.dk/en/

Other places to see are Tage Andersen (Ny Adelgade 12), a quirky flower shop and museum, and while it’s like suggesting a trip to Apostrophe in London, a branch of Lagkagehuset is worth a look for the pastries and cakes. That said, there are hundreds of bakeries and coffee shops in the city, so you’ll struggle to go wrong in any. You’ll also find plenty of places to browse furniture and design, but a good bet is Illums Bolighus for contemporary furniture and homewares.