As you may know New York City is a giant place with a lot to offer. Located on the east coast of the United States of America with almost 8.5 million inhabitants there is always something to do.You will probably get hungry from all these amazing activities this city has to offer. That is why you will find my five favourite spots to grab a bite in the big apple right here.
This list is based on my personal experience from my trip to Brooklyn, New York City. While visiting this place during the spring of 2018 I tried to fill my stomach in as much various places as possible. There has only been one restaurant where I ate twice during this trip. And of course this one is on the list!
If you want to know which restaurant absolutely blew my mind away… you just have to keep reading!
Smorgasburg
This is the first one of my favourite places in the city that never sleeps to get food! Smorgasburg is known for being one of the largest open air markets in the USA. And…. Here comes the best part; it’s weekly!
I love to go here because you can literally try tomorrow’s next big food trend. How great is it to be able to taste all these new, different kinds of food?
ALSO this festival is at Prospect Park, so you’ll also have a great view and beautiful place to eat.
When we were at Smorgasburg it was a dry sunny day but not to warm which made it a perfect day for an open air market. We tried to stop at every vendor this “festival” had to offer. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do so because there were too many other visitors.
This might also be an interesting point in deciding whether you want to go here or not. Smorgasburg usually 20 to 30.000 people every weekend what often results in a very crowded place.
However, as I am not really a people person myself, I did decide to take a look here. Even though I wished there would be less human beings around me, I was never panicking. This was probably because we were in a park which gave me the feeling like I wasn’t stuck and could leave at any second.
Unfortunately because of the many things we wanted to see and to we weren’t able to go to Smorgasburg for a second time. Even though I would have loved to do so, as I was already curious about the newest food trends and about trying new foods.
I recommend everyone to go here at least once and experience this amazing festival for themselves.
Café Mogador
If you are a fan of the Moroccan kitchen then café Mogador is absolutely worth the visit. Mogador is located in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. At both locations you also got the option to pick up your food or have it delivered.
During my visit to New York City in 2018 I have been to both restaurants. Normally I would never eat at the same place twice during a trip, but Mogador was a different case. When visiting the Empire State Building, Central Park and the Statue of Liberty in Manhattan our cab driver actually recommended this place to us.
Because Manhattan is such a big suburb we decided to have lunch at Mogador in between our city sight-seeing activities.
As I have been to Morocco twice already I did not expect a restaurant outside this country to serve the same high quality Moroccan food. Especially not in a place on the other side of the ocean.
BUT IT WAS AMAZING. I shared the hummus platter with my mother, and it was absolutely delicious, like the way you would expect it to taste.
We really loved the food and the ambiance in general at this place.
Actually we liked it so much that after visiting Brooklyn we decided to have dinner at this same restaurant. Just as Mogador in Manhattan, the one in Brooklyn was also an amazing experience.
A personal tip from me and my family members is to try the Moroccan wines the chef recommends you with your food. They know which combinations are the best, so you won’t be disappointed. It gives you the ultimate Moroccan experience.
For the ones who do not like wine nor alcohol in general I highly recommend you try their home made tea. The sweet Moroccan style will absolutely blow your mind away.
Ugly baby
Thai food lovers THIS IS YOUR PLACE!
Ugly baby serves the absolute best Thai food, not only in Brooklyn, not even only in NYC, not even the state but probably in the whole damn country.
While you´re here you should definitely try the khao Soi or the stay-away spicy Udon Thani’s duck salad. Those are, in my opinion, the absolute best.
But I will warn you; this spicy food is very addictive. Once you have eaten here you will already want to make your next reservation.
I actually liked the food here so much that I can’t wait to go to Thailand one day to try more of this wonderful cuisine myself.
What I loved about the place itself where the colourful walls the restaurant had. In the picture below you can see that this gave the place a real trending vibe.
Shake shack
When thinking of typical American foods you will probably think; burgers, meatloaf and doughnuts. But also HOTDOGS!
Believe me when I tell you I found the greatest place to get hotdogs in Brooklyn down town.
Shake shack started as a single hotdog car in Madison Square Park in 2001. But because of the fast growing popularity it is now a whole restaurant chain in the city of New York.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of hotdogs and would normally just go for a burger. But when I saw the locals enjoying this sausage between two pieces of meat so much I had to give it a try.
It was the absolute best hotdog I ever had.
The best news for anyone who would love to try this piece of meat for themselves is that you don’t have to go all the way to NYC to get one. As currently Shake shack has restaurants in North America, Asia (including the Middle East) and Europe.
If you want to know in what Countries specifically Shake Shack is located, you should check this link. (https://www.shakeshack.com/locations/#international)
Bar Bruno
The last one on this list but absolutely not the least important is Bar Bruno. This Mexican restaurant is located in the neighbourhood Dumbo. No not like the movie, this abbreviation actually stands for; down under the Manhattan bridge overpass.
When we went to this place we decided to rent a bike (as the typical Dutch people that we are) and explore the neighbourhood for ourselves. We went shopping, had a coffee and went to the Brooklyn brewery. This was a fun but also educational experience, and I would definitely recommend you to visit this or another brewery when you are around Dumbo.
After our whole day of playing typical tourist we decided it was time to have dinner. TripAdvisor recommended us “Bar Bruno” so we decided to give it a shot.
Bar Bruno is a Mexican bistro where you can get brunch, lunch and dinner. Out of all the restaurants in this list, this one actually gave me the most relaxing ambiance. This eating place is inspired by European and Mexican cafeterias and bars of the 1960s which made this for me a real soul liberating place. You will see what I mean at the picture below.
Now, as you can see the furniture looks quite simple, but this is what makes this place so great. Because there is not much fuss at this place, and it’s not a fancy restaurant where everybody acts like they are God themselves but no one is actually feeling totally comfortable.
But the food, makes my mouth almost watering again while writing this blog. I had the shrimp taco, and it tasted amazing, the ingredients really made my taste buds have a little party.
As I already had a few beers since we visited the Brooklyn brewery I decided to stay in this line. Therefore, I decided to also have beer with my taco. Only this time it wasn’t a local Brooklyn beer but a Mexican one, called “Dos Equis”. This is a lager beer and tasted great in combination with my dinner.
Long story short; Bar Bruno is a great place with a great vibe, with great food and great drinks.
Thank you very much for reading this article, I hope it gave you some new eating ideas in this great place in New York. Obviously all these places where a personal experience and will probably be different for anybody else who visits them. But aside from this fact I hope they bring you as much joy and pleasure as they gave me!
If you are planning to have a drink or 2 just like we did, you should read THIS ARTICLE. It’s about the Bars in Brooklyn whom you can absolutely not avoid while you’re in town.
Also interested in the bars of Brooklyn?
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