• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • About
  • Shop
  • Contact
cook with dana

Cook With Dana

Best Places to Eat In New York

March 25, 2022


Theo and I in Brooklyn ◡̈

I was lucky to live in New York for 2 months last summer (July 2021). We had many adventures and scoured the city to find the best eats. We even did a sandwich tour with this funny and knowledgable guide through East Village who still brings up the question, ‘Is a hot dog, a sandwich?’ We learned some history of the area and had one of the best sandwiches of my life. I’ll mention it below 😉

Since New York is so large and delicious foods can be found anywhere from Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. It’s really hard to choose a select few. You may wonder how I know where to find the best food. Well, I have some native NY foodie friends (that I highly trust) that give AH-MAZING recommendations. In order to get the best restaurant recommendations, Theo and I always pop this question: “where would you go for breakfast, lunch and dinner if your best friend was in town for one day?’ Its hard for them to narrow it down, but it gives us good idea what we NEED to try in New York.

If you go to at least one of the restaurants I mentioned below, I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed. I also added my favorite dishes to get at each location. I don’t want you to order the wrong thing and have an underwhelming experience ◡̈

I organized the recommendations by breakfast, lunch and dinner. Keep in mind that breakfast is not one of my favorite meals so the selection is quite limited. Unpopular opinion, I think breakfasts with eggs (omelettes and scrambled eggs) is too expensive for what you get.

BREAKFAST

  • Mei Lai Wah – chinese food –
    • Order: BBQ pork buns
  • Devoción – coffee shop –
    • Order: coffee and pastries
Arabica Coffee Shop
  • % Arabica – aesthetic coffee shop –
    • Order: spanish latte (if you like your coffee on the sweeter side!)

LUNCH

  • May Wah Fast Food – taiwanese food – The dishes are super affordable and delicious meal in chinatown! –
    • Order: Chicken leg or pork chop over rice (both options are delicious!)
  • Jamrock Jerk – jamaican food – The food is sold in a cute cart outside Brooklyn. You can smell it blocks away! –
    • Order: Oxtail and Jerk Chicken with rice combo. The rice and meat packs in so much flavor!
Joe’s Pizza: White Pie
  • Joe’s Pizza – NY style pizza! –
    • Order: classic pepperoni and white with spinach
Foxface: Smoking Fox Sandwich
  • Foxface – gourmet sandwiches with unexpected combinations –
    • Order: smoking fox sandwich – perfectly toasted bread with smoked beef and some cole slaw to balance the heaviness

DINNER

Take 31: Bossam (Braised Pork Belly)
  • Take 31 – modern korean food –
    • Order: braised pork belly (so tender and flavorful!) and they have complementary tteukbokki!
Forma Pasta Factory: Mafaldine Scampi
  • Forma Pasta Factory – italian food – homemade pasta at affordable prices –
    • Order: all the pastas here are so delicious! My favorite is Mafaldine Scampi because it has nice little kick and flavorful breadcrumbs on top of the pasta. Side note: This is Theo’s favorite italian restaurant EVER! It has great prices and yummy pastas, so its fits all his requirements 😀
Fish Cheeks: Oysters (they are $1 each during happy hour!!)
  • Fish Cheeks – not your usual thai food (no pad thai!) – very spicy and they don’t allow alternations to the spice –
    • Order: Oysters! I’m usually not a fan of oysters but I love the oysters here (so fresh and they are on the smaller side)! Its served with shallots and a thai spicy sauce. Also order tiger prawn karee, crab fried rice, and zabb wings! If you are good with spice, the crab curry is amazing (but I warned you, its very spicy!).
Beat Mazesoba: beat mazemen
  • Beat Mazesoba – japanese mazemen –
    • Order: beat mazemen. The noodles are mixed with a savory sauce and the onsen egg tops it off! Super flavorful and not your traditional broth ramen.
Nami Nori: XO Scallop, Uni, Avocado, Everything Salmon, Lobster Tempura
  • Nami Nori – modern japanese (sushi tacos) –
    • Order: traditional set for your first time to try everything! If you want to create your own set, my favorite ones are: lobster tempura, XO scallop, spicy sea bass, tuna poke, toro scallion.

DESSERT

Kitsby: Yuzu Cheesecake
  • Kitsby – asian desserts –
    • Order: Thai Tea Lava Cake (other lava cakes flavor sounds delicious too!), Yuzu Cheesecake
  • Mochii – homemade mochi –
    • order: mochi ice cream and mochi daifuku (all flavors are good!!!)
Jell & Chill: Grapefruit Drink
  • Jell and Chill – asian drinks (fruit and vegan jelly) –
    • Order: flavors change depending on season! I had the grapefruit one and it was amazing. Hope you can try that one 😉

in Travel # best places to eat, must eats, new york

Reader Interactions

you may also like
Must Get Items at Korean Grocery Stores (H-Mart)
Must-Try Asian Restaurants in LA
Delicious Food Tour in New York City
A day of exploring (& eating) in Brooklyn, NY.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

About Me

Hi there, I'm Dana and I create Asian recipes that are yummy and easy for everyone to make! I hope my food reminds you of a little taste of home.

Sign up to receive the latest asian recipe!

Top hits!

Featured

udon noodles with spicy sauce, green onions, fried egg on top in bright light

Kimchi Udon (15 Minutes Meal)

Latest ‘Grams

Me visiting New York 5 years ago vs. this past sum Me visiting New York 5 years ago vs. this past summer! So much has changed since then. I went to NY when I just graduated college and was introduced to the food scene for the first time ever thanks to my dear friend, Tina (hi girl!). Then, I went back this past summer and fell in love again with the food. I think New York does a modern take of asian food very well (doesn’t compromise the original flavors). Don’t get me wrong, there’s very tasty authentic food for really cheap too! One of my favorites is May Wah Fast Food in Chinatown where they serve delicious Taiwanese chicken rice for $6.50!

Check out my new blog post of the best places to eat in NY (in my opinion of course!!) [https://cookwithdana.com/best-places-to-eat-in-new-york/]

If you’re local to NY/visiting and tried one of the restaurants, send me a photo! I love to see and live vicariously through u.

---

#newyorkfood #bestplacestoeat #restaurants #asianfood #delicious
We stayed in for Valentines Day to enjoy a Thai-In We stayed in for Valentines Day to enjoy a Thai-Inspired Dinner! We ate basil pork belly, braised soy sauce eggs, taro & pork belly (made by my dad!), shrimp toast, pork chops, and mango sticky rice for dessert. I made the dessert with my boyfriend, Theo and it took 10 minutes! We used @eatinnovasian Sticky White Rice mixed with sweetened coconut milk. Then, placed ripe yellow mango on top for a delicious thai-inspired dessert :) Swipe to see our food tasting reaction. #ad

Here’s a quick recipe on how I made the mango sticky rice - 

Ingredients:

- @EatInnovasian Sticky White Rice (half pack)
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ⅓ cup white sugar (adjust to your own sweetness)
- Pinch of salt
- 1 ripe yellow mango, sliced

Directions:

1. Heat up coconut milk with sugar and salt. Stir frequently and cook for 3-5 minutes. Cool down.
2. Heat up sticky white rice according to package directions.
3. Once the rice cools a little bit, add ¼ cup of the coconut mixture and mix together. Plate the rice with sliced yellow mango. Pour leftover sauce (as much as you’d like) on the mango and rice. 

Please note that this is not the same as thai mango sticky rice, but a great hack to get a quick, easy, & delicious thai inspired dessert :) 

—
#InnovAsianOccasion #MakeItAMeal #easyrecipes #asianrecipes #dessert
So EXCITED (and nervous) that our family cookbook, So EXCITED (and nervous) that our family cookbook, Homecooked, is launching today! The book includes 15+ written recipes and video tutorials so you can watch exclusive, delicious, and calming video content all at once🤩! You can shop the cookbook in the link in my bio or go to cookwithdana.com/shop

All the recipes mean a lot to me because they were the foods that my parents made for me as a kid. As I've gotten older, I started appreciating these dishes more because they remind me of home! Most importantly, I wanted to pass down authentic recipes and share the meaning behind some Chinese traditions to my kids and virtual friends (hehe you!) 💜   If you grew up in a Cantonese household and you miss some 'homecooked' food, you have to make these recipes ◡̈  (I got Sai Yeung Choy Tong there for my canto gang!)

I've been cooking with my family this past year in the kitchen to taste test and film how to make their best dishes. We tweaked and MEASURED (IYKYK) all our recipes to ensure that you can have a taste of our home. Some of my favorite recipes in the cookbook are cha siu, crab with vermicelli, and pork & chive potstickers! It would mean the world to us if you cooked these recipes as well. 

Hope you get to cook an authentic Chinese feast or learn more about Chinese culture with Homecooked♥️💛 

If you wondered how the aesthetics are sooo 👌🏼, or you've already seen how BEAUTIFUL they look, all credit to my SUPER TALENTED friends @aiireeyo @lifted.and 

Also thank you for the ones the liked my first post hehe I messed up 🤣 and reposted again. 
---

#chineserecipes #chinesecooking #familyrecipes #deliciousfood #potstickers
I had a dinner party last week and we made miso ca I had a dinner party last week and we made miso carbonara, ginger scallion lobster and an Asian inspired charcuterie board. 

Check out my reels to see the ginger scallion lobster recipe and video. I used fresh lobster and fried the ginger and scallions in @cookwithyouyou tea seed oil! I love using the oil when cooking food in high heat (for that wok hei flavaa 😉)

——
#cookwithyouyou #dinnerideas #thanksgivingdinner #asianrecipes #seafood
BLOG LAUNCH TODAY! check out cookwithdana.com for BLOG LAUNCH TODAY! check out cookwithdana.com for full recipes. 
Hi everyone! For those that are new here, my name is Dana and I create easy Asian recipes that taste like home. I’m super excited to show you what I’ve been working on for the past few months. I know that a lot of you come to my Instagram to check out the recipes but they also will be uploaded on the blog for easy access. I hope you can visit the blog and let me know what you think 💕
Be sure to subscribe to get the latest Asian recipe!
Do you prefer to view the recipe on IG or on the blog? I love to hear your thoughts 🤩
The lemongrass pork is so flavorful; and the radis The lemongrass pork is so flavorful; and the radish, carrots, and herbs make this banh mi the perfect bite. 

The marinade for this pork is not to be missed! You can check out the recipe in my IG reels ♥️

#LeeKumKee and #LeeKumKeeSauces
2021 © Cook With Dana
made by soulmuse