The Halal Guys at 53rd and 6th

I've read and heard quite a bit about this food cart. Since we weren't staying too far off their original location (West 53rd Street, NY 10019, tel : +347 527 1505) down at 53rd and 6th, we made out way down one night to see what the food was really about.

I got a chicken and gyro combo platter which came with spiced rice. While it was nothing that would really floor anyone, I could see why it was a popular choice. This was frills free comfort food with the prerequisite proteins and starches that made excellent eating in the cold weather here. The smell was enticing and what made these exciting were the white and hot sauces. Especially that hot sauce which meant business. My lips were burning and I actually perspired after going through three packets of that stuff.

Shake Shack at Woodbury

We were at Woodbury Common for...reasons. There's a Shake Shack (199 Niagara Lane, Central Valley, NY 10917, tel : +845 827 3140) here so this was quite the no brainer since the other options didn't look so appealing and one has to do Shake Shack at least once in NYC right? Right?

I like this on the whole a bit more than Five Guys but it's a little more than that. These beef patties were more flavourful with those crust on the edges (also maybe because it's a blend from Pat LaFrieda?). Their cheese was also saltier tastier than the ones that Five Guys uses and the peanut butter shake was more flavourful. I'm guess that's probably because the shakes here are made for their flavour rather than being flavoured vanilla shakes. BUT - definitely prefer the fries over at Five Guys.

The cereal milk soft serve from Milk Bar East Village

D recommended that we give the cereal soft serve from Milk Bar a shot since we were around the area (251 E 13th St, NY 10003, tel : +646 692 4154). It was actually pretty good. The flavour was akin to milk that you had eaten cereals with or even Magnolia's oat milk. Just lighter. 

A bacon shake from Five Guys

For some reasons, I overlooked this when we were at Five Guys so since it was in the vicinity it was convenient for us go stop by for whatever. So yeah, there was real bacon in this stuff. I could taste a bit of the bacon in the shake and there were also crunchy bacon bits as well. Not bad.

Katz's Delicatessen, Lower East Manhattan, NYC

This I suppose would be a site of pilgrimage for anyone who's heard of Katz's (205 E Houston St, NY 10002, tel : +212 254 2246) when visiting New York City. Me? I just wanted a taste of their famous pastrami. Not looking for what Sally had.

So we got ourselves one of their pastrami on rye. Condiment-ed with nothing but mustard. The meat was tender, salty and fatty. Couldn't say that I could detect much complexity in the spices or smoke that the meat had gone through but it was really good. And pretty expensive for a sandwich.

For good measure, we also had a chilli dog. It's a very decent dog. The kind that I definitely wouldn't mind eating again but it was kinda pricey too.

Because it was NYC and our first visit to Katz's Deli, we had to have their egg cream. If you didn't know, there isn't egg in egg cream. It's milk and soda and for this case, chocolate sauce. It did remind me of soda floats and was kinda nice.

99 Cent Express Pizza, Midtown Manhattan, NYC

So this was supper - again, not too far of a walk from where I was. We had passed by the shop (301 W 43rd St, NY 10036, tel : +212 315 5257) at 43rd and 8th a couple of days back and I suppose this was as NY an experience as it gets. Being in proximity of the hotel and opening late definitely helped.

I'm not going to say that this was in any way awesome or kick-ass because it wasn't. While the pizza wasn't outright impressive, it was edible and did the job for the craving. That's the mushroom and one with extra cheese. I supposed I would have been more impressed if they had made the extra cheese toasty and nicely browned with crispy edges. But for a frills free budget joint that does by the slice, I couldn't complain.