| Our favourite restaurant in New York | |
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21 Club
Once a glamorous speakeasy, today '21' is one of the most celebrated restaurants in New York City. In addition to its two restaurants, the Bar Room and 'Upstairs', this four-story townhouse features ten private dining rooms, including the legendary Prohibition-era Wine Cellar.
Rating: 
Why: If walls could speak, this would be the place to sit very still and listen, preferably at the favorite tables of Humphrey Bogart, Robert Benchley or Richard Nixon.
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New York Restaurants
No city has more flavours than New York, a city that boasts over 18,000 restaurants, a host of discerning diners, and a lot of slick and imaginative cooking.
With so many sophisticates to please its star chefs have to work hard: they serve some of the best examples of French cuisine in the world; use evolving New American ideas of seasonality and technique; run smart grills in traditional steakhouses; make top-notch Japanese food and formal Italian; as well as offering dishes from almost every other part of the world.
Despite the appeal of this luxury there will come a time in every diner's life when he fancies a sandwich or a hamburger - and New York serves up some of the best. Or noodles at 3am? Not a problem in the city that never sleeps.
At breakfast-time, smartly suited diners crowd through the doors of hip joints like Norma's and Balthazar. They eat foods rich or light, cooked or raw, and contrast with sleepy travellers eating at the next table. Speeding commuters catch breakfast on the go.
Lunch is often a special meal in New York, where top restaurants combine excellent food with elegant design and efficient service. The Four Seasons, not related to the hotel of the same name, attracts top media players to eat delicious midday meals - Bison carpaccio with black truffles and arugula salad is just one of the delights it offers. Fixed price menus at many top eating houses offer a high value way for visitors to taste their way around New York, if they stay out of stylish lunch places hosted by museums, like The Modern.
Dinner time is even more special than lunch, in the opinion of many. Prestigious names like Le Bernardin, which may be the best fish restaurant in the world, go head to head with innovators like Jean Georges and more informal spaces like DB Bistro Moderne. Luxury hotels host outstanding eateries like Atelier in the Ritz-Carlton Central Park. Landmark real estate developments like the Time Warner Center boast restaurants like the high flying Per Se, as a part of their glitter.
And for sandwiches? Jewish, German and East European traditions led to the opening of an astonishing number of delicatessens in the city and some of the best survive. Try the Pastrami on Rye at Katz's Delicatessen or one of its rivals. Burgers will be served at many top restaurants but for moderately priced food in a cheerful but classy atmosphere try the aptly-named Burger Joint or JG Melon.
Finally, to eat well in this amazing city, you should try to play by a few simple rules. Plan in advance. Find a restaurant that suits your tastes by asking friends and hotel concierges for their recommendations, reading Zagat guides, checking the New York Times and New York Metro websites and so on. Book ahead, perhaps by a month or two, for the best restaurants are in serious demand. Plan to tip well, by doubling the 8.25% sales tax, then adding a buck for luck; also, gratuities to the house captain, wine waiter and coat check may be in order. Then dress up - men have to wear jackets in the more formal venues - and have a fine time eating your very own authentic taste of the Big Apple.
Norma's
Le Parker Meridien Hotel
118 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
Tel: +1 212 708 7460
www.lemeridien.com
Balthazar
80 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
Tel: +1 212 965 1785
The Four Seasons
99 East 52nd St. (between Lexington and Park Aves.)
New York, NY 10022
Tel: +1 212 754 9494
The Modern
9 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
Tel: +1 212 333 1220
Le Bernardin
155 West 51st Street (The Equitable Building)
Between 6th and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019
Tel: +1 212 5541515
Jean Georges
1 Central Park West
(at Columbus Circle and West 60th Street - Trump International Hotel)
New York, NY 10023
Tel: +1 212 299 3900
DB Bistro Moderne
55 West 44th Street, New York,
NY 10036
Tel: +1 212 391 2400
Atelier
50 Central Park South, New York,
NY 10019
Tel: +1 212 521 6215
Per Se
10 Columbus Circle
(at 60th Street - 4th Floor Time Warner Center)
New York, NY 10019
Tel: +1 212 823 9335
Katz's Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street, New York,
NY 10002
Tel: +1 212 254 2246
Burger Joint
Le Parker Meridien Hotel,
118 West 57th Street, New York,
NY 10019
JG Melon
1291 3rd Ave (At 74th St),
New York NY 10021,
Tel: +1 212 650 1310
Yakitori Taisho
5 St. Marks Pl. (East Village), (between 2nd and 3rd Aves.),
Tel: +1 212 228 5086
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