我在紐約旅行時試了幾間吃早餐的餐廳，以下三間是我的推介: 3. Pastis是法式小酒吧，食物一般，但曾經是Sex and the City的拍攝場地哦! 2. Norma’s 是在Le Parker Meridien酒店內吃pancake, waffle及其他開胃早餐的好地方，很適合帶小朋友去。1. 不過，最特別的一定是Shopsin’s，供應多款千奇百怪的自創菜式，異常的美味，令我回味無窮!

There is nothing better than sleeping in when you are on holidays. However, in the face of a dilemma between food or sleep when I was travelling in New York, I opted for the former and woke up early everyday in order to have a hearty breakfast! Below are my top three recommended restaurants for breakfast: 3. Pastis, where Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City had brunch with her Russian lover. 2. Norma’s, a modern eatery that serves the loveliest pancakes. 1. Shopsin’s, a crazy restaurant that serves unique food – you’ll have to see the photos for yourself!

Top 3 – Pastis

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Address: 9 9th Ave, New York, NY 10014
Telephone: (212) 929-4844

https://www.pastisny.com/index.php

Pastis is a French bistro in Manhattan’s meatpacking district. The decor of the restaurant is Parisian and stylish, but the food wasn’t special at all, and most importantly, the staff in general were a bit standoffish, or verging on grumpy.

Why then, you may ask, do I name this place as the third best place for breakfast in New York? It is because Sex and the City was filmed here! This is where Carrie Bradshaw and the Russian artist, Aleksandr Petrovsky, enjoyed brunch. If you were me, wouldn’t you come here just so you could relive a Carrie Bradshaw moment too?

“Unfortunately, having a man leave me for Paris was not foreign to me…” – Carrie Bradshaw. (Photo above from SATC Psychology)

(1) The Pastis muesli with hazelnut and fresh berries (US$12) had an attractively runny texture, and a dash of lemon juice made it extra refreshing. The portion wasn’t particularly big – the bowl was actually quite shallow so there wasn’t much muesli underneath the berries.

(2) The Toasted Bagel with Norwegian smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato and onion (US$16), on the other hand, was very generous in portion. You can’t go wrong with bagel and cream cheese, which were very satisfying, and the salmon also had a pleasing texture.

(3) We also tried the Egg white omelette with sautéed spinach (US$18) and the omelette was well-made and not overcooked. We added some Applewood bacon (US$6) on the side, which was gorgeously crunchy, but seemed a tad burnt.

Top 2 – Norma’s 

Rating: ★★★★☆

Address: Le Parker Meridien, 119 W. 56th St., New York, NY 10019

Telephone: (212) 708-7460

https://www.parkermeridien.com/eat1.php

Located in the lobby of Le Parker Meridien Hotel, Norma’s is an airy, bright and modern eatery that only serves breakfast and lunch and opens at 7am on weekdays and 7.30am during weekends. The menu is filled with mouthwatering breakfast foods, such as pancakes, waffles and eggs benedict. Even though it is a smart restaurant, it is a fantastic place for families with children – I mean, what kid wouldn’t like to stuff their face with some Chocolate French Toast or Buttermilk Pancakes?

Every meal here starts with a free shot of the restaurant’s daily smoothie, and when we went there, it was a lovely-tasting guava, pineapple and banana smoothie.

This Norma’s Super Blueberry Pancakes (US$21) would make both children and adults salivate with anticipation. Buried underneath a giant mound of clotted cream, the blueberry pancakes, which were bigger than the size of my face, were unexpectedly light and fluffy!

The Artychoked Benedict with Truffle Porcini Sauce (US$23), even though looked less stunning than the pancake, was also delicious, with the eggs beautifully poached and the refined tastes of the artichokes and the truffle porcini sauce making for a pleasurable dish.

We also ordered the Buckwheat Gallette (US$21) with emmenthal cheese, ham, fried egg and tomato salsa. The gallette had an attractive hint of sweetness and the amount of cheese in it was very generous, which, for a cheese-fiend like me, was truly fabulous.

Top 1 – Shopsin’s

Rating: ★★★★★

Address: Essex Street Market, 120 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

Telephone: None.

https://www.shopsins.com/

To summarise the breakfast at this place: it was crazy!

Located in Essex Street Market, this eatery is rife with bizarre rules: no reservations, no groups larger than 4 and no ordering the same thing as someone else at your table. (Apparently, photos of the restaurant were not allowed either, but they couldn’t beat a determined Asian with a camera!)

The dizzying menu had more words on it than a dictionary and most of the dishes’ names made no sense at all – try, for example, “blisters on my sisters” – what food was I supposed to expect? However, the bizarre food at this joint turned out to be unbelievably tasty, in all their calorific and heart attack-inducing goodness! Shopsin’s definitely offers a one of a kind experience and you should definitely not leave New York without dropping by this place!

We asked a tattooed, rock band-style waiter to recommend a few dishes to us, and he shrugged and said “no idea”, so we just each ordered a Three Part Happy Breakfast Tray (US$27) so that we could try a bit of everything. (The waiter actually turned out to be very attentive and friendly during the rest of our meal!)

(1) This tray below had chocolate chip pancakes, banana brown sugar pancakes and chorizo mac’n cheese pancakes in it. The chocolate chip pancakes were über-yummy because of the hidden, melted marshmallows in them, and the bananas in the banana brown sugar pancakes were scrumptiously ripe and mushy. The star of the show, however, were definitely the chorizo mac’n cheese pancakes. The pancakes were literally filled with plump, cooked macaroni, and the layers of cheddar cheese on both sides of the pancake were ridiculously tasty. They were meant to be eaten with an addictive tabasco-like sauce, which was plain evil!

(2) In this tray were: a kimchi bbq pork on a bun, date’n nut pancakes and chili poutine. The kimchi bbq pork bun was inventive and hearty, while the chili pountine was moreish – gloriously meaty and cheesy, each bite simply led on to the next.

(3) On the left was a Tijuana blister on my sisters (I still don’t understand the name, someone please help me out!!) with eggs, chipotle, black beans and rice over pork tamale, which had a good mixture of different flavours. On the right were the chorizo mac’n cheese pancakes, already described above, and in the middle was a banana brown sugar French Toast, which was fantastically deep-fried and absolutely scrumptious.