Tokyo Record Bar

Vinyls, sake & pizza

Beware, this is not your usual restaurant. On their website, they do not even describe themselves as a restaurant but as “an underground listening room”. The key word at Tokyo Record Bar is music. Before you can even glance at the drink menu, you will be asked to choose a song you want to listen to during your dinner. Their selection is quite eclectic: anything from Stevie Wonder to AC/DC, Beyoncé or David Bowie. The DJ will quickly grab your pick to compile the playlist…

Read More...
Borrachito

A reverse speakeasy

Speakeasies have no more secrets for you. A bar hidden in the back of a Japanese restaurant, stashed in the fridge of an Indian grocery store or concealed behind a phone booth. But how many speakeasy restaurants do you know? We discovered a secret gem just for you. A reverse speakeasy. A restaurant hidden behind a bar and not the other way around. It is a confidential spot no bigger than a handkerchief that opened a few months ago in the East Village. And the…

Read More...
Carthage must be destroyed

Life in pink

Life in pink. It’s the promise of this Australian coffee hidden in an industrial warehouse in East Williamsburg. And when we say hidden, we assure you that it is not easy to find the entrance even when you have the address. No sign or indication. You’ll have to sneak in an alley on Bogart street between two buildings, before seeing tucked away in a courtyard a building whose air vents and external piping were repainted in pink. Pink Monochrome. You’ll think you’re in a Pantone…

Read More...
PS Kitchen

The good deed

It’s a feel-good restaurant. Because it serves a plant based detox menu? Because everything is delicious and you’ll want to devour the whole menu? Because you’re going to be seduced by the sexy atmosphere and the bar where you can sip veggie cocktails? Yes, all of that. But there’s more! PS Kitchen also has the distinctive characteristic of donating ALL of its profits to charity and employing 1/3 of its staff from underprivileged and socially marginalized backgrounds. Meet April. A woman with a big heart…

Read More...
Yurt Alert

Yurt alert

Brrr. It’s cold outside. You have entered hibernation mode and the only thing that could drag you out of your winter torpor (and your quilt) is an exceptional venue. What about an end-of-the-world experience? This winter the terrace of the Standard Hotel East Village transforms into a Siberian forest. Five yurts are hidden in an enchanting setting, in the middle of the fir trees and between the garlands of light. Come inside to warm up! Inside the tents, the muted atmosphere is closer to the…

Read More...
Knightshift

Ephemeral & enchanting

What would you say of a gastronomic menu in the intimacy of a small local bakery? It sounds very much like a Christmas tale. At nightfall, the kitchen of a Brooklyn bakery transforms into a fancy grand restaurant. Chef Mads Refslund has temporarily settled in Claus Meyer’s bakery. These two met while working at Noma, the Danish darling restaurant of all globetrotters, which won the title of world’s best restaurant for several years. This Christmas season Meyers Bageri metamorphoses into Knightshift where a culinary high…

Read More...
Plaisirs d'hiver

3 winter pleasures

Left picture: cheese fondue at Diviera Drive (photo credit to Jeanne Chiaravalli); Top right picture: hot chocolate at Cacao Market; bottom right picture: knitting with Sophie. We have some good and some bad news. The bad news is that it’s going to get colder and colder. The good news is that we have 3 discoveries to share that will soften the blow of winter’s arrival. 3 guilty pleasures to warm you up and help you to have some patience while waiting for Christmas to get here….

Read More...
Katonah museum

A day in Westchester

So we’re back to winter time. It’s the beginning of a long tunnel of too short days and too cold nights. To give you a little boost, we put together a special daytrip upstate, close to NYC. A culture / hiking / gastronomy trilogy that that will cheer you up. First stop: the charming hamlet of Katonah, one hour north of Manhattan. The Katonah Art Museum is a hidden gem under the radar of most art-lovers. The space is tiny (managing expectations here: it is…

Read More...
Café l'estudio

Small café, Big crush

Fall has quietly set in New York, at the slow pace of vermilion leaves paving the streets of Manhattan and dwindling temperatures. Indian summer is officially over! Our new fancy: find the best spots to sip a steaming hot tea curled up in a comfy sofa. And to smoothly start November, we found you a cozy little café where you can enter hibernation mode. L’estudio is your new sanctuary on the Lower East Side from here on out. A café full of charm where hanging around feels just right. It’s the kind…

Read More...
Cape House

Summer vibes

You already emptied your suitcase and put away your swimsuit, but summer isn’t over! To get back to it smoothly and get you up to speed on the latest hotspots, we decided to embark on a quest for the Holy Grail. You know, that hipster hidden gem that no one knows about and that you will be envied to have the exclusivity. We proceeded methodically. We wanted a beach shake to extend the vacation feeling. With a fish and selfish atmosphere to remind you of…

Read More...