KOPITIAM
Last Friday night, I had the pleasure of a feast at Kopitiam in the LES. It’s a traditional Malaysian coffee house. They do everything from breakfast to dinner. My favorite dishes were the chilled spicy noodles & of course the layer cake. The tapioca rice balls were pretty to die for too. All in all, I’d come back for the beverages and deserts - aside from the noodles. I’m not big on fish or meat and most of the dishes contained them! Restaurant info here.
MARTA
I over-did it at Marta, but who wouldn’t. Marta is located in the Redbury New York Hotel, and really an ideal date spot. You can order a bottle of wine and share a pizza or two. I started with the Ricotta, which is served with warm peaches and balsamic. It was iconic and decadent. The star of the show though is clearly the pizza. We ordered the Straccaiatella and Casino. For me the Straccaiatella was so good because it was simple and warm with a lot of cheese and a really light sauce. The pizza doesn’t taste too heavy but is still flavorful. I had four slices - which I think is a record for me. Restaurant info here.
KISH-KASH
Kish-Kash is a brand new north african couscous kitchen in the West Village. My boo and I went there one day after one of my photoshoots and I just fell in love. It’s a super casual setting, so we dinned at the high seats in the window during the last hours of daylight. We ordered a divine bottle of wine, and so many things off the menu. We started with the hummus and cauliflower, which made me a very happy lady. If you don’t know me - these are two of my favorite things in the world. We finished with a chicken tagine couscous. It was really something special, the couscous was some of the best we’ve both ever had. The menu is fairly small and it’s good to order 3-4 dishes to share. Restaurant info here.
MEADOWSWEET
Over the bridge, we have Meadowsweet in Williamsburg. Sean and I actually ended up here after a walk over the Williamsburg bridge taking photos and running into one of my friends. This place might be my favorite in the entire post. I had an absolutely incredible whiskey sour, before we ordered a bottle of red. If you’re ordering appetizers, you have to try the tiger fig and ricotta toast. We also got the crispy baby artichokes, which are just beyond. For the main, we got this stuffed dumpling pasta that blew my mind. It was so delicious and decant, we took forever to savor it. Anyways, I highly recommend this spot, it’s a big restaurant with a cool bar and lots of open space. Restaurant info here.