We’re in a New York state of mind this week, so we’re taking you on a virtual trip to the Big Apple for a feeding fest. Read on for more of our favourite Manhattan foods, and while real New Yorkers might cry foul – we concede, some of these may not be straight substitutes for what you’d get in the city – before you get around to booking that plane ticket, these will more than do the trick.
BAGEL
Started by US banker Rebecca Schrage in 2014 out of frustration when she couldn’t find a true New York bagel in the SAR, Schragels in Sheung Wan has a small informal dining section upfront. Bagels here are the most authentic to the chewy New York style, with a skin that has crunch. Besides serving bagels on site, Schragels supplies some of the city’s best hotels and restaurants.
NEW YORK CHEESECAKE
Carbone was established in the Big Apple and has come to represent the epitome of “New York Italian” cuisine. And while its Spicy Vodka Rigatoni has is not only a classic, but a Prestige Hong Kong habit, we always make sure to finish with the restaurant’s sinful lemony cheesecake. Fluffy, rich and moreish, this is one happy ending you won’t want to miss.
PASTRAMI SANDWICH
We won’t pretend that you can get anything close to Katz’s Deli’s meaty mouthfuls of pastrami sandwiches. But you can get one step closer to heaven at Hong Kong’s Morty’s Delicatessen, with a stack of smoked meat between two mustard-slathered slices of rye. It comes with unlimited pickles, as well, for anyone who’s keeping track.
EGGS BENEDICT
As the eggs Benedict was inadvertently invented in New York’s Waldorf Hotel in 1894 by a Wall Street banker with a specific breakfast order, it seems appropriate to name-check a chef whose name was made in New York, which is where he is still based: Gray Kunz. His short-rib eggs Benedict, served at The Upper House’s Café Gray Deluxe, provides an upgrade on the ham normally used, while the eggs are of premium quality and the hollandaise always flawless. Plus, the view is great, the natural lighting makes for great food photos, and people-watching the power-breakfasters (anybody who’s anybody stays at The Upper House, after all) is always a joy.
PIZZA
Let’s face it, there isn’t a replacement for the real-deal New York pizza in Hong Kong – Paisano’s may claim it’s doing a down-and-dirty New York slice and Motorino might call dibs on the Brooklyn-baked coal-oven variety, but we won’t cheat you. Instead, we give you the brand-new love-child of two longtime New York citizens: the pizza and the lox-covered bagel, aka managing editor Andrew Dembina’s entry into Mercato’s Great Pizza Bake-off (pictured above). Inspired by the salmon-and-cream-cheese-plus-carb combo, his pizza, available from today onwards for two weeks, includes smoked salmon, but “instead of using cream cheese, I opted for sweetish ewe’s milk pecorino with chopped shallot, a touch of mozzarella on the base, and lashings of buffalo stracciatella added post-bake,” he says. To garnish? “Rocket and caper berries, black pepper, olive oil and lemon zest.”
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