I’ve spent the last year in New York almost solely preparing for this article: here is everything I’ve learned about landmark food in Manhattan, laid out as a one-day food tour. You will have the most delicious day of your life. You will also gain half a stone. On balance, worth it.
Breakfast
Elevenses
The City Bakery isn’t much to look at, but it serves the most outstanding hot chocolate, complete with a floating marshmallow; it is only a five-minute detour from my school run, so on your behalf, I have researched this item many times. These are the dudes who invented the Pretzel Croissant: inside, a buttery croissant; outside, a chewy, salty pretzel. Sorry for saying ‘dudes’.
Lunch
For my birthday, my children took me out to dinner, and we changed restaurants for each course. It makes for an exciting meal…
Starter

Main
Once you’ve finished, dash over to the Lower East Side for chicken & waffles at the Clinton Street Baking Company. It serves buttermilk-battered Southern-fried chicken, drenched in a sweet honey-Tabasco sauce, on top of Belgian waffles with warm maple butter.
Pudding

Afternoon tea
This was easy: Serendipity 3’s frozen hot chocolate… thick, cold, famous. If you’re still peckish, try a chocolate pizza from Max Brenner: sweet pizza dough, melted chocolate, marshmallows, peanut butter sauce & toasted hazelnuts, or pop to 16 Handles and get the cinnamon rice pudding frozen yogurt instead – it’s 175 calories per serving and everything I love in life.
Aperatif
May I suggest a quickie at the Campbell Apartment in Grand Central station; the old office of a 1920s tycoon and one of the most beautiful rooms in Manhattan. Try the Golden Age cocktail of vodka, vermouth, caramelised coconut purée & rose champagne.
Dinner
Starter
Main
Now leg it to Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, or any of the popular Korean BBQ restaurants. The table doubles as a BBQ cooker, and you’ll be brought wafer-thin meat, amazing vegetables and intense sauces to cook on the hot griddle, while pouring beaten egg into the gully at the edge for an omelette palate cleanser between dishes. My 14-year-old son had his birthday supper here – it’s delicious, theatrical and very East Village cool.
Pudding
Surely that in itself is enough to justify the airfare? Buy a pair of elasticated trousers, pretend you’re writing an article about it all (that’s what I did), and good luck.
Try out some more tasty American recipes in our collection of the very best.
Do you have a favourite New York eatery? Let us know in the comments below…