USA // NY 9.2 - Out and about in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Trench Coat from FASH MOB

We were stuffed from our meal but I insisted on heading to Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop because I saw good ratings on Yelp. I don't know if I got the wrong donut, but my toasted coconut donut (forgot if that was the exact name) was way too creamy and buttery. I should have gone for the classic glazed donut instead. Anyway, if you're interested in checking it out, I heard the honey dipped, old fashion cruller, apple crumb and red velvet are good. I must mention, though, that I think Dough's donuts win Peter Pan's hands down.

After my very unsatsifying donut, we walked towards Bedford Avenue, where you'll find many vintage shops and other clothing stores like Ugly Luggage (antique furniture and houseware) and In God We Trust (a casualwear New York label selling apparel, jewellery and accessories. I love the jewellery here!). There's also Mast Brothers Chocolate, a chocolatier with innovative flavours like Maple. We got Stumptown Coffee, which didn't taste like much at first, but was better towards the end. Not really my thing though and I prefer Awfully Chocolate for the price. If you're into coffee, try Blue Bottle Coffee! It's pretty famous. I didn't try it because I had been having too much coffee so I opted for a smoothie from Juice Press instead. My absolute favourite smoothie chain in New York.

Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop
727 Manhattan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222
b/t Meserole Ave & Norman Ave
Greenpoint

Mast Brothers Chocolate
111 N 3rd St
Brooklyn, NY 11249
Williamsburg - North Side

Blue Bottle Coffee
160 Berry St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
b/t 6th St & 5th St
Williamsburg - North Side

Other places you might wanna check out:

BeeHive Oven Biscuit Cafe
182 S 2nd St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
b/t Driggs Ave & Roebling St
Williamsburg - South Side

Moe’s Doughs Donut Shop
126 Nassau Ave
Greenpoint, NY 11222
b/t Eckford St & Mc Guinness Blvd
Greenpoint

USA // New York 9.1 - Brooklyn Brunchin'

How Javin looks when he drinks his drink

 vs how I look when I drink mine

 One of the best dishes I had in New York!

 Brunch with a view ;)

The weather seemed warmer so we headed out of Manhattan and into Brooklyn to explore Williamsburg. Finally!! Javin was really excited about this place because we heard that there were a lot of menswear stores there. It's also known to be upcoming, hip, indie etc etc.

We started off with brunch at Fives Leaves (not Four Leaves ah Singaporeans this is upgraded hahaha), which turned out to be one of the best meals I had in New York. It's a bit of a walk from the station but it was worth it! From the outside it didn't seem like much, but when we entered, we were greeted with chatter and a lively ambience. Woody elements with lots of light made the place feel very comfortable. As we were shown our way to our table, I couldn't help gawking at everyone's food! Everything looked so delicious.

We got truffle fries, mushroom toast and ricotta pancakes to share. The truffle fries and ricotta pancakes were highly raved about on Yelp but the star of the meal for me was the mushroom toast! Oh I wish I could have it now. The gravy reminds me of ikea's meatball gravy.

Five Leaves
18 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222
b/t Nassau Ave & Lorimer St
Greenpoint

USA // New York 8.2 - Dinner at Cocoron

We wanted to have our dinner at Egg, but it was closed. Sought help from Yelp for alternatives and went to Cocoron, the soba place we had dinner at the first night we were in New York, together with our Thai friend who was working in Manhattan for two months. Funny how we had Japanese at Little Italy.

It's not life-changing but it is super tasty and so heartwarmingly comforting in the winter. I'm not a noodle person but I love japanese noodle dishes! This hit just the right spot. This time I had the warm soba, but Cocoron is known for their dipping soba, which I tried the first time. Each dipping soba will come with an individual hot pot containing your selected sauce, with a flame below to keep it warm, and a serving of soba. If there were any add-ons ordered, they would come in a separate dish, not together with the sauce. That's perfect because I love tempura flakes and I wouldn't want them soggy from soaking up all that sauce... The way to eat is to just dip the soba into the sauce and then slurp it up. The regular serving is just nice for me, but for Javin perhaps the Large would have been better. Towards the end the sauce does get a little salty because the flame causes water to evaporate quickly and the sauce becomes pretty concentrated, but Cocoron will serve some water (?) to add into the sauce.

The warm soba doesn't come with those funky sauces, it was just soba in a light soup with some other ingredients, depending on what you order. Not as interesting, but for days when you just wanna have lots of soup with your noodles, this is great. The cucumber thing is very refreshing too! We tried the egg but it wasn't fantastic.

Cocoron has two stores, one in Lower East Side and one in Nolita. I've only been to the one in Nolita, which is the second store, but I heard that the two stores have different menus and my friend's favourite sauce is from the store in Lower East Side. I suggest being there by five to five-thirty pm, because it does get crowded during dinnertime and the space is small (typical of New York haha).

Cocoron (Delancey St)
61 Delancey St
New York, NY 10002
b/t Allen St & Eldridge St
Lower East Side

Cocoron (Kenmare St)
37 Kenmare St
New York, NY 10012
b/t Mott St & Elizabeth St
Little Italy, Nolita

USA // New York 8.1 - Buddha Bodhi in Chinatown, Shopping in SoHo

The day before we headed to Buddha Bodhi in Chinatown for dim sum, but it was dinner time and they weren't serving dim sum anymore. So we ordered two dishes to go with rice, thinking it was the normal small zi char portions we have in Singapore and they came out huge! Just look at the picture above - there were SIX tofu portions which are each about the size of a palm (for Singaporeans, the size of a full tau kwa portion). The other dish is the same size. I think our meal could feed six people.

The next day, we headed to the same place for morning dim sum and the portions were huge again. Didn't manage to take a picture of everything we ordered but I was so full after the meal, along with the previous night's huge servings, I couldn't crave Chinese food for the next week.

Walked it off in SoHo before dinner. I might have gotten some stuff from American Apparel in between... ;) Like that pair of disco pants I have been searching for since forever! And a spanking new pair of NBs! I still love NBs because I like the shape. I need a pair in white! Have no idea what store I got my NBs from but they were on offer, 60 SGD or less <3

SoHo is my favourite place for shopping. The stores are all beautiful, or so I think because Singapore doesn't get stand-alone stores. The experience is really fun! All kinds of stores there. And food.

Had to take some pictures of my outfit with my new shoes after that. (Who am I kidding, I take pictures of my outfit whether or not I have new shoes hahaha) Took some shots for Javin too.