It’s been awhile since I’ve made plans to go out and explore the city. Mostly, it had been dreary, cold, and a stressful start to the year. Mother nature worked out on my side as fog and rain dissipated to warmth and sun. I walked through Soho to find a beautiful public artwork on the ground. At first, my friend thought it was a circuit board but turns out, it was a subway map.
The day was a round of eateries in the village. I started off by taking my friend to try out Peanut Butter and Co. I’m allergic to nuts but the concept of a restaurant on just peanut butter is interesting and intriguing. They make various sandwiches and drinks and even sundaes all with peanut butter. And of course, part of the mission is to always serve a meal with carrots.
We moved along to Myers of Keswick. When I first returned from London, I was craving English food like the Cornish pastries and the salt and vinegar chips. Even the Twinings tea collection was better there. We both targeted the Walker’s salt and vinegar chips. Those are so much better than any of the salt and vinegar I’ve had here in the states. I don’t know what it is about Walkers but it just tasted better. Of course, if you’re an anglophile, you’ll love the neat British gifts like shirts and mugs. It’s not exactly a sweet eateries but since my friend spent a good amount of time in London, I thought it was a nice walk down memory lane. Also, there are some great Cadbury sweets if you’re a fan of that.
We had to do a slight u-turn at this point to have brunch. The village is a strew of triangles and diagonals. You’ll easily get lost if you don’t know your bearing, especially since there are no landmarks in sight.
Brunch was at Smorgas Chef. When I first went there back in 2008, it was great! The meatballs reminded me of IKEA but they have amazing waffles and cloudberries. If anyone has ever gone to IKEA, it’s swedish meatballs and lingonberry sauce that’s a must have. Along with meatballs, the restaurant is also known for it’s gravlaks and nordic shrimp. We ended up sharing another dish of smoked salmon on scrambled eggs and 8 grain toast. Restaurants with their own organic farm is a big thing these days in New York. It’s not surprising, in the past few years Smorgas Chef has also joined that group. It’s not to say the food isn’t great but it definitely as unique as when I first went.
After a healthy brunch, we made our way to an unhealthy ending to the tour of the village with Milk and Cookies Bakery. I had first heard about this ice cream sandwich shop over the summer. I adore chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream. So it was with great delight that now there’s a place for it! You have order a variety of cookies as is, such as sugar cookies, snicker doodles, chocolate chip, etc. They were also featuring a Bacon Smack cookie, which is a “mix of maple syrup, candied Neuskes cherry wood smoked bacon, dried cranberries, 72% dark chocolate chunks, toffee and graham cracker pieces” If you’re a big fan of bacon, you will love this. I opted for mint chocolate chips with strawberry ice cream while my friend did the PB&J, peanut butter cookies with strawberry ice cream.
All in all, a successful “yummy-in-my-tummy” tour of the village.