This bright and upbeat matcha spot in NoLIta, with its millennial pink and green color scheme, are what Instagram dreams are made of. In addition to your standard hot or iced matcha lattes, Cha Cha Matcha’s menu also offers trendy and healthful twists, like the addition of ginger and turmeric, or their rainbow “Divine Drink.” Oh, and did we mention you can order matcha soft-serve (which you can combine with flavors like acai, tangerine, or lavender) year-round?

The rooftop garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum floors below are a maze of tremendous art and inspiration, and taking the elevator to the rooftop garden is the icing on the cake. 360' views of verdant green Central Park bordered by cool glass and steel of Manhattan's cityscape in the distance.

I'm a huge Japanophile: if there's one other place I'd like to live, it's Tokyo. I must have been there seven or eight times, most recently just after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Anyway, EN is a gem on Hudson Street, serving real Japanese cuisine. It turns out that EN is a chain in Japan; there are a lot of branches making lovely bosky food in cosy neighbourhood locations. But their New York incarnation is grand in scale and ambition, with solid, warm interiors (not unlike if the Whitney were a Japanese restaurant, oddly) - a remarkable hybrid of this city, and the other one that I'd love to live in.

ANTHOM’s gallery-like store on Mercer Street is all about presentation, and their selection of pieces from designers like Lady Artigas, Mari Giudicelli, Yune Ho, Marni, and Suzanne Rae is displayed with an eye for design.

Best lobster roll outside of Maine. The brunch is a well kept secret. Chicken and waffles and shrimp & grits are my picks for brunch.