Wonderful place to grab a coffee+pastry with a great vibe and outdoor-only seating. Best cold-brew in the neighborhood. Doubles as the headquarters for The Lot Radio station, so there is often a live DJ spinning pretty chill music.

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.

A now-iconic Chinatown eatery with a mouthwatering menu of health-conscious eats.

If I lived closer to the West Village I’d go over to Jack’s every morning for a coffee and occasionally having what is probably the best chocolate chip cookie in New York (and it’s just a dollar!). Even though it’s rarely in my way I try to go here now and then, maybe in combination with a stroll down the beautiful Bleeker Street or to read a book sitting in their window.

This place is very good. Korean inspired diner food. Get the Breakfast Burrito with Sausage, Honey Butter Pancakes, Chicken Katsu. The mushroom burger is very good too.