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.

Go before 11am on a Sunday and you won't have to wait. Fun place to take your parents when they're visiting from out of town.

The best underground shows you will find will have free pbr and models as far as the eye can see. They are rarely announced, so keep your eyes out for promising openings, especially with Milk Underground coming up.

Prints, artist editions and various printed ephemera to buy and to look at. A wonderful place.

Stupendous views of Manhattan and what feels like all of Brooklyn from the only tall-ish building around. And very good beer.