Intimate east village record shop with an excellently curated selection of second hand and new vinyl.

Well made Sushi run by a nice Japanese family. It's inexpensive, high quality - not fancy! Authentic I use it for a quick informal lunch!

When I moved to NYC in the summer of 2009, my wife Hannah and I went straight to Central Park and the Belvedere Castle. It was the first time I fully grasped that I lived in New York and it felt euphoric standing on that hill. For me this place is still a romantic symbol and reminder of the spirit and essence of the city and the reasons I live here.

The Chelsea Market is filled with great restaurants and speciality food stores and pop up shops. I love stopping in and getting a gourmet grilled cheese from Lucy's Whey or a healthy juice from raw food restaurant One Lucky Duck, while shopping for dinner ingredients at the Italian market Buon Italia. For a great sit down restaurant, I love The Green Table, which serves great farm to table food.

While the current trend in noodles may well be ramen, this bafflingly-named Japanese restaurant just ten minutes from my apartment specialises in udon. Unless you are my friend Diego Zambrano it will probably take you several visits to get through all the things you need to try on the menu - the gyoza are otherworldly, the sushi 'tacos' clever enough without being silly. New York has thousands of awful Japanese places; this is not one of them. It's super nice to come in on a Sunday night and eat at the bar next to curmudgeonly old guys barking at each other in Japanese.