New York City

New York is one of the most diverse cities in the US, and the food follows suit. Rightfully known for its pizza and bagels, New York also boasts some of the best ethnic food, such as the best Malaysian food I’ve had outside of Malaysia. If you visit New York, make sure to set aside plenty of time and budget to eat your way through this landmark city.

Sadelle's

This bakery in SoHo boasts some of the best Jewish baked goods in New York. I love seeing the bagels strung up when you walk in, displayed next to their lineup of schmeres. Aside from a loaded bagel, which is a must have, also get one of their cinnamon bun. They look tiny, but even half of one with satisfy your saccharine taste buds.

Sadelle’s is a SOHO-based Jewish bakery fully staked with bagels, lox, and schmear.

Schmear (cream cheese) with thick cuts of lox, tomatoes, capers, and a toasted bagel. Bagels must be boiled to be a true bagel.

Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery

Knishes are the food of my people: Ashkenazi Jewish. This Eastern European street food is essentially dough that is baked (or fried) and filled with cheese and hearty vegetables fit for a Polish winter, like cabbage and potatoes–yes they have vegan options! There are also sweet knish, but I prefer the savory options. Yonah’s has served knish in NY since 1910, remains a family business, and is sadly the last knish bakery in NY.

Knish are an Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish snack food. The dough is typically stuffed with hearty vegetables (like cabbage), cheese, or meat.

Levain Bakery

The thickest, gooiest cookies. My favorite was the classic chocolate chip cookie. They are making these fresh-to-order throughout the day, so be sure your cookies are straight from the oven.

Kopitiam

Blending hipster vibes with a street food feel, this Malaysian casual spot is fun, tasty, and group for small groups.

L & B Spumoni Garden's pizza

There are really too many good pizza places in New York to pick a favorite. Riddled with indecision, I let me friend who grow up in Brooklyn take lead and he took me here. This Sicilian pizza is very different from the round, thinner crust varieties elsewhere, but I loved this thick, rectangular shaped pizza loaded with sauce and cheese.

We drove to Brooklyn with my local NY friend to try his favorite Sicilian pizza.