Matcha and cookie dough vegan ice cream. Baby, it’s hot outside.

The East Village and Lower East Side were new areas to me on this trip. Both great for veggie, vegan and slightly off the beaten track offerings. We dined at Hearth which serves sharing plates of Italian food – it’s not a vegetarian restaurant but vegetables are the star of the menu. Egg Shop and The Butcher’s Daughter are across the road from one another for brunch (pick the latter if you have an aversion to eggs). Satisfy your sweet tooth at Momofuku’s Milk Bar (where Karlie Kloss has a range of supermodel cookies!), Van Leeuwen ice cream parlour for vegan ice cream and Erin McKenna’s vegan (/gluten free/Kosher) bakery for the cutest sweet treats. Angelica’s Kitchen is a super cute vegan cafe, more of a hippie than hipster vibe (some people were vegan before 2014 I guess) and somewhere I’d had on my list for the last couple of trips.

Over on the West Side, The Standard (walk down the High Line first) does a great all day brunch with cheery service and perfect Bloody Mary’s (I had two because that is the optimum Bloody Mary number). 

Egg white and feta sandwich and a hydrating (hangover curing) watermelon juice at Egg Shop (have a medicinal coffee while you’re there too).

Back up town and Maya does the best guacamole imaginable, such a far cry from the sad green gloop that British supermarkets sell. The margaritas are good too and I say this as a dedicated gin drinker. Lexington Bar and Books may not be everyone’s scene but the gin and elderflower martinis should come with a warning (in a good way) and it lets one smoke inside – one of the most fun and bizarre nights out I’ve had in a long time. Closes at 4am when it’s already getting light outside. If you’re after a rooftop bar then The Hudson’s is pretty great, albeit a challenge to get up to. Watching the city go from day to twilight from this vantage point was the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.