New York, 2017

It was in the Autumn November 2017 when me and my dad travelled on a seven and a half hour flight from Manchester Airport, to the city that never sleeps that would be New York City. We arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport around the evening and already it rained and the clouds quite dull as we would be staying here for about five days. But we were just happy that we landed at a good particular time, eventually when we booked a taxi we were amazed and thrilled at the sight seeing's in the yellow cab around the city centre after crossing Brooklyn Bridge, we even had to lower our heads down when we gazed out the cab windows to see how high the city streets and tower buildings were as we've never come across higher ones like in London before. The city was virtually almost twice the size as England's capital but with taller skyscrapers and wider busier routes.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was still raining only lightly but that did not stop us from having a wonder around as the hotel we stopped at was only round the corner from Times Square and when we arrived there, it was quite frankly so fascinating, dazzling and colourful with the board advertisements and extremely busy. In a moment it took my breath away just to see the wonders of N.Y.C.

We went to see some extraordinary views on the tour bus and visit some incredible scenery in the likes of going up the Empire State Building, (despite the fact it was absolutely freezing when we stepped outside gazing through the railings), visiting the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero looking back at the tragic events that unfolded but payed our respects to the heroes of that day, almost getting lost whilst wondering through Central Park that was virtually as wide as Yorkshire and sailing on a cruise ship to Liberty Island despite the fact that we could not go inside the Statue Of Liberty due to it being closed for the day.

Out of all of that we had a great time there, but the food we dined in there was somewhat different I have never really came across before. On the first night, after taking about half an hour to decide where to dine in at since there were so many options of restaurants to pick from in such a large city, we dined in at a place called Planet Hollywood. At first when we arrived, I couldn't tell if it was either a restaurant or a museum with such amazing decors of cars dangling round the roof and walls. The restaurant played all the songs of the radio in the charts, it had ravishing designs and textures and with a great atmosphere as it would be the ideal choice place for a perfect birthday bash.

When we both scrolled through the menu, there was so many options to choose from with the number of choices of the mains and appetisers (let alone the desserts). I ordered a Burger although I couldn't remember what the actual menu name it was for it, but it was served with bacon rash (grilled), lettuce, sliced tomato and black beans, with a side of fries with ketchup. My dad ordered Burrito with Chicken, served with diced onions, red and green peppers, Mexican rice and ranchero sauce, wrapped in a flour tortilla with guacamole. The food was great for us both, but the one thing I look back on which I should have done was to try out those Supernova Shakes on the desserts section of the menu I was tempted to have but was too full up and it was getting rather late.

The second night, we thought to give the Playwright Irish Pub a try since we enjoy the atmospheres in late night Irish Bars. It was a thrilling environment as they played 80's music and played karaoke gigs later on with a packed atmosphere. It was a great night for both food and drink, as I ordered a 12.oz grilled New York Strip Steak, medium rare with fries and mixed veg sautéed. My dad ordered a Chicken Breast with spicy sauce, mashed potatoes and mixed veg. My steak was actually almost as big as the plate, but I managed the whole dinner as it was seasoned and grilled uniquely well especially of how juicy it was and to be perfectly honest, steak is nothing without fries with hints of healthiness. And my dad couldn't have asked for a better chicken breast served to him with that much in his mouth to enjoy.

During our time there, we even dined for breakfast, American Breakfast which was somewhat different to what we have in Britain. We don't remember the name of the place we dined there at, but it was quite frankly the first American Breakfast we ever had as it was severely different in taste and texture in the mouth but still it was delicate. From the looks, the bacon was thinner and extra crispy, served with roasted skillet potatoes we never actually had for breakfast, seasoned scrambled eggs which was the favourite, brown toast, and pork sausages. It was also served with coffee, orange juice and golden syrup left alongside the napkins and utensil tools when we sat down there.

The third but last night we dined at a restaurant since we had other plans, was at Hard Rock Café and the place was large, quite fabulous and with many brands of clothing, stationery and products when we entered the gift shop before walking through the restaurant. The surroundings rather packed and busy, the music even playing aloud in the background, and it even had a stage where we sat close at on the balcony. They even had Liam Gallagher and other rock music playing along which was rather brilliant ambience for the restaurant and the people. When we were given the menu's, I ordered Chicken Fajita's served with tomatoes lettuce golden rice with hints of spicy sauce, the annoying part was that I bit my tongue half way through devouring my Fajita's but I ate the spicy meal and my tongue was slightly steaming, still I enjoyed the dinner. My dad ordered a Guinness Whiskey Glazed Blue Cheeseburger, to be fair all he could say was that it was probably the best burger he ever had, although if I tried it, I'd probably want to know if you could actually taste the whiskey on the burger unless the marinating with the bacon, lettuce and tomatoes with cheese brought different taste textures on the meal.

I have to say that unfortunately I looked online that one of these restaurant's was permanently closed probably due to COVID but who knows maybe one day when we visit N.Y.C again we can experience new restaurants we have not come across to try out new foods and beverages.