Brunch at Bergdorf Goodman should be one of your bucket list places to go in NYC. I can’t help but sometimes think a lot of the made-popular-by-movies/shi-shi places are over-hyped but I’ve been to BG Restaurant once for my birthday and recently for my friend/cousin/fashionista extraordinaire’s birthday (Hi Heba!) and it has never failed to satisfy. Both elegant and delicious. Plan in advance though for a reservation — it’s not always easy to get a table for brunch!!

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Really, I don’t know what took me so long to visit my neighbor, Momofuku Milk Bar/Má Pêche in midtown. I’ve been waiting ages for a reason to stop by and try their popular menu. SO after an event next door at the Townhouse Spa with Chrissy Teigen (ironically, Teigen wrote a whole post on Momofuku and duck fat shortly after), I realized proximity was the perfect excuse to grab some dessert there with my friend Sabrina visiting from DC.

The funny thing is, I thought the front Milk Bar (with all their desserts galore in a neat window display) and some hot drinks was all there was to this place:

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By Munia Islam

It was one of my dear friend’s birthdays and it was her first time celebrating it in the U.S., so we needed a perfect New York City restaurant to start the night. Since most of the guests were vegetarian (just two of us are meat-eaters), we had to pick a place that had enough vegetarian options to make this a special dinner for the birthday girl! It was Saturday night and a packed crowd filled Fifth Avenue, but we planned ahead and made reservation at Fig & Olive, which fit the bill.

The ambiance of the restaurant was very romantic, but the gorgeous bottles of olive oils lining the walls of the restaurant were just divine and truly lit up the place. For starters, we started with the Cheese Assortment, including fromage de chevre (goat), gorgonzola dolce (cow), Robiola (cow/sheep), manchego (sheep), rocchetta (cow, sheep, goat), with an addition treat of sweet additions of Fig & Olive Walnut Tapenade, as well as Marcona Almond. My favorites were definitely the goat cheese—you can never go wrong with goat cheese, I say—and the tapenade, which allowed for a sweet and savory combination, all just in the first appetizer.

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If there’s one thing you do tonight, I’d suggest checking out Madison Square Eats if you haven’t yet! I realize this might be sort of a disservice to tell you all about this so late in the game, but since there IS one more day to catch it, I figure why not.

I have been passing by it for months but I FINALLY stopped by last week. They have outposts from some of the best restaurants and food carts in Manhattan and Brooklyn all in one place. The tables and canopy of lights give it such a pretty ambiance too.

I wanted a burger from Graffiti but they had run out so I walked down to the Roberta’s Pizza booth and ordered a seasonal personal size pizza with squash, mushroom, thyme, and basil. Delicious!

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Last weekend, I was trying — trying — to get some writing done bright and early in the morning right when I woke up at 11 AM. But on an empty stomach, I could barely get myself to write out a sentence. And it was one of those occasions in my kitchen where I had like five boxes of cereal but no milk, butter but no bread, pancake mix and no energy, etc. I wanted something quick too since I had a whole day planned that required me to be out and about, not sitting in front of my computer.

I asked my cousin/roomie, Safia, where we can grab a quick breakfast and her eyes lit up as if she’s been waiting for me to ask her this all morning:

“Oh Shy! There’s this place I pass by everyday to work called Blue Dog Café and I’ve been meaning to check it out! Let’s go!” {direct quote}

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I want to like Georgio’s Country Grill. Before going for the first time, I had heard good things from friends who lived near by. And when I did end up going for the first time to catch up with a friend for lunch, I liked the laidback, non-pretentious atmosphere of the place. Like you’re eating out in…well the country. But I found the food to be a little more disappointing. For lunch, I had an open-faced grilled chicken and roasted peppers sandwich.

It comes with seasoned grilled chicken, caramelized onions, roasted peppers, lettuce and tomato on ciabatta bread. It looked great, sure. I think I feel like if I can make it at home, it takes a little bit of the fun out of the meal. The sandwich just didn’t have too much of a kick to qualify it as anything special. I thought maybe their brunch is where it’s really at…so I went back. And I think you know by now what I ordered…

I don’t know what it is about poached eggs on an english muffin, but I can’t help but order it almost every time. They served theirs over sautéed spinach, with scallions, dill, feta cheese oreganato and a generous serving of hollandaise sauce. The problem I had with my eggs was it veered too much to the salty side. I’m not sure if it was the sauce or what, but I’ve had better. Plus potatoes on the side were just too much for one girl to handle. My friend Asma ordered the Arizona omelette, and seemed to just be mildly satisfied (maybe because the eggs she cooks herself are BOMB).

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