Three Michelin star dinner at Le Bernardin Restaurant @ New York, USA

I went there for dinner to try out their famous meal. Eating in their main dining room is too much hassle that they need a blazer or dress in suit. Main dining room also requires reservation far ahead of time. Since my time in New York is limited, I choose to have their lounge menu instead. With the hype surrounding this restaurant, I expect the food to be among the best. However, not all the items that I ordered was excellent. I really coming here to be impressed but somehow they have not met my expectation. The restaurant atmosphere and the main dining room was grand and nice.

Taste:8/10(Good. The restaurant were nice and food were good but it's not outstanding which I think a 3 Michelin star restaurant should have. I have tasted other one Michelin star restaurants which served much tastier food. Service were great and very formal. I was very satisfied with the warm lobster with truffle. The dish were excellent and taste great. The Le Bernardin salmon rillette were quite normal. Nothing to shout about the oyster as its come in its natural form which was barely touched. I liked the hazelnut praline as the chocolate were rich and good praline flavour).
Price:1/10(Very expensive. Oyster priced at USD4.00 per piece, salmon rillette at USD22.00, lobster with truffle "en brioche" at USD27.00 and hazelnut praline at USD22.00. Total bill exclude tax and tips were USD83.00).


Highly rated Le Bernardin of New York. Often quoted as the top restaurant in New York.

Bread and butter. Not impressive.


Oyster of East coast and West coast varieties. Served with vinaigrette.



Le Bernardin's salmon rillette with toast. This meal was not impressive. The salmon rillette is almost like canned salmon bread spread.

Salmon rillette spread on toast.

Warm lobster and truffle "en Brioche". This is the best meal of this dinner.

Hazelnut Praline - flourless hazelnut cake, Gianduja mousse, orange curd and Praline ice-cream.


Environment inside Le Bernardin, New York.

My ticket to store my items at reception.

GPS/Coordinate: 40.761629, -73.981921
Address: 155 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019, United States
Public transport:7th Avenue station via B, D or E train/50 street station via train 1/49th Street via N, Q or R train.
Opening hours: Weekday 12.00pm to 2.30pm;5.15pm to 10.30pm. Saturday:5.15pm to 11.00pm. Sunday closed.

Excellent fine dining dinner at Michelin star Gramercy Tavern @ New York, USA

Gramercy Tavern is a famous restaurant which has earned a Michelin star. Having a dinner even at bar area since I was solo were fabulous. I came here around 6.00pm for early dinner. The restaurant has great atmosphere, creative menu and good service. I chose the 4 course dinner. Without understanding in detail of the menu, the meal came out as a surprise. The ingredient pairing were perfect and very thoughtful. The bartender was attentive and made good wine suggestions. I do suggest for those without reservation to come early as by 7.30pm the restaurant is crowded.

Taste:10/10(Excellent. All the meal in the 4 course set were done perfectly with right combination of ingredient and flavour. The smoked Arctic char toast is the most memorable meal. So delicious and crunchy).
Price:2/10(Expensive. Although the price is at high side but it is quite reasonable for fine dining in New York city. The price of the four course dinner at USD45.00. Plus wine was USD55.00).


Before the four course meal start, I was asked to drink this cocktail. It was sourish with pine nuts.


Appetizer of marinated beets with summer berries, Ricotta and pecans. Really amazed that beet can be made with such great flavour.

Start with bread and butter.


Smoked Arctic char toast with corn and shishito peppers. Very tasty and crunchy.



Grilled corned beef with caraflex cabbage and pickled peaches. The meat were cooked perfectly.


Dessert. Corn cake with sorghum, corn custard and black berry buttermilk sherbet.

Moscato sweet wine.

Gramercy Tavern. A one star Michelin restaurant in New York.

GPS/Coordinate: 40.738454, -73.988498
Address: 42 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003, United States
Public transport: 8 minutes walk from Union Square Subway via 4,5,6,L,N,Q or R train.
Opening hours: Daily 12.00pm to 11.00pm.

McSorley's Old Ale House - Oldest Pub in New York

McSorley's is an Old-time bar with Irish bartenders. It has 2 kinds of ale (light or dark) & classic sawdust on the floor. Two of McSorley's mottos are "Be Good or Be Gone", and "We were here before you were born".


McSorley's Old Ale House.

Be good or be gone.

My two glass of dark beer. Sold at USD4.00 for pairs.

Really old pub and full of history.

All the items are still intact since 1910.

Old mugs and classic collections.

Environment inside the ale house.

Beer from the tap.

Saw dust on the floor. The sawdust is to prevent the floor from slippery when those drunk customers spit on the floor. The saw dust can act as moisture absorber.

Selfie before I go.

GPS/Coordinate: 40.728818, -73.989708
Address: 15 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003, United States
Public transport: Astor Place via train no 6.

Beautiful Boston Public Library @ Boston, Massachusetts

It's hard to believe that a humble looking library building from outside but have a spectacular architecture inside. This place was not in my place to visit initially. But from exterior of this library seems fascinating. From the old books, to the courtyard and beauty of every room, it's worth your time to visit. The Reading Room upstairs is a lovely place to sit and read among many people. The reading room is like hogwarts as in Harry Potter movie. Amazingly Boston public library is the second largest library in United States. The library also full of history and unique architecture as it was more than 100 years old and established since 1852.



Boston Public library. Their slogan: Built by the people and dedicated to the advancement of learning.

Beautiful lobby.

Stairs to the main reading room.

Main reading room.

Good value super burrito from Taqueria El Farolito @ San Francisco, USA

Taqueria El Farolito serving good budget Mexican food. The portion are huge and tasty as well. Besides burritos, they also have tacos, quesadillas, nachos, enchiladas and suiza. San Francisco have a special variation of burrito which called as super burrito. What makes super burrito different compared to normal burrito is the extra ingredient which is avocado, sour cream and cheese.

Taste:8/10(Good. The super burrito that we ordered were good and huge with lots of beef. They provide salsa spicy sauce which was a great compliment. The beef, rice and beans taste very well when mixed together).
Price:7/10(Moderate. Super burrito at USD6.75. This is cheap, simple and filling dinner).


We ordered super burritos. Since the portion was quite huge, we both ordered just one.

Super burrito full of goodness. Contains rice, beans, fresh tomatoes, onion, cilantro, salsa, avocado and cheese sour sauce.

Delicious breakfast of Taylor Street Coffee Shop @ San Francisco, USA

We had our breakfast at Taylor Street Coffee Shop due to near proximity from our hostel. The little coffee shop also gets quite crowded and a line forms outside the shop if you gets a bit late for breakfast. That's shows that this shop must be serving good breakfast. Coming to San Francisco without trying a good breakfast is something missing. The shop is quite small. Do come early for breakfast to beat the queue. We were lucky no need to queue as we reached here around 8.30am.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. Do order their Millionaire's bacon as it is unique compared to other bacon that you had in USA. The bacon is thick and have slight tint of spiciness which makes the bacon sweet, spicy and tasty. The egg benedict with bacon and mushroom were a good combination as well).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. The price for our breakfast were reasonable by San Francisco standard as everything in San Francisco is expensive. Two person with the food shown below were less than USD40.00. The portion were big and we are able to skip our lunch by having the breakfast here).




Scramble eggs with Millionaire's bacon. Consist of toast, salad, bacon and eggs.

Amazing tall trees at Muir Woods National Monument @ Mill Valley, California

Visited Muir Woods National Monument as part of the Dylan's Famous Tour of San Francisco. The park was beautiful and its quite crowded. The main objective to come here is to watch the amazing redwood trees which was absolutely tall and beautiful. As time is quite limited as we only have 1 hour, we only manage to walk the main trail which was wonderful. Initially we thought of going to Yosemite National Park but as our time in San Francisco is quite limited, we took the city tour with Muir Woods as part of the itinerary instead. Muir Woods trails are easy to walk as its flat and if you like photography, there are much photo opportunity here. Enjoy the photos that I took when visiting Muir Woods in Sep 2014. The weather at that time were good with temperature of around 15 C.


Welcome to Muir Woods National Monument.

Huge tall trees.


As you walk deeper, the air was so refreshing and cooler temperature. Tall trees meaning multiple layers of canopy which blocks of sunlight from reaching the ground.