Best cannoli from Maria's Pastry @ North End, Boston, Massachusetts

Maria's pastry shop located at North End Boston has the best cannoli. However this little gems is less well known. It's a small family owned shop and generally isn’t as crowded as the others. But don't let this fooled you. Maria’s Pastry won the highly coveted Boston Magazine Best Cannoli Award in 2013. Filled to order Maria’s crunchy ricotta-filled cannoli are addicting. Maria’s is a locally loved institution.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. The cannoli were made on the spot. Shell were fresh, flavourful and crispy. Ricotta filling were the best after I tried Mike's pastry. Soft, silky smooth and generous amount of filling).
Price:6/10(Moderate. Ricotta filling cannoli at USD3.00 each).


The shell was so fresh and flavorful in a wonderful buttery way with the right amount of crunch and flakiness. The ricotta filling was silky smooth, slightly chilled, and sweet with a hint of cheesy savoriness.

It is an old-fashioned unassuming Pastry shop near the North End neighborhood. You can't never imagine that this shop has the best cannolis in Boston.

Maria's pastry shop. Small. Tucked away. Family owned. Not touristy.

GPS/Coordinate: 42.363297, -71.056506
Address: 46 Cross St, Boston, MA 02113, United States
Public transport: Haymarket subway station via orange line.

Great shrimp risotto from Piccola Cucina @ SoHo, New York

Little cozy place with good food, I ordered the seafood risotto which is great. The location is great in the middle of Soho.It is a very small restaurant with very small tables. Service was the good and prices reasonable. The best part is the wine list which was varied and exclusively Italian.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. I ordered the farro shrimp and veggies. The risotto rice were good and shrimp were fresh. The moscato recommended were the best I tasted so far. Moscato Passito di Pantelleria were sweet and clean taste with fruits, herbs, honey and complexity flavour).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. Food were great but the seats are tight. Farro shrimp at USD14.00 and moscato at USD10.00).


Bread with some spicy fish sauce.


So many prawns/shrimp on the dish. Farro shrimp and veggies.

Fresh prawns with delicious rice.

My moscato Passito di Pantelleria was sweet and taste great.

Small restaurant but big taste.

GPS/Coordinate: 40.726310, -74.002185
Address: 184 Prince St, New York, NY 10012, United States
Public transport: Spring St subway station via C or E train.

New York skyline from New Jersey

Manhattan beautiful skyline can be viewed from New Jersey. This is one of the reason I stay in New Jersey when I visited New York. Besides that, rental in New Jersey is cheaper when compared to in Manhattan. There is frequent buses running between Manhattan (Port Authority Bus Terminal - PABT) and New Jersey. Each way cost around USD3.10. If you purchased 10 tickets, its around USD2.90 each way.


Manhattan from New Jersey.


New York skyline during sunrise.

New York skyline during sunset.

Entering Lincoln tunnel to Manhattan.