The Best of New York City

Today’s blog post is a guest post by Anne from iannsterdam. Her blog (www.iannsterdam.com) is an online Little Black Book about hot spots, travel and things to love. Like good restaurants, concept stores and events in Amsterdam and other cities. Anne loves to travel the world, especially to cities like New York.

 Christmas in the big apple

I LOVE all the lights and the exuberant decoration in the shopping windows during the Holiday season in New York. A few weeks ago I was wandering the streets of NYC discovering the side streets of SOHO and the Meatpacking district. Two of my favourite neighbourhoods! At Union Square there was a fun Holidays gift market with more than 150 stables. Try to stop by if you’re in town. Here are my three tips for Christmas shopping in New York City.

 ABC Carpet and Home

As an editor at Home Deco magazines in The Netherlands ABC Carpet and Home is one of my regulars when visiting New York. It’s a huge home and living store close to Union Square. Lots of unique designs and a selection of the most beautiful interior brands you’ve ever seen. All under one roof! I spotted some real cute Christmas decoration at ABC Carpet and Home. Shopping makes you hungry ;-), so as a foody, another thing I like about this store is the restaurant called ABC Kitchen. They serve the most delicious Italian oriented dishes with local and organic produce.

 Chelsea Market

Christmas equals good food! So the one place to go for good food in New York is Chelsea Market. Located in the heart of the trendy Meatpacking district this huge roofed market isn’t hard to miss. Not the best kept secret but definitely worth a visit. At Chelsea market you find very good deli’s, specialty stores and Anthropologie. Anthropologie is a nice concept store with cute clothes and even cuter home decoration. If you’re at Chelsea Market around lunch go to the Lobster Place and order half a lobster. They’re to die for!

Balthazar

SOHO is one of those NY neighbourhoods where you can walk around for hours and still discover new boutiques. Just zig zag the streets between Prince Street and Spring Street, you’ll love it there. A nice restaurant in SOHO is Balthazar. Not new or full of the latest design furniture, but an authentic French Brasserie style restaurant. An all time favourite to add to your Little Black Book! Balthazar is a great spot for breakfast, lunch or dinner and at Sunday they have good brunch options. They have delicious steak tartare on the menu. Tried and tested it for you.

Happy Christmas shopping to all of you!

PS: at iannsterdam.com you find more NY tips in my online Little Black Book.