NYC: A Bridge Too Far

We decided to go for dinner in Williamsburg last night and, having located a restaurant called Diner, nestled underneath the Williamsburg Bridge, we decided to walk from our Houston Street hotel to the restaurant. The orangey pink sunset hues, combined with the pinkish paint of the bridge and last night's neon pink Empire State Building lights made for a very pretty walk, even if the girders of the bridge made it hard to capture the ESB on camera.

Diner is one of those casually cool Brooklyn places where you can order a cheeseburger (spoiler alert: I did) but you can also choose rabbit or a fancy swordfish-like fish. Inside, the décor is hipster diner car, but as it was such a clement evening we sat at one of the pavement tables and ordered blokey cocktails while the waitress told us what was on the menu, making notes on the paper tablecloth. As mentioned, I had the cheeseburger — I find it hard to say no to white cheddar — but to start, we shared an amazing salad with rocket, plums, duck confit and baguette; got to be healthy sometime, right?

We then decided to walk back home. Somehow, I had it in my head that it would only take about 20 minutes to walk to Brooklyn Bridge and, from there, another 30 minutes back to the hotel. Seven miles and a long detour round the navy yards later and we finally made it home in time for me to snap a few more photos from our hotel's rooftop terrace of the ESB while it was still my favourite colour.

This morning I grabbed a bagel from Russ and Daughters and then went for coffee at the Irving Farm Coffee Roasters on Orchard Street. I sipped my giant mug of pourover coffee and wished it was my hot-desking base, like the other customers. Then I headed uptown for my Bloomie Nails manicure. By this time, the sun was very scorchio again, so on my way back down Sixth Avenue, I ducked into Gregorys Coffee, a new mini-chain that looks like a particularly cool version of Starbucks but that offers single-origin espresso and has an Aeropress bar. I ordered a hit and run — a shot of espresso while I waited for my Aeropress — and perched at one of the tables. It's a cool concept and the coffee was very good.

The penultimate stop on my tour was at the pop-up store for Kate Spade's Saturday brand. You can't buy Saturday products in the UK, and I was very tempted by all the pretty, colourful things, but managed to leave with only a bracelet. Phew! By this point I was starved, and so ducked into Taquitoria, a new taco bar on Ludlow Street. I took my tacos — one carnitas and one fish — to go and ate them on the hotel rooftop. De. Lish. Ous.

Long may this lovely weather continue!