BIBI'S GUIDE: NEW YORK
New York holds a particular place in my heart. I was born in Manhattan, and it is the city where my story began.
In this guide, I want to take you through the New York I know best: the restaurants I return to, the breakfast spots that start my day right, the shops and galleries that catch my eye, and the corners of the city I turn to for inspiration.
This is not a list of the obvious. It is New York as I see it, personal, considered, and close to home.
Restaurants
Lucien: A New York classic. Tiny tables, French food, wonderful people-watching and exactly the sort of place that never needs reinventing.
Sartiano’s: For dinner downtown. Beautiful, lively and particularly good if you’re staying at Nine Orchard.
Graciela: One for dinner. Intimate, delicious and very New York.
Elio’s: An Upper East Side institution. Old-school neighbourhood Italian and completely iconic.
Waverly Inn: Another perennial favourite. Cosy, slightly hidden and always wonderful for dinner.
Pastis: There are many reasons to go, but sometimes you simply need a very good smash burger...
Drinks
Colbo Next Door: A brilliant little wine bar and the sort of place you accidentally spend an entire evening.
Lei: Another favourite for wine. Intimate and very downtown
The Swan Room: Situated at Nine Orchard, this is the perfect place to have a drink and people-watch.
Sake Bar Asoko: Chique, atmospheric and exactly the kind of place I love discovering in New York.
Shopping, fashion & beautiful things
ESSX: One of my favourite places to see what is happening in fashion downtown.
Dover Street Market: Always worth disappearing into for an hour or two.
Bergdorf Goodman: Because some New York rituals should never change.
Gallery Folly: For vintage furniture, antiques and unusual pieces. The sort of place where you go in looking for nothing and leave thinking about a chair for the next six months.
Gray & Davis: For antique and vintage jewellery. Beautiful Georgian, Victorian and Art Deco pieces.
Pippin Vintage Jewelry: A treasure hunt for vintage jewellery and rings.
Shopping, fashion & beautiful things
The archive-fashion secrets - for anyone obsessed with fashion, New York has some extraordinary places hidden in plain sight:
James Veloria: Incredible archival fashion, particularly if you love the stranger corners of fashion history.
Lara Koleji: Another brilliant destination for rare and archival pieces.
Albright Fashion Library: A true fashion treasure chest. Decades of important clothing and accessories, the kind of place that makes you want to rethink your entire wardrobe.
Patron of the New: A brilliant edit of fashion and accessories, and especially good for Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses.
La Garçonne: Quiet, intelligent fashion with an impeccable eye.
Art, galleries & museums
David Zwirner: Always one of my gallery stops.
60 White, Tribeca: A wonderful downtown space and worth adding to an afternoon vagabonding through Tribeca.
The Met: No trip to New York feels complete without it.
The Morgan Library & Museum: One of the most beautiful museums in the city. I’m particularly excited by Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions. Manuscripts, symbolism, mysticism and centuries of visual storytelling.
Brooklyn Museum: Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses is an extraordinary meeting of fashion, sculpture, nature and technology. Her work really needs to be seen physically to understand it.
Neue Galerie: One of my Upper East Side favourites. The mansion is beautiful in itself, and the collection, café and shop make it very easy to spend an afternoon there. Exquisite textiles, objects and small things you absolutely did not know you needed.
Martos Gallery: I always make sure to stop by. Such an inspiring place and I am a huge fan of Dan Asher.
Hotels
Hotel Chelsea: Built in 1883 on West 23rd Street, the Chelsea Hotel has always felt like a living piece of New York's creative history. Patti Smith is who draws me back, her years there with Robert Mapplethorpe are woven into everything I love about the place. Whenever I am in New York, this is one of the places I choose to stay.
Nine Orchard: One of my favourite downtown hotels. Have a drink at the Swan Room, then wander downstairs for dinner at Sartiano’s.
And finally…
My favourite way to see New York is still on two wheels.
Get a Citi Bike, stay above ground and whizz through the city. New York changes completely when you experience it at street level: the shop windows, people, architecture, tiny galleries, flower stalls, strange objects left on pavements and places you would never have known to look for.
For me, that is really the joy of New York: exploring with no particular destination and allowing the city to decide where you end up.
The best discoveries are usually the ones you weren’t looking for!
Love,
Bibi
Discover
Bibi's Favourites
