The selected restaurants have been divided into five categories: Gourmet, Business, Trendy, Budget and Personal Recommendations. The restaurants are listed alphabetically within these different categories, which serve as guidelines rather than absolute definitions of the establishments.

Visitors to New York who wish to dine in that special restaurant should make a reservation well in advance. It is not unreasonable for patrons to call for a table in the trendiest eating places a few months in advance. Sales tax of 8.625% is automatically added to the bill but service charges are only standard for large groups.

The prices quoted below are for an average three-course meal for one person and a bottle of house wine or cheapest equivalent; they include VAT but they do not include tip.

Gourmet

Chanterelle

Not even the respectful din of other guests can distract one from the exquisite meals at what must be the most unfussy of the city’s top French restaurants. Its decor is simple - Austrian shades, crystal chandeliers, fresh flowers and bare walls except for the etchings in the entranceway. It gives diners more of an opportunity to concentrate on the delicacies put before them. Grilled seafood sausage is a perennial favorite on the ever changing menu that often features a lush duck consomme with duck and foie gras dumplings, roast squab with black truffles, crisped sweetbreads. Service is excellent.

Daniel

Named after the renowned chef-owner, Daniel Boloud, this restaurant is consistently ranked as one of the city’s best venues for classical French fare, with a decor that exudes classical opulence yet contemporary flare. Seasonal masterpieces have included Maine sea scallops layered with black truffle in golden puff pastry or morels with duck and foie gras stuffing, each dish accentuating the ingredients to their best. Jacket and tie are required for gentlemen.

Gramercy Tavern

Danny Meyer’s contemporary American restaurant never goes out of fashion. A place New Yorkers take out-of-town guests, the restaurant offers two kinds of dining experiences - the airy first-come-first-serve bar serves delicious but uncomplicated meals, while the formal dining room presents extraordinarily skillful fare, such as duck foie gras and roasted cod. Those on an expense account should go all out on the market (fixed-price) menu and get a little taste of nearly everything. Those who cannot get enough of chef Tom Colicchio’s wares should try his spectacular second restaurant, Craft.

Le Cirque 2000

With tongue firmly set in cheek, designer Adam Tihany transformed the stately Villard House into a circus as imagined by Salvador Dali. The presentation of the food is just as overstated, from the enormous gilt-edged plates for entrees to the Venetian-glass fantasies that hold devilishly delicious desserts. The real reason for one to come here, however, is the food. Diners can taste duck with seared foie gras or veal mignon with potato gnocchi. The restaurant will be relocated to One Beacon Court at the end of 2005. Check website for new address.

Business

‘21′ Club

Cole Porter sang the praises of this place nearly 70 years ago and it is still worthy of song. With a clientele that has included every president since Teddy Roosevelt, this former speakeasy has a history few New York venues can match. Diners enter below a line of lawn jockeys (21 of them, naturally) to reach the string of intimate dining rooms. The ‘21′ burger is the classic choice but chef Erik Blauberg has updated the menu of classic American fare to include dishes such as oven-roasted veal chops and hickory-fired filet mignon.

Gotham Bar and Grill

They work miracles at Gotham Bar and Grill. Tables are as tightly spaced as in any New York restaurant but the various levels and the soaring ceilings hung with lighting fixtures resembling parachutes give the illusion of space. The staff are harried yet always seems to anticipate the diner’s every whim. What is more, Chef Alfred Portale, who pioneered the gravity-defying entrees that everyone now emulates, does American food like nobody else. Dishes include the Maine lobster tails or grilled Atlantic salmon.

Jean George

As they are so often set in basements and backrooms, restaurants in New York rarely get to brag about their view. Jean George lets its location in the Trump Hotel speak for itself. Diners can sit on the terrace facing Central Park or enjoy the same view from the Art-Deco influenced dining room. The decor is subdued, allowing chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s French fare to shine. Few diners will forget dishes like the sliced sea scallops, which sit atop sauteed cauliflower. The wine list is vast and the sommelier is happy to help select a bottle.

The Palm

The original New York City classic looks much like it did in the 20s when cartoonists from the then nearby King Publications plied their craft on the restaurant walls for a meal. The cartooned walls, simple wood setting and tile floors are still a popular venue for large and succulent steaks, giant lobsters (some as big as 1.8 kilograms or 4 pounds), homemade chips, creamed spinach and cheesecake. It is often crowded, but there are two other New York Palm restaurants. Reservations suggested.

Tavern on the Green

This is perhaps the most famous restaurant in New York - with good reason. It is a fantasyland hung with thousands of twinkling lights. Inside is a maze of dining rooms, each more extravagant than the last. Any night of the week there is a movie première party, a reception honoring a local dignitary or a political fundraising event. In terms of food, diners should stick with the old favorites, such as the sirloin steak or the rack of pork.

Trendy

Florent

No longer alone in the trendy Meatpacking District, this late-night bistro refuses to be outshone by its showier neighbors. A savvy West Village crowd packs the tables and diner-style counter stools for French-influenced fare - the steak-frites is great, as are the moules (mussels). The sassy message board above the bar and fictitious hand-drawn wall maps are always good for a chuckle. No credit cards. Open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

71 Clinton Fresh Food

The Manhattans here are the tastiest (and strongest) in the city, so guests should sample one as they wait for a table at this instantly popular hangout for Lower East Side hipsters. There is no sign on this tiny shop front - diners must look for the stainless-steel façade. Its modern, miniature space means that visitors dine closely among the chic clientele, locals and tourists, most likely along the banqueted wall. The handful of tasty options on chef Jason Neroni’s daily changing menu are subject to availability, but some form of duck is always a main course. Open for dinner Sun-Thur from 1800.

Nobu

Lovely birch trees line the dim dining room at this long-standing favorite in the TriBeCa neighborhood. The food is most accurately labelled ‘Japanese-inspired’, which means that chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa lets his imagination run wild. Newcomers should sample the black cod with miso. Diners who cannot get a seat should try the appropriately named Next Door Nobu.

Pastis

Diners belly up to the bar and wait their turn to sample the steak-frites, fresh fish or the croque monsieur at this picture-perfect recreation of a slightly faded French bistro. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily and there is a communal table that can seat up to 25. One of the best options is to head here early for brunch - the basket of warm breads is well worth the trip. Reservations accepted and take away available.

The Red Cat

Moroccan lanterns hanging overhead illuminate this long, narrow restaurant in the newly chic gallery district of Chelsea. There is no pretence here - the warm, welcoming staff guides diners through a menu featuring pan-crisped skate with a marinated cucumber and artichoke salad and char-grilled pork chop with olive puree.

227 Tenth Avenue (between 23rd and 24th Streets)
Tel: (212) 242 1122. Fax: (212) 242 1390.
Website: www.theredcat.com
Price: US$45. Wine: US$24.

Budget

Fluffy’s Cafe and Bakery

Located steps from Broadway, this small snack shop, with a few tables and a counter that faces the street, has quick service, delicious bakery goods, wraps and fresh fruit, all very reasonably priced. It is a perfect breakfast, lunch and snack stop for someone on the go or for take away.

Mamas Food Shop

American comfort food has been on the rise in Manhattan for a while, but this East Village spot has been serving it long before New Yorkers insatiably craved the stuff. Diners can choose from helpings of fried chicken, roasted salmon and ‘mac ‘n’ cheese’, which derive from the 1950s TV dinner era. There is also a large array of oh-so-satisfying vegetable sides - broccoli with garlic, roasted brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes, to name but a few. Diners select a combination of three dishes at the counter and then find a table in the flea-market furnished space. A microwave for re-heating the goods and the tattooed staff are the only reminders of the present era. No credit cards.

Max

Everyone knows how much a box of pasta costs in the market. And this link in the chain seems to respect the intelligence of its patrons by not charging a fortune. The house rigatoni and eggplant topped with mozzarella cheese is a mere US$9.95. Similarly, the owners could get twice the asking price for the melt-in-the mouth gnocchi. Although the restaurant, which also serves scrumptious salads and fish and meat dishes, now has three outposts, the original East Village space is always packed with hipsters getting more than their money’s worth. Country-style Italian table and chairs are crammed together in the main dining space, with barely room for diners to move between them and a sideboard teeming with pepper grinders and bowls of parmesan cheese. A walk through the kitchen, which bisects the restaurant, takes one to the narrow bar area and another small dining space. No credit cards.

New York Noodle Town

Although other places will charge more, the noisy and fluorescent-lit New York Noodle Town never fails to feed its guests properly. Diners can choose from roasted fowl, salt-baked crab or soups and should be sure to get an order of the city’s best Hong-Kong-style noodles. The shared tables are full at almost any hour (the restaurant closes only briefly in the early morning) sometimes with celebrities.

Second Avenue Deli

New York’s Lower East Side was once overflowing with outstanding Jewish delis but this is one of the last remaining. Diners can eat in the Molly Picon Room, filled with memorabilia of the famous Yiddish theater star. Portions are huge, so guests might want to try half a sandwich (corned beef, naturally) with a bowl of the city’s best matzo ball soup.

Personal Recommendations

Do Hwa

The West Village is blocks away from the city’s Little Korea and yet the upscale spin on Korean menu favorites does not leave diners feeling like they are missing anything. On the contrary, the comfortable yet semi-industrial space lends a special something to the bibimbop (rice, vegetables and sometimes meat served with kochujang, the ubiquitous red pepper paste condiment, with a fried egg) or meat-heavy tabletop grills, served with a platter of spicy kimchi and a dozen other condiments. An East Village sister restaurant, Dok Suni, is always crowded and more casual, much like the neighborhood itself.

Gobo

Perhaps the first of its kind, Gobo is nearly an upscale vegetarian restaurant. Perhaps this is because the creators of this Zen-like space have given the kind of attention to tofu, tempeh and vegetables that other restaurants give to meat dishes. And to many a patron’s surprise, the ingredients are not all that different from other Japanese inspired or contemporary meals. Meat-free meals have never looked this good.

Il Corallo Trattoria

A local favorite, this Italian bistro is cosy, inexpensive and delicious. In the summer the French windows are open to allow dinners to catch a breeze and watch the passers-by. Everything is good but try the Rigatoni Pugliese - pasta, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives and eggplant in garlic and oil. There are always chicken, meat and fish specials plus homemade desserts.

Le Perigord

The huge appetizer display of small salads, tangy terrines and several varieties of fish and seafood is the first thing that catches your eye as you enter this 40 year-old French restaurant, but it is the main course of Dover sole that gets the most kudos. Wall murals and soft lighting accent its newly renovated dining room.

Lupa

Although his upmarket restaurant, Babbo, and the new affordable enoteca, Otto, span the price-range of Italian cuisine, it is Mario Batali’s medium-priced restaurant that is just right. To the rustic dinner tables waiters rush crusty bread and such succulent items as a ricotta-filled eggplant involtini appetizer, linguini with walnut pesto primi, and a veal saltimbocca (with prosciutto and sage leaves) secondi. Diners who do not deny the importance of ordering the incomparable tartufo dessert leave happier than Goldilocks.

Prune

Despite its old-fashioned name, the creative rustic American fare at this tiny East Village bistro competes with some of the city’s best restaurants. In summer, a wall of French doors opens, to allow for semi-sidewalk dining. Although it is small, many mirrors and sufficiently bright lighting help counter Prune’s diminutive size. However, it can be very difficult to get a table here and guests should book reservations early, for a chance to sample the stellar and sometimes eccentric, decadent fare. Top choices include the sardine and avocado sandwich and fried sweetbreads with bacon and capers. Popular entrees, such as the roast suckling pig and a meaty yet juicy capon on garlic bread, have guests coming back for more. Simple vegetable sides are also raised to their highest potential under the guidance of Chef Gabrielle Hamilton, whose childhood nickname gives the restaurant its sweet name. Prune also serves a weekend brunch.

Nightlife:

The cliche, ‘the city that never sleeps’, really rings true in New York and especially in Manhattan. This small island buzzes with nocturnal activity, from bustling neighborhood bars to swank cocktail lounges and ultra hip nightclubs, where some of the world’s best DJs entertain the city’s ‘beautiful people’.

Home to Broadway, the once louche Times Square is enjoying a renaissance, with American theme restaurants, bars and cinemas attracting a huge tourist crowd. The East Village, from 14th Street to Houston (pronounced how-ston), east of Broadway, is famous for its local bars that stay open late and its small live music clubs, such as the renowned CBGB, a live music venue frequented by a young rock-and-roll set. The Lower East Side, an up-and-coming neighborhood that borders the East Village at Houston and stretches south to Chinatown at Canal, offers a similar nightlife scene and vibe.

SoHo is the hip capital, with its chic nightclubs attracting artists, models and media types. The gay scene is centered around the bars of the West Village, which also offers a lively mix of jazz clubs. Gramercy, in the 20s on the east side, is the ‘new SoHo’ with velvet-rope cocktail lounges. Upmarket tastes are also catered for in the sophisticated lounges, clubs and cocktail bars in Midtown and the Upper East and Upper West Sides.

Entrance fees to some of the smarter nightclubs can be pricey and is cash only. The hippest clubs employ strict dress codes, only allowing the cool and the beautiful to break through the velvet ropes. The normal club closing time is 0400, although many venues are open all night. An ever-changing crop of ‘after-hours’ places offer entertainment until sunrise, however, alcohol cannot legally be served between 0400 and 0800 or after 2400 on Sunday. The minimum drinking age is 21 and checking of photo ID is mandatory. The average price of a beer is US$5-7, while the average price of a cocktail is US$10. A tip of US$1-2 is expected per drink.

Time Out New York, but you must be a subscriber to use the service online, US$19.95 per year) is a very good source of nightlife event information, published weekly and sold at newsagents and kiosks for US$2.99. A good online nightlife and restaurant guide is City Search.

Bars: New York has a massive range of bars, with everything from neighborhood dives and lively Irish pubs to slick jet-set haunts with DJs and dimly lit, cocktail lounges. Hip bars include Max Fish, 178 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, which fills with a young, T-shirt-and-jeans crowd and the newly remodeled Serena, 222 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, a subterranean lounge in the cool and legendary Chelsea Hotel, as well as favorite of the ‘beautiful people.’ Double Happiness, 173 Mott Street, Chinatown, draws a funky 20-something clientele. At Hogs and Heifers, 859 Washington Street, West Village, on which the mediocre film Coyote Ugly (2000) was based, patrons toss their bra on the wall with all the others.

A more sophisticated lounge, the Campbell Apartment, Grand Central Station, Midtown, is hidden away in this busy rail terminal, serving top-class cocktails and first-rate Martinis. The refined, clubby bar in the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Midtown West, is known for its literary origins. For old-time New York, there is Chumley’s, 86 Bedford Street, West Village, or the White Horse Tavern, 567 Hudson Street, West Village.

Casinos: Gambling is illegal in New York State.

Clubs: The New York clubbing scene is notoriously fickle. These days popular cabarets include Joe’s Pub, 424 Lafayette Street (between Fourth and Astor in the East Village), which gets raves. Don’t Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, is open until 0400 and features up-and-coming-performers, and at Rose’s Turn, 55 Grove Street Greenwich Village, even the bartenders and waitstaff perform.

Comedy: New York’s leading comedy venues, featuring top-line comedians, include Caroline’s on Broadway, 1626 Broadway, The Comedy Cellar, 117 McDougal Street, and Gotham Comedy Club, 34 West 22nd Street - dubbed the ‘best comedy club in Manhattan.’ Owned by comedian Rodney Dangerfield, Dangerfield’s, 1118 First Avenue, has received rave reviews for 35 years. More off-kilter comedy is on offer at Surf Reality, 172 Allen Street.

Live Music: The famous Madison Square Garden, Seventh Avenue between 31st Street and 33rd Street, Manhattan (website: www.thegarden.com), plays host to a number of rock and pop heavies, from Britney Spears to U2. CBGBs, 315 Bowery, between First Street and Second Street (website: www.cbgb.com), the king of American underground rock venues, was there to provide the stage for new bands such as the Ramones and Blondie during the 1970s. It does the same for similar acts today.

New York is also home to numerous jazz clubs, including The Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, and the Iridium, 1650 Broadway, which both reel in the best American and international jazz musicians.