New York’s newest hotspots
Ah New York; the city so nice they named it twice. There’s a new hotel, bar, restaurant or store opening every week in the city that never sleeps. These are some of the best new hotspots to try on your next visit.
Dine
If you want to splash out, the place to do it is New York. With over 70 restaurants with Michelin stars, New York has options running the gamut from posh fine dining to casual cool. The Musket Room received its first star in 2014 after being open for only four months – an impressive feat. Chef Matt Lambert is from New Zealand and the menu focuses on our native cuisine with an Antipodean wine list to match. Another new arrival, Aska also earned its first star in 2014 and is an exercise in Scandinavian chic and sustainability from Swedish-born chef Fredrik Berselius. The kitchen team works with local farms, hand pick many of the ingredients and all animals on the menu are ethically raised. There are just 24 seats in the dining room (at the back of an art gallery in Williamsburg) so you’ll need to book well in advance.
Wine
Bars around Times Square have a reputation for being tacky tourist traps serving overpriced drinks. Bar 54 at the top of the newly opened Hyatt Times Square is hoping to change that. It is the highest lounge bar in Manhattan and has an open terrace looking over the square. The cocktail list features house-made syrups and locally distilled spirits in a huge range of delicious combinations.
Shop
Dover Street Market is an upscale fashion concept from Rei Kawakubo, the woman behind French label Commes des Garcons. The third branch of the store recently opened in New York and stretches across seven beautifully designed floors. It stocks everything from luxury labels like Yves Saint Laurent and Prada to Nike and up and coming designers. The store is a favourite of celebrities, so you could easily bump into a movie star perusing the $10,000 cashmere blazers.
See
The Whitney Museum is opening a huge new building in 2015 with more than 4,500 square metres of indoor gallery space. The building sits alongside The High Line, the famous converted railway line housing parks and cafes that runs through the city. A series of rooftops will become outdoor exhibition spaces overlooking the city and the Hudson River.
Stay
If you want to splurge, try the new Westhouse in Midtown Manhattan. It aims to blend the luxury hotel lifestyle with the residential comfort of a New York townhouse. Each of the rooms is designed to feel like a home – with a touch of art deco glamour. Guests pay a residents fee of around $45 per person per night (on top of the room rate) which includes breakfast, all drinks (including alcohol) in the two residents-only bars, in-room minibar, Wi-Fi and digital newspapers and magazines. You could happily spend the whole day in the hotel and never need to pull out your wallet. Rooms are priced from around $760 per night.
Those on a budget should head to Queens and the Paper Factory Hotel where rates start from just $160 per night. It is a few minutes outside of Manhattan, but the subway station is right opposite the hotel and it’s only three stops to Fifth Avenue. The property opened in late 2013 inside a 100 year old paper factory and has 123 spacious rooms, a bar and restaurant, and a communal kitchen (if you want to save even more money). The décor is sleek, industrial and minimalist with high ceilings and huge windows overlooking the borough.