Walking around the West side of New York, I stumbled across the Chelsea Market. I’d never been through this place in all my visits to New York and I was mightily impressed by what’s inside. At the entrance, they have the New York version of the Westbourne Grove cafe/store, 202 (who, I might add, serve one of the tastiest french toast/bacon dishes for brunch) and the glitzy though expensive Buddakan. Inside is dotted with a huge variety of bakeries, produce places and restaurants. I find out later that this place is the shooting location for many of the shows off the Food Network, and its neatly refurbished interior is definitely an ideal backdrop for many of these shows.

One of the best things about this place that I liked quite a lot is the open kitchens of all the places – you can see master bakeries preparing the dough for the rows and rows of ovens, or watch as they whip up a fresh milkshake at Ronnybrook’s Milk Bar. There’s a couple of places to have coffee, a number of small boutique stores and is just great meandering around.