Big Backing My Way Through NYC
- Esha Shah
- Mar 16
- 4 min read
There's something special about a spontaneous day trip to New York City. One minute you are planning to just walk around a little and the next thing you know you have clocked 12,000 steps, eaten four different snacks, and somehow ended up shopping in three stores you definitely did not plan on entering.
Last weekend, we woke up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus. We woke up at 5:30 so we could all get ready and then our bus left at 6:45. It was still super dark outside. I brought an egg sandwich with me on the bus which was super helpful after sleeping for two hours. We then took a bathroom break and I was sooooooo tempted to get Chick-fil-a fries but I did not because I wanted to save room for NYC food.
We started the day at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we spent about three hours wandering through galleries which made me feel both incredibly cultured and mildly overwhelmed. I was staring at a massive Renaissance painting wondering how someone painted that much detail without accidentally smudging something. The MET is one of those places you could easily spend an entire day at (we got through half of the museum in those three hours).
Pro-tip: we were able to show them our Binghamton IDs and just donate $5 to get in.
After leaving the museum, we made our way downtown toward Bryant Park, which is a great place to sit, relax, and people watch. However, it turned into a mini food crawl.
My friend and I grabbed coffee at Pan Doro. They had many different options to choose from so we were a little overwhelmed and staring at the menu for a solid ten minutes before actually ordering. They also had a lot of pastries that looked fantastic, but I was in the mood for something savory. My friend got a nutella latte and I got an amaretto latte. My coffee was good, but I would have liked a little more of the amaretto flavoring. My friend was licking the nutella off the cup and downed it in 15 minutes so I took it that hers was delicious. I was also surprised that the coffee there was a normal price! I only paid $7 and it was a good size for me.
We then navigated ourselves to Bunny & Bro because my other friend wanted to try the einspanner matcha, which is matcha with a thick cream layer that almost looked to pretty to drink. I personally do not like matcha but she said it was yummy so I will take her word for it.
My other friend wanted boba so we headed to LeLecha. It was a 5 minute walk and they had these cool curvy tables inside. We unfortunately could not read the drink menu because it was written in another language and my friend did not love any of the boba options, but we did split these garlic cream cheese buns while we were there. I was not expecting the cream cheese to be on the sweeter side but it worked. The bun was really soft too and you could really taste the flavor of the garlic. We did not want to eat too much because we wanted to save our appetite for Din Tai Fung.
I felt bad that my friend did not grab a drink anywhere so we walked over to Broadway near Times Square to get Hey Tea because everyone deserves a fun drink moment. It was busy in there which usually means that it is worth the wait. She got a King Guava drink and I tried a sip. It did not disappoint!!
We got on the waitlist for Din Tai Fung and the wait was almost two hours so naturally, we decided to walk around and go shopping before we got dinner in Times Square. Luckily, everything is so close together and walkable. We popped into H&M, Miniso, and Old Navy. My friend was able to find her mascara at Miniso and my other friend was trying on dresses at Old Navy that she was able to order online with her gift card.
After walking around and working up an appetite, our waiting time was over at Din Tai Fung. This was our first time trying it but I had always seen Tik Toks about how people should try it out if they are ever near Times Square.
My name was finally called up and we took our seats. We immediately started taking pictures and ordered our food. I was so happy to see that there were so many vegetarian options! We ordered a mix of dishes to share: vegan wontons, chewy rice cakes, spicy noodles, dumplings, and refreshing lychee drinks. I got up to use the bathroom and by the time I came back, our food was already at the table. Everything was incredible, but the real star of the show was the dessert: chocolate dumplings served with a sea salt dip. Yes, it sounds odd, but they were scrumptious. I did get a lot of these recommendations from my cousins who had already tried Din Tai Fung before so that definitely made it easier to order. I cannot wait to come back to Din Tai Fung!!! It was everything I had hoped for and more.
By the end of the night, our feet were tired, our phones were dead but also full of pictures, and we had successfully eaten our way through a small portion of Manhattan. We hopped on our 3 hour bus ride back to Binghamton around 7:15 PM and made it home by 10:30 PM. Even though this trip was not a flight away to some tropical area, it was a reminder that even simple day trips are so much fun!
If you were to plan a NYC trip with your friends, where would you go and what would you eat?
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