Nothing good rhymes with Charlotte

  • ON RELATIONSHIPS
  • ON PARENTING
  • ON CONFIDENCE
  • ABOUT
  • HIRE ME

breakfast

5 excellent places to have breakfast in the West Village, New York City

02/07/2015 by Charlotte Leave a Comment

IMG_6423

They say that the best blog posts are useful.

When we were in New York a couple of months ago, the thing I googled most frequently was ‘breakfast west village new york’ (because none of us bother with capitalisation or punctuation on google, do we.) And the internet was a great help to me so it seems only fair that I return the favour and help any future NYC visitors enjoy the same breakfasty splendour that we had.

There are many great things about NYC but my highlight was definitely breakfast. Partly because, as is tradition, it always came at the very start of the day when we had a whole seven hours or so of exploring ahead, and partly because the food was just so damn good. We were there five days, had five breakfasts and I would recommend every single one. They come to you now in chronological order, informed by the small travel diary I am now very pleased that I kept.

1. French Roast, 78 West 11th Street

The first day of a holiday is just marvellous, isn’t it. So much joy, so much hope, so much time ahead when you don’t have to have discussions about how you’re going to get back to the airport or whether either of you has kept a spare plastic bag aside to carry your worn socks home in. Our first morning took us to French Roast. This place is ideal for your first American brekkie with a choice of all the things you want to see on the menu – eggs, omelettes, fruit, pancakes – as well as the option to sit outside and watch Sixth Avenue fly by. In my jet lagged state I didn’t feel ready to stomach the full NY breakfast experience just yet so opted for the yogurt and fruit with a bonus drop of honey which was delicious, and my husband Leon had eggs Florentine (like he does absolutely everywhere that will sell them to him) and enjoyed it very much. All round a very cool, reasonably priced and friendly little joint. A very strong welcome to NYC.

2. Buvette, 42 Grove Street

IMG_6419

If I knew I only had one day left on earth and the choice of just one last breakfast, I would have it here. Positioned on one of the many gorgeous tree-lined streets in this part of town sits Buvette, a petite but perfectly formed café bringing a beautiful touch of Paris to the village. If you go, try and get a seat at the counter where you can watch the magic happen (there are no reservations). I had the Belgian waffles which tasted all the better for having witnessed the mixture being poured onto the griddle and the doughy results plated up in front of me before being drizzled with berries and crème fraiche. They were so soft and so sweet that I had to hold back a tear when they were gone – which they were as soon as I’d stopped taking photographs of them. Leon had fried eggs, prosciutto and chorizo on toast and didn’t say a word until he’d eaten every last bite which is always a good sign. He also says the coffee was the best he’s ever had. So there. Go.

(I understand there is also a Buvette in Paris so will be on the next train out there).

buvette new york belgian wafflesIMG_6426IMG_6421IMG_6428

3. Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street

On day three – which peaked at 32 degrees – in pursuit of some early morning sustenence, we stumbled upon this Franco-American café just off lovely Bleecker Street and sat at table in the window beneath the bright red awning to try and cool down. This place is wonderfully calm and relaxing and there are seats outside too. The highlight of our visit was our waiter who was able to predict just by listening to my English accent that when I ordered ‘eggs any style’ that I’d want them poached. “It’s a thing, right?” he said with a knowing smile before then doing an excellent impression of a British person saying the word ‘poached’. I guess you had to be there but it was VERY funny. And the food was excellent too. Whoever came up with the idea that breakfast should come with a side of garlic potatoes is a very clever person.

IMG_1010

4. Hu Kitchen, 78 5th Avenue

This café is everything I thought New York would be. The food and drink is all supremely healthy – everything is entirely gluten free, unprocessed, clean – you feel like it’s the kind of place you’d love to be able to afford to eat in every day and just sit back and watch your skin glow. We both had a sausage, egg and kale open sandwich which was good and just very wholesome. Unlike almost every single other piece of gluten free bread I’ve eaten (which is a lot, by the way – when I’m not on holiday I keep myself as gluten free as I can in the interests of not being permanently bloated #hotstuff) this was actually really tasty. The fruit smoothies were splendid too. It’s a little on the pricey side compared to some of the other places we went but it very much feels like you’re paying for goodness so it’s definitely worth a try.

5. Café Cluny, 284 W 12th Street

IMG_6635

If I knew that I only had two days left on earth and the choice of two last breakfasts, I’d have the first at Buvette and the second at Café Cluny. Our final hurrah in the West Village before getting on the plane back to London was here and WHAT a way to go. Another lovely café on another beautiful street, permanently populated by people walking the best dogs I have ever seen. This is how I shall remember New York. Go here and have the chili avocado on toast (which FYI comes gluten free and delicious as standard. How can we get some of this excellent bread delivered to London?) with a poached egg on top. I can also recommend the pancakes which were MASSIVE but Leon took them on and nobly ate every last piece. I was so proud of him.

IMG_6633

I very much hope that this is useful and that it helps somebody someday have a lovely NYC breakfast. Save me a fork-full of waffle, won’t you.

Posted in: ON TRAVEL Tagged: breakfast, food, new york, travel

HELLO, I’M CHARLOTTE

About me

Welcome to Nothing good rhymes with Charlotte. This blog is full of honest words about parenting, relationships, confidence and friendship. I'm here to help us all feel less alone and to make you laugh when I can, too. Want to hire me to write for you or just fancy a chat? Get in touch: nothinggoodrhymeswithcharlotte@gmail.com

Follow me on Instagram

I just took my child to Clarks to buy her first pa I just took my child to Clarks to buy her first pair of school shoes. I am officially a grown up.
It's happened. We've reached the stage where I can It's happened. We've reached the stage where I can take Isla to a café and she'll do some drawing while I do some writing. Only a little bit of course and with plenty of breaks for me to attempt to sketch unicorns (which to be clear I very much enjoyed) but it's a start. How nice to suddenly find ourselves here. ❤️
All of a sudden our Joe-Joe is 1 🎂💖🎂💖 All of a sudden our Joe-Joe is 1 🎂💖🎂💖
I took this picture to remind me of what's been on I took this picture to remind me of what's been one of my absolute favourite parts of maternity leave, with both babies - killing time in the late afternoon watching episodes of Friends I've seen 4 billion times. ❤️

I'm experiencing all of the feelings at the moment because maternity leave is coming to an end for me very soon and Joseph is about to turn 1. I've attempted to process all this by writing what is essentially a diary entry about it. You can read it at nothinggoodrhymeswithcharlotte.com

Any tips/(kind) views/words of wisdom/large tubs of biscuits very welcome. 

Much love 💛
First holiday joy 💙☀️💙☀️ First holiday joy 💙☀️💙☀️
❤️ ❤️
Back together for the first time in forever ❤️ Back together for the first time in forever ❤️
Thank you Margate 💙💛💖 Thank you Margate 💙💛💖
I had an idea a few months ago to write something I had an idea a few months ago to write something about all the thoughts and feelings I have about having two children. Like a diary entry I can look back on and even show Isla and Joseph in years to come. Of course the main thing to say is: You don't get a lot of free time when you have two small people to look after. So it's taken me a while to get this done. But now that I have my sense of achievement is HIGH  so I'm here to share it. You can read it if you wish at nothinggoodrhymeswithcharlotte.com
Much love x

#parenting #motheroftwo #sundayblog #maternityleave #amwriting
Greenwich girls, guys, good times 💙 Greenwich girls, guys, good times 💙
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Follow me on Twitter

Tweets by @CharlotteBuxto

Subscribe by email

Loading

Search this blog

Copyright © 2022 Nothing good rhymes with Charlotte.

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall.