For such a hard-boiled city, New York has a gooey centre. The weather may be
cool, but Manhattan’s best hotels, bars and restaurants are ideal spots to
cement a romance.
Starting out
Stay: Library Hotel (299 Madison Ave, 001 212 983 4500,
www.libraryhotel.com). In this book-themed, 60-room hotel, room 801 is
devoted to erotic literature by authors such as Anaïs Nin and Casanova.
Should you wish to pep things up further, the erotica package includes
inducements such as edible honey dust, strawberries and whipped cream and a
video devoted to the art of tantric sex. And whatever room you book, the
hotel features several nice touches: free wine and cheese each evening,
complimentary breakfast and internet access. Proof that the Dewey Decimal
System can be far racier than the traditional image of the librarian would
suggest.
Doubles from £252, the Erotica package costs £368, including room.
Drink: East Side Company Bar (49 Essex Street, 614 7408). A
new sibling for the bartender Sasha Petraske’s Milk & Honey bar.
The younger version, also in the Lower East Side, does away with its older
sister’s arcane rules (which include no name-dropping, or men approaching
women without an introduction from the bar staff) but keeps the low
lighting, superb cocktails, the recherché charm and the intimate booths.
Eat: Freemans (2 Freemans Alley, 420 0012,
www.freemansrestaurant.com). Groovy Lower East Side restaurant, with a decor
that is strong on dusty oil paintings and guttering candles and stuffed
moose mounted on the walls. Popular with Jude Law and Sienna Miller in their
“on” periods, it doesn’t take reservations for groups of fewer than six, but
couples can turn up and wait. The drinks at the bar are excellent, as is the
ironic-minded, retro-British food (including devils on horseback).
Do: Go for a rickshaw ride in Central Park. Funkier than a
carriage ride, and cheaper by far, with most rides averaging £8.50-£11.50.
Also, a trip on the Staten Island Ferry (www.nyc.gov) at sunset, with a
great view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline, is a classic New
York experience.
Making a splash
Stay: St Regis (2 E 55th Street, 753 4500, www.stregis.com).
In a city where eating out is classed as a competitive sport, having a power
concierge by your side is an easy way to impress. The St Regis’s head
concierge, Maria Wittorp-Dejonge, is known for her ability to magic up
dinner reservations at Manhattan’s most sought-after restaurants. And the
hotel’s position — a diamond’s throw from Tiffany’s and the other shops of
Fifth Avenue — matches the turn-of-the century polish of this gilt-edged
1910 mansion, which also features a stellar drinking den in the King Cole
Bar. Doubles from £402.
Drink: Pegu Club (77 W Houston Street, 473 7348,
www.peguclub.com). With no sign on the door and no velvet rope, this
first-floor bar uses discretion to keep the crowds at bay. The ambience is
relaxed and the cocktails are mixed by Audrey Saunders, one of New York’s
best bartenders.
Eat: Raoul’s (180 Prince Street, 966 3518, www.raouls.com).
This laid-back, dimly lit SoHo restaurant is a boho survivor from the 1970s,
and still run by the same family, with charming service and a cast of locals
as the clientele. The food is French in the best aphrodisiac tradition.
Don’t be put off by the noisy front section; a table in the conservatory at
the back offers the ultimate in privacy.
Do: The Rockefeller Centre rink (www.therinkatrockcenter.com)
is the quintessential skating experience (£5.20 an hour, £4 skate rental).
Afterwards, head up the Rockefeller Center — Manhattan’s newest viewing
platform (www.topoftherocknyc.com), open until 11pm. The views are magical,
day and night.
Going for broke
Stay: The Carlyle (35 E 76th Street, 744 1600,
www.thecarlyle.com). The sort of hotel you want to move in to, the Carlyle
is the epitome of understated Upper East Side elegance, with uniformed lift
attendants, polished marble floors and the Café Carlyle, a cabaret space
that attracts Woody Allen, Eartha Kitt and Ute Lemper. For the matrimonially
inclined, the Legendary Love package includes tickets to the Café Carlyle, a
candlelit dinner in your suite, champagne, chocolate and the services of a
Love Concierge, able to advise guests on the city ’s most romantic spots,
and a consultation with a jeweller in your suite.
Doubles from £376; the Legendary Love package starts at £1,446 a night.
Drink: Bemelmans. The Carlyle’s own drinking den — covered in
murals from the Madeline author Ludwig Bemelmans — is a jewel box of a bar.
Alternatively, drink in the splendour of Grand Central Station with a visit
to The Campbell Apartment (15 Vanderbilt Avenue, 953 0409), a baronial,
wood-panelled set of rooms that belonged to a 1920s tycoon, with
Renaissance-style murals and stained glass. Busy during the week, at
weekends it becomes one of Manhattan’s most beguiling spaces.
Eat: Per Se (10 Columbus Circle, 823 9335). Thomas Keller,
the chef behind the legendary Californian restaurant the French Laundry,
opened Per Se last year to rave reviews. Disingenuously named dishes include
macaroni cheese (in reality, a combination of lobster and mascarpone cheese,
topped with a single parmesan wafer). The nine-course tasting menu may feel
like a marathon but carefully exact proportions titillate rather than
overwhelm, and views across Central Park are equally enthralling.
Do: A carriage ride around Central Park. Particularly
blissful at night — expect to spend £57 for an hour’s ride. Walk across
Brooklyn Bridge, stopping for a drink at the famous River Café. Take a spin
around Central Park’s Wollman Rink, the largest in Manhattan
(www.wollmanskatingrink.com, £7 an hour, with skate rental £2.80), and
arrange for a waiter from the Carlyle to wait with a bottle of champagne at
the edge.
Looking for love?
Stay: The hotelier André Balazs, owner of the Mercer hotel in
SoHo, has always understood that good hotels are all about socialising, and
his first New York budget hotel is no exception. Rooms at the QT (125 W 45th
Street, 354 2323, www.hotelqt.com) may not be large, but there is a swimming
pool just off the bar, bleacher-style seating, a party-size sauna and a DJ
plays nightly.
Doubles from £101.
Drink: APT (419 West 13th Street, 414 4245,
www.aptwebsite.com). This relaxed bar/club is modelled on an apartment, and
is a happy blend of celebrity sightings, mild hedonism and lack of attitude
— once you have found it and negotiated entrance. The vibe is friendly, with
a variety of rooms with different noise pitches and a singularly good
line-up of DJs.
Eat: Pastis (9 Ninth Avenue, 929 4844). This take on a
classic French café, in the Meatpacking District, features a long communal
table — ideal for chatting to your neighbours.
Do: Galleries and museums are an acknowledged pick-up arena
for the cultured New Yorker. Most of the openings, which usually take place
on Thursdays in Chelsea are open to anyone, and offer wine and canapés. Some
of Manhattan’s museums have followed suit by pairing late- night openings
with DJs — check out the Whitney (www.whitney.org), and Brooklyn Museum
(www.brooklynmuseum.org) for their late-night events.
Oh, yes, and yet again, heading out on to a skating rink allows you
judiciously to cannon into the prey of your choice.
Need to know
Getting there: Sarah Turner travelled with British Airways
Holidays (0870 2421276, www.ba.com/holidays) and stayed at the St Regis
Hotel. A three-night room-only package costs from £1,026pp, including
flights but not transfers. Elegant Resorts (01244 897520,
www.elegantresorts.co.uk) has a five-night room-only break at the Carlyle
from £1,230pp, including BA flights and private car transfers.
