The Met and GC Oyster Bar
A day at the Met today, a huge feat for any first-time visitor. The Met is huge. The information booth is manned by twelve staff members for pete's sake.
We checked in our bags and coats, only to return a minute later to relaim them again. Since the Met was open until late, we instead started off with a trip to The Cloisters, an hour's bus ride away in Fort Tryon Park, Upper Manhattan, and included in the price of our Met admission.
Devoted to the art of medieval Europe, there were sculptures, tombs, restored arches and jewellery, and an impressive series of unicorn tapestries.
Lunch was had back at the Met cafeteria, with a surprisingly tempting array of hot foods and help-yourself salads.
We did a whirlwind tour of the Met, concentrating mainly on Modern Art, Egypt (amazing Temple of Dendur), the Rara Avis costumes exhibition (from the eccentric fashionista Iris Barrel Apfel) and a fascinating exhibition on Spanish artist and architect, Santiago Calatrava.
A day of culture could only be concluded with a visit to the Grand Central Oyster Bar. I had the Grand Central Oyster Platter, a sampler of eight oysters which were unfortunately unlabelled and our waitress' eye could not be captured. The oysters, I could see from the menu, could have come from Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Rhode Island or Oregon. In fact they had 30 varieties available on that day's hand-written menu.
The Oyster Bar is famous for its smoked sturgeon, trout and salmon, but for my main I had the Maine Lobster Roll, a dish which had always intrigued me (lobster in a sandwich?). The lobster was surprisingly tasty, a whole lobster tail torn into chunky pieces, smothered in a light sweet mayonnaise and served in a soft hot-dog like bun. The side dish sweet potato chips were wafer thin and crispy (a littly oily by the end of it) and the Jamaican coleslaw was an intriguing mix of shredded carrot and grated apple? methinks.
My friends had the New England clam chowder, the medley of shellfish, broiled Bluepoint oysters and the Coquille St Jacques (gratineed scallops).
Dessert was a shared key lime pie which was sweet and refreshing, although not as tart as I had anticipated.
Afterwards we checked out the Christmas window displays at Saks Fifth Avenue (would you believe we had to queue for about 10 minutes?) which told a story of individuality, harmony and peace. Then there was the mesmerising light show of giant stars on the Saks facade, illuminating and flashing in time to a booming heart-fluttering classical soundtrack (what was that tune?).
Down the block was the Rockefeller Centre, filled with shrieking whooping ice skaters under the giant Christmas tree. And wouldn't you believe it, we were there at midnight when a guy got down on bended knee. Awww... (and yes, of course she did).
We checked in our bags and coats, only to return a minute later to relaim them again. Since the Met was open until late, we instead started off with a trip to The Cloisters, an hour's bus ride away in Fort Tryon Park, Upper Manhattan, and included in the price of our Met admission.
Devoted to the art of medieval Europe, there were sculptures, tombs, restored arches and jewellery, and an impressive series of unicorn tapestries.
Lunch was had back at the Met cafeteria, with a surprisingly tempting array of hot foods and help-yourself salads.
We did a whirlwind tour of the Met, concentrating mainly on Modern Art, Egypt (amazing Temple of Dendur), the Rara Avis costumes exhibition (from the eccentric fashionista Iris Barrel Apfel) and a fascinating exhibition on Spanish artist and architect, Santiago Calatrava.
A day of culture could only be concluded with a visit to the Grand Central Oyster Bar. I had the Grand Central Oyster Platter, a sampler of eight oysters which were unfortunately unlabelled and our waitress' eye could not be captured. The oysters, I could see from the menu, could have come from Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Rhode Island or Oregon. In fact they had 30 varieties available on that day's hand-written menu.
The Oyster Bar is famous for its smoked sturgeon, trout and salmon, but for my main I had the Maine Lobster Roll, a dish which had always intrigued me (lobster in a sandwich?). The lobster was surprisingly tasty, a whole lobster tail torn into chunky pieces, smothered in a light sweet mayonnaise and served in a soft hot-dog like bun. The side dish sweet potato chips were wafer thin and crispy (a littly oily by the end of it) and the Jamaican coleslaw was an intriguing mix of shredded carrot and grated apple? methinks.
My friends had the New England clam chowder, the medley of shellfish, broiled Bluepoint oysters and the Coquille St Jacques (gratineed scallops).
Dessert was a shared key lime pie which was sweet and refreshing, although not as tart as I had anticipated.
Afterwards we checked out the Christmas window displays at Saks Fifth Avenue (would you believe we had to queue for about 10 minutes?) which told a story of individuality, harmony and peace. Then there was the mesmerising light show of giant stars on the Saks facade, illuminating and flashing in time to a booming heart-fluttering classical soundtrack (what was that tune?).
Down the block was the Rockefeller Centre, filled with shrieking whooping ice skaters under the giant Christmas tree. And wouldn't you believe it, we were there at midnight when a guy got down on bended knee. Awww... (and yes, of course she did).
posted by Anonymous on 12/17/2005 11:59:00 pm
2 Comments:
At 1/11/2006 4:37 pm,
Rose said…
The MET is wonderfully huge! I have a bit of insider knowledge on the place and the one foodie fact: some of the best dining sites in NYC takes place in the Trustee's Dining Room.
Unfortunately, at most hours of the day you have to be a either trustee, invited or pay big bucks to eat there (a "cawfee" is like 10 bucks). But the room is lit with nearly all around with natural sunlight and looks out upon Central Park. It's really pretty. Plus, the food rocks.
The Cloisters are one of those hidden gems in NYC (along with the park its situated in--Fort Tyron) that not enough tourists take the time to visit. (HINT: if you go to NYC--especially in nice weather--hop on the bus and go!) So I am really glad to hear you went there.
You know, after all this time, I've NEVER been to the Oyster Bar. Shame on me! I'll be marching over there soon :-) I think that lobster roll is famous there.
Looking forward to more posts on New York!
At 1/12/2006 7:12 pm,
Rachel said…
I went to Grand Central but you know what? I missed the oyster bar :~( Next time I'll go looking for it. I was too dazed and stupendified by the constellation on the ceiling and the giant flag hanging from it. I was just in awe of all the massive buildings and architecture there. It makes one feel tiny, yet there is just something majestic about them.
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