New York's best addresses: Skyscraper-level dining

The spectacular view from the 62nd floor would normally be unbeatable competition, but at "Saga" you hardly want to take your eyes off the plates. Finally, the restaurant, which opened in 2021 and was already awarded two Michelin stars last year, will serve a debauched, exciting tasting menu - for nearly four hours, course by course. And yet the gaze keeps wandering outside: to the skyscrapers of New York's Financial District towering all around, and the vast street canyons of the metropolis of millions, where the next culinary temptation is often barely more than a block away. After all, the restaurant scene here is just as lively, electrifying and cosmopolitan in the most diverse ways as the city itself.

Comeback despite shocks

Well over 18,000 restaurants are said to exist throughout New York, even after the pandemic - much of it in Manhattan. For decades, therefore, you could eat there every day in a different restaurant. But how do you keep track of everything in this culinary frenzy? Especially if you're only in town for a few days? Just thinking about all the possibilities is immensely appetising, but at the same time exhausting. The following recommendations across the city's opulent spectrum should help you find your way around - from gourmet addresses to traditional delis, from New Korean cuisine to current "it" restaurants.

Most recently, the city's ever-vital restaurant business has experienced some tough shocks: pandemic, staff shortages, inflation. Not to mention that many of the new openings close their doors again after five years at the latest. But when one restaurant closes, a new one usually opens quickly. Everything seems to be permanently in motion in Manhattan, while culinary trends are set again and again, which then spill out from here further into the world.

Haute cuisine: world-class food

Traditional classics of high cuisine and hip gourmet temples have always been found side by side in New York. So whether you like it more classic or innovative, the city is a mecca for gourmets.

Amidst the constant change in New York's restaurant spectrum, they still exis tt;he resilient restaurant classics. The iconic Gramercy Tavern, nearly 30 years after it was founded by Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio, consistently ranks among the city's best restaurants for its world-class American cuisine. And the "Balthazar," with its typical brasserie ambience and French classics, from onion soup to the popular steak frites, has also been able to retain its special atmosphere in SoHo for 26 years. The Grand Central Oyster Bar, which is as much a part of the impressive station as the trains, has lasted even longer. New Yorkers' appetite for seafood is unbroken; for 110 years, fresh, quite excellent oysters have been served there under the tile-covered ceiling arches - over two million are said to be served each year.

70 restaurants with at least one Michelin star currently exist in New York. Only in a few cities worldwide are there more. The spearhead includes restaurants such as "Le Bernardin" with outstanding fish and seafood creations and three stars. In addition, many top international chefs have started their careers in Manhattan or at least want to be present in this prestigious culinary powerhouse - like Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the global gourmet great who serves top-class French cuisine at the two-star restaurant "Jean-Georges" in Central Park, among other places.

"Eleven Madison Park" is also a fine-dining institution, and has been since the 1990s. Two years ago, Daniel Humm changed the concept of the restaurant in a radical and revolutionary way: duck and foie gras are a thing of the past. In the elegant ambience of an Art Deco house in Madison Square Park, vegan food has been served ever since - plant-based and at the highest level with three Michelin stars. In this way, the exceptional restaurant reflects the ongoing trend towards meatlessness, which is being continued time and again in new restaurants such as the vegan brasserie "Anixi".