A personal tour of New York

Shannon Bennett’s New York: A personal guide to the city’s best is just that, Bennett and his friends’ personal lists of must-do things to visit, buy, drink and, of course, eat in New York City.

The book is a companion to Bennett’s first guidebook, Shannon Bennett’s Paris, published by the Miegunyah Press in 2009.

New York “attracts competitiveness,” Mr Bennett writes.

“Its energy is incredible and infectious. So are the concepts within the restaurant culture that blend the old with the new, sandwiched between the everyday.”

The book mimics a traveller’s scrapbook, including many photos and cute cartoons which add to the friendly, personal feel of the book, which is further enhanced by excerpts by Mr Bennett’s friends who detail their favourite New York haunts.

And because his friends include other celebrity chefs Luke Mangan, Toby Puttock, Neil Perry and Matt Moran, Nick Ord, the president of Miele (inc) and the Senior Film Curator of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Larry Kardish, readers can be sure they’re getting true insight into the city from people who know what they’re talking about.

The guide is split into sections which correspond to different areas of New York City and the outer boroughs including Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Hoboken, detailing the writers’ favourite restaurants, bistros and bars, shops and luxury hotels.

Food naturally is a central focus of the work, including more than lists of places to eat: Mr Bennett includes his own recipes, twists on classic New York dishes such as Tuna Melts to more esoteric offerings including Danish pear doughnuts which, Mr Bennett writes, he included because of the growing Scandinavian influence in New York. 


The book’s food focus means Mr Bennett also includes a detailed section of things-you-should-know about fine dining in New York and snippets about New York’s food scene and the people who inhabit it.

It’s a rare guidebook which features a section recommending other guidebooks, including the Zagat Guide and reviews in New York magazine, as Mr Bennett’s guide does, further adding to the ‘personal travel journal’ feel of the publication.

And it’s because this is such a personal publication that the last word should go to Shannon Bennett: “The reason I find it the most exciting food city outside of France is not because of its history, but because it is making history.”

Shannon Bennett’s New York: A personal guide to the city’s best, Miegunyah Press, 2009. $44.99

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