New York City - Winter Holidays 2022
holiday cheer hunting in NYC
As a native Bostonian and temporary San Francisco resident (lived in the city for 8.5 years), NYC doesn’t really appeal to me. I used to visit 1-2x/year with friends in my 20’s and 30’s for partying and Asian food but the Asian food scene in Boston has improved exponentially and I could also get my Asian food fix when I visit SF. I was persuaded to visit NYC again in 2022 (earlier trip was during the summer) by my sister who wanted to check out the holiday lights, especially the ginormous Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. It’s been 10+ years since either of us visited so why no?! Continue reading for the holiday experience in NYC.
Travel
We decided to fly to NYC on Delta to check out the new Skyclub in the LaGuardia Airport. The flight is short, only about 45 minutes from liftoff to touchdown. Upon arrival, we took an Uber to our hotel near Bryant Park.
Lodging
We booked the Andaz 5th Avenue - a concept by Hyatt hotel on 5th Avenue and E. 41st Street. We wanted to stay near Koreatown as we typically end the night with some Korean food. :)
We booked the hotel in October and there were very little availability and almost no rooms with two beds. We had to settle for a king sized bed and I wasn’t able to upgrade to a two-bed with the Amex Platinum status (booked through Amex Travel).
The hotel was on a side street and was fairly small but the room was a good size. They could have definitely added a sitting area/couch but there was only a desk and chair along with King bed. The shower switches took a few minutes to master but overall the room was nice. The hotel also offered free coffee and tea from 7-11am ET daily (+/- 1 hour) and wine hour from 5-7pm ET (+/- 1 hour).
Holiday Spirit Hunting
My sister was very excited to check out all the holiday decorations and pop-up markets. We decided to go Holiday Spirit Hunting Saturday afternoon, after lunch. We started with the Bryant Park holiday market - I would not recommend. The place was packed and it took about 20 minutes to exit the madness. It felt like Independence Day at Charles River (or anywhere that is popular to watch the fireworks), we were packed as sardines. Also, I was a bit traumatized from the crowd crash that occurred in Itaewon, South Korea during the Halloween this year. We wanted to exit immediately after being immersed in the crowd.
After escaping Bryant Park, we made our way to Rockefeller Center to see the famous Christmas Tree. This was definitely worth the walk and wasn’t too crowded by 1pm ET. My sister wanted to go ice skating in Rockefeller Center but the line was crazy long so we passed.
Afterwards, we walked to the Waldorf Astoria hotel with goal of drinking in the lobby where Serendipity was filmed since we couldn’t get into Serendipity dessert shop. But unfortunately the hotel was under renovations and closed until further notice…
We decided to check out Oscar Wilde for intense holiday decorations. I warned my sister that OW would be Christmas on steroids! We got there around 2:30pm and the place was packed, lines out the door. We made it inside but it was complete chaos. Everyone was just standing around the front and we didn’t see a waitlist nor any host for 10 minutes and proceeded to leave. After 2 hours of walking around NYC, we needed a bar break and saw a cute bar next door. The bar was also decorated in holiday theme but not as intense as Oscar Wilde. We stayed for an hour and decided this was the end of our holiday spirit hunting. We saw a lot of thoughtfully decorated trees, giant ornaments, pretty street lights and random giant bows.
Food
We decided to try some new places in Koreatown and East Village along with some of our favorites. Koreatown is great for authentic Korean food and desserts.
East Village is great for Japanese food/izakaya and cheap eats like Yubu and Dumpling N’ Dips and our favorite cheeky spot, Kenka.
Drinks
We tried a few new bars during this trip including a speakeasy hidden upsides of a Korean restaurant - Osamil. You can either make reservations for the speakeasy (uniquely named - Osamil Upstairs. LOL) or ask to be put on the waitlist while dining at Osamil. The atmosphere and drinks at Osamil Upstairs were on-point but be prepared to pay NYC prices of $20-$25/cocktail.
