Keens Steakhouse, New York

While we travel, we are always ready to sample new restaurants or frequent good ones.  One of S's friend took us to a steakhouse which he was 'keen' for us to try.  Good steak restaurants are expensive here in Stockholm, so, we were more than happy to oblige.

Keens Steakhouse

Midtown West

72 W 36th St 
New York, NY10018

As we were staying in Times Square, we had to take the subway to the steakhouse and as we were early, we had a drink or two at the bar.  I heard their Bloody Mary was awesome but S didn't seem to enjoy it very much, apparently not enough spice and he also likes having a huge big celery stick in his drink to stir it!

Anyhow I digress..

A little history about Keens Steakhouse:

"Keens Steakhouse owns the largest collection of churchwarden pipes in the world. The tradition of checking one’s pipe at the inn had its origins in 17th century Merrie Old England where travelers kept their clay at their favorite inn – the thin stemmed pipe being too fragile to be carried in purse or saddlebag. Pipe smoking was known since Elizabethan times to be beneficial for dissipating “evil homourse of the brain.” Keens's pipe tradition began in the early 20th century. 

The hard clay churchwarden pipes were brought from the Netherlands and as many as 50,000 were ordered every three years. A pipe warden registered and stored the pipes, while pipe boys returned the pipes from storage to the patrons. 

The membership roster of the Pipe Club contained over ninety thousand names, including those of Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Will Rogers, Billy Rose, Grace Moore, Albert Einstein, George M. Cohan, J.P. Morgan, Stanford White, John Barrymore, David Belasco, Adlai Stevenson, General Douglas MacArthur and “Buffalo Bill” Cody. "

The dining area is quite cozy

The most interesting part of it are the ceiling.. Yep!  The ceiling...

They were covered with long skinny pipes 

When you are at a steakhouse, always always order their meat...

We ordered a dozen oysters to be shared among us 4.  Strange right? ;)  But the oysters came and they look pretty good...  Unfortunately as it's quite dim in the restaurant, my pictures came out pretty 'orangey'

A dozen fresh oysters to share.  I love eating fresh oysters with lots of lemon juice.  What about you?

 If you eat a lot of oysters, always judge your instinct.  S found one of the oysters oozing out discoloured water.  With me, I couldn't see a thing and just shovel the juicy bits into my mouth, although I did have a little whiff and thought it smelled more 'sewerage' than usual.

Anyhow, we had the oysters removed but apparently we were told later that the chef in the kitchen insisted the oysters were fresh and there were nothing wrong with them but they took S's word for it and promised us dessert....

Well, guess who ordered seafood in a steakhouse.. =P  Yep!  Me!  Steam whole... LOBSTER!

They also peel the lobster for you with fresh lemons and a little pot of melted butter.  I was happy with just lemon juice as the lobster was fresh and tasty

Medium rare prime porter house to be shared by two!

Scumptious!  Simply melts in your mouth... Be still my beating heart!

S ordered the T-Bone Steak...

So, we both shared!  Surf and Turf!  yum!

Mushroom sauce with fries..  Nothing beats that!

 There were so much food that we thought of foregoing dessert all together, but at the last minute we decided to order the Key Lime pie to share... but they brought us an extra dessert - Chocolate fudge Sundae!

Chocolate fudge sundae and key lime pie.  The key lime pie is definitely my favourite

Ray looked pretty happy

They were both really good!  Best of all the desserts were free!  Thanks Keens!  You have made us very happy customers and we'll definitely come back for the meat when we are next in town.  Not the oysters though.  Hope you'll understand

Summer holiday in North & South America.. First stop, New York!

It's great to be back as it's been hectic for the last month or so.  We were on our summer vacation to North and South America for 3 weeks.  Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan, but heck.. You deal with it and move on.  So, if you are planning to travel, especially to undeveloped countries, please please please, don't forget to buy insurance.  It will help you a lot in the long run!  At least I took some great pictures from our trip =)

I've been back for the last few weeks, but with work starting, I've been busy running around, foregoing my SFI classes (I can't believe how much I have forgotten in around 1 month =(( )..

Our first stop was New York.  This is my second visit to New York.  Last I was here was back in 2009, and S and myself did a lot of touristy stuff, so, this time round, I was happy to just take things easy and relax.

We did lots of shopping (sorry, did I say we?  I mean... *I* did lots of shopping *blush*).  The obligatory Sephora visit to stock up presents for people and of course our main reason was for one of S's colleague's wedding (whom he knew from back in Australia).  We also managed to squeeze in a cupcake walking tour while we were there, visiting my cousin and her family whom I haven't seen in over 7 years or so, tasting out different restaurants and of course getting a new SLR camera, which was definitely the highlight of my trip =)

Our first hotel, Hilton was right bang in the middle of Times Square.. and this is the view from our windows 

One step out from our hotel, and this is the sight which greets us every night..

I love the bright lights from our windows.. but only for a moment or so as the lights never go off!!..  New York never sleeps!!

The wedding was at the botanical gardens at the Bronx.  Unfortunately, during the whole ceremony, they had a no video or camera policy, so, I didn't get to take any photos.  The reception... was a lot of food.  We had cocktail, which was 'All you can eat' buffet and drinks, before being led to the main dining room.

The centrepiece was pretty with fresh bouquet on each table

My table setting... hmm lots of cutleries!  Does that mean ... Lots of food?!

Entree - Ahi Tuna & Avocado Salad...  I thought the stack was too high..  Was a lot to digest =x

Gorgonzola Salad (One thing about the Americans, they eat a lot of salad! and they always come before the main, hence filling up my stomach!)

Lemon sorbet to wash the fishy taste out of your mouth!

Main was either - Hudson Valley Beef with mustard shallot sauce (S picked this.. and it was quite tasty)

or Sake Roasted Mahi Mahi with soy mirin mushroom broth  (I picked this as my main and was extremely disappointed).  The dumpling that came with it was frozen!  The fish was slightly dry.. for some reason I was expecting broth... or just slightly wetter than it was =(

Borrowing one of the groomsmen's props =)

Playing with the props for the guests

A variety of tea and I picked the green tea and it was really cute and was so fragrant =)

Dessert - Summer Dessert Sampler.  blueberry ice cream in little cones, cuppocino cup and some other frozen dessert which I can't remember

Best part was definitely the DIY photo booth!  Was quite fun =)

Only picture I took at my cousin's!!!  Saw her 3 times, and these were the only photos we took!  BBQ at their apartment in Brooklyn hehe =)

Our extremely morning cab ride to the airport for our flight to Miami..  That's the Brooklyn bridge =)

Hello from Times Square, New York

Our first night in New York. Got in the afternoon after an hour of delay and caught a door to door shuttle bus which...... Took over 3 hours from Newark Airport into New York Times Square...

Brings me memories of Ted from 'How I Met Your Mother'. Remember the scenes where he had to travel in the subway from New York to New Jersey when he was dating Stella.  Brings back all the bad jokes he was saying in regards to New Jersey! ;)

Anyhow, here we are at Times Square! Our hotel is just near here somewhere. 

I'm also probably 2kg lighter as I had a haircut too today! Can't believe how much hair were cut! Whoops! Back to lesbian May for a while!

Anyhow, greetings from New York, Times Square!