Hanon is located in the North Williamsburg area and is literally across the street on Union St. from the Metropolitan G stop and diner. It has been awarded the Michelin 2021 Bib Gourmand award. It originated in Kamakura, Japan in the summer of 2018. I hadn’t heard about this restaurant much at all and stumbled onto this through Yelp’s Hot & New filters. I wanted to try this restaurant out because the pictures of the udon sets look quite interesting, and the price point was pretty reasonable.

North Williamsburg just keeps on growing and gentrifying. I had lived here when I first moved to NYC, and 5+ years later, there are even more restaurants within such a small area. Similar to Manhattan, many restaurants are rotating ownership and leases. This restaurant is a relatively new latin fusion restaurant that had opened back in September 2021. It sits very close to McCarren park a few doors away from one of my favorite cheese steak places, Federoff’s Steaks.

For my partner’s birthday, I decided on this 2 Michelin Star restaurant located in the Williamsburg area. What appealed to me originally about this was that it was not just another French restaurant. French cuisine is great, but there are so many high end French restaurants around the city. Perhaps I am getting a little burnt out of having the same French tastes over and over, so I wanted something that was less normal.

My partner is fanatical about ceviche, and I am fanatical about lomo saltado. Our level of comparison is Mario’s in Los Angeles, and there has yet been a tolerable comparison to that so far. There are not too many Peruvian options in the Williamsburg area. We’ve been to Chimu Bistro which was decent, and Llama Inn was a little too upscale. On this super sunny and muddy day after getting my hair chopped and despite all the plethora of options for anything but Peruvian, we decided to check out this restaurant based on recommendations.

This Korean BBQ restaurant has been in North Williamsburg for a while. I’ve always wanted to go to this, but prior to the pandemic, it was always easier to go to Koreatown since I was always in Manhattan. We arrived here at an early rainy Sunday afternoon. They follow COVID protocol very well, and there were very few people inside. The waitress took our temperature and address as usual, and then we were seated after.

To the outside world, the pandemic is wreaking havoc like wildfire. However for me personally, the only difference is that people are much more careful about cleanliness. In North Williamsburg, the brunch hipster spots are still thriving, and as you can imagine are very meticulous to avoid any type of spread. Cafe Mogador has been one of those frequent brunch places that many flock to for weekend brunch. This is not the first time I’ve been here as I’ve always been neutral, but at least this time, I’ve taken pictures of some of the food.

Westlight sits on the 22nd floor of the William Vale hotel in North Williamsburg. When you enter the lobby of the hotel, there is a line to the right that directs you to board the elevator. Upon arrival, the host will seat you on 1 of 2 floors. The 1st floor might be for reservations and has a waiter, whereas the 2nd floor might be for walk-ins. The 2nd floor has a fake grassy area with some patio tables/chairs, and you don’t get waiter service.

It’s been difficult to restart eating out again. Usually we just resort to delivery or takeout from various places nearby. However, it seems that many restaurants that are trying to outlast the pandemic by coming up with ideas to do the outdoor dining experience. Some restaurants don’t have a real patio, and you’re seated outside on the sidewalk within reach of people. And some restaurants like this one have a legit patio experience away from bystanders without worry.

As usual, the North Williamsburg area is a pretty hot spot for restaurants to eat at. I had lived in this area for about 2 years, but I still come back time to time to get a haircut. Usually after the haircut, I’ll check out something. I’ve been looking for a decent pho place that is close enough to me such that I don’t have to travel to Flushing.

Pho vietnamese restaurants are generally pretty scarce in the city compared to Los Angeles. If you do find one, they usually don’t give you all the fixins and are timid about their offerings. In Los Angeles, I used to go to a restaurant called Phorage pretty frequently where their broth was very rich, and their meats were rare but tender. So how would this compare? We started off with thai tea and matcha thai.