On our first full day in Brooklyn, we started things off with breakfast at a diner! Luckily, there was a popular one just a few minutes away from our AirBnB!
It was such a lovely and cool morning. Forever missing how peaceful Brooklyn is! Huhu
We had our breakfast at the Terrace Cafe and I had no idea what to expect at the time. I ordered the Avocado Burger Deluxe (which costs about $13, I think) for myself and was absolutely *stunned* when it came that I took a photo for my Instagram stories and completely forgot to take an actual clean photo with my phone or camera lol hence the Instagram Story-grabbed photo. I was honestly a bit sad about $13 for a burger meal but this was honestly the most #WorthIt meal of my entire 2-week trip. I don't really think the photo does the serving size of this monster any justice because this meal was HUGE. So huge that I could've probably split this and still be full.
Everything about this meal was generous and it tasted as great as it looked. I only regret not trying their pies! Huhu definitely recommend this spot!
Afterwards, we headed for Prospect Park, but of course, not without me taking photos with gorgeous apartment buildings I passed along the way hehe
Onto Prospect Park! Prospect Park is the main park of Brooklyn and needless to say, it is gigantic. Nowhere near Central Park though. Haha!
It will forever be so interesting for me - coming from a third world country - to see how much the States values their parks and to see how the people genuinely love spending their days there. I wouldn't mind going to the park either if we shared the same climate and overall park security. :(
Our real agenda for Prospect Park, though, is visiting the Smorgasburg! It's open every Sunday from 11AM to 6PM and it is filled with the most interesting food choices all in one space. Truly, America's food parks puts all the food parks to shame in terms of diversity and even quality.
Side Note: Seeing so many cultures blended in one place is such a great metaphor that there's nothing wrong with being accepting of different cultures and I wish this was a more universal philosophy. *Sigh*
The setup is simple and straightforward - the way food parks are supposed to be. No permanent imposing structures or any invasive applications that can potentially hurt the park! I also super appreciate the free water station as drinks can be pricey too lol. (At least, in Filipino standards)
The variety of food here is insane and I already thought I was relatively already knowledgeable about the cuisines around the world.
One of the most memorable stations was definitely Matchaful with their incredibly pretty drinks that had actual flowers and a crazy blend of superfoods with Matcha and non-Matcha bases. I mean, look at how radiant the owner is!
You've also got a ton of Asian food which hits closer to home. Bao with meat fillings from Wagyu to Peking Duck!
Funny pun stores like Bon Chovie that serves some New Orleans seafood delicacies as well as a cool Cranberry Limeade! (Wish I tried the Limeade)
Indian coffee that they claim to be "smooth AF"
I really wish I had tried Duck Season too. For no other reason than to taste how delicious the blend of fries and duck fat must be. #ProbablyNotGoodForMe
So many regrets!!! My favorite thing about Brooklyn is that they have such large enthusiasm for health foods that I've never even heard of. It's definitely not hard to try to eat healthy here because there's always so many options available.
Fancy french toast with flowers!
My dad ended up trying Lobsterdamus because *lobster*
We tried the 1/2 Pound Lobster which was obviously good. Garlicky and packed with all sorts of beautiful seasonings. Haha! (For $16, it had to be) Probably wouldn't repurchase for the price though. *Duck Season huhu*
For dessert, we tried the doughnuts at DOUGH.
I honestly thought they were croughnuts (croissant doughnuts)
I got the Chocolate Doughnut with Cacao Nibs and I was slightly bummed out to find they were regular soft doughnuts! It was huge, soft, and sweet. Probably a bit too sweet. But it wasn't bad. I don't think it's worth the 10 bucks though. I'm a person who rarely eats doughnuts just because I know how bad they are for me. (I definitely can't turn an original Krispy Kreme away though)
In the States, I learned the hard way that most sweets will probably be waaaaaay too sweet. People there love their sugar. Haha!
To cool down, I got the coolest looking drink I could find and that was the Cactus Pear Lemonade! I do love cactii lol. There's nothing too crazy about this one other than it's a punchy sour lemonade with a pungent herbal aroma. This made me all the more curious if the Cranberry Limeade would've been any better.
End note: I feel like I just made all the wrong choices at Smorgasburg. *Duck Season huhu*
The last thing we checked out was Malai! This was one of the most popular ice cream shops in the country. And they even got the articles posted at the booth to prove it. Haha!
They definitely don't have a shortage of interesting flavors. Even down to their cones!
However, we just went for 2 scoops in a cup. We tried Browned Butter Pecan and Rose with Cinnamon Roasted Almonds. In hindsight, I realize we order two flavors that relied on nuts which sort of made them taste similar. I kept saying we should've probably ordered the Orange Fennel in place of one of the flavors.
Thankfully, the ice cream was just the right amount of sweet. They had very distinct nutty, buttery flavors with a hint of Rose on the Rose-flavored one. A strange thing I remember about this ice cream is its overwhelming salty aftertaste. It starts out sweet and is then followed by the powerful flavor of sea salt. It was just a bit weird. It complements the ice cream and is probably meant to cut the sweetness, but I just think they went a little too hard on the salt.
Afterwards, we started making our way to the Brooklyn Historical Society!
But before transferring to the right line at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center Station, we decided to go out and take a quick visit to Best Buy and Target!!!
I don't know why going to places like Best Buy and Target are so freaking surreal to me. Probably from watching so many YouTubers talk about how they find *everything* there.
Here are just some thoughts on my first experiences:
TARGET - Your basic supermarket but on steroids. I noticed that the prices of stuff like skincare and makeup are literally different in every store. (Different branches of CVS has different prices even). If you're looking for drugstore skincare/make-up, chances are you can find them at the best prices here.
BEST BUY - No non-sense tech heaven with nice staff. Price also varies for some reason. Though I will say the Best Buy headphones in this branch in Brooklyn is waaay cheaper than the same ones I saw in Manhattan.
DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) - An unexpected find. You can try shopping here for more affordably priced shoes from fancy brands. Don't expect any crazy deals though. Like outlet shopping anywhere else, it's a hit or miss and you just gotta be patient! I'll get into this more later on in the series but I love that there are so many accessible outlet stores in the cities now and you don't have to go out of town to the real factory outlet malls for good deals. There are places like Saks Off-Fifth and Nordstrom Rack and Century 21 that are almost every bit as good as those heavily advertised outlets that are like a one-hour bus ride away.
Next stop, the Brooklyn Historical Society!
But I'll get to that on my next post. See you then! :)
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