NEW YORK CITY, Oct 2 — For the fifth year in a row, New Yorkers have named chef Eric Ripert’s French seafood restaurant Le Bernardin their favourite dining destination in the city in the latest crowd-sourced Zagat survey.
Fresh off news that it had succeeded in retaining its three-star Michelin status yesterday, the restaurant was also named the best restaurant in New York by Zagat readers, taking the top spot in categories such as Top Food and Most Popular.
Rounding out the top three restaurants in New York are Bouley Restaurant and Per Se.
After surveying more than 48,100 diners who rated about 2,000 restaurants across New York, editors also found that New Yorkers report dining out nearly 5 times a week, above the national average of 4.4 restaurant visits over seven days.
They also spend an average of US$48.56 for dinner per person. The national average is US$40.53.
While the list represents about 100 cuisines, New Yorkers crave Italian fare the most, as 32 per cent of respondents named the Mediterranean cuisine their favourite.
However, a scan of the top restaurants in the food category also reveals that when it comes to fine dining, French cuisine maintains its reputation as the pinnacle of haute cuisine: seven of the top 10 restaurants serve French fare.
Other interesting categories in this year’s Zagat survey include the best restaurants for chicken (Pies-N-Thighs), Mexican (Casa Mono) and Korean.
In the category of Korean, Jungsik emerged a big winner among both Zagat readers who named it the best Korean food in the city, while Michelin also bestowed the fine dining eatery with two Michelin stars, a first in the history of the Michelin New York guide. — AFP Relaxnews
