On my first day in New York I organized to do a food walking tour of Chelsea Market and the Meatpacking District. I hadn’t been or known about Chelsea Market on my last visit to the city but it’s a fascinating place. The market is on the ground floor of what used to be the NABISCO factory – where they invented the Oreo. It’s all industrial chic with exposed pipes and brick work and the shops are exclusive bakeries/food shops/delis/supply stores that can easily break your will power and budget.

We started at Eleni’s bakery for a sampling of a red velvet cupcake. I love the biscuit dress in the window and the themed boxes of biscuits but at $65 a box, these were not in my budget! The cupcake was lovely, the icing smooth and creamy. It was bite-size which was good because we ate continuously for about three hours!

We then wandered through to watch the bakers of Amy’s Bread. The kitchens are all glass windows so you can see people at work, making the delicious goods on offer. This is an industrial operation with racks and racks of dough in various stages of proofing, baking,  and cooling. Very impressive. Whilst we watched we sampled chocolate milk from Ronnybrook Dairies.

Next it was into the fishmonger for a sample of lobster bisque…

Before a feast of Italian deli favourites – olives, cheese, cured meats, breads – where I saw these awesome marzipan fruits!

I was tempted to buy half of the shop at Chelsea Market Baskets. Dulce de leche from Argentina, Island Bakery cookies from the Isle of Mull (I got super excited when I saw these as I love this bakery), weird bacon sweets, chocolate gummy bears.

I particularly like this idea of bacon inside the pancakes!

I loved these Sesame Street cupcakes.

Then it as out onto the High Line. The High Line is now a fantastic green space but I’ll talk more about it later in the week. This is just a taster…

Finally, we wandered through the Meatpacking District for one last sampling of oxtail pasta. I like the slightly gritty feel of this district. Despite it’s gentrification over the last few years, it still feels slightly harder and more intense in parts. By the time the tour was over I was full to the brim and ready for a long walk to recover.