Nice Matin & Harlem Walking Tour

On a recent Saturday morning, I woke up wanting to have a nice brunch at a new brunch spot, in a different neighborhood, and this, is how I ended up at Nice Matin on the Upper West Side. Nice Matin is a french restaurant that serves bistro type food. I ordered the creamy parmesan polenta, which came with two fried eggs over grilled radicchio, grilled asparagus & polenta, with shaved parmesan cheese on top. Mr. PIC (Partner-in-crime) had the scrambled eggs with spicy lamb sausage served with a salad. I loved my brunch dish, the grilled radicchio & asparagus was very tasty, and I LOVED the polenta & egg combination. Interestingly, I am currently reading "heat" by Bill Buford, and there is this whole chapter about polenta-making which is absolutely fascinating.


After brunch, we decided to head up to Columbia for a little walking tour and for Mr. PIC to visit his old playground. While we were walking around,2 asians approached us, and their first question was "are you Christian?". Knowing what they wanted to tell us, I politely declined their offer to join the church, they kept asking questions and by then I got irritated...




The ironic part was, we did end up going to a church..haha..well, not to pray but to sight-see. Church? Sight-see? In New York? YES my dear. It's called the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue & 112th street. I've seen the church from the outside quite a few times, it's gothic and looks a little bit out of place in New York.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine was first built in 1892, until today, it's unfinished. The church is really big, and cool part is, there are seven chapels inside the church - French, Italian and so on....catering to the diversed immigrants of New York city. There was a school tour while I went so I stalked the guide and heard some interesting anecdotes & stories about the church.


This is not the Notre Dame or the Duomo, but you know, like all things New York, if you look carefully, there are important treasures to be found. :)

Address: Nice Matin, 201 W 79th St, New York, NY 10024
Address: The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10025

All photos here