For our anniversary this year, we decided to do a short staycation in Manhattan and order take out from one of my favorite restaurants. It was extremely nice to get out of the apartment and spend a night somewhere else. It definitely made me miss traveling, as the last time we had stayed in a hotel was our trip to Sweden in late February!

We chose to stay at Le Méridien, as they have some newly renovated European-style rooms. The room definitely brought me back to my trip to Lisbon, with it’s semi-open bath tub and tiled walls. It was actually a really nice room – and utilized the space very well.

After settling in and turning on my favorite hotel show – Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives – we placed our order for dinner at Marea, one of my absolute favorite restaurants. Pick up was super easy and our food was phenomenal.

I had to have my favorite dish, the Lobster & Burrata Salad, with Nova scotia lobster, burrata, basil, and eggplant al funghetto. And of course, no visit to Marea is complete without their signature Fusilli
with red wine braised octopus and bone marrow. We also split an order of the Tagliata, a 14 oz. prime sirloin with romaine and bone marrow panzanella. The meal was fantastic and it felt nice to share one of my favorite restaurants with X. We brought our own plates and cutlery and had one of the best dinners since the pandemic started.

The next morning, we took a quick walk through Central Park before heading over to Aquavit to pick up our Smörgåsbord for Two. Aquavit is currently only doing take out of select items during the weekend, so we decided to splurge on a Scandinavian picnic to remind us of our last trip to Stockholm and Copenhagen (More posts to come soon – so stay tuned!).

The Smörgåsbord for Two features 3 types of Herring (Matjes, Mustard, and Lingonberry), Gravlax & Hovmästar Sauce, Shrimp Skagen, Swedish Cheese, Potatoes, and Crispbread. The Gravlax was just as good as any we had in Stockholm and I absolutely adored the Mustard and Lingonberry Herring. Just look at this beautiful picnic!

We also ordered their Princess Cake, which was absolutely delightful and well worth the $35 we paid. The marzipan coat had just a hint of almond and the jam inside really gave it a pop of flavor. If you get nothing else from Aquavit – get this cake!

We had a fantastic short staycation, just stuffing ourselves full of delicious food! It was amazing to just enjoy being in the city and I cannot wait until this is all over so we can go back to exploring the world!