A Brooklyn’s Best Food Tour with Sunny Anderson

Last month, I got an opportunity to visit New York City on a guest media trip hosted by Extended Stay America. And did you know whom I meet there? I got a chance to meet Food Network’s Sunny Anderson. I was fortunate enough to have the amazing healthy breakfast made by her as a part of Extended Stay America’s in-room kitchen or more specifically ‘Kitchen-Kitchen with Sunny Anderson’. She had made honey oatmeal yogurt recipe and scrambled egg with salsa that delighted my taste buds. She also served turmeric champagne tea which was so refreshing to start our long day.

Not only this, she spent a day with us and took us to ‘Sunny’s Brooklyn’s Best Food Tour’ where we got a chance to explore Brooklyn like locals and visited some of her favorite food joints and had an amazing mouth-watering food to die for! So here is the quick sneak peek of all the amazing places where I went with Sunny on Brooklyn’s best food tour.

Talde

Our first stop for lunch was Talde – a casual Asian American restaurant serving inauthentic recipes from the Philippines to Brooklyn at Park Slope. The founder, owner and chief chef of Talde – Dale Talde welcomed us at the door. Few of the amazing dishes that we had were samosas (spicy English peas, kaffir lime yogurt served with chutney), spicy lemongrass chicken with romaine and peanuts, pretzel pork and chive dumplings, Jasmine rice and Korean fried chicken. If you love Asian fusion, then I can bet that Talde won’t disappoint you!

Tanoreen

After lunch, now the time was to go for some desserts. We went to Tanoreen – Middle Eastern cuisine restaurant located at Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The owner and chef Rawia Bishara welcomed our group. She was ready to serve us the best guilty pleasures of life. Yes! the best mouth-watering Middle Eastern desserts from her kitchen. We had Sahlab (a sweet flavored custard garnished with pistachios and rose water), Baklava (layers of fillo dough layered with cashews, almonds and cinnamon), Harissa (a semolina coconut cake soaked in rose water syrup and topped with pistachios). My favorite dessert was Tanoreen’s house special – Knafeh (a crispy layer of fillo dough stuffed with homemade cheese, soaked in orange blossom syrup and topped with crunchy pistachios). Knafeh is also Sunny’s favorite dessert and she mentioned about it on her Food Network’s ‘Best thing I ever ate!’ Whenever you’re visiting Brooklyn, don’t forget to head Tanoreen to treat your taste buds!

Little Cupcake Bakeshop

After desserts, we wanted coffee and some more desserts…just kidding! Everyone in our group was so full after visiting Talde and Tanoreen that we literally had no space left in our stomach. But Sunny assured us that no trip to Brooklyn is complete without having ‘Brooklyn Blackout’ cake/cupcake from Little Cupcake Bakeshop! So we headed towards it. As soon as I looked at the shop, it was so cute little corner shop giving a very friendly vibe.  We had a coffee to keep us awake along with the special ‘Brooklyn Blackout’ cupcake. This cupcake was very soft, moist filled with chocolate ganache and chocolate buttercream frosted with two types of chocolate icing. The first bite of the cupcake melted in my tongue. It had enough chocolate to drown in. it’s devastatingly good!

Di Fara Pizza

Our last stop was Di Fara Pizza – a perfect place for any pizza lover where you can get handcrafted pizza made with love by the 81-year-old founder and owner Domenico DeMarco. Di Fara Pizza is located at Midwood section of Brooklyn. The place is not fancy at all with old school ovens and interiors. But the waiting lines are never-ending as it’s always crowded. If you’ll ever find parking near this place, you should thank God for it! The most fascinating thing about Di Fara Pizza is that you’ll see the making of each pizza by this old man that will leave you spellbound. You won’t be having any problem waiting for hours for the completion of Domenico’s every handcrafted masterpiece. You’ll see Domenico putting the Pizza in oven bare hand and wonder “why the old man is not scared to burn his hands?” And when you’ll have the first bite of your pizza with fresh basil on top, you’ll be fully satisfied and would like to preserve that moment. It’s an incredible feeling!

I had an awesome time with Sunny Anderson on ‘Brooklyn’s Best Food Tour!’ I gained almost 7 pounds after returning from my NYC trip that let me to go for some intensive workout and diet but it was all worth it as I can say that I had some of the best foods in Brooklyn. Can’t wait to visit these places again on my next trip to NYC!

If you have been to any of these places in Brooklyn, New York City, do let me know your experience or your favorite food joints in Brooklyn in the comments below?

Happy Traveling!,
Ana