Aman New York

Worth getting out of bed for

Staying on one of the world’s most coveted corners – where Fifth Avenue meets 57th Street – means you’re primely placed for some of the city’s finest spots. Shopping fiends will be right at home here, as famed Fifth Avenue is filled with designer brands and high-end department stores (Bergdorf Goodman is just across the street and Saks is an easy 10-minute walk away); or, you’d rather somewhere with more independent boutiques – and humbler price tags – head to Spring Street in Soho or Brooklyn’s Williamsburg. 

Swap a trip to the top of the Rockefeller Centre and Empire State Building and make it immersive by heading up to the 91st floor of One Vanderbilt, where glass skyboxes and futuristic elevators provide sweeping scenes of Downtown Manhattan and Madison Avenue. For those who’d rather stay with two feet firmly on the ground, there are plenty of storied New York institutions on your doorstep, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Art and Design and Carnegie Hall. Thespians will thrive down on Broadway, where plenty of sashay-ing shows are on the cards, or Harlem’s Apollo Theatre is a little less tourist-tainted, with smaller performances programmed. For scenic saunters, Central Park is one block away and impresses year round, and the High Line – formerly one of Manhattan’s railroads – is filled with botanics and outdoor art installations that complement the West Side’s creative locale. For an insider's guide to the local food markets, head to Union Square Greenmarket with the hotel’s head chef, to pick up fresh produce that he’ll use to cook up a private dinner.

Local restaurants

Down East 28th Street, Atoboy’s otherwise unassuming interiors are blown away by Michelin-star-winning Junghyun Park’s refined Korean cuisine. Based around Banchan (small flavor-packed side dishes, typically served with rice), menus are short but sweet, filled with plates such as pork belly and mung beans, white kimchi and crab, and yangnyeom fried chicken. Le Rock is the newest venture of Tribeca’s Frenchette alumni, Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr – it serves bistro comfort food in its grand brasserie-style setting on the ground floor of the Rockefeller Centre. For grab-and-go dishes that don’t skimp on flavor, Los Tacos No 1 has some of the city’s best.

Local cafés

It’s only right to pick up one of the city’s boasted-about bagels, and New York establishment Russ & Daughters bakes some of the best. The original East Village shop often has lengthy queues, but a newer outpost recently opened on 34th Street, closer to the hotel, which also tends to have much shorter waiting times.

Local bars

Classic cocktails are poured with style at Midtown’s Monkey Bar, where dark red booths and caricature murals tell stories of its exclusive past. Setting up shop in an old bar where Johnny Carson and Jack Kerouac once regularly stopped for sips, Fifties-inspired Pebble Bar is spread across four stories and brings Soho’s storied spirit to Midtown.