Food. By Mark.: USA

I love the Lower East Side. I've always tried stay in the general area since I started visiting New York for work (hello Soho Grand, Tribeca Grand, Thompson Lower East Side and Rivington Hotel) although I do also love Soho House, in the meat packing district with its awesome suites. There's so much eat and shop (Reed Space, ARC, the shopping centre of Soho itself). I'd wanted to eat at Clinton Street Bakery, but as consistent winner of accolades such as best breakfast, best brunch, best pancakes and so on, inevitably means that there are often queues of 1-2 hours on weekends. Clinton Street Bakery, which opened in 2001, is the genius of a husband and wife team, Neil Kleinberg and DeDe Lahman

A warm September Monday morning seemed like the perfect time to give this place another go. Nevertheless when we arrived there was still a 30 minute wait at 10am. We were sat right at the back of the restaurant, sandwiched between the toilet wall and neighbouring foursome of Danish ladies. There didn't seem to be a single group there without a camera snapping away at the food and the clientele. The menu is sizeable featuring their award winning famous Blueberry Pancakes and the mammoth Po' Boy sandwich for lunch. Drinks range from shakes made with flavours from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory to Root Beer Floats, which I had to order. My girlfriend went to college in Ithaca, and strangely she'd never heard of the drink company. In the world of floats for me, nothing beats a root beer float. Perhaps not normally accompanying breakfast though.

With my various intolerances unfortunately I can never bring myself to ordering a whole portion of pancakes to myself. I chose the farmer’s plate, a dish of soft scrambled eggs, farmhouse cheese, herb roasted tomatoes, and sourdough toast. The scrambled eggs are indeed soft, the only way I ever expect them to be cooked. The cheese is a hard cheese with a light nutty taste and drier than cheddar. I have no idea what it was. It was a good choice at the time, enough to satisfy my egg craving.

When you come to Clinton St for breakfast it is really all about the pancakes. At almost any time in fact. Whether it be served with Maine Blueberries or Banana and Walnuts, it is both delicate and substantial. Like all American pancakes, portions are gargantuan but rather than being cloying, they are moist and tender from start to finish. The warm maple butter, that some have been known to drink straight from the jug, is rich and extremely sweet.

The Pancakes at Clinton St. are probably the best I've ever eaten... so moist they barely even needed the luscious warm maple butter. The trick to Clinton St. is to pick a weekday morning to avoid the masses of regulars that hit this place on a weekend. No one really likes to queue but 30 minutes is more manageable than the 1-2 hours you might have to wait on a weekend. Another great brekkie in New York.

Clinton Street Baking Co. & Restaurant, 4 Clinton St., nr. Houston St., New York, NY 10002 646-602-6263

What makes the ideal brasserie? For breakfast? In New York? Keith McNally has the answer with his Balthazar Restaurant in Soho. As you step into Balthazar, it feels as though you have stepped within a baguette's throw of the Seine complete with enormous bowls of chocolat chaud and baskets of freshly baked hot croissants. The only downside to this place, as a testament to its popularity perhaps, is that tables are so close together it is almost claustrophobic. Service is friendly and well executed. Just ensure that you book if you plan on going for breakfast or brunch on a weekend. As a regular visitor to Soho, this is my favourite breakfast spot within easy reach of the hotels, and no culinary tour of New York could fail to at least mention this place. Keith McNally's extremely noisy at night Schillers may be his current hotspot but Balthazar is still his masterpiece.

Here are photos from various visits over the past 9 months.