Lower East Side

Hong Kong-style food. It is a very popular banquet spot for Chinese people, with a wide and interesting menu including some of the best hot and sour soup you'll find in Manhattan and the garlicky house special chicken. Some people find the food overly oily, though. Seafood dishes are expensive, but most of the rest of the menu remains a good value as of 2022, as it has been for decades. Call for reservations if you have a large party or are going for dinner on a weekend.

This ain't no Dunkin' Donuts! Each doughnut costs roughly $2.50, but the place is a really fabulous, artisanal palace (albeit humble-looking) of doughnutry.

Congee Village's sister restaurant specializes in hotpot.

A classic NYC delicatessen. The famous fake orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally was shot here. Have what she was having: A pastrami sandwich. If you're a pastrami lover, you will long remember your trip to this establishment. Don't lose your ticket, and don't forget to tip the counterman at least $1 per sandwich. If you want something other than pastrami, their corned beef and brisket vie for second best and even their turkey is fine (though it's probably not what you're there for); make sure to ask for anything "juicy" (i.e., fatty).

Claims to have served "The World’s Finest Knishes since 1910" - a bakery that has been selling knishes on the Lower East Side since 1890 from its original location on Houston Street. As the Lower East Side has changed over the decades and many of its Jewish residents have departed, Yonah Schimmel's is one of the few distinctly Jewish businesses and restaurants that remain as a fixture of this largely-departed culture and cuisine.

This whiskey specialist bar can be quiet on weekdays. It's a good spot for anyone who enjoys whiskey or/and wants to explore more whiskeys, as they have a selection of unusual bourbons, ryes, Scotches, and Irish whiskeys. The prices for whiskeys that are also found in non-specialist bars may be higher here, but the bartenders are real experts, who can guide you in selecting 3 half-pours for a whiskey flight (or two flights, if you aren't driving and have the tolerance). The flights are priced as a sum of exactly half the cost of a shot for each whiskey or rye you drink. There are also beers on tap, etc., so if you are with a non-whiskey drinker, do not despair.

21-story glass tower full-service hotel with unobstructed views.

A fairly standard Holiday Inn except for the Retro diner serving as the hotel's restaurant. This is the hotel located the deepest into the Lower East side of all, and hence it is in a slightly deserted area, facing a parking crater.

The idea of Intercontinental's Indigo chain is to provide a boutique hotel experience in a chain hotel, but many of the Indigos fail to live up to that. The one in Lower East Side, however, wholly does with a truly unique experience provided by its loft-like spaces and light, airy rooms echoing Scandinvaian designs, wooden flooring and practical designer furniture included. The supertall outlier in a low-rise neighbourhood provides multiple terraces as its slender build tapers off towards the top, one even includes a small pool. The Mr. Purple rooftop bar is an institution, and works of art can be found throughout the hotel. The only letdown may be the rather large room count, approaching 300 - meaning also that only the best rooms get the hotel's signature views.

A fun radical feminist bookstore that also has a little cafe and a regular calendar of readings and other events.

This is an old-fashioned kosher bakery. Among their excellent offerings are their strudels, mandel bread, rugelach, black & whites, danishes, almond horns, cinnamon sticks and kichlach (big crispy sugar cookies), and their challahs are also very popular. Their hamantashen are also good. The Chinese almond cookies are good, but some of the smaller cookies are not too consistent in quality. The counterwomen are always willing to help you select items that were baked that day. Items that are in individual portion size, like black & whites, danishes, and almond horns, cost around $2.50-$3 apiece, but rugelach and mandel bread are quite a lot more expensive and must be bought by the quarter pound (minimum) or as an entire large piece, respectively. The staff will be happy to cut you a piece of strudel, and they will also slice challah for you without extra charge. Wednesdays and Thursdays are particularly good days to visit, as they have fresh chocolate and sometimes also cinnamon babka those days, and with any luck, you can get some that's still warm (unfortunately, they no longer sell it by the slice; you'll have to get half a babka or an entire one). There is no place to sit, so all business is for takeout, and they do not have napkins or utensils to give you.