Mary H K Choi is the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record and Yolk, as well as culture correspondent for Vice News Tonight.

New York

"Go to the Met. Because it’s just such an amazing space and has got the awesomest people watching. There are so many different tones in that place, so if you want to get a really good cross-section of New York people go to the Met and just look around."

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Go to Union Square and just sit there and look at a bunch of kids. Or Washington Square Park and look at all the NYU students brimming with that sort of energy of feeling like they're on the precipice of becoming some version of themselves that they’ve been promised..."

Washington Square Park

"When lockdown first happened I started getting these very inconvenient, very specific hankerings of food that I really wanted to eat. I realized, ‘Oh my god, I’m never going to eat a Fay Da pineapple bun again! Or tagine from Mogador!"

Cafe Mogador

"A friend of mine, Kenzo Digital, just opened an enormous installation called Air on the top of this building called One Vanderbilt. It’s connected to Grand Central and it is just the most panoramic, reassuring view of New York. It makes the Chrysler building with its deco topper look really small. It is such a top-down reminder of how lucky I am to live here."

One Vanderbilt

"Fort Tilden. There is something so abandoned about it, depending on the time of day and season."

Fort Tilden

"I would take the train and go to East Broadway to eat. Go to a Malaysian bakery like Kuih Cafe on the weekend, have the dank-delicious Belachan wings at Kopitiam, hit up Ling Kee Beef Jerky for their sweet, sticky jerky that's less traditional jerky and more this chewy, confit-ish vibe."

Kuih Cafe

"Head over to Golden Diner for their Korean wings and whatever special that Sam's cooking up. Maybe I'd pick up some fruit from the street stalls like mangosteens or persimmons or plums depending on the season and see about getting some roughage to work out the meat-sweats."

Golden Diner

"K-town was the perfect place for the after-after-after-AFTER hours. Maybe try some classic, loud place, like Woorijip or Samwon Garden Korean BBQ that changed its name but I'll probably always call it Samwon."

Antoya BBQ