On a Big Apple tour, one bite at a time

11.54am: I'm on my way to the Diamond District, New York. At 41 West 47th, I reach the second floor and go to Taam-Tov, a central Asian restaurant that is well-known for its juicy meats, hearty portions and low prices.

12.40pm: After a delicious plate of bakhsh (Bukharian pilaf studded with chunks of meat, carrots and cilantro), I'm sated. I want to hit the Union Square Greenmarket before my scheduled food tour, so I leave.

1.33pm: In the West Village, streets cross each other and I can't navigate by skyscraper with the dense fog blanketing the top of every building. Looks as if Greenmarket is out.

Instead, I find Houston and start walking east, past indie coffee shops and alluring boutiques but I'm never going to make it to the Essex Street Market at this pace. I flag down a cab.

1.47pm: I'm early for my “melting pot'' tour of the Lower East Side, so I dawdle in the Essex Street Market, on Essex between Rivington and Delancey.

Sweet and sour

3pm: At the food tour, I'm with a British couple and my friend Abby. We sample muffins and cake at Rainbo's Fish Market, absinthe truffles at Roni-Sue Chocolates and a cheddar-like Ouray at Saxelby Cheesemongers.

I've probably been to New York close to a hundred times, but never to the Lower East Side, Chinatown or Little Italy.

5.12pm: We've been all over: At the Pickle Guys shop, wooden barrels are filled with not just cucumber pickles but also pickled garlic, string beans, green tomatoes and peppers (and, in the summer, watermelon).

It's a week before Passover, so they're grinding horseradish out on the sidewalk, a messy, loud and pungent affair.

We try new, half-sour and full-sour pickles, and some freshly ground horseradish, our faces a tableau of puckered mouths.

We stop at the Chinese Lucky King Bakery, with all kinds of spongy, flaky and multi-hued cookies, cakes and dumplings; a fruit stand where a vendor chops a foul-smelling durian fruit; DiPalo Dairy, an Italian import shop with tyre-sized cheese wheels; and Alleva Dairy, where we sample marinated mozzarella and some rolls of dried meat.

A friend in the District had told me that one thing he missed about New York was rice balls. Alleva just sold its last one of the day, so I'll have to go back to see what my buddy was talking about.

We sip espresso and eat mini cannolis at the tour's final stop, Ferrara Café, an Italian bakery.

6.02pm: Abby and I travel uptown on the subway to Xai Xai Bar to meet her fiancé, Christian, and some friends. We're starving; on the tour, we had only small samples wherever we went.

At Xai Xai, we order some food: a delicious bread fritter stuffed with minced beef (called vetkoek) and two orders of mini bunny chow, a curry made with lamb, potatoes and Indian spices served in a bread bowl.

1.08am: At Big Nick's Burger and Pizza Joint, at 77th and Broadway, we command a table so we can dig into New York's famed pizza.

Thin-crust pie tastes so good, I forget I've been up for more than 20 hours, eating for most of them.

11.54am: Christian makes coffee and Abby passes around the bagels and cream cheese.

Epilogue: Sunday, 1.32pm: At Alleva Dairy, I snag a rice ball: a baseball-sized concoction of cooked rice, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, meat and peas, breaded and fried.
Delicious.