Letting Down the Brits

Little did I know that I'd let down a nation - or at least one British reporter from The Guardian, sent to New York armed only with a BlackBerry and a mobile phone, obligated to live and die by the writings of NYC-based bloggers:

The idea was simple. For 48 hours, I would tour Manhattan using the "blogosphere" as my guide. By tapping the freshly posted thoughts of the city's (perhaps the world's) most opinionated insiders - New York bloggers - I'd leave behind the instantly outdated world of guidebooks, with their inherent obsolescence and excess poundage. What use could I possibly have, in a high-speed world, for knowledge distributed on a crude and bulky medium like paper?

And, here's where I come in:

The blogosphere is growing at an estimated rate of 40,000 weblogs per day and, after 50 minutes of browsing rather aimlessly in search of food, I was beginning to suspect that most of them originate in New York. There's a heap of information out there, much of it a distraction, so it was with genuine relief that I finally found a good tip from Vittles Vamp (vittlesvamp.com), an anonymous food-and-drink blog. I scrolled down to an entry marked "B-Day Bash Pt 2" and found the author's thoughts on a Soho restaurant called Porcupine: "In a word: GO. I mean it."

I went - perhaps too hastily, because it was closed. The blog had landed me in Soho, but hunger dictated my next move, a couple of doors down to Bistrot Margot (26 Prince Street). The space had the dimensions of a pencil (much longer than it was wide), with a walled jardin at the back, where I sat, as the reluctant April sunshine forced out a few green shoots on overhanging branches...

So close to having my personal musings vindicated by the Brits - and so very, very far.

Oh well, perhaps someone out in the blogosphere will do me one better, when I venture forth to Europe next month. Destination: Ireland. Irish vittles and drinking tips definitely encouraged.

Comments

[Jenn]

Shame he missed out on Porcupine. I hope that when he says "closed," he means temporarily.

[Matt]

Being a Brit myself I do get very annoyed when people mess around with the Union Jack flag. I've had Americans screaming at me for letting the USA flag touch the ground etc.... Please change the incorrect image for a correct one ... look at this page for a correct example http://www.the-brit.com/Code/Info/jack.htm

The Union Jack is NOT symetrical.

:)