11-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Where to eat and drink in New York's Times Square now it's had a dining revolution
New York's Times Square is renowned for its tourists, its theatre, its neon. What it is rarely known for is food.
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Yet now, the razzle-dazzle food swamp is in the midst of a dining revolution.
Exhibit A is Gui, the swanky two-storey steakhouse opening on Eighth Avenue last month that has repurposed a former office supply store. The gilded space will feature fancy cuts of Wagyu beef, roving trolleys of
caviar and pristine seafood, and a deluxe cocktail programme.
'We saw an opportunity to bring something different to this high-energy neighbourhood: a refined-yet-approachable American steakhouse experience,' says chef Sungchul Shim, who also operates the Michelin-star Mari and Kochi restaurants.
Gui, a 'refined-yet-approachable American steakhouse experience', highlights Wagyu beef. Photo: Instagram/
Another hospitality expert who sees opportunity in Times Square is
Danny Meyer . The famed restaurateur and his Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) have just reopened the View, transforming the tired, rotating tourist-filled bar into a David Rockwell-designed masterpiece complete with seafood towers and bone-in chops.
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'It's impossible to imagine Times Square without thinking of two eminently powerful business drivers in that neighbourhood: Broadway theatre and tourism. All by themselves, those two engines can fill a restaurant,' says the USHG founder.