James Williams finds an eco-friendly, luxe hotel in Christchurch from NZ$69 – with free Macs.

Hotel So is modern, friendly, well-appointed and green… think champagne trimmings on a lime and soda budget. It’s a five minute stroll from Cathedral Square – close enough to be central, far enough away to be very quiet.

Expect plenty of self-service options. Electronic touch screens in the lobby provide state-of-the-art concierge advice to find a local bar, or a favourite place to eat. There are also free Macs in the lobby. You can pick up a new novel from the vending machine in the lobby too.

Single travellers can try a So Snug room with flat-screen TV, free wi-fi and voiceover IP phones for cheap calling.

I spread out in the So Stretch room, which has more space. Or you could try So Share – the ‘just friends’ equivalent with two twin beds

The So Stack room has an adjoining flexible room combo with a queen bed, and two sets of bunks, so you can mix and match.

And it’s quiet. The rooms are triple insulated, meaning that unlike some budget hotels you’re unlikely to hear Shrek-like snoring (or worse) from the room next to you.

Every room has a unique custom lighting system and built in iPod speakers. And the gym offers weight machines, rowers and treadmills and a choice of two sauna rooms.

Enjoy a cocktail (on or off the menu) in the What Bar, where there is also a full menu until late, and an after-hours snack menu to take back to your room.

Hotel So uses biodegradable vegetable-based soaps and shampoos, and water-based cleaning chemicals along with the option to change how often your room is cleaned.

Try the So Loyal program – where you stay six nights and get the seventh night free. Being a member comes with extra benefits including a free espresso at the bar each night you stay and free continuous high speed wired internet!

Where: 165 Cashel Street, Christchurch
Bookings: bookings@hotelso.co.nz or +64 3 968 5050
Prices: Start from NZ$69 per room including free wireless
Map: Click for Google Map and directions

One day, in January 1985, during my first visit to Melbourne (in fact my first time away home), I became a little lost. I ended up in Johnston Street, Collingwood, and while making my way back to what I hoped was the more familiar territory of Fitzroy, a strange and beautiful sight suddenly came into view. Here, on a ratty, windswept, traffic-ridden stretch of road, facing away down the hill to nothing and no one in particular, was a large, and totally unheralded, Keith Haring mural. A sphinx-like computer-headed worm, a glowing brain within the screen, rode rough shod over a sea of electric boogie, defiant dancers breaking and spinning and popping with a relentless, if anxious, energy. What a city, I thought to myself, so utterly cool it casually plonks a major international art work somewhere like this, and forgets to tell anyone about it.

Keith Haring was invited to Australia in March 1984, by curator and dealer John Buckley, when he was on the cusp of international fame. During his visit he painted a couple of large, but ultimately temporary, murals for the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of NSW. Critics would later decry his willing accessibility and his openness to the commercial, even describing his work as ‘not much more than pleasant downtown wallpaper’. But his signature dancing figures and ‘radiant’ babies, bombastically bright palette and reoccurring social themes have an insistent power; his work manages to both symbolise and transcend the decade that his career spanned. I was privileged to watch a high-top sneaker clad Haring aloft a scissor lift, at Sydney’s AGNSW, calmly and assuredly making his mark above the neo-classical arches. With a swift, precise hand honed through years of chalk and magic marker drawing on the walls of New York’s subways, he worked without preparatory drawings or even the usual gridded markup of mural-makers. This direct, and public, way of working was a rarefied but no less immediate form of graffiti tagging. It not only put his consummate skill on display and referenced the original outsider act, but became performance in itself. Haring was well aware that he was fusing disparate practices, describing hearing Christo talk in 1976: ‘that had the most profound effect on me…the event as public art takes it into another arena besides object-making’. He was also conscious that in his work the language of the street and the clubs met with that of the gallery.

While in Melbourne, Haring was also asked to create a permanent work for the city’s new contemporary ‘kunsthall’, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, now located in South Melbourne. As ACCA then lacked a permanent home, a wall was found at the Collingwood Technical College, a tatty ‘tech’ school in what was at the time a rough-and-ready inner urban neighbourhood. The chosen site appealed immensely to Haring who was always keen to engage, and on many projects actually work, with children and teenagers; he considered himself an activist as well as an artist. Once the wall was primed by volunteers, Haring completed the painting in a single day.

Fast forward 26 years. Haring is long gone, having succumbed to an AIDs-related illness in early 1990, at the age of 31. His Collingwood mural, unlike so many others, persists. But while concerted preservation efforts were made in 1996, it is but a shadow of its former self. Its kinetic lines of red and green are faded into chalky rust and blue tones, its vibrant mustard-yellow ground is wan and, in parts, flaking. The current state of neglect is partly due to years of bureaucratic buck passing. The site was listed on Heritage Victoria’s register in 2004, so the mural cannot be destroyed, but the building itself has gone through several changes of departmental ownership and is currently up for sale, leaving no party willing to fund relatively insignificant maintenance costs. Troublingly, the inaction also stems from a seemingly unbreachable divide between two camps of Haring devotees.

Those on the conservatorial side see the mural as a cultural artefact, one that contains the artist’s rare and authentic touch evidenced in each singular brushstroke; they advocate a commitment to preservation, or stabilisation, with the caveat that even with their best efforts, the mural will continue to fade and eventually cease to exist. The Haring Foundation, and many others, including several curators and Haring’s original Australian contact, John Buckley, are hoping to restore, or more accurately, repaint the work, claiming that this would most closely follows Haring’s wishes. Yes, the original paint and brushstrokes would be forever lost, but Haring’s intent, creative vision and integral design will live on, in all its jellybean vibrancy. Buckley recalls a conversation with Haring who, with a characteristic lack of preciousness, said that the mural could, when needed, just be repainted by any good signwriter.

Whatever your take on the preserve/restore schism, and whatever the eventual outcome, the mural should be on every Melbourne visitor’s itinerary. It’s an amazing example of Haring’s work, a prescient vision of the dark, depersonalising shadow of digital technology, and the spirit of resilience and resistance contained in popular dance and music. It’s also a poetic and serendipitous document of its time. Gaze a while and take yourself back to a world before Google and iPhones. Conjure up the image of Haring making a brief descent from his cherry picker. Not to size up his work as a Renaissance master might, but rather to change sides of the Fab 5 Freddie mixtape playing on his Kenny Scharf-customised boom box, making sure the kids who’d gathered to watch kept working their freshly-acquired b-boy moves. The mural is currently behind a locked gate, but can clearly be seen from the street, both through a fence and towering above. Plans are also afoot for greater public accessibility. These days the neighbourhood, now my neighbourhood, might still present a tad bleak (and does still contain pockets of extreme disadvantage). But, with a slew of cool-kid patronised pubs, cute cafes, restaurants, shops and bars, it’s a destination in itself.

Where else to see Keith Haring’s murals

• Napier St, Fitzroy (1984)
  Btw Gertrude and Webb Sts, Fitzroy, Melbourne
  During Haring’s month-long trip to Australia, he was to casually daub quite a number of walls in both cities, including a railway overpass, a nightclub and a private prep school. This small but iconic figure on the fence of an inner city terrace – a gift for the one-time resident – is one of the only that both endures and is publicly accessible.

• Crack is Wack (1986)
  East 128th St& 2nd Ave (the Harlem River Drive), New York
  Painted on the northern face of a handball court wall, Haring’s cautionary response to New York’s crack epidemic was executed without permission (or remuneration), but was put immediately under protection of the City Department of Parks.

• Carmine Street Swimming Pool (1987)
  Carmine St & 7th Ave, New York
  Painted on an ajoining wall between the public pool and the James J. Walker Park handball court, this aquatic-themed work is unusually sparse, but still joyfully kinetic, and at 18ft high and 170ft long is huge.

• L’hôpital Necker (1987)
  149 rue de Sèvres, 15ème, Paris
  Haring’s most enduring and evocative figure is the ‘radiant baby’ – a symbol of innocence and hope – and his interest in the wellbeing of children was borne out in many of his public works. This soaring, vertical mural graces a brutalist external stairwell of a busy children’s hospital.

• Tuttomondo (1989)
  Piazza Sant’Antonio, Pisa
  The idea of creating a mural in Pisa happened by chance when a young Italian student met Haring in the street in New York. This 180sqm work is on the side of the Church of Sant’Antonio, and was realised in a relatively subtle palette in deference to the surrounding streetscape. The interlocking figures optimistically represent the struggle for peace and harmony in the world. This was to be Haring’s last public work.

Want to boost your odds with Lastminute.com Top Secret Hotels deals? Maggie Alderson has classified information.

Finding somewhere reasonably priced and decent to stay in central London is on a par with locating the Holy Grail, hens’ teeth etc, so  Lastminute.com’s ‘Top Secret Hotel’ offers seem like the answer. You get a greatly reduced rate – but the catch is you don’t find out which hotel it is until after you have paid.

The sell on the website is as follows: ‘Shhh, these rates are so low that our hotel partners don’t want to put their names to them. So we can bring you these exclusive deals, we don’t reveal the name of the hotel until you’ve booked.’

It does give you the hotel’s star rating, facilities and quite a specific location, but the moment you click the ‘buy’ button remains a bit of a nail biter.

I confess the set-up appeals equally to the gambler and the bargain lover in me, but it comes with some risk. I have had some very happy experiences such as being upgraded on arrival (the Millennium, Berkeley Square), but I’ve also been treated rudely by check in staff, and been given a room so small and horrid it defied belief (let’s just say it was somewhere in Piccadilly).

My last experience, at the fabulous Inter Continental right on Hyde Park Corner, was to be told there were only rooms available on the smoking floor – and I heard another couple getting the same line. It was a bit stinky, but the room was so amazing with views right over Hyde Park, and such good value with a fabulous breakfast all in at £130, I would definitely stay there again.

But now there is a thread on a website which can take all the risky guess work out of it. Money Saving Expert has introduced a forum where people post which hotels they ended up from the Last Minute descriptions and what they were like.

Finding an affordable hotel room in central London just got a whole lot easier.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=536015

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uggboy/ / CC BY 2.0

Forget the Dead Kennedys’ song – Tamara Sheward is smitten by the new Cambodia.

For years, ‘adventure’ in the Gulf of Thailand meant hallucinatory ‘fruit shakes’, dodging toothless ex-pats and wondering how to detangle those regrettable cornrow plaits. But exploring South East Asia’s marine majesty need not involve cringing vampire-style every time the full moon (parties) roll around.

Think Cambodia and Angkor Wat – and ethereal monks -  spring to mind. Fifty people and their goats crammed on the back of a moped, for sure. Pol Pot and war and Dead Kennedys songs, sadly, yes. But a paradisaical string of islands that make The Beach look like it was filmed in New Jersey? Who knew?

It’s a sad irony that the beauty of Cambodia’s 60-plus islands has been spared the fate of its oft-seedy, overrun Thai neighbours thanks mainly to the vile barbarism of the Khmer Rouge: hermetically sealed during decades of civil war, the islets were left to nature and the rare hut-dweller who escaped the purges of Pol Pot and pals 

Apart from those close to the beach town of Sihanoukville, the majority of the islands are off travellers’ radars, but are now accessible to intrepid souls looking for a private piece of paradise.

It’s BYO travel in the truest sense — hammocks, camping gear and food supplies are essential — but for those with pioneer fantasies, it’s unbeatable. And with larger islands like Koh Rong and the floating fishing village of Koh Kong offering audacious wayfarers immersion into local life, you can’t get more native without being born an apsara.

Anyone with a hardy spirit and, ideally, a translator can launch themselves into the best adventure Southeast Asia has to offer. Head to Sihanoukville’s fishing port and ask around for a willing captain. Tip: Scotch eases bartering proceedings.

Don’t believe what you hear. Sure, New York is expensive but in the city that never sleeps you can still have a fabulous time without breaking the bank. Or robbing one, writes Rebecca Sparrow.

1. Woody Allen Was Here:  Hotel 17 and Hotel 31 New York
Here’s the thing: New York hotel rooms are notoriously small and ridiculously expensive and you don’t get a whole lotta bang for your buck. But hey, who needs to stay at the Four Seasons when you’re hardly going to be spending any time in your room?  Exactly. Hotel 17 and Hotel 31 are in prime NYC locations and offer great value budget accommodation. Each room has private air-con, twenty-four hour concierge, daily maid service, cable TV and a phone in each room. Plus the rooms are seriously neat and very clean. Hotel 31 is located in the heart of NYC on 31st Street, between Lexington and Park Avenues. A twenty-minute stroll and you’re in Central Park.  Hotel 17 is downtown in the East Village – the perfect locale if you want to get a taste of Greenwich Village and Gramercy Park. And then there’s the Woody factor. Monsieur Allen filmed Manhattan Murder Mystery at Hotel 17 and previous guests have included Madonna.  For more information on Hotel 17 and Hotel 31 go to www.hotel17ny.com or www.hotel31.com Single rooms with a shared bathroom are approx US$100 per night.

2. Free Stars under the Stars: Bryant Park Movie Festival
It’s been described as “one of the most sensual, graceful open spaces in New York City” with its Parisian look and feel. But if you ask me, the best thing about Bryant Park is the Summer Film Festival, which runs every Monday evening from June to August.  Pack a picnic or just grab a blanket and a hotdog and sit back and enjoy some cinematic classics for free. Last year they screened gems like Annie Hall and Casablanca. Bryant Park is located at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. Movies are screened at 8pm but gates open at 5pm – if you want a good spot, get there early! For more info go to www.bryantpark.org.

3. A New York State Of Mind: Walk the streets
I know what you’re going to want to do – you’re going to see those famous yellow NY taxi cabs and wanna grab a ride. Well, don’t. The traffic in New York is slower than Forrest Gump and, within the blink of an eye, you’ll have a US$50 cab fare just to get a few blocks.  So my advice is to pack your walking shoes and hit the pavement. New York is a walking city – it’s flat, easy to navigate and walking the streets is the best way to get a feel for the city and to discover your own little gems.  And here’s a tip – don’t shell out the big bucks for those TV tours. Seinfeld, Sex and the City, the Sopranos – you can find all those key locations yourself on an internet search engine. Why pay a tour guide $60 for that?

4. The Staten Island Ferry
You’ve heard it before but there is no greater view of the Statue of Liberty than from the famous Staten Island Ferry. Every day 60,000 passengers are ferried between Staten Island and Lower Manhattan giving them the most gorgeous view of New York Harbour without paying a cent. That’s right, this ferry is free, baby! So sit back, enjoy the fifty minute round trip and don’t forget the camera.  For more information go to www.siferry.com.

5. Shaken, Not Stirred (or Tap, Not Evian) – The Algonquin Hotel
If you really want to have the ultimate New York experience then you need to have a drink in the Algonquin Lobby. This writer’s hotel was the once famous hangout of New York’s literati. In fact the daily lunchtime meetings of these writers, journalists, publicists and actors led them to being called the “Algonquin Round Table”. Today the Algonquin lobby is one of the places to be seen in New York and you’re sure to spot a TV star (sporting the mandatory tortoise shell glasses) or real-life author having a cocktail or hammering away at a laptop. So sit back in one of the wing-backed chairs and order a glass of water if you’re skint or a martini ($15) if you’re feeling flush. The Algonquin Hotel is located at 59 West 44th Street.

6. Cue the Applause: Free TV Tapings
I’m a little embarrassed to say that on one of my first trips to New York I wound up in the audience of Ricki Lake (I think the show was called “Boyfriend, I’m pregnant and  –  surprise – get lost!”). Tacky? Sure. But it was truly hilarious. Ricki’s gone but there are some great shows taped most days in New York like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Late Show with David Letterman and The View (a female panel show featuring Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg and others). Who knows, you just may be there the night Brad Pitt announces he’s single and looking for a down-to-earth backpacker. Tickets are to TV tapings are free (hooray!) but you do usually have to try and reserve them a few months in advance. Or you can try your luck and turn up at the studio on the day. For more details go to www.thedailyshow.com, www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow and http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/tickets

7. Culture Vulture
Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you can’t experience some of New York’s most famous attractions. There are a dozen free museums (like the Guggenheim) while others (like the Metropolitan Museum of Art) ask for a donation per entry. If all you can afford is five bucks, that’s what you pay – just plan to be more generous on your next visit.  For a full list of New York museums including free days go to www.ny.com/museums/free.

This Holiday Goddess can smell a bargain from the Bronx to the Battery, but even New York City can put a dent in Cheapallonia’s budget when she’s taking a wander with her six-year-old in tow. Luckily, if you know the right places to go, you’ll not only entertain the kids, you’ll be astonished at how many free activities there are. With a bit of planning, you won’t have to spend much more than a subway fare to have a dazzling time.

Here are some of Cheapallonia’s favorite (and free) hidden gems in lower Manhattan that are perfect for kids (and big kids aka mummy and daddy).

Teardrop Park
Hidden from view is the coolest water park in the City. Not only does the water come out of several fanciful fountains cleverly set into rocks, but there’s an incredibly long, straight slide that kids slick down with water so they can shoot off, screaming with laughter, into the sand pit below. Teardrop Park is unique in that even the smallest kids can safely enjoy the water feature and sand pit, and bigger kids will not tire of climbing up the rock stairwell to go down that slide all afternoon. As Teardrop Park is tucked between several large apartment buildings, you can walk by it and never know it’s there, so it’s rarely crowded. Too bad the water is only on in the summer, but there’s also a large lawn for picnics, and the City Parks Department often has free activities on weekends. *Teardrop Park is located between Warren St. and Murray St. in Battery Park City, east of River Terrace. Nearest subways: 1/2/3/A/C at Chambers St., E at World Trade Center.

 
Governor’s Island
If you like history, Governor’s Island is a gem. Its strategic location in the middle of New York Harbor made it a crucial defense for Yankee troops, and during the Civil War, one of the forts was used as a prison for Southern soldiers. The island became an army base, then a naval base, and was eventually turned over to the Coast Guard, who gave it back to the city with the condition that it not be developed for commercial gain. While planners try to figure out what to do with it, you can take a 7-minute ferry ride on Saturdays during the summer, hop on an air-conditioned bus for a guided tour, and marvel at the view before having a picnic on the beautiful grounds, near the gorgeous homes built for the officers near one of the forts that Cheapallonia’s imaginative son swears is haunted.

*Governor’s Island is open from June through September. The Governor’s Island Ferry departs on the hour from 10 am to 2 pm at the Battery Maritime Building, located next to the Staten Island Ferry on South Street and Whitehall Street. The last ferry leaves the Island at 4 p.m.

Nearest subways: R/W at Whitehall St., 1 at South Ferry, 4/5 at Bowling Green, J/M/Z at Broad St.

 
Staten Island Ferry
Cheapallonia is not one to pay for overcrowded tourist boat cruising the harbor when she can pose on the bow of the Staten Island Ferry for free and do her best imitation of Emma Lazarus. Sure, there’s no tour guide droning on, but she can read a travel guide and look out the window and figure it out for herself.

The Staten Island ferry ride spans 5 miles, takes about 25 minutes, and is brilliant free fun for people watching, scum-in-the-harbor watching, big cruise ship watching, and sunset watching. Eat a hot dog and feed the bun to the nasty gulls, then turn around and come right back. Be sure to stand in the front for a heart-stopping view of Lower Manhattan.  

The Staten Island Ferry is located at Whitehall Street and the East River. Like all city transport, it runs 24/7. You do have to get off the boat at Staten Island and transfer to another one for the return voyage. Nearest subways: R/W at Whitehall St., 1 at South Ferry, 4/5 at Bowling Green, J/M/Z at Broad St.

Daffy’s
While you’re near the Ferry, you might as well tap the piggybank for what you’ve saved on entertainment, and spend it instead on absolutely crucial fashion items, darling. Since most Holiday Goddesses have likely thought about having a shopping accident (the accident part comes when you faint after opening your credit-card bill) in the ginormous designer discount emporium of Century 21 (across from the World Trade Center site at 22 Cortlandt St,  between Church and Broadway), do yourself a favor and skip over to the smaller and more civilized Daffy’s instead. This chain has goodies for all family members, and you can either strike real gold (hugely discounted items from many different famous designers, like Cheapallonia’s favorite, Les Copains) or strike out. There’s no predicting what might be hidden in the sale racks, and that’s have the fun. Even if you don’t find the perfect new outfit for yourself, their selection of kids’ designer clothing and shoes never fails to disappoint.

There are many different Daffy’s in Manhattan; check at www.daffys.com. In lower Manhattan, go to 50 Broadway, 212 422-4477. Nearest subways: R/W at Whitehall St., 1 at South Ferry, 4/5 at Bowling Green, J/M/Z at Broad St, E at World Trade Center.

Shu Uemura Beauty Boutique
Now that you’re loaded with gorgeous things to wear, don’t forget your face. Make the Shu Uemura Beauty Boutique a must-see, as you can sample the hundreds of lipsticks, eye shadows, and blushes to your heart’s content, and then get a free makeup lesson with a staff makeup artist. Trust me, Cheapallonia hates a hard-sell, and you’ll never find that here. Located at 121 Greene St., between Houston St. and Prince St  212-979-5500. Nearest subway: N/R at Prince St. and Broadway, #6 at Spring St, C/E at Spring St.

SoHo Nails
If your feet are starting to ache after all that walking, why not soothe them with a quick pedicure. You’ll be thrilled with the bargain-basement manicure/pedicures available from the ubiquitous, no appointment-needed nail salons on practically every block of the city. Most salons are open seven days, from about 10 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m., and many have specials early in the week, when you can usually find a mani/pedi for about $20, not including tip. Bribe your little girls (and fashion-forward boys) with a manicure and you’ll not only get a respite from shopping but a chance to relax together.SoHo Nails is enormous, and cheap, and it’s where you’ll see fashionistas comparing Essie colors and getting their eyebrows waxed without a yelp. SoHo Nails is at 458 W. Broadway, 3rd Floor, between Houston St. and Prince St. 212-475-6368. Nearest subway: N/R at Prince St. and Broadway, #6 at Spring St., C/E at Spring St.

Have no fear, Cheapallonia is here to direct you to her favorite downtown Manhattan hidey-holes where strollers are (gasp!) welcome and the glares from fellow diners less noticeable. You won’t break the bank going to any of these restaurants, either.

The ubiquitous Greek diners are always good standbys, especially when they have kids’ menus offering free drinks and dessert (usually Jell-o or ice cream), but my advice is to visit the diners for breakfast and get more adventurous when schlepping the kids to lunch or dinner. Do remember, though, that none of the shrines to deliciousness listed here take reservations, so try to go at off-hours. Nothing’s worse than standing in a long line with a hungry and grumpy brood (particularly if surrounded by equally grumpy locals)!

Bubby’s

If you want star-watching along with your extra-thick challah bread French toast, then head down to Bubby’s in Tribeca, where you’ll be gratified to notice that the offspring of celebrities can behave as badly as your own little darlings.

Speaking of darlings, Bubby’s is the clubhouse for the locals who moved to the area when it was still scary with abandoned warehouses along with the nouveau riche hedge-fund traders who (with famous Hollywood actors) are now the only people who can afford the condos nearby. But the food is yummy, the waitstaff endlessly accommodating (although sometimes a bit harried), and there’s a bookshelf crammed with books and toys for the kids to amuse themselves. Don’t leave without having a piece of one of the many, tempting pies (especially the Key Lime).

-120 Hudson St. at North Moore St.
Nearest Subways: A, C, E to Canal St., #1 to Franklin St.

Little Poland

Back when my son was a baby and we lived in the East Village, Little Poland was our home away from home. We’d sit at one of the table near the front window, watching the endless parade of funky dressers and groovers pass by, while eating fluffy buckwheat pancakes the size of a dinner plate, or scarfing down a plate of eggs, home fries, and toast (each cost about three bucks then – and aren’t much more now).

Polish diners are one of the last great bargains in the city. You can’t go wrong with the soups (ask for home-baked challah bread) or the pierogis (steamed or fried dumplings; best are potato and cheese or sauerkraut), or any of the daily specials. The service is quick and friendly and kids are treated with smiles and coos.

-200 Second Ave., between 12^th and 13^th Streets
Nearest subways:  #4, 5, 6, N, or R to 14^th St./Union Square, L to Third Ave.

Masala Bollywood

The Indian community in Manhattan is quite small compared to that of Southall in London. Jackson Heights in Queens is the hub, but it’s still a trip to visit the saree emporiums and restaurants of Curry Hill, on Lexington Ave. near 28^th St (or take a walk down 6^th Street between 1^st and 2^nd Avenues, where nearly all the restaurants serve curry).

Kids who like their food with a little spice will love Masala Bollywood. Not only is the food delicious (and you can ask for extra-mild, for tender palates), but you can watch endless loops of the most glorious stars of Bollywood movies performing some of their most notable numbers. You can’t go wrong with the dosas and the huge assortment of freshly made breads, and there’s even a Chinese-inspired selection if you want to mix things up. 

The pickiest eater ought to go for the Raas Malai (sweet cheese with a hint of rosewater, Gulab Jamun (dumplings soaked in sugar syrup), or homemade kulfi (ice cream) for dessert.

-108 Lexington Ave., between 27^th and 28^th Streets
Nearest Subway: #6 to 28^th St.

Petite Abeille

Petite Abeille is a Belgian bistro that has four outposts downtown, and they’re all particularly kid-friendly, handing out crayons and paper placemats, not grumbling at the Bugaboos clogging the aisles, serving the kids first, and sporting spotlessly clean bathrooms. The prices are reasonable, the selection of Belgian brews vast, and the kids’ menu is more sophisticated than the usual fare. Kids love Stoemp, a Belgian take on mashed potatoes, and parents can’t keep themselves from digging in, either.

-401 E. 20^th St. at First Ave.
Nearest Subway: L Train to 1^st Ave., #6 to 23^rd St., then walk or take the M23 cross-town bus
-466 Hudson St. between Grove and Barrow Streets
Nearest Subway: #1/9 to Christopher St./Sheridan Square
-44 W. 17^th St. between 5^th and 6^th Avenues
Nearest Subway: #, 4, #5, #6, R, N to 14^th St./Union Square, F to 14^th St.
-134 W. Broadway, between Duane and Thomas Streets
Nearest Subway: #1, #, 2, #3, A, C to Chambers St.

Rai Rai Ken

What could be more fun for a child than sitting on a stool in a tiny restaurant, watching the other patrons loudly slurp their soup? Well, if you want to eat ramen noodles properly, you need to slurp them in one go-which is why ramen parlors are ideal for kids. No worries about eating like a guest at a dainty tea party here.

The bowls of steaming soup, with the delicious (and nutritious) broth laden with roast pork, fish cake (called naruto, its sides are a lurid pink, which makes it enticing to even fussy eaters who’d never eat a piece of fish otherwise) veggies, long, long noodles, and then topped with an egg, are always served very quickly, and are hard to resist.

Most ramen parlors only have counters, so they’re best experienced by kids who are old enough to sit on the stools by themselves

-214 E. 10^th St. between 1^st and 2^nd Avenues
Nearest Subways: #6 to Astor Place, L train to 1^st Avenue at 14^th St.

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar

Chinatown is ideal for cheap pork-and-chive dumplings (try the five-for-a-dollar-dive Fried Dumpling at 99 Allen St, which is as authentic as it gets) but if you want to sit back and relax with the kids and chow down on more versatile offerings, head to Rickshaw. Try chicken and basil, Peking duck, shrimp, or vegetarian – or the much-loved Chocolate Shanghai Soup Dumplings (melted Caillebaut chocolate with a black sesame mochi wrapper).

-61 W. 23^rd St., between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. 212 358-7912
Nearest Subways: R to 23^rd St, F to 23^rd St.
-53 E. 8^th St., between University and Broadway
Nearest Subways: R to 8^th St./NYU, #8 to Astor Place

Second Avenue Deli

Lovers of kosher pastrami, corned beef, and chicken soup with matzo balls (floaters, not sinkers) were heartbroken when the beloved Second Avenue Deli, at 10^th Street and Second Avenue, was forced to close its doors after an alleged rent dispute. For several years, we mourned the loss of the saggy floors, the ancient waitstaff, and the cholesterol-clogging selection from which you could scarf down the plates of free rye bread, coleslaw, and pickles before being given a sandwich large enough to feed a family of six for a week. (Sure, Katz’s Deli on Houston Street hits the spot if you’re craving a great hot dog, but it doesn’t have the same sort of vibe.)

Happy days have returned, as the Deli has opened in a new location. Okay, it’s not on Second Avenue anymore-so sue me. But the matzo balls are as fluffy as ever, the waitstaff as grizzled, the noise level as high, and now, you get free gribenes on the table, too.

You probably don’t want to know that gribenes are rendered chicken skin, fried to a crackling crunch and laden with enough calories to make you walk all the way to Gucci and back in penance, but they sure taste divine.

You may have long waits on weekends and dinnertime.

-162 E. 33^rd St., between Lexington Ave. and Third
Nearest Subway: #6 to 33^rd St.