How to find more bite for your bucks in the Big Apple

By KATE BUSSMANN
Updated: 15:02 BST, 15 June 2009

Not so long ago, New York was all about glam hotels, designer shopping and restaurants so 排除的 they didn't have phone numbers or 調印するs. But times are 堅い and 存在 a cheapskate is suddenly 冷静な／正味の - 特に when it comes to eating out. It's now 完全に possible to spend two days in the city eating delicious food と一緒に its trendiest 国民s and spend いっそう少なく than $50 (現在／一般に about £32).

The downside? These pla ces 焦点（を合わせる） on food, not glamour - and you might, like me, 結局最後にはーなる with a hefty 乾燥した，日照りの-きれいにする 法案.

Of course, in New York 傾向s come and go in a flash. You won't find the real hip dudes in any old cheap restaurant, so inside （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） is 決定的な. My friend Maya, a fashion writer who has lived in the city for a １０年間, tells me everyone's eating noodles - ramen or pho, a 肉親，親類d of noodle soup - and Vietnamese 挟むs, or 'banh mi'.

Yuliana and Jay - 小説家 and TV (n)役員／(a)執行力のある それぞれ - extol the virtues of the burgers at the Shake Shack, while flatmates Anthony and 告訴する 示唆する I try 'street meat'. This is New York-ese for the food carts you see at the 味方する of the road. My instincts tell me to 避ける these at all costs, but I'm on a serious 研究 使節団 here, so I'll give them a 発射.

Moveable feast: Some of New York's many food carts 申し込む／申し出 very good meals

I also have a secret 武器: an iPhone packed with 'apps', those clever bits of ソフトウェア you download from iTunes. The 必須のs are iTrans NYC Subway (£2.99), a 地図／計画する of the insanely 混乱させるing system that even 作品 地下組織の, and Wi-Fi Finder (解放する／自由な), which 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s 解放する／自由な wi-fi 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs up to a mile away.

I 追加するd apps that 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） places to eat: AroundMe (解放する／自由な), 都市の Spoon (解放する／自由な) and LocalEats (59p). 通貨 (解放する／自由な), a converter that updates itself with the 最新の 交流 率s, is handy, too.

武装した and ready, I 攻撃する，衝突する the streets. First, an all-American lunch. New York 会・原則 the Shake Shack (00 1 212 889 6600, shakeshacknyc.com) is a kiosk in the middle of leafy Madison Square Park and comes hig hly recommended. I order a ShackBurger ($4.75), fries ($2.75) and '固める／コンクリート ジャングル' ($6.25) - frozen custard.

The place is packed so once my order is ready I 長，率いる for a park （法廷の）裁判. Mistake: the squirrels 明確に have very good taste in culinary 事柄s and are soon 群れているing around me. I 区 them off just long enough to gobble the burger - perfectly juicy meat in a brioche roll - but give up いっそう少なく than halfway through the frozen custard, which fits the cliche about American 部分 sizes.

After an afternoon wandering around the vintage 蓄える／店s in the East Village, a search on 都市の-Spoon brings up the nearby Nicky's Vietnamese 挟むs (150 East 2nd Street, 00 1 212 388 1088, nickyssandwiches.com). I'm still not hungry and, after the frozen custard, やめる かもしれない never will be, but in the 指名する of 研究 I squeeze through the skinny-ジーンズd diners in the tiny cafe and order ginger ale ($1) and a 'classic Vietnamese 挟む' ($5): a cross-cultural mix of crisp French bread, spiced paté, ham, ground pork and pickled cucumber and carrots. It's weird but it 作品. Later I discover I struck gold - Nicky's is a 地元の favourite.

押し進めるing on, I 長，率いる for Chinatown, where LocalEats recommends Vanessa's Dumpling House (118 Eldridge Street, 00 1 212 625 8008). This is Chinatown proper: hardly any 商売／仕事s have 調印するs in English but the restaurant stands out, all steel and 支持を得ようと努めるd veneer. It's 十分な of Chinese people and a couple of tourists but I manage only a couple of moreish pork-and-chive fried dumplings (four for $1) before finding gristle.

As I sit, AroundMe gives me a lesson about the area's history of ギャング（団） 暴力／激しさ. I order hot water with lemon and honey (75 cents) to try to atone for the 暴力／激しさ all this meat is doing to my arteries.

甘い 位置／汚点／見つけ出す: Kate tucks into her chocolate pudding

Day Two: still 十分な from the previous day, I skip breakfast in favour of artistic sustenance. After a stroll around the Museum of Modern Art (11 West 53rd Street, 00 1 212 708 9400, moma.org), I fancy a 中央の-morning 軽食. The Dessert トラックで運ぶ (desserttruck.com), 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）d on all three of my food-guide apps, is a ten-minute stroll away at the junction of 55th Street and Lexington Avenue. 'If this is your first time, have the chocolate bread pudding,' advises Jerome, one of the co-owners, and he's 権利. It's $5 and unbelievably good: gooey underneath, crunchy on 最高の，を越す, and gone in 60 seconds. In the evenings you'll find Dessert トラックで運ぶ at St 示す's Place, Third Avenue.

For lunch, I 選ぶ for pho over ramen, but UrbanSpoon's 使用者 reviews 支援する up what Anthony told me: the good places are in 紅潮／摘発するing, Queens. But I'm in Manhattan, where the best review goes to Pho Grand (227 Grand Street, 00 1 212 965 5366), where the Lower East 味方する 会合，会うs Chinatown. The decor is a little tacky but it's 十分な of 地元のs - a good 調印する. I choose a dish with shrimp ($5.95), an enormous bowl of delicately flavoured broth, soft rice noodles, crunchy carrots and broccoli, flavoured with fresh basil and a squeeze of lime, and reluctantly give up when I'm barely halfway through.?

With time running out, it's time to bite the 弾丸. I 長，率いる 支援する uptown for dinner to a stretch of Sixth Avenue busy with food carts. Kwik Meal (45th Street and Sixth Avenue, 00 1 646 729 8702) is the （疑いを）晴らす 勝利者: it's plastered with glowing reviews from The New York Times, Gourmet Magazine and New York 地位，任命する. The chef recommends the lamb pitta ($6.50), so I watch him fry chunks of marinated meat on a hotplate and 追加する a spoonful of yogurt sauce, lettuce and tomato, all rolled up in fragrant, puffy pitta bread.

It smells incredible: garlic, cumin, coriander. My AroundMe-奮起させるd 計画（する） to eat it in Bryant Park is abandoned for the nearest （法廷の）裁判. にもかかわらず my prejudice s, it's just as good as it smells and I 破壊する the whole messy thing, going through a stack of napkins and still managing to 減少（する） several bits of yogurty lettuce on my jacket and into my 捕らえる、獲得する.

My final food 法案 for the two days? Just $38.95 除外するing tips, which 通貨 tells me is £25.11. And that, even with the disappointing dumplings, is a bit of a result.

Travel facts

British 航空路s (www.ba.com) 申し込む／申し出s return flights to New York from Heathrow and Gatwick from £281 if you 調書をとる／予約する by June 22. 二塁打 room at The Marcel at Gramercy Hotel, 201 East 24th Street, start at $190 (£123). Call 00 1 212 696 3800 or visit www.themarcelatgramercy.com.