For this, the foodie tour of Brooklyn, we had breakfast at Tom’s Diner, lunch with Nathan’s hot dogs in Coney Island and now, on to dinner at the Bromberg Brothers’ signature Blue Ribbon Brasserie in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Located at 280 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215, between 1st Street and Garfield Place; (718) 840-0404, the Blue Ribbon has an oyster bar and a dining room which offers everything from bakery products to an eclectic dinner menu with a mix of fine American food and French, Oriental and Arabic dishes, accompanied by plenty of kid friendly, family and group dining options.

Start with an appetizer of fried oysters, smoked salmon, hummus or some choice shrimps. The best soups are either the Matzoh Ball Soup or the Cream of Tomato. For the main course, try the New York Strip with onions, mushrooms, green beans and fries or the Fried Chicken. One plate of fried chicken is probably more than enough for two people, with four big pieces of chicken,  with mouth watering gravy of mashed potatoes and collard greens, and a cup of honey on the side to enhance the taste in between chicken bites.

But the best is yet to come. For Dessert, there’s nothing which comes close to the super-duper Blue Ribbon Chocolate Bruno, served with three flavors of icecream and a liberal dose of chocolate syrup. People come here just for the Chocolate Bruno, and end up having a full dinner.

The cost has climbed steadily upward once this place became a secret which everyone knew about, and the restaurant started winning awards and stuff. Reservations available only for groups, so if you’re single or a couple, you’ll likely have to endure a wait of between 20 minutes to 45 minutes. But it’s still worth every penny and the wait. Anyway you look at it, it’s filling, very tasty and a dinner at the Brooklyn Blue Ribbon is just the ticket to knock the lights out of you after a tiring day out in the streets of New York.

Info: 280 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215; (718) 840-0404. Web: www.blueribbonrestaurants.com Suggested eats: Fried oysters, matzoh ball soup, fried chicken and chocolate bruno. Total Cost: Approximately $65 plus tip.

Continuing our culinary escapades in Brooklyn, NYC, we move from Tom’s Restaurant to Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island, the birth place of an American Institution - The hot dog.

What began as a nickel hot dog stand way back in 1916 in Coney Island is today a corporate entity and a brand name which hawks fastfood at thousands of franchise outlets, along with a bevy of branded products under Nathan’s Famous (www.nathansfamous.com). 

Even more famous is Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest, which is held annually on July the 4th. This year’s event, attended by about 50,000 people, was hosted live on ESPN.

Six time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi was beaten by Joey Chestnut, a San Jose University student, who gobbled up 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. Suffice it to say that these are hallowed grounds to eat a hot dog.

But you’re not just here for food. You’re making history. You’re a part of a movement. It’s Inspiring. Like a carnival. You don’t just eat a juicy hot dog with sour kraut and onions, liberally doused with Deli style mustard, followed up with chilli cheese dogs and cheese fries. You look at it - Your mouth waters. You eat it, you want more. So you eat some more. Then you keep coming back.

For a foodie, a pilgrimage to Coney Island for a Nathan’s hot dog meal is comparable to a stroll on the Walk of Fame along Hollywood Blvd. and Vine Street for a celeb crazy fan. If you’re on a foodie tour of New York City, this is one stop you seriously do not want to miss.

Info: 1310 Surf Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11224; (718) 946-2202. Suggested eats -Hot dogs with cheese fries with lemonade. Web: www.nathansfamous.com

So you want to have a culinary adventure in New York City? Unlike tourist attractions, the best eats and restaurants in New York City, for a foodie who likes to dig deep in into food, are not situated in downtown Manhattan. That glorious award goes to Brooklyn. So let’s make a meal out of Brooklyn.

And no better place to start a foodie tour of Brooklyn than breakfast at Tom’s Restaurant on 782 Washington Avenue, corner of Sterling Place, a historic Brooklyn diner, currently run by Gus who’s got a hand on attitude and takes care of the customers himself, and opened by his father Tom in 1936.

Once you have a full breakfast at Tom’s, you’ll either travel miles to stand in the breakfast line here every morning, or you’ll surrender and shift house to Brooklyn. There are people who have been having breakfast at Tom’s their entire adult lives. So what’s so special about it? Oh, well…Nothing much.

Just the most incredible, fluffy and light pancakes you’ll ever have the good fortune to dig in to. Heavenly Belgian waffles with strawberries, butter and syrup. Eggs and bacon. Coffee refills. French toast with flavored butter.

And if there’s a line and you’re waiting, they’ll hand out free cookies and orange slices, all with a smile. Nothing flashy or swanky about Tom’s, and if you like to have a tasty and heavy breakfast, attractively priced, head straight for Tom’s Restaurant. 

Info: 782 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238; (718) 636-9738. Sundays closed. You’ll probably find a long line waiting on Saturdays. So best time to visit Tom’s - If you are visiting - Is on weekdays. Breakfast all day. Suggested choices include either pancakes, the Belgian waffles, the famous cherry lime ricky, and don’t forget the free cookies and orange slices. Sometimes it’s easier to just get a takeaway than find a place in the restaurant, which is old, and looks it’s age. The great food makes for the lack of decor, though….

John Siddle, Southport Visiter, chronicles the tragic tale of Bev and Jim Foggitt of Southport, U.K., who won a luxury weekend in New York, flew all the way across the Atlantic, and ended back in Southport the next day without having seen New York.  

Besides a 20-minute stroll on Broadway, the closest the couple got to the famed New York experience was staring out of the taxi window to and from the airport. For Jim was diagnosed with an embolism. He was advised by hospital staff to return to England. Sky-high medical fees – a bed in hospital would have cost over £500 per day – forced the couple to seek the next available flight home. As walk-on passengers, the couple had to pay a premium of £1,700. Bev added: “We left at 5am on the Thursday and were back in Southport at 3.30pm on the Friday. What was meant to be a luxury freebie has ended up costing us an awful lot of money.

Comment from Abbey, the company which sponsored the luxury weekend in New York contest - Abbey is therefore not responsible for any medical or related costs incurred by Mr Foggitt during his trip.

Oh please! Gimme a break. Those poor people not only had their dreams shattered, suffered excruciating inconvinience, exhaustion and pain, but also had to pay for it? And to rub salt into their wounds, their NYC cabbie happily took the bottle of champagne they offered and still charged them….

This is not just about an old couple from a place you’ve never heard of. This is about New York. About a guest in your home who got socked by fate. Is NYC going to stand by and let an old couple suffer just because they wanted to see the City of their dreams? Is this what happens to people who run out of luck in New York?

Here’s what I’ll do. This is what Abbey writes about their Corporate Social Responsibility. Abbey is committed to being a good corporate citizen and to treating all those who come into contact with us in a fair and ethical manner. We take into account how we deal with our customers and employees, how we manage our ethical and environmental responsibilities, and how we support the communities we work in.So ok, I’m listing contacts for Media Relations at Abbey (they’re a London based bank, part of the Santander Group), and let’s allow them to fulfill their ‘corporate social responsibility’. If you think the Foggitt’s have been treated badly by Abbey, send them an email requesting Abbey to help out the couple. Be nice and polite, if you do send the email.

Media contacts - Abbey

The party begins in New York, a New York party begins at Times Square, and a Times Square party begins at Hotel QT. Located at 125 West 45th Street, New York, New York, 10036; (212) 354-2323, it’s not really a hotel.

It’s a stylish but no-frills and budget (relatively speaking) place to hang out in Times Square. A place to be seen and a place to show what you’ve got. In short, it’s hip and cool.

Hotelier Andre Balaz has brought together the disparate requirements of stylishness and a New York clientele on a budget, and saddled the whimsical fashionistas who sign off on what’s hip, all in a perfect location in Times Square.

The main attraction, and the place where all the action is, is the pool in the lobby, adjoining the bar. A poolside DJ lets rip hip-hop records while the bar is a watering hole for a toxic and dangerous mix of Wall Street execs. in business suits and New York’s bold and beautiful showing off their wares in bikinis. Restraint and conservatism are not words which are heard, said, or shown, anywhere near the pool. Pool parties at Hotel QT are one of the happening scenes in New York City, and that’s saying a lot.

And if that’s not enough to entice you to make a booking, there’s also a suana and steam room and fitness center. The rooms at Hotel QT are what is known as ‘an affordable crash pad for the upwardly mobile’. That’s New York lingo for a place where you afford to be seen, in both the financial and the fashion senses of the word. Other words which apply might include chic, different, in and swanky.

Platform and bunk beds, mini-fridge, flat screen television, free wi-fi internet, movies on demand, complimentary breakfast of muffins, bagels, yoghurts, fruits and fresh coffee, and a bathroom that looks like it’s been put together straight out of some magazine, and it’s almost as big as the room itself.

Rooms start at $269, which is pocket change, if you do a quick comparison with other hotels in Times Square. But let’s keep this simple. New York - Times Square -Party - Hotel QT.