Tin Building, New York City’s best destination for foodies
This vast one-stop dining mecca and providore hub can keep hungry visitors happily occupied for hours.
Chef, restaurateur and Qantas creative director of food, beverage and service, Neil Perry, is leading our little group on an eating tour of New York. It’s certain we won’t need to take packed lunches but it’s unclear how we can cover much territory in just a few hours. I’m hoping Little Italy is on the agenda, and the prospect of indecently large amounts of gelato. Little do we guess that Perry’s key destination will be a one-stop food mecca where we’ll linger for several hours.
Tin Building is an unprepossessing name for a voluminous hall full of take-home and dine-in options but it refers to the architecture and corrugated framework of the former Fulton Fish Market at Pier 17 in the South Street Seaport district, more or less in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. Its full moniker, Tin Building by Jean-Georges, adds French-born celebrity chef and restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who opened the converted marketplace under his name in late 2022. The project, and surrounding precinct, have been bankrolled by the Howard Hughes Corporation to the (reputed) tune of $US789m ($1170m) with the aim of revitalising Lower Manhattan. Tin Building is the flag-bearer for this project; its massive reach includes several escalator-connected levels across almost half a hectare. This is no mere market, folks.
Fulton Fish Market was largely razed by a fire in 1995 and eventually relocated at Hunts Point in the Bronx. But the Tin Building was a designated landmark and couldn’t be torn down. The new semi-industrial iteration, incorporating various structural elements of the original, harks to the maritime roots but instead of vendors in rubber boots sloshing about in wet-market style, the seafood at Fulton Fish Co is decoratively draped on pure installations of ice. Golden tilefish, wild fluke, red snapper and dover sole are the glistening stars of today’s show. You can just admire (or buy) the catch or grab a stool at the raw bar and tuck into, say, creatively prepared shrimps or razor clams.
Tin Building is a coolly decorated assembly where every outlet, from coffee bar and creperie to sit-up sashimi counter and salad hub, is decorated with pizzazz and punchy colours. It doesn’t exactly constitute an international culinary tour, although the Frenchman’s Dough takes a two-way bet with Gallic-inspired Italian pizza, and Taquito heads to Mexico with the likes of achiote pork and cinnamon-dusted churros.
In more formal style, The House of the Red Pearl is tucked away in a curtained space. Blue velvet banquettes and gold wallpaper shine in a recreated Shanghai opium-den feel. While T Brasserie, with indoor-outdoor seating, harks to Vongerichten’s Alsatian roots via Belle Epoque Paris with tall mirrors and dishes such as classic French onion soup and steak tartare. For something lighter, Seeds & Weeds is a plant-based concept eatery with a funky 1970s design of plywood, splashes of orange and lime, and houseplants in terracotta pots.
Tin Building is keenly about retail and provisioning too. There are flower stands, butchers, charcuterie displays, patisseries (all praise to vegan matcha blueberry muffins with a dash of maple syrup) and shelves of best-in-class pantry goods. In the top-floor ovens, loaves are produced for the retail bakery and restaurants. “Twenty-one types of bread!” announces Vongerichten. At Mercantile in the market area, more than 40 per cent of the organic produce is sourced from the NY tri-state area (NY, New Jersey, Connecticut) and artfully displayed in crates and sacks. The Two Guys From Woodbridge (Connecticut) farm supplies micro and salad greens, fresh herbs and edible flowers. Lani’s Farm in Bordentown, New Jersey, sends organic veg and freshly bottled kimchi and soy sauce. Impossible to list the lot, but I spy olive oil, jars of marinades, fancy vinegars, cookies like granny used to bake and chocolate galore. Copper pots and pans gleam amid an array of vintage kitchen pieces.
Its offshoot, Mercantile East, heads non-stop to Asia with sauces, spices and staples from Japan, China, Vietnam, Korea (mugwort vinegar, anyone?), Thailand and Indonesia, plus just-made dumplings and noodles from a busy ramen bar. Then there’s the archway of lollipops that heralds Spoiled Parrot, an “earthly candy paradise” of confectionery plus meringues and ice cream. Its giant ceiling lights, shaped like bonbons, are mesmerising, as is the prospect of a sugar coma, thanks to the swooning effects of house-brand cherry almond or honeycomb chocolate bars (or both). Revive with a libation from The Wine Bar, Beer Here (up to 24 varietals on tap from a regularly rotated list) or the unambiguously named Cocktail Bar. It’s a veritable hive of industry, all bustling and bright the day of our visit. What’s also pleasing is that unsold fresh produce goes to food banks, packaging is uniformly recyclable (and compostable where possible) and seafood is sustainably sourced. We depart well-sated and highly impressed.
But wait, there’s more. My hotel is close to Little Italy and there’s still time to head to Ferrara at 195 Grand St (on the block between Mulberry and Mott), where cream-filled cannoli and tiramisu cake have been flying out the door since 1892. Time now for a little sit down and a stocktake of the day’s events with frankly enormous scoops of pistachio and creamy stracciatella, per favore.
IN THE KNOW
Tin Building by Jean-Georges is at Pier 17, 96 South St (at Beekman St); open seven days from 8am-10pm (10.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays); Qantas recently launched thrice-weekly 787-900 Dreamliner flights from Sydney to New York, increasing to four from October, transiting in Auckland and then direct to the Big Apple. The service is the precursor of the innovative Project Sunrise debut aboard freshly fitted ultra-long haul A350-1000s, scheduled to commence in late 2025 direct to NYC from Sydney and Melbourne.
Susan Kurosawa was a guest of Qantas.
