"I have been there over the past few years, directing readings of Fishamble plays for Origin, and ate in some great restaurants, oozing in atmosphere. The burgers, salads and China Li's chicken sandwich at Bar 89 on Mercer Street in SoHo are all delicious. I didn't try the chocolate martinis there, which I'm told are amazing, but I did experience its unisex toilet cubicles, made from transparent glass that only becomes frosted when you lock the door!
The View Restaurant on the 47th floor of the Marriott Hotel, just off Times Square, revolves 360 degrees every hour, so you can see changing views of the city as you make multiple trips to the chocolate fondue at the buffet.
I was in the city with a delegation from Culture Ireland earlier this year and I had a great breakfast of pancakes, maple syrup and scarily crispy bacon in the Carnegie Deli on 7th Avenue."
BUT I'M NOT .. .
"So I am enjoying a Saturday evening with my family at home in Phibsboro, a glass of red wine in my hand, cooking steak with fried onions, roast potatoes cut in long chip-like chunks, and green beans and sugar snap peas tossed in finely chopped, buttery onions. It's a straightforward, but hard to beat meal at the end of the week."
In conversation with Marie-Claire Digby
Jim Culleton's production of The Pride of Parnell Street by Sebastian Barry, for Fishamble: The New Play Company, is at the Helix, Glasnevin, May 20th-24th; the Belltable, Limerick, May 26th-31st and the Pavilion, Dún Laoghaire, June 3rd-7th, before touring to France, Germany and the US.