Letting Down the Brits

Little did I know that I'd let down a nation - or at least one British reporter from The Guardian, sent to New York armed only with a BlackBerry and a mobile phone, obligated to live and die by the writings of NYC-based bloggers:

The idea was simple. For 48 hours, I would tour Manhattan using the "blogosphere" as my guide. By tapping the freshly posted thoughts of the city's (perhaps the world's) most opinionated insiders - New York bloggers - I'd leave behind the instantly outdated world of guidebooks, with their inherent obsolescence and excess poundage. What use could I possibly have, in a high-speed world, for knowledge distributed on a crude and bulky medium like paper?

And, here's where I come in:

The blogosphere is growing at an estimated rate of 40,000 weblogs per day and, after 50 minutes of browsing rather aimlessly in search of food, I was beginning to suspect that most of them originate in New York. There's a heap of information out there, much of it a distraction, so it was with genuine relief that I finally found a good tip from Vittles Vamp (vittlesvamp.com), an anonymous food-and-drink blog. I scrolled down to an entry marked "B-Day Bash Pt 2" and found the author's thoughts on a Soho restaurant called Porcupine: "In a word: GO. I mean it."

I went - perhaps too hastily, because it was closed. The blog had landed me in Soho, but hunger dictated my next move, a couple of doors down to Bistrot Margot (26 Prince Street). The space had the dimensions of a pencil (much longer than it was wide), with a walled jardin at the back, where I sat, as the reluctant April sunshine forced out a few green shoots on overhanging branches...

So close to having my personal musings vindicated by the Brits - and so very, very far.

Oh well, perhaps someone out in the blogosphere will do me one better, when I venture forth to Europe next month. Destination: Ireland. Irish vittles and drinking tips definitely encouraged.