Times Square is now New York City's dining destination

The famous tourist spot has become a sought-after address for luxury steakhouses and Sichuan restaurants

- Bloomberg

New York's Times Square is renowned for its tourists, its theatre, its neon. What it's rarely known for is food. Yet now, the razzle-dazzle food swamp is in the midst of a dining revolution. Exhibit A is GUI, the swanky two-storey steakhouse opening on Eighth Avenue on 22 February that's repurposed a former Staples store. The gilded space will feature haute cuts of wagyu beef, roving trolleys of caviar and pristine seafood, and a deluxe cocktail program. "We saw an opportunity to bring something different to this high-energy neighbourhood: a refined-yet-approachable American steakhouse experience," says chef Sungchul Shim, who also operates the Michelin-starred dining rooms Mari and Kochi.

Another hospitality expert who sees opportunity in Times Square is Danny Meyer. The famed restaurateur and his Union Square Hospitality Group have just reopened the View, transforming the tired, rotating tourist-filled bar into a David Rockwell-designed masterpiece complete with seafood towers and bone-in chops. "It's impossible to imagine Times Square without thinking of two eminently powerful business drivers in that neighbourhood: Broadway theatre and tourism. All by themselves, those two engines can fill a restaurant," says the USHG founder. "In creating what we hope will become a dining destination for New Yorkers, our aim is that the energy of the surrounding area will flow through our doors, keeping our seats full."

Meyer's new Times Square neighbours include the chef-driven See No Evil Pizza and the dumpling darling Din Tai Fung. It's also a block away from the new $2.5 billion entertainment and hotel project, TSX Broadway.