Day 3, Christmas Day, in which we order too much Korean food

Christmas Day! We woke early of course, and after coffee down in the lobby we Skyped my family in Edinburgh to wish them a happy day. I have spent the past nine years celebrating Christmas in Edinburgh with the same people, and I felt quite homesick to see them doing it all without me.

We had booked Christmas lunch in the Algonquin's 'Round Table Room', which of course is room where stars like Dorothy Parker, Jamie Cullum and Angela Lansbury all made their name. I had imagined a rich atmosphere and even richer food, but frankly the whole thing was something of a disappointment. The food was school dinner quality - all overcooked meat and salty sauces - and the waiting staff comprised a number of ageing gangsters with the grace and manners of an elephant having an epileptic fit. Cutlery was placed on the table with heavy determination, bread roles were tossed through the air as the waiter bizarrely tried to serve them with two spoons, and at one point a passing waiter tripped over, showering Paul in gravy.

After a post-prandial nap we went to the top of the Rockefeller Centre to see what Manhattan looks like from above. The 'Top of the Rock' viewing platform is superior to that of the Empire State Building largely due to the fact you can see the Empire State Building when you're up there. It also has a killer view of Central Park, which stretched out quietly before us and looked absurdly small, like a short back garden covered in puddles.

We had romantic plans to go ice skating on the Rockefeller rink in front of the giant Christmas tree - a scene familiar from every Christmas movie ever set in New York - but alas it seems that several hundred thousand people had the same idea and so it was impossible to even move. At one point Paul was posing for a photo when an obese child tried to push him out of the way. "Excuse me," the boy bellowed. "My mom is trying to take a photograph".

I had my own opinions of what his mom could try to do, but I resolved to keep them to myself and indicated to Paul it was time to abort the Rockefeller Centre. This was in itself a challenge, as the streets were utterly crowded surrounding the centre and riot gates were in place to keep people safely kettled. We took to walking on the roads, ignoring the police's constant and angry appeal to stay on the pavement.

The crowds had cleared a few blocks later, and by 32nd street we found ourselves hungry and on a street full of Korean restaurants. Having had such a disappointing meal for lunch, something with a bit of flavour seemed like just the ticket.

We chose a restaurant called Hangang at 34 W 32nd, largely because it was filled exclusively with Asian customers and they presumably know a thing or two about Korean food. This sadly also meant, however, that the serving staff spoke no English and so we had to order blind. I haven't ordered Korean food before, and my confusion at the menu was only doubled by use of American terminology - it seemed there was no way I could communicate to the waitress that I had no idea what brisket or scallions were.

In the end we guessed that ordering two starters and two mains would probably be appropriate. It was a little surprising, then, when twenty seperate dishes all turned up at the same time, along with various plates of meats and vegetables which were tipped onto the table-top barbecue and cooked beside us. This was, however, precisely the sort of feast we had wanted to celebrate Christmas, and the fact we ate barbecued beef and chicken with chili sauce instead of turkey with cranberry sauce, and a spiced green spinach jelly instead of sage and onion stuffing, only made this Christmas dinner far more special.

We had planned to go drinking downtown, but my confused body clock demanded bed and so it was I found myself falling asleep in bed at 9pm.