Beautiful Asbury Park

Orientation

About 45 minutes southeast of Ved Mandir, Asbury Park is one of the more northern towns on the Jersey Shore. Main Street runs north-south and east of Main is the beach community and Cookman Ave, which is the main drag. The Asbury Hotel is about a 15 minute walk north of Cookman and just a couple of blocks off the Asbury Park boardwalk. Most of the restaurants are on/around Cookman, save for Porta, which is right near the hotel.

Asbury Hotel

For those of you staying the night, we reserved a block of rooms at the Asbury Hotel. You can book as follows:

Phone - Call the reservations team at 732-774-7100 and mention you want a room in the  Amit Khanna Room Block .

Online - Go to www.theasburyhotel.com . Click "BOOK A ROOM" on the upper right area of the screen, put in arrival and departure dates and AMITANDMEGHAN for the "GROUP CODE". Or click on this direct link.

A Few of Our Favorites

  • Coffee - Nothing beats Cafe Volan on Bangs Ave. Good friends, cute space, and best coffee in Jersey. Go twice if you can and buy a bag of Maiden Coffee, which Paul and Doug roast a couple miles away.

  • Shopping - Glide Surf Shop is on the same block as Volan; check it out for surf gear and some great hoodies, hats, etc. Patriae for pottery, clothing, Eastern European textiles and more all sourced or made by Barbara and her mom. Some great shops are on that same little stretch next to Patriae. And while Vlad’s Denim and Holdfast Records are sadly no more, but there are plenty of antique shops, home stores and things in between around town.

  • Boardwalk - Take a stroll and peep the Convention Hall. And guarantee you’ve never seen anything like the Silverball Museum.

  • Pasttimes - Too many to name but they include the Silverball Museum, The Stone Pony and Asbury Lanes

  • Food - Our favorite spot - Talula’s - is closed for renovations in February, but there are PLENTY of other options - Porta for Pizza, Cardinal or Franks for a banging breakfast or lunch (former pretty new and very delicious, latter very old, very Jersey and very delicious), Barrio Costero for Mexican and Reyla’s for Middle Eastern. We are having our small family dinner at Pascal & Sabine, which has 2 cocktail bars and excellent French food. Or just take a stroll down Cookman Ave and see if something catches your eye. If you want to take a drive, we like Nettie’s House of Spaghetti and Grand Tavern in Bradley Beach.

  • Drink - All of the above have solid cocktail menus (save for Cardinal). Otherwise, for beer, check out the huge Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten (good food, too, and same folks as Radegast in Brooklyn) and Bradley Brew Project (in Bradley Beach). The Bonney Read has 80+ rums, Laylow is a proper cocktail bar and Johnnie Mac’s is, well, you just have to go there.

  • Nearby - If you have the time, take a stroll across the bridge or drive to Ocean Grove for a stuck-in-the-1920s dry town still managed by the Methodist Church (major Boardwalk Empire vibes) or head up north to the massive estates of Deal. Different vibes, but each unique. Or do the drive down Ocean Ave to the Jersey Shore in all its splendor.