More Philadelphia food

Friday April 10th, 2009
MeMe
2201 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19103





This is another excellent neighborhood restaurant in the "nice" part of Philly. First a couple of critiques - the restaurant is on a busy corner and headlight glare from cars turning outside can be more than a mild annoyance in the evenings. Also, the menu is somewhat limited - about 6 entrees and just as many appetizers. This may help them focus on quality over quantity but given how popular this restaurant is, I would imagine that either a wider menu or higher turnover of menu items would be necessary.

On the plus side - I ordered a flat bread appetizer, it was pretty good. Freshly baked bread topped with goat cheese, Kalamatas and prosciutto . The cheese had been applied sparingly which was nice and the bread was very fresh. At 13$, kind of pricey for what it is however.

My entree was superb, pan fried Skate. Skate is a fish in the shark/stingray family and can be caught in the Atlantic. The fish has a very soft consistency, almost like crabmeat but comes in a nice healthy fillet. Served with a mashed potato base, grilled sun dried tomatoes, capers and a tomato-olive tapenade.

We skipped desert, opting instead to have coffee or hot chocolate at Naked Chocolate Cafe in center city (12th and Walnut).

Farmicia ****

Friday, January 30th, 2009
Farmicia
15 S. 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA

Went for a restaurant week dinner with 3 of my friends last week in Philadelphia. We booked Farmacia which seemed like a good choice - located in Old City the place had a nice decor and served contemporary American cuisine.



We got to the restaurant, they had our table waiting for us, perfect. A bit close to the door, which caused some draftiness, we were seated right by the big front windows. The pre-fixe menu was $35 and included 3 courses.

For appetizer I had the Maryland lump crab cake served with a lemon-chive aioli and sprinkled with finely chopped and fried potato slivers. Sublime.

For a main course I took the tuna, medium-rare, which they served with pan roasted new potato and string beans.

For dessert I had the double chocolate torte with chocolate ice cream. Liked it but I think plain vanilla ice cream would have been the more elegant choice.



Since half of our table had to work the following morning at 7 AM we didn't get to order any wine. So I drank a couple of pints of their PA white ale which was excellent. Don't remember the brand, otherwise I would have recommended it.

Check was $45 per person including drinks and tip. Philly restaurant week, well done!

Let's keep eating

Many apologies but I have not updated this blog in literally years. Two years to be precise. I was eating out a lot but couldn't have been bothered to share the experiences. Let's fix that right away!

Ping Pong, London

No, this post isn't about the hugely popular tabletop sport played with a little white ball and two paddles. I'm referring to the popular London dim sum chain by the same name. I had dinner at the Ping Pong in Westbourne Grove this month, and here's the write-up.

Saturday, January 13th
Ping Pong
74-76 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5SH

We walked into the restaurant around 9 PM. They never take reservations and I've always seen a few people waiting on earlier occasions when I had passed by. We stood in line for about 10 minutes but were then given a very nice table for two, along the perimeter of the restaurant and away from the noisier "pit" where all the communal tables are located.

We both ordered the Chinese beer they had on the list. I've learned not to expect too much out of Asian beers at this point besides maybe a cool looking tiger or lion on the front of the bottle and this beer did nothing to change my reservations.

Next we ordered the food. I recommend 6-7 dim sum items for a party of two. You'd be best advised to treat the menu as a sampling menu and therefore going for a good variety of dishes while willfully ignoring quantity is advisable.

One dishe stood out in particular - the crispy prawn balls, which were sublime. They were fresh out of the fryer when they landed at our table (not so small a feat when you consider how packed the restaurant was). The crispy outer shell melting in the warm, gelatinous center is a truly rewarding sensation, and is further heightened when the item is rolled in the slightly sweet, slightly vinegarish sauce served with the dish. Most dishes are accompanies with dipping sauces that incorporate a variety of flavors such as sweet chili and hoi sin. Equally remarkable were the spicy vegetable and the chive steamed dumplings.



The bathrooms are also worth a visit. I suppose that the design seemed brilliant when the architects who designed this place suggested it, but if you stop and think about it, the design doesn't make a lot of sense. There is a slot beneath the bathroom sinks in both the bathrooms that allow you to peer into the bathroom next door. All this would be fine and good except that from the ladies bathroom, you get a clear shot of the men's urinals in the bathroom next door. Granted, if you're a girl you have to bend down to see a guy with his back turned to you taking a piss, and that isn't a sight you'll have a hard time avoiding if your night out in London stretches past the time when the local pubs close down and patrons spill out into the streets, but still, a bit odd.

This restaurant certainly doesn't need another endorsement, they have very strong word of mouth and the high quality of the food combined with modest prices (for London) and a trendy atmosphere make this sure bet to please any dim sum hankering.

Price of dinner for two including drinks and a large bottle of mineral water was £34, though we could have ordered 2-3 more dishes which would have pushed us £10-12 higher. Still however, a decent value.

Frugal Dining in London

A friend of mine from the US came to visit me in London for the Thanksgiving weekend. We had a packed 4-day schedule of sightseeing, partying and football watching ahead of us, so we needed to eat most of our meals outside the house to get the most out of the long weekend. London, being the notoriously pricey city it is (and particularly so these days with the exchange rate to the pound hovering at the $2 mark) prompted us to grab the Zagat guide which introduced a "Best Cheap Eats" list for their 2006 London issue, and using it, build a list of restaurants that would be geographically convenient, pocket friendly and gatstonomically appealing all at the same time. So there you have it - the following restaurants are cheap eats in London that even Rachel Ray (of $40-a-day on Food TV fame) would approve of.

Wagamama
Several locations, see www.wagamama.com

This is an eternal favorite of the office lunch crowd and students. There's one of these in most parts of London. The one I usually eat at is on High Street in Kensington. I went to the Covent Garden location with my friend. Both of these locations are lifeless spaces - one above ground level, the other below. Spartan spaces are the hallmark of Wagamama (although their recently opened location under a bridge on the South Bank of the Thames marks a foray into cutting edge architecture). When you arrive you're seated at communal tables. After the waiter takes your order on a wireless device of some kind he/she proceeds to mark your paper place mats with numbers, shapes and other random scribbles to add a certin kitsch to the experience. The food can be broken down into 3 categories of dishes - noodle and soup pairings, noodle and curry pairings and rice dishes. I feel that the first of the three gives you the best value for your money as the portions are large and the soup fills a void that nice and noodles alone cannot satisfy. All of their ingredients are fresh and the menu is vegetarian and vegan friendly. Meal tabs do tend to rise with the addition of beer or appetizers. But if you stick with a main course and a soft drink, you'll walk out very full and missing only 8 pounds and change.



Gallipolis
102 Upper Street, London, N1 1QN

This restaurant is the best kept secret on Upper Street in Angel. Very popular in the evenings, its one of few places in London where you can have a 2 course meal with a bottle of wine split between two people -- all for under £20 per person. Service is automatically included in the prices on the menu so when scanning the offerings, it is very easy to estimate how much your meal is going to cost. I personally recommend the lamb dishes. They serve these platters where layers of freshly grilled lamb, olive oil soaked triangles of pita bread, a creamy garlic laced sauce and piled on top of each other. Needless to say, this dish goes down very well with red wine. (See picture below)



Khan's of Bayswater
13-15 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 4UA

This was my first time visiting the ever popular Indian restaurant in Bayswater. This place is all business - dinnerware is metal (and cheap at that too) wherever possible. There are no alcoholic drinks on the menu and before you order and after you've eaten the last bite of food on your table, you get the very palpable sense that your waiter wants to get you out of the restaurant so he can seat the next party at your table. Therefore, I recommend going to Khan's only when you have that hankering for Indian food. The menu is massive, and while the food may be a little bland, it works pretty well for their clientele. A dinner for two can be had for as little as £10 per person.

Food for Thought
31 Neal St, London, WC2H 9PR

Hole in the wall vegetarian restaurant right in the heart of Covent Garden. I presume this place has been open for many years because it is in one of the most elite shopping districts in all of London. The menu varies daily but you can count on at least 2 entree platters composed of a hot dish accompanied by 2 different kinds of salads. Self help service, free water and tight quarters round out everything you need to know about this place. The platter dishes go for £6 each which is a killer deal considering the quality of ingredients they put into their food. Highly recommended.

Churchill Arms
119 Kensington Church St, London, W8 7LN

A Notting Hill pub with a little Thai restaurant tucked in the back. Expect a long wait if you arrive during meal hours. Don't disregard the chilli signs next to certain dishes on the menu -- they are there for a reason; the heat in some of these dishes is stratospheric. I had the Pad Thai which was very average. Not sure why Zagat rates this place as highly as it does on the cheap eats list. I thought it was good, but wasn't all that great. Don't both paying this establishment unless you already happen to be in Notting Hill, craving Thai food.

I'm back

In September I relocated from Washington DC to London. The last few months have been crazy, with me having to first move out of my place in Maryland and then supplant myself here in London. Amidst the chaos, I didn't get a chance to blog. But I didn't stop eating in the meantime, so I have a few new items to share with readers this month. I'm going to focus on cheap eats in London in an upcoming post, and I'll do a roundup of restaurants in Darmstadt, Germany thereafter.

August in Dortmund, Germany

I managed to miss the biggest show in Germany this year by a few weeks. I'm talking about the 2006 World Cup of course. But I'm finally in Dortmund. This town is located in the North Rhine Westphalia province in Western Germany. The town is the Pittsburgh of Germany - it was famous for Coal and Steel production during the 20th century and had a reputation as a sooty, polluted city. I can testify that such a reputation is undeserved today as the city is green, clean and all that remains of its former industrial might are rusted out towers, silos and warehouses on the edge of town.

I have now been initiated in German office decorum. First of all - when you arrive to work in the morning you are supposed to shake hands with everybody you work with. For my clients this means shaking hands at least 10 times each morning, and possibly more if there are visitors such as me in the office. I also got to experience a German fire drill. Instead of the fire marshal pulling an alarm, which indicates that the drill is in progress, everybody simply walks out of the building at a pre-arranged time. If you fail to receive the memo about the fire drill, you may be puzzled by why all the people are suddenly abandoning their stations and leaving the building. The rest of the drill however - with its meeting points, roll calls and orange vests are just like fire drills in the US.

I'm staying at the Dortmund Hilton, which is 3 stops south of Kampstrasse and the adjacent pedestrian shopping zone of Westenhellweg. The hotel is right next to the Signal Iduna Stadium, home of the Borussia Dortmund football club. In fact, today Dortmund played Mainz in one of the early games in this year's Bundesliga season, and the entire team from Mainz was staying in my hotel. As I was leaving to go to town for lunch today, the entire team flooded out the entrance and boarded the team bus. One of the people in particular, the coach presumably was mobbed by fans that were waiting to snag a photo of an autograph. I hear Mainz tied Dortmund 1:1. Back to the subject of the hotel however, and I regret to report that the hotel isn't very good. There are absolutely no perks for being a Hilton HHonors Gold, or Diamond. I am only staying here because it is a good deal and because I'll make Diamond status at the end of this stay. Aside from the view from my top floor window is quite nice, there is little else at this hotel that makes me want to return.

The restaurant scene in this town is regrettably sparse I must say. It is dominated by stodgy German restaurants that serve sausages, pilsner beer and schnitzel but little else. High end dining in this town is non-existent, as are restaurants that cater to those seeking ethnic tastes are. These are the food highlights of my trip:

Edward's Coffee - an interesting take on the Starbucks style coffee shop concept. Situated inside the beautiful Berswordthalle building adjacent to the city hall, you can find on any given evening a DJ spinning club tunes, tables joined together for poker games and the obligatory guy sitting in a dark corner with the glare from his Mac Powerbook screen as the only light source around him. I had an oversized Cappuccino and a chocolate brownie.

Kyoto Sushi - A lush interior design consisting of clean lines, light maple floors, dark leathers and lots of glass and candles. This is a surprisingly trendy sushi bar for Dortmund, and the sushi is indeed fresh and well prepared and served to you by Kimono-clad waitresses with easily distinguishable Japanese facial features. Nice service, and a bargain as far as sushi restaurants are concerned.

Tam Nag Thai - The only Thai restaurant in town. The Thai food itself is excellent, but they could use a better ventilation system in the kitchen because the smell of frying oil permeates the establishment.

Two weeks in Prague

This month, I was sent to Prague in the Czech Republic for 2 weeks on an assignment. I had the middle weekend to myself to enjoy the city and take in some sights. The work was good, my clients were amiable, and set against a backdrop of spotless blue skies, the city could not have been more marvelous. So, all in all I had an excellent trip. I thought I'd recap the stay and the restaurants where I ate.

Hotel
I stayed at the Prague Hilton. This was my first time staying at a Hilton property where I could actually redeem the privileges of being HHonors Gold. Unlike the Hilton Metropole in London where Gold status doesn't get you much, this hotel was prepared for me well in advance. Upon arrival, I had my bags sent to my room and I was escorted to the executive level for check-in. I got an upgraded room on the top floor and the very same evening the manager sent fruits and flowers to my room. On the second day, a complimentary bottle of wine turned up in my room.

The rooms were recently renovated and were superb. A flat screen LCD television, a very comfortable bed and all Villeroy and Boch fixtures in the bathroom were the hallmarks of my room. There was also the much appreciated nightly turndown service where they cleared the bedspread, fluffed the pillows and comforter, laid out a foot towel and left a mint and weather forecast on the pillow. Below is a shot of my room:



The best part about the hotel was the lounge. The lounge had a fantastic breakfast in the morning, was always well stocked with FT's and WSJ's, served light snacks and desserts in the afternoon and offered canapés and a fully stocked bar at night in addition to the soft drinks and juices that one could find at any time of day. Best of all, it was all complimentary which saved some money and also spared me the hassle on having to embark upon food quests twice a day. I did my part to put a dent in their stock of San Pellegrino sparkling water and I certainly drank my share of Espresso shots in the morning.

Restaurants
I ate at all the good spots in Stare Mesto and Josefov. I concentrated mostly on the Josefov neighborhood because it was a pleasant walk from the hotel, and when I worked late, I could hop on the green line and get off at the Staromestska stop and be within walking distance of a lot of good food. Here's the rundown:

Kolkovna - my favorite restaurant from the trip. The restaurant owners have partnered with the Pilsner Urquell brewing company to create a very Czech themed restaurant serving traditional dishes and Pilsner Urquell beer. Must dine al fresco to really enjoy it. Don't miss the Chocolate Soufflé - it's the best chocolate dessert I've had in months.

Les Moules - takes its name after the most famous of Belgian dishes - mussels. What they tried to pass off as pommes frites was unforgivable, but the steamed mussels were authentic and they had a fine selection of Belgian beers, however overpriced. All the other restaurants in town only serve Pilsner style beers so this was a nice change of pace.

Lary Fary - good, but nothing spectacular. Lots of different themed rooms but from what I understand only a single menu in each room. I ordered the vegetable skewers, which while beautifully presented were a little dry and charred.

Marco Polo - Asian themed restaurant, therefore a fitting name. The mosaic that adorns the walls (built out of black and white rocks) is wonderful to look at. I ate here on a Friday and the place was deserted - I guess Praguers ditch the city on the weekends. It had been packed however on prior nights. The food was good but not authentic enough for my tastes.

Nostress - Some of the worst service I have received in years came when I ate at this restaurant. The food was overpriced and quite average.

Orange Moon - Serves a mix of Asian and Indian style curries. Excellent value for the money, authentic tastes and a good variety of dishes for vegetarians.

I also liked Taj Mahal. Most Indian restaurants in Europe have very generic sounding names and this restaurant is no exception. It's closest to I.P. Pavlova (further from the hotel) but it's a reliable Indian restaurant that serves authentic dishes.

Sights
I recommend visiting the old town square at dusk or at night. The Church of Our Lady Tyn looks beautiful, especially in the evenings. Take a moment to listen to the sounds of horseshoes pounding against the cobblestones as the horse carriages take people or rides through old town, and watch passively as tour group after tour group floods into the square to take photos and generally look upwards at the towering monuments all around them.

Charles Bridge is best enjoyed in the morning when there aren't hundreds of tourists crossing its span. Stop to admire the Vltava River that flows calmly beneath and take a good look at the Prague Castle which dominates the hill to the Northwest of the bridge.

The Prague Castle is in actuality a group of sights, all within a compound at the hop of a hill overlooking the city. Don't be in a rush to enter the compound, as half the fun is in making ones way down a series of winding lanes after taking a tram up to the top of the hill on which the castle is situated. Be sure to take in the view from the top of the spires of St. Vitus' Cathedral and stop to admire the gardens surrounding the castle.

Wenceslas Square is a bit seedy, and probably the most visible reminder of the Czech Republic's former Soviet affiliation. The shopping right around the square is excellent however and unlike other European cities, shops stay open even on Sundays.

Belgo Centraal, London

This is a short review, but I wanted to get it in nonetheless because I am such a fan of Belgian beer and as of late, Belgian food.

Friday, May 26th
Belgo Centraal
50 Earlham Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2 9HP

Went out for a late dinner at Belgo with a few friends on a Friday evening. Situated right in the heart of Covent Garden this is a great place to start a late night out in central London. The restaurant is quite busy all evening and only shows a letup in seated guests around 9:30 PM. We waited a full 40 minutes for a table, although drinking Alken-Maes and Chimay Triple made the time fly right by.

The dining room is downstairs and is full of mostly young people on the weekends. This particular night, a rowdy bunch of fellas we seated in the section behind us, presumably on some kind of a bachelors party. The waiters are dressed as trappist monks and therefore walk around in amply cut brown hooded robes.

For dinner I had the Jarret D’Agneau, which is basically the braised lamb shank. This dish was served piping hot and was excellent. It would have been nice if they had thrown some bread in with this dish because the sauce was fit to have some bread dipped in it. I also ordered a Rockets and Parmesan salad tossed in Olive Oil which was delicious and some frites (Belgian fries) which were absolutely horrid (I can find better fries at McDonald's).

Nice dining experience overall but would have been even better had we shown up earlier in the evening. The average check was £25 per person.

Antica Trattoria, San Francisco

Friday, April 7th
Antica Trattoria
2400 Polk St San Francisco, CA 94109

Went out for dinner on a rainy Friday evening in San Francisco with my sister, brother in law and one of their couple friends. The friends selected this restaurant that is owned by Chef Gadaldi who is something of a local food celebrity. Hailing from the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, he has tried to bring the dishes of this particular region to San Francisco.

The restaurant itself is a pleasant space. In the evenings it is dimly lit and large windows on 2 sides of the smallish dining room offer a nice view of the surrounding neighborhood. The dining room is a little noisy and at the peak of the evening, patrons waiting for a table at the front of the restaurant are quite likely to spill into the dining room and get a little close to the tables nearest to the door. There is an open kitchen in the back and the service is friendly. I imagine that a lot of the locals in this neighborhood come here often. The restaurant as a whole certainly caters more to the locals that the out-of-towners.

The wine list adequately covers the landscape of Northern Italian winemaking. We ordered a Rosso Piceno Superiore, St.Giovanni (Marche’00) to start. Priced at $36 this is an excellent wine made from a Sangiovese and Montepulciano grape blend. It is dry without being too tannic, has notes of berry and cloves and finishes smooth. We also ordered a Pinot Noir from J Vineyards in Healdsburg, CA. This bottle was a disappointment and I found out later that the vintner is well known locally. I can guess that the owners put this bottle on the list because it is the most easily recognized by the crowd. Wish we had ordered a Nebbiolo instead.

I skipped over appetizers, choosing instead to eat the warm crusty bread they had brought out. My sister ordered a side of sautéed spinach as an appetizer, which made no sense and was a chore to eat with nothing else at the table. As a main course I ordered the Tagliata di Manzo (thin slices of sirloin steak with arugula and roasted potatoes). The steak was perfectly cooked although I felt that it was lacking in taste, possible because of the cut of meat they selected. The accompaniments were fresh and simply prepared. Overall, the dish won more merits for its health conscious qualities than for its taste. I enjoyed it nonetheless. The others ordered the more traditional dishes, which made generous use of capers, butter and lemon juice.

For my sweet tooth I had an Affogato, which was a vanilla ice cream dessert, topped with a shot of hot espresso, amaretto and some hazelnut syrup. Tasted great but it melted rather quickly, to nobody's surprise.

Overall a good meal. In terms of value this was average with a check of approximately $45 per person for what I described above.