It's a year since I last blogged about my life in Philly. So many things have happened in my life over this past one year. I've also travelled to other places within the USA (e.g. Hawaii, Texas, Carolinas and Georgia, Boston) as well places outside the States (e.g. Canada and Germany). Now that I'm coming almost to the end of my 2-year stay here in Philly, I thought I should do a listing of some of our most/worst memorable places and experiences here. So here we go, starting with restaurants, given that we are such foodies and Philly is such a wonderful place for dining.
List of the best restaurants/eateries in Philly:
• Black Fish (contemporary American, chef formerly from a center city French restaurant)
• Distrito(Mexican, medium plates, funky atmosphere)
• Jong Ka Jib (soft tofu stew, heavenly especially during the cold winters of Philly)
• L'Angolo (simple but excellent Italian dishes)
• Parc (at Rittenhouse square, very typical French bistro food but very well-done)
• Rx (organic western food in University City)
• Taste of Portugal(out of town but worth the drive there)
• Sagami in NJ(the only decent Japanese food around)
• Aya's Cafe (reasonably priced Mediterranean, they never fail to impress us everytime)
• Tiffin (easily the best Indian in town, they do take-out)
• Carmine's Creole Kitchen (southern cuisine on Main Line)
• Cafe du Laos (only decent Thai/Cambodian food in town)
List of affordable and good eats in Philly:
• Wokano Restaurant (dim-sum)
• Honey's Sit N Eat(kosher breakast, try the pork tacos)
• Cafe Estelle (our most recent discovery, they serve organic breakfast)
• Dim Sum Garden (at 11th & Arch, we love the shiao long bao)
• Minar Palace (reopened recently, very good and cheap Indian food)
• Tony Luke's (pork sandwiches which we think are better than John's Roast Pork)
• Standard Tap's (pub food in the Northern Liberties)
• Shiao Lan Kung (szechuan chinese food, good for late night dining)
• Jim's steak (apparently better than Pat's or Geno's, according to hubby)
• Vietnames restaurants like Nam Phuong, Pho 75, Pho Xe Lua
• Ants Pants Cafe (Australian style-breakfast)
• Seafood Unlimited (affordable seafood in Rittenhouse area)
• Myung Ga(our recent discovery in NJ, good Korean food, they serve the most number of appetizers so far among all the Korean restaurants we've been to)
• Nan Zhou (excellent hand-drawn noodles)
• Sang Kee (the roast duck is even better than what we had in Hong Kong)
• Kabobeesh (excellent Kebabs, the staff was very kind to offer me a scoop of every side dishes when I first went there)
List of restaurants which we feel were overrated:
• Django (most horrible service we ever had)
• Vetri (pricey, given that it is very ordinary Italian)
• Meritage (style of cooking was very normal, nothing fancy)
• Morimoto (pricey and the ironical thing is that sushi was not fresh given that it is a Japanese restaurant)
• White Dog Cafe (nothing special, ordinary food)
• Lacroix (forget about their restaurant week special, nothing even close to what French food should be)
• Alison at Blue Bell (ordinary, not worth the drive to the suburbs)
• Melograno (we had a bad experience here, kitchen nearly caught fire when we were there with friends)
• Sabrina's Cafe (getting worse everytime we were time, the last time we were there, we had burnt fries)
• Tangerine (pricey for the kind of cooking)
• Farmicia (very ordinary dishes)
• Margaret's Kuo (nothing Chinese about the food here, totally American Chinese, even for desserts, they serve ice-cream instead of the traditional Chinese Dessert)
• Miran(easily the least authentic Korean)
• Thai Chef & Noodle Fusion (I've had the worst Pad Thai in my life here)
• Uzu(crappy Japanese restaurant run by a Korean chef)
• Ms Tootsie's (nothing even close to southern cooking we had in North/South Carolinas, you can tell that they used frozen chicken for their fried chicken)
• Devon Grill Seafood (pricey for ordinary seafood dishes)
• Fuji(easily the worst Japanese food we had here, service was bad too for a Japanese restaurant)
• Marathon Grill(chain serving American dishes, nothing extraordinary after being here for 2 years)
• Zinc(expensive, given that it is just ordinary French food)
• Joy Tsin Lau (now that we've tried most of the dim sum in Philly, this is easily the worst)
• Continental(crappy fusion food which is overpriced)
• Singapore Kosher (first of all, there is nothing Singaporean about the food here. Almost everything is deep-fried. Dim sum tastes horrible.)
• Barclay's Prime(pricey but ordinary steak)
Interesting dining experiences both within and outside of Philly:
• Marrakesh(group dining the Morrocan way, i.e. everyone dips his/her hands in the same dish, sharing the same food, excellent food. Do go with a large group for the fun.)
• Cafe Valentino at Rittenhouse (they bring out the raw food and meat in a cart to show you how fresh their ingredients were. the piano and the music add to the romantic atmosphere.)
• Buffet at a restaurant in Lancaster County(amazingly huge station)
• Mrs Wilkes restaurant in Savannah, Georgia (excellent southern cooking in a communal dining room, you get to meet people from all walks of life)
• Giovanni's shrimp truck or any of the shrimp truck in Honolulu
• Lunch in a vineyard at Niagara Falls area (Peller Estate which truly lives up to the Zagat rating for "extraordinary")
• BBQ in Texas(rustic country style food, excellent meat)
• Eating crabs sold by the dozen in Maryland (be it in St Michel's or Baltimore)
• Having a Lu'au on Maui Island (good entertainment and food at Old Lahaina Lu'au)
• Mi Terra in San Antonio (Most glittery decoration in any restaurant so far)
• Eating KFC fried chicken on Jasper Mountain (nothing about the food but the experience was most unforgettable)
• Queuing to get free coffee at the original Starbuck's cafe in Pike's Place Market in Seattle, only to find out the coupon was no longer valid
• Rushing into restaurants 10 minutes before they close for the day (kudos to all the restaurants who were gracious to accomodate us even though we arrived late in town-Goode Seafood Company in Texas, Milan Indian Cuisine in Charlottesville)
• Long but fruitful search for Yanagi Sushi on Honolulu
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Philly events
I have been quite lazy recently in blogging. Even my hubby felt so. This was partly due to me being occcupied with other stuff and also partly due to my own procrastination. For a start, I should try to blog about some of the major events in Philly in the recent months.
2008 COUNTDOWN
While there were plans for us to go to New York to take part in the countdown to 2008, we decided against it as the weather was too cold and apparently, we would have to stand in the cold from 6pm to get a good spot at Times Square. Hence, we spent 31 Dec 2007 in Philly, as we heard that the celebrations were equally good. On New Year's Eve, we joined the crowd for the countdown to 2008 and the fireworks at Penn's landing. The fireworks was awesome, a full 45-min worth of viewing pleasure. Furthermore, we found a good spot and were able to get a good view of the fireworks which was literally right above our heads. In fact, some soot from the fireworks fell on us! Here's a video clip of what it was like.
NEW YEAR'S DAY-MUMMERS PARADE
On New Year's Day, we went to watch the Mummers Parade which was apparently, one of the oldest and largest parades in US. In fact, the people who were participating in the parade came from all walks of life in Philadelphia, mainly the working class. For them to put up something like this is really commendable, these working adults would have to sacrifice their after-office hours to rehearse for the event. They even made their own costumes which was really funny. The Mummers Parade is a whole day event. Although it should start at 9 am, the actual thing itself did not start until noon due to a slight rain. We managed to catch the comics section of the parade along Broad Street before heading to Chinatown for lunch (which,by the way, is probably where restaurants stay open even during all major holidays in Philadelphia). We love the fun-loving nature of the people who took part in the parade. They would come up to us and joke with us. In the evening, we managed to get a seat among at wooden benches set up at the main judging area(Don't ask us how we did it) and we joined the crowd to watch the string bands. However, we finally succumbed to the cold as it was freezing and we decided to head home to watch the rest of the parade on TV. If I get a chance next year, I would watch the fancy brigades at the Convention Center next time, where it is indoors and and there are comfortable seats. Here are some of the photos taken during the parade, one of which is a funny shot of pigeons which were forced out of their territory and had to watch the parade from a distance.
2008 COUNTDOWN
While there were plans for us to go to New York to take part in the countdown to 2008, we decided against it as the weather was too cold and apparently, we would have to stand in the cold from 6pm to get a good spot at Times Square. Hence, we spent 31 Dec 2007 in Philly, as we heard that the celebrations were equally good. On New Year's Eve, we joined the crowd for the countdown to 2008 and the fireworks at Penn's landing. The fireworks was awesome, a full 45-min worth of viewing pleasure. Furthermore, we found a good spot and were able to get a good view of the fireworks which was literally right above our heads. In fact, some soot from the fireworks fell on us! Here's a video clip of what it was like.
NEW YEAR'S DAY-MUMMERS PARADE
On New Year's Day, we went to watch the Mummers Parade which was apparently, one of the oldest and largest parades in US. In fact, the people who were participating in the parade came from all walks of life in Philadelphia, mainly the working class. For them to put up something like this is really commendable, these working adults would have to sacrifice their after-office hours to rehearse for the event. They even made their own costumes which was really funny. The Mummers Parade is a whole day event. Although it should start at 9 am, the actual thing itself did not start until noon due to a slight rain. We managed to catch the comics section of the parade along Broad Street before heading to Chinatown for lunch (which,by the way, is probably where restaurants stay open even during all major holidays in Philadelphia). We love the fun-loving nature of the people who took part in the parade. They would come up to us and joke with us. In the evening, we managed to get a seat among at wooden benches set up at the main judging area(Don't ask us how we did it) and we joined the crowd to watch the string bands. However, we finally succumbed to the cold as it was freezing and we decided to head home to watch the rest of the parade on TV. If I get a chance next year, I would watch the fancy brigades at the Convention Center next time, where it is indoors and and there are comfortable seats. Here are some of the photos taken during the parade, one of which is a funny shot of pigeons which were forced out of their territory and had to watch the parade from a distance.
Eclipse
I can't believe that I actually got to see a rare sight, a total moon eclipse, last night. I was actually waiting for the bus when an old lady came up to me and told me about the eclipse. The moon was right above me and it was starting to be covered in the shadow of the Earth. What a sight! Apparently, the next total lunar eclipse will be in the year of 2010. How lucky I was to have witnessed something so rare! Here's a picture that I snapped using my cellphone camera.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Year-end holidays in Las Vegas
Finally, my hubby had an almost 2-week break. After exploring the option of visiting South America or Mexico, we decided to abandon our initial plans to visit those places, as the air-tickets and hotels were too expensive. Instead, we decided to spend our vacanes in the US, given our limited budget. Hence, we ended up in Las Vegas as none of us had visited the place before and we also managed to find a relatively cheap package.
Off to Vegas we went. Our friends who had visited Vegas before gave us some tips before our trip, therefore, we were quite prepared for the trip. For example, we were not surprised to find that there were slot machines at the boarding gates and the baggage retrieval area in the airport. We were also not surprised when our hotel told us that we would have to pay $15 per night to borrow their coffee-making machine. While we like Vegas for its cleanliness(the streets are much cleaner than those in Philly) and spacious sidewalks, we were appalled at some of the prices of stuff. For example, a bottle of drinks can easily cost $3 at the convenience store in a hotel or a theatre.
While we were there, we watched two Cirque du Soleil's shows,'O' and 'Mystere', though I prefer the former to the latter. Mystere seems somewhate lacklustre, especially so after we watched 'O'. We felt that we should have gone for KA(which seemed somewhat more spectacular on the promotional video which was screened on the TV in our hotel room). We also managed to catch the David Copperfield's show. While I was not very impressed by the magic and the scale of the theatre(perhaps I have seen most of his best performances on TV), I found that he was really funny and he could really make the cut for a comedian.
Besides being famous for its show, Las Vegas is also famous for the many buffets in the hotels. We tried the buffets at Bellagio and Planet Hollywood(Spice Market) and we must admit that the latter is so much better in terms of quality of food. The range of food is much better at Bellagio but the cooking is so-so. The buffet at Bellagio also cost more.
On Christmas, we went a Grand Canyon tour. Initially, there were plans for us to rent a car and made a road trip. However, we decided against it as it would be too tiring to drive there 4 hours and try to make it back to Vegas in another 4 hours, all within a day. We wanted to relax and take things easy so we left the driving to our coach driver. He was very knowledge and funny too, so we were glad to have gone on the trip. Grand Canyon was really impressive but it was cold there(afterall, the viewing areas were located on higher altitudes). The next time we visit Grand Canyon, we would make a trip down to the bottom of the gorge and explore it from below. On the way back to Philly in the plane, we actually managed to see the Grand Canyon from above. Here are some of the shots along with photos of Las Vegas Strip itself.
Aerial view of Grand Canyon
The snow on the rocks at Grand Canyon
Nightview of the Strip
Off to Vegas we went. Our friends who had visited Vegas before gave us some tips before our trip, therefore, we were quite prepared for the trip. For example, we were not surprised to find that there were slot machines at the boarding gates and the baggage retrieval area in the airport. We were also not surprised when our hotel told us that we would have to pay $15 per night to borrow their coffee-making machine. While we like Vegas for its cleanliness(the streets are much cleaner than those in Philly) and spacious sidewalks, we were appalled at some of the prices of stuff. For example, a bottle of drinks can easily cost $3 at the convenience store in a hotel or a theatre.
While we were there, we watched two Cirque du Soleil's shows,'O' and 'Mystere', though I prefer the former to the latter. Mystere seems somewhate lacklustre, especially so after we watched 'O'. We felt that we should have gone for KA(which seemed somewhat more spectacular on the promotional video which was screened on the TV in our hotel room). We also managed to catch the David Copperfield's show. While I was not very impressed by the magic and the scale of the theatre(perhaps I have seen most of his best performances on TV), I found that he was really funny and he could really make the cut for a comedian.
Besides being famous for its show, Las Vegas is also famous for the many buffets in the hotels. We tried the buffets at Bellagio and Planet Hollywood(Spice Market) and we must admit that the latter is so much better in terms of quality of food. The range of food is much better at Bellagio but the cooking is so-so. The buffet at Bellagio also cost more.
On Christmas, we went a Grand Canyon tour. Initially, there were plans for us to rent a car and made a road trip. However, we decided against it as it would be too tiring to drive there 4 hours and try to make it back to Vegas in another 4 hours, all within a day. We wanted to relax and take things easy so we left the driving to our coach driver. He was very knowledge and funny too, so we were glad to have gone on the trip. Grand Canyon was really impressive but it was cold there(afterall, the viewing areas were located on higher altitudes). The next time we visit Grand Canyon, we would make a trip down to the bottom of the gorge and explore it from below. On the way back to Philly in the plane, we actually managed to see the Grand Canyon from above. Here are some of the shots along with photos of Las Vegas Strip itself.
Aerial view of Grand Canyon
The snow on the rocks at Grand Canyon
Nightview of the Strip
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Thanksgiving
Last week was the Thanksgiving holidays! Finally, hubby managed to get a break from his hectic schedule. On Thanksgiving, we had dinner with our friends at S' place and there was so much food that we were all knocked out by the end of the dinner. Here's a picture to show the amount of food we had.
Dinner was real fun 'cos we cracked funny jokes, made stupid comments and even shared on the origins of Thanksgiving, albeit with a little twist to the actual story.
After dinner, some of us played Wii. It was my first time playing Wii but I must admit it is really a good work-out if anyone is thinking of slimming down. The boxing game is so tiring that I felt that I could have another round of turkey. I also realised that Wii can be addictive and dangerous too for it is easier for one to damage the TV screen if one is not careful.
Later on in the evening, some of us decided to do the crazy thing for once in our life, i.e. join the crowd in midnight shopping on Black Friday. Therefore, we drove to an outlet mall about an hour away from city. There were people who were even crazier than us 'cos many cars have arrived before us and we had to wait for another hour before we actually got into the car-park. Nevertheless, we had fun, playing games to kill time and keep our driver, E, awake while he waited to park the car.
When we finally got into the mall, it was about 2.30am and we shopped for about 2 hours after that. Perhaps it was the fatigue of waiting, or pehaps it was the fatigue of having spent many hours preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, we decided that we really could not carry on shopping anymore. When we got home, it was 5.30am and really knocked out by then.
Nevertheless, at the mall, I overheard other shoppers that they were going to check out the sales which start at 4 or 5am in other malls. I wished I had their stamina....
Singapore from another perspective
I've been really busy since I went back to Spore for a short holiday. Even after I returned to Philly, so many things have happened that I just do not have enough time to even blog about them. Perhaps, let's talk what I noticed during my short trip to Singapore.
1. Singapore is very crowded now. It is literally impossible nowadays to get a seat on public transport, such as the buses or trains. Even if it is late at night, there are always many people around. (I miss having a car when I was back...)
2. The thing that is hot now in Singapore is property. Everyone is talking about making $ from selling their houses or apartments. I even have real estate agent calling me to ask if I wanted to sell my place. Such things would seem impossible a few years back as no one wants to live in a ulu place like mine.
3. Singapore is clean! Indeed very clean, as compared to other parts of the world, especially Philly. At least, I feel happy if I were to walk on the streets wearing expensive shoes because the shoes will still be relatively clean.
4. Singapore is warm now compared to Philly which is very cold(near 0 degree). I miss the days when I can wear camisoles, short-sleeved shirts, bermudas and slippers.
5. There are now many new structures in Singapore. Well, at least, the Ferris wheel is almost ready. When I left for Philly a few months back, they were still trying to put in the cabins.
6. Many old condominiums have been torn down to make way for new condos(What a sad thing though 'cos I really like the architecture of some of the older condos.)
7. Some of my students have grown taller(indeed taller than me now)!
8. Many changes at my former workplace, ex-colleagues leaving and new staff joining the team. Sad to see some faces go but I wish them all the best.
9. My apartment in Singapore seems somewhat bigger and cozier. My bed back in Singapore apartment also seems different now that there are some changes to it. I miss my own apartment. The feeling for a rented apartment is somewhat very different from those when you have your own apartment.
10. People seldom use "Hi! How do you? Nice to meet you." in Singapore. Perhaps, it is just my own feeling. Somehow, I have met so many people in Philly that I tend to use this even when I was back in Singapore.
1. Singapore is very crowded now. It is literally impossible nowadays to get a seat on public transport, such as the buses or trains. Even if it is late at night, there are always many people around. (I miss having a car when I was back...)
2. The thing that is hot now in Singapore is property. Everyone is talking about making $ from selling their houses or apartments. I even have real estate agent calling me to ask if I wanted to sell my place. Such things would seem impossible a few years back as no one wants to live in a ulu place like mine.
3. Singapore is clean! Indeed very clean, as compared to other parts of the world, especially Philly. At least, I feel happy if I were to walk on the streets wearing expensive shoes because the shoes will still be relatively clean.
4. Singapore is warm now compared to Philly which is very cold(near 0 degree). I miss the days when I can wear camisoles, short-sleeved shirts, bermudas and slippers.
5. There are now many new structures in Singapore. Well, at least, the Ferris wheel is almost ready. When I left for Philly a few months back, they were still trying to put in the cabins.
6. Many old condominiums have been torn down to make way for new condos(What a sad thing though 'cos I really like the architecture of some of the older condos.)
7. Some of my students have grown taller(indeed taller than me now)!
8. Many changes at my former workplace, ex-colleagues leaving and new staff joining the team. Sad to see some faces go but I wish them all the best.
9. My apartment in Singapore seems somewhat bigger and cozier. My bed back in Singapore apartment also seems different now that there are some changes to it. I miss my own apartment. The feeling for a rented apartment is somewhat very different from those when you have your own apartment.
10. People seldom use "Hi! How do you? Nice to meet you." in Singapore. Perhaps, it is just my own feeling. Somehow, I have met so many people in Philly that I tend to use this even when I was back in Singapore.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Crimes in Philly
I seem to be hearing more stories about crimes recently. To list a few, these are some of the recent happenings:
1. Robbery & assault at 7-11 store in centre city which is very near my apt!
(check this out: http://video.nbc10.com/player/?id=188766)
2. Shooting somewhere at 22nd & Sansom (Hubby was at a restaurant nearby 30min before the shooting!)
3. A woman who was sexually assaulted by someone who invaded her apt located at University City
4. A fatal shoot-out in a food establishment at 38th and Chestnut.
5. Taxi-drivers who worked with robbers to rob passengers
This is freaking crazy! Why are crimes so out of control here?
1. Robbery & assault at 7-11 store in centre city which is very near my apt!
(check this out: http://video.nbc10.com/player/?id=188766)
2. Shooting somewhere at 22nd & Sansom (Hubby was at a restaurant nearby 30min before the shooting!)
3. A woman who was sexually assaulted by someone who invaded her apt located at University City
4. A fatal shoot-out in a food establishment at 38th and Chestnut.
5. Taxi-drivers who worked with robbers to rob passengers
This is freaking crazy! Why are crimes so out of control here?
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