Midtown Lunch

I have loved the original Dim Sum Garden ever since I moved to Philly in 2009. Its grunginess was part of the appeal. That’s probably why it took me so long to get around to the newer, cleaned up location on Race Street. Everything is bright and shiny without the added flavor of Philly’s homeless right outside the window. I just hoped the food stayed the same. For more on the ownership controversy behind the old and new spots, see here.

Sidenote: The new logo features a blushing/overheated soup dumpling with inquisitive eyes. Can someone please buy me a shirt with the logo? I must own it.

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Traditional Szechuan opened a few months ago on the corner of 9th and Arch this year. I like to try out all the new restaurants that pop up in Chinatown, especially the spicy ones, so the $6 lunch special was just an extra incentive.

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I am really excited to share my latest project with you: Philly Food Adventures. Instead of only sharing my journeys to find delicious food around the city via writing and pictures, now I also want to bring you right to it.  I have started with the Chinatown Food tour, a 2 hour excursion with about 5 stops and amazing snacks at each. To learn more, check out my brand new website. Group tours can be purchased on Sidetour, but private or custom tours can be scheduled with me directly.

My friend Earl just posted this picture that we should all get excited about.

Bonchon chicken is one of the first and biggest Korean Fried Chicken chains, though not all of their locations are equally fabulous in my opinion. However, this is still going to be a big win for Philly. Besides Cafe Soho, which is super far, we don’t have many options, though I do like the versions at Rice and Mix and  Koreana.

The Bonchon Facebook page gives us some information, like the address (1020 Cherry Street), but no opening date yet.

 Macarons seem to be the hot thing in Chinatown right now. Not very long ago, I checked out HITEA in The Gallery. More recently, tea chain Kung Fu Tea debuted also serving the little colorful frech cookies. Audabon Bakeshop is another Chinatown  newcomer. Besides macarons, they shop serves pudding and coffee.

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Like Lady Gaga, I-Green in Chinatown is constantly reinventing itself. Once a frozen yogurt place, the menu expanded to include things like soup dumplings. Now, they have added hand pulled noodles to the menu. I just noticed the addition while stopping in with my Chinatown tour group.    

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I live closer to Washington Ave than to Chinatown, which is how I justified the fact that I had never been to Q.T. for banh mi; I can get great banh mi close to my house but not so much with the decent Chinese food, so when I am in Chinatown,  banh mi is not the priority. But with so many people swearing Q.T.’s banh mi reign supreme, it was getting to the point where I felt my Philly Vietnamese food street cred was in jeopardy, and I had to try for mi-self.

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