Photo Courtesy of Ron Templeman
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.
Rice and Spice
What are we gonna do with the West side of Washington Ave? He’s like the fat kid in school running hurdles; you root for him, but he might not make it. With the entrance of Kermit’s Bakery, the race is looking less grim. And as of late, the folks from Jet Wine bar and Rex 1516 are taking their crack at it, opening a Mexican cafe called Cafe Ynez in the area formerly occuped by Cafe L’Aube.
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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.
