As you know, I'm a bit of a foodie. If that's also your thing, you might want to know what I thought of all the places I ate at in Philadelphia. (Spoiler, I wasn't that impressed with the food scene!)
First up, Mexican. On our first night we ate dinner at
El Rey, which is a decent enough choice located between Rittenhouse Square and Logan Square, and on our second night we ate at
Anejo. Yum birria tacos from there pictured above. Other dinners were had at
Ember & Ash which was, again, decent. Scrummy potatoes, from what I recall, and they did have some dishes that looked awesome but the work food allowance thwarted my usual approach to ordering, sadly. We also ate at
A Mano, which is right by Eastern State Penitentiary. Sadly that one was a big no, even though it's reviewed well. Maybe we just went on a bad night? (I'm not counting our final dinner at Chickie's and Pete's in the airport!)
Breakfast was split between eating at the work canteen and eating out. Big recommendation for
Green Eggs Cafe. We went to the one by our hotel but there are a few across the city. Hearty and delicious portions - I went for the fried chicken Benedict (above). And if you have a sweet tooth, they have some delicious sweet dishes. The only negative is you have to pay with cash, though they have an ATM there. The other spot we went to for breakfast was Philly's famous
Reading Terminal Market. Down Home was a bad choice, purely because of what I ordered. Top tip: Avoid dishes with sawmill gravy!
Lunches were had, again, back at Reading Terminal Market. We shared famous dishes from Tommy Dinics - their meatball sub - and a Philly cheesesteak from Spartos Cheesesteaks (above). In all honesty, compared to the street food scenes in London and NYC, it was a disappointing market. They were adequate sandwiches, but not the level of yumminess I'm used to. Or was expecting for how they were hyped up. We also ate near the office at
Pizzeria Salvy (pizza, funnily enough - they had some interesting combos!) and
Urban Farmer (steak). Both nice enough. And we had ice cream for lunch at Anthony's Italian Coffee & Chocolate House because it was so hot... but also because we didn't have cash on us to get a slice of pizza at Nannie Franco's! Cash only is still a thing in Philly, weirdly.
Finally, bars! Which are easier to get right than restaurants, let's face it. We had drinks at SkyHigh, the bar at the top of my work building, twice. Has a great view of Philly, though for me it's the same as the office view, funnily enough! We tried to go to Bok Bar, also because of the view, but they were closing early when we arrived because of the heatwave, so ended up at The Dandelion, a "British" pub... you can probably give that one a miss! We had a drink at Mac's Tavern (and a snack), which is one for the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans.
Barcade is a cool bar because it has lots of retro games to play. And even though it was a brewery, Victory Brewing Company had some great cocktails, whilst a.Bar is tiny but had good vibes. Finally ,The Library at The Logan is a good spot if you want to play pool (but it's a billiards table). And I think all these say quite a lot about work drinking culture(!).
Do you have any better Philly foodie recommendations for the next time I've there for work? I'd love to hear them! x
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