Poke Bowl

Poke Bowl (958 N. 2nd Street) is a fairly new restaurant serving what its name suggests, poke bowls. Poke bowls are essentially sushi bowls that originated in Hawaii. According to my friend when she was in Hawaii, poke bowls are ubiquitous. They can even be found at gas stations. However, Hawaii's poke bowls' presentations are much simpler than the ones at Poke Bowl's. In Hawaii, most of the time it is just rice topped with fish, soy sauce, and maybe some green onions. Well, poke bowls have made its way to Philadelphia and they are more luxurious here than in Hawaii. 

Poke Bowl

Poke Bowl's ordering process is similar to chipotle in which you can watch the employees assemble the bowl together behind counter. You follow steps to customize your bowl. You can either get the bowl in a size small or large. You pick a base (white rice, brown rice, or salad), proteins (octopus, tuna, salmon, etc.), soy sauce (ginger, sweet, or hot), and various toppings (tobiko, onions, seaweed, nori, mango, pineapple, etc.). Then it gets garnished with a flower and what I believe to alfafa sprouts.  I got brown rice with octopus, tuna, salmon, seaweed, green onions, sesame, tobiko, ginger soy sauce, and sriracha aloli. The octopus appears to have been boiled. It was tender. The raw tuna and raw salmon were smooth and melted in your mouth. The toppings I choose went well with the rice and protein. All the ingredients were fresh. It was absolutely delicious. This is my kind of food. If you love sushi and raw fish, I highly recommend poke bowl:)

Jamaican Jerk Hut

On day after work, some of my coworkers and I went to the PHS Pop Up Garden South Street. Next door to the garden was Jamaican Jerk Hut (1436 South Street). The restaurant had a side window in the back so you can order food while in the garden. I ordered two veggie patties.

Jamaican Veggie Patties

The veggie patties came out fresh and hot. I think the patties were baked. The crust was crusty and somewhat thick. Nonetheless, it was great. The filling was mostly mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, and onions. The patties had curry flavor and were spicy. I enjoyed them very much. In addition, they were good size patties and quite filling for $2 a piece. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a hearty savory snack. 

Chaat and Chai

One lovely evening, my friends and I went to a relatively new in Indian restaurant, Chaat and Chai (1532 Snyder Ave). The restaurant is small and very cute with a few seatings. It had a lot of colorful and bold decor. See pictures of inside below. 

Inside Chaat and Chai

I decided to try a chaat. Afterall, it should be good since the restaurant is name after it.
Chaats are very popular street snacks in India and Middle East. It is basically a combination of different texture foods. Depending on the type of chaat you get, the ingredients vary. Chaat and Chai offered Samosa chaat (warm potato and pea turnover, chick peas, tamarind-mango sauce, indian yogurt, sev), Chana Chaat (chick peas, red onion, tomatoes, mints, tamarind-date chutney, Indian yogurt, crunchies), North Indian Chicken Chaat (Mint-cumin roasted chicken, radishes, tomatoes, red onions, raita, tamarind date chutney, mine-coriander chutney), and Bhel Puri (puffed rice, papdi, potatoes, scallions, tomatoes, mint-cilantro chutney, date-ginger chutney, yogurt, crunchies). As you can see chaats are really a mix of ingredients. 

Samosa Chaat

I ordered the Samosa Chaat. The visuals of dish was appealing. It came with a Samosa in the middle that was surrounded by chick peas, tamarind-mango sauce, mango, green onions, and Indian yogurt and topped with sev. Just in case you were wondering. Sev are crunchy fried noodle pieces made with seasoned chickpea flour. I cut up the samosa and ate the pieces with all the goodies on the plate. I thought it was delicious. It was sweet yet savory yet sour. It was also warm and cold in my mouth. Cold from the mango and yogurt and warm from the samosa. The samosa itself was very tasty. I enjoyed the combination of flavors and texture. I am very satisfied with what I got.

Assorted Nan

In addition, we got Assorted Naan for the table. The server informed us there were three types of naan, but I don't remember what they were. I think one was garlic and one might had cheese. Overall, the naan was okay. I didn't really eat much of it. These naan were somewhat thin and not really fluffy. Maybe they were not fresh. I don't recall them being hot when they arrived. I like my naan thick, fluffy, and somewhat chewy. Unfortunately, these naan did not fit those criteria for me.

Lamb Vindaloo

Chicken Chettinand

Bonus pictures. My friends got meat dishes. One of them got the Lamb Vindaloo (fiery and tangy curry from Goa with red chillies, vinegar) and the other got the Chicken Chettinand (spicy south indian curry with coconut, black peppercorns, star anise). For both entree, the rice was underneath the meat and sauce. I got to taste the sauce with some rice. The vindaloo was delicious. It was spicy and full of flavor. Before I became a vegetarian, Chicken Vindaloo was one of my favorite dishes. As a vegetarian, it is hard to find vegetarian vindaloo. Maybe I will try to make veggie vindaloo for myself, but knowing I this won't probably happen until maybe 2 years later. The chicken chettinand was okay. I thought that dish lacked some flavor.

Baltimore- Mama's on the Half Shell and Cup Love

I took a day trip with my friends to Baltimore. Of course, incorporated in the day trip was food.
We got lunch from Mama's on the Half Shell (2901 O'Donnell St, Baltimore, MD 21224) and dessert at Cup Love (2928 O'Donnell St, Baltimore, MD 21224). Below are my reviews.

Seafood Melt

The restaurant was quite busy. There were two levels and outside seating. We wanted to sit on the first level. Luckily, a table freed up shortly after we arrived. I got the Seafood Melt. The melt came with fries and was made of shrimps, baby scallops, supposedly lump crab salad, cheese, and tomato serve on top of an english muffin. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the melt. In the melt, I could not really taste the crab. Also, I think the restaurant used frozen shrimp and frozen baby scallops because it was quite watery under the cheesy layer and the english muffin under the melt was soggy but then again the water can be from the tomatoes. I also thought the baby scallops tasted kind of funny. They were definitely not fresh tasting. On the bright sides, the fries tasted great. They were thick, tender inside, and crispy outside. I wished I order something else on the menu. My friends ordered mussels and the crabcake and they loved it. 

Frozen Yogurt

For dessert, we went to Cup Love. The establishment was small, cozy, and very cute. There was alot of pink. The place offered cupcakes and frozen yogurt. We got frozen yogurt. It appeared that their frozen yogurt were made with Fage greek yogurt since there were Fage greek yogurt logos located under the flavor names. I got the vanilla, strawberry, and low fat mango topped with mango, black berries, blue berries, and mochi. The yogurts were good. They were not too tarry and not too sweet. It was a perfect balance. My favorite flavor was the vanilla. The vanilla was very rich. The fruit toppings were fresh, but I could have done without the berries. The berries were sour, but the mango was very sweet. The mochi was chewy and went well with the yogurt. Overall, I really like the frozen yogurt. It's not as good as Yogorino but it's up there.

Food Trucks-Tater Tots and Margherita Pizza

In Philadelphia, we have these Night Market events organized by the Food Trust several times during the year. Night Markets are gatherings of different food trucks around the city at one designated location in the evening (6PM-10PM) so that patrons can taste and sample a number of food trucks at one location. In the past, they had have the Night Market at Northern Liberties, Chinatown, South Street, Fairmount, etc. The particular Night Market I went to about two weeks ago was the Callowhill Night Market held on 12th and 13th Streets between Callowhill and Spring Garden Streets. That night I was in the mood for pizza and tater tots so I got something from Wood Fired Pizza and The Tot Cart food trucks. 

Margherita Pizza

The Margherita Pizza was delicious. The ingredients tasted fresh and it had the brick oven taste. I sprinkled some chili pepper flakes because I like it hot...and oh boy, it was awesome. The crust was thin and somewhat crispy and chewy. I thought the pizza had a good balance of crust and sauce. Even though it was quite pricey for a personal size pizza ($14), it was worth it; however, I wish there was more. 

Parm Tots

The Parmesan Tots were also delicious. In general, I love tater tots and these were some good tots. They were tender and very crispy. The parmesan seasoning was tasty. I would definitely recommend The Tot Cart.