Fergie's Pub

My friends and I headed to Fergie's Pub (1214 Samson Street) during an unsuccessful Center City Sips. Center City Sips is an event were establishments participate in discounted drinks and food every Wednesdays from 5pm-7pm during the summer. It is really just basically happy hour but by naming and marketing it as Center City Sips makes it a really great gimmick. Places always end up being crowded on Wednesdays. I am not sure why we even decided to meet up on a Wednesday after work. The initial location we choose for center city sips was very crowded and loud so we left and tried another bar in the area but that spot ended up being crowded too. We wind up at Fergie's Pub. Luckily, there was a table for our party and the place was not loud or crowded. Fergie's actually had a good amount of vegan and vegetarian options on their menu that were not just salads so I was glad we went there. 

I ordered the Veggie burger. It came with cheese, some kind of creamy dressing (aioli?), spinach, and pub fries. The burger was delicious. I am not 100% sure what it is made up of but it appears to be bean based. It was very tasty with the cheese and dressing. I devour the burger pretty fast. That's how you know it's good. The fries were crispy on the outside and tender inside. On the menu, it says that the Pub Fries are award winning, hand cut fries. Not sure, if they declared that title themselves or some organization gave it to them. Nonetheless, they were enjoyable but I wouldn't say they were the best fries I ever had. I would come back to try their other vegetarian options. 

Veggie Burger with Fries

Yamitsuki Ramen

We grabbed an earlier dinner at Yamitsuki Ramen (1028 Arch Street) based on a recommendation of a friend. When we went on a Friday, it was pretty empty. Maybe because it was still early for dinner. We were seated in the front of the restaurant where the high tables were. The place was clean. It had a nice modern hip vibe. Below is what I ordered. 

I got the Vegetarian Japanese Curry Yasai Ramen with an egg. It came with spring mix, Inari tofu, menma bamboo, bean sprout and my added egg. I would like my noodle soup to be very hot when it comes out. I would like my noodles to slowly cool down as I blow onto it and eat it. I didn't get this here. I thought the broth was not hot enough for me. It was more on the lukewarm side. Maybe all the ingredients were cold so when you pour the broth over it it significantly cools down the whole dish. My friends thought it was fine even though it that wasn't really hot. I have not been to many ramen places but do ramen usually come out not very hot? Overall, I thought the ramen was okay. The broth is more on the bland side which I didn't mind. I didn't think the toppings were very fresh. The noodle did taste better than the instant noodles. It was a little firmer and chewier than instant ramen noodles. Overall, I thought the dish was okay. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough for me to be wanting more or coming back for more. 

Vegetarian Japanese Curry Ramen

The dessert we ordered was the Matcha Snow Ice. This on the other hand was life. It was topped with herbal jelly, fried mocha, red beans, and condensed milk. I can say this is the best matcha snow ice I have ever had. It also looked very different from the other snow ice I have ever order before (see below). I am not sure if making it as layers of web shape contributed to this awesome texture or not. It's like semi creamy and melts in your mouth. It was not overly too sweet.  The herbal jelly, red beans, and fried mocha enhanced the experience. I would admit I was very doubtful of the fried mocha at first, but was very pleasantly surprise. It was one of the best things I have tasted even though it was not crispy like you expect fried foods to be. It was softer and more gooey than regular mocha and had a hint of sweetness. I enjoyed this dessert very much and this is something I would come back for. It was phenomenal in my opinion. 

Matcha Snow Ice

CoZara

CoZara (3200 Chestnut Street) is a relatively new Japanese Tapa style restaurant in University City on Drexel's campus. My friends and I went there for happy hour for my birthday last month even though I didn't order from the happy hour menu. I am a pescarterian; however that day I was eating a vegan diet. I actually decided in advance on this restaurant for my birthday happy based on a friend's recommendation. I didn't want to change the restaurant at the last minute and there were vegan options on the menu that I can eat. Below you will see how I wished I had changed the location.

For my first dish, I ordered a vegan roll- Veggie Deluxe Roll (crispy shallot, asparagus, carrot, shiso, wasabi stem dressing, micro greens, and ginger dressing. So when they say tapa style, they really meant it. The rolls were super tiny and there wasn't much of it- only 6 rolls!  I felt like the diameter is just a little bigger than a quarter. The ingredients were fresh and tasted alright. They was nothing special about it, though. It was basically all the ingredients rolled up together and the sauce wasn't unique or anything. These days a lot of place offer sushi made with fresh ingredients. I could have gotten a good amount of better quality specialty vegan sushi for a better price elsewhere. One place I can think of off on the top of my head is BubbleFish in Chinatown. Their Green Peace vegan roll is the bomb dot com. It's cheaper. They give you more rolls and they are much thicker rolls. In addition, their sauce for their sushi is awesome. 

Veggie Deluxe

Lastly, I got the Vegetarian Mazemen. Based on the menu there were supposedly going to be arugula, pickled red cabbage, and miso in it. I beg the differ. It was basically ramen noodles with mix greens not arugula (I feel like when menus say arugula they give you arugula not mixed greens with arugula with other greens in it, no?), fried shallots, alfalfa sprouts, pickled red ginger not pickled cabbage, and sesame oil not miso. I didn't really taste the miso. I just tasted sesame oil with the noodles. I let my friend try it and she agreed with me. At the bottom once I finished eating the noodles, there was more of a tangy flavor like vinegary maybe that was the miso or where the miso was.  I felt like I could have easily made this at home. I already have ramen noodles, fried shallots, and sesame oil at home. I just needed to get some pickled ginger, alfalfa sprout, and mixed greens from the supermarket which I can do so for cheap. This was not worth $10. The amount was little and this just simply was not an exceptional quality dish in my eyes. As I mentioned, I could have assembled this entree myself. 

Vegetarian Mazeman

Not sure, if I didn't order the right things.  Maybe my standards are too high. Maybe they placed more focus on other dishes. My friends who ordered the fish and meat dishes seem to enjoy them. I, on the other hand if you can't tell already, was highly disappointed at this restaurant. I don't think I have ever been so disappointed at a restaurant before. Even though the food was fresh, the quantity was small (okay that was probably given because it was tapa) and it was expensive for not very unique food. I guess with all the competition out there and for them to be tapa style,  I just expected alot more. I would think the establishment would want to differentiate itself with their offerings or their taste of the food but I didn't find this here. I will not be returning and I would not be recommending this place to anyone. There are far too many better restaurants in this city of Brotherly Love.