brescd01

Here is an updated and corrected list. You all understood me correctly, I was planning on one of those twisted detours that only a foody would contemplate, all for my beloved wife. Galaxy: chole bhatura, samosa, thali, pau bhaji Dosa Express (1170 Green) dosas Dimple's (1326 Oak Tree) sambhar, dosa, idli, chat papri Bombay Talk (1358 Oak Tree) chat papri Rajbhog (1373 Oak Tree) moti choor ladoo , gulab janum, rasgula, jalibi, rasmalai Delhi Darbar (1567 Oak Tree) chicken curry, goat curry Mugal Express (1670 Oak Tree) chilly chicken Sill no address for Galaxy though!

A friend has urged me to go from a place I work in Trenton, to Edison, to pick up Indian food on the way back to Philly. She has recommended dishes at various restaurants. Here is the list: all on Oak Tree Rd, Edison 08820 Galaxy: chole bhatura, samosa, thali, pau bhaji Dimple's: sambhar, dosa, idli, chat papri Bombay Talk: chat papri Rajbhog: moti choor ladoo , gulab janum, rasgula, jalibi, rasmalai I cannot find records of these restaurants. Anyone have any info? The theory is that this is authentic Indian food. And she is Indian born and bred, so she should know...

I love Hausbrandt, but not for its coffee, which leaves me indifferent. And La Colombe has great coffee I agree, though it is tarnished somewhat by the fact that those establishments serving La Colombe BRAND coffee are FAR inferior. In my opinion, and with the caveat I have not tried every coffee place mentioned in the above reviews (because this would defeat a coffee place's purpose for me, a place to near my home to hang out), Ants Pants has extraordinary coffee drinks. I think they use coffee from Australia for everything but the drip.

I think that is it, thanks. The Chinese call it huajiao and we discovered it at Szechuan Tasty House when we ordered huajiao chicken off the menu.

Chowfun, you seem very sophisticated: what is the spice in the noodles that makes water taste funny afterwards and is tingly, not exactly spicy, to the tongue?

I have to disagree. Chung King is everything I hoped for and more. I love Szechuan Tasty House, which gets better and better, but its menu does not have a fraction of the depth of Chung King. Chung King is not offering just Szechuan dishes either, it also has a sizable northern Chinese menu. The menu has such depth that my wife and I could return five times and not explore all its lurking beauties, to paraphrase Melville. I agree about the dishes' temperature, though this worked in our favor because Chinese food usually is too hot for me to eat right away anyway. Everything we had was good (wonton) to extraordinary (steamed dumplings and Dan Dan noodles). Pork loin looked like a prop from the film Eat Drink Man Woman, which is to say, beautiful. The cuisine was an education about poorly served Chinese cuisines, relative to the ubiquitous Cantonese or Fujianese. There are two authentic Szechuan restaurants in Manhattan by comparison, and no northern Chinese ones (that I have heard of). Our waitress spoke fluent English and was very sweet and willing to explain everything. The whole affair, despite the space, which resembles a Chinese banquet hall in all its tacky glory, resembled someone's kitchen, with family members serving dishes mom prepared in the back. Most Cantonese are brusque. The staff here are warm and patient by comparison, and they are dressed differently and look physically different from the Cantonese staff in other restaurants. To be honest, this is a restaurant best appreciated by "specialists:" people looking for General Tso's will probably miss 90% of Chung King's uniqueness. Its head chef (I think) is an intellectual and I hope his restaurant gets the recognition from Craig Leban that it deserves.

April 20, Thursday, is liberation day!

I am suggesting that when they are open I know I will find religion.

Free at last, free at last, I am free at last!

If you can refer me to a previous thread, feel free. We live at 20th and South. A stranger in a beauty parlor recommended Jiojio's (sic?) Chinese. We tried it that very night and I am being generous if I call it "below average." Tonight we ordered from Manderin Palace. A very good curry soup was followed by fair dumplings and then nauseating other dishes, another failure. I remember one or two people recommending Square on Square (we couldn't find its number before I ordered), and we will try it next time. Anyone else?

Let there be no doubt, Tifco is the real thing. The finest Szechuan food I have ever had. I have had as good, but none better.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Cafe Nola? I went to the Cajun Cafe in Narberth and was disappointed.

I am glad, at least, that I could make a diverting suggestion to Philadelphia's finest food connoisseurs! There is much more to the story of South East Asian culinary miscegenation than I know. Cuisines are not imitated. They meet and make new dishes entirely. A story yet to be written is the evolution of Chinese pastry style, which is not at all Chinese, nor is it western. And I think all these variations have to be appreciated on their own merits. For some little discussion of South East Asian cuisine, refer to the travel section of the on-line NYTimes for an article about a culinary tour of Vietnam.

I do not agree with either your characterization or the City Paper's, of Rising Tide's menu being largely non-Chinese. Rising Tide specializes in Chiu Chow style food, which is a variety of Cantonese food from the city of Shantou. Furthermore, the restaurant provides a Hong Kong style menu, with dishes suggested by all the minorities that mingle their cuisines in Hong Kong. A similar variety can be found at Penang, because of the co-mingling of ethnicities in Malaysia. When I have the Roti, or the Tom Yam soup, I do not compare them with soup in Thai restaurants, or Indian food. I compare them with other Hong Kong style restaurants that serve similarly eclectic food. And I rate Rising Tide as the best restaurant in Chinatown by a large margin.

I think that Katie is general manager at SSOH is fabulous (I am just catching the thread now). When I was last there with my wife a few months ago, I did find the staff particularly warm and that was a plus. As I recall, the appetizers were just okay, and the beer selection was poor. Also, there was no one there so we were lonely. But so far as "placement," SSOH meets a need that no other restaurant in the city can, and I am more than willing to give the place another few shots to appreciate the improvements Katie may have made since out last visit. David Bresch

Holly, this is very interesting because there are some new positive reviews of Balkan Express on Chowhound. I wonder if they have significantly improved over the last 6 months?

I am sorry for the delay, I just saw the question: I am from New York City.

I loved the food at Smoked Joint (and so did my wife) but both of us got upset stomachs afterwards. I ate the leftovers the next day and had a similar reaction, with headache. I wonder, 1) has anyone else had this problem and 2) is this related to monosodium glutamate? I doubt it was food poisoning of any sort.

I think the evals on this thread are very erudite, especially for people who appear never to have been to the Balkans. I would just point out that I think Balkan Express has potential. Its pastries are very tasty, by the way. Also, Bulgarian cuisine is actually very distinctive from the other Balkan cuisines. The only restaurant I know of where one can sample it is in NYC's Chinatown, Mechanata (very hard to find). If one were to go to the Balkans, at least in Romania and Bulgaria, the quality of the cuisine believe it or not is actually similar to Balkan Express. The best food is sampled in private homes. rlibkind, why did you make that remark about Milwaukee? I ate one of the most beautiful meals of my life there in a wonderful Serbian restaurant, Three Brothers, that was very hard to find. I wonder if you are referring to this place? By the way, I used to think Balkan cuisine was awful in general. It is actually wonderful, and I mean really stunning. Sampling its best however, is very difficult.

What a heart-breaking thread. I had a "last supper" in Philly (I don't remember where it was) and I was sure I would not be back. Leaving Philly broke my heart instead, and I came back with my tail between my legs. If I could live anywhere in the world, anywhere, it would be Philly.

Katie, I think the situation is more complex. There is a substantial Laotian population in Thailand, and they have their own cuisine, heavily influenced by Thai food obviously. The lines between the two are not so distinct, at least from the standpoint of these monikers "Laotion" and "Thai."

I agree with the above recommendations and I would add two of my own: Dmitri's and Monk's. Dmitri's is a relaxed mediterranean restaurant with two branches, the sort of which one could never find in NYC. Monk's is the "Belgian" style pub (more Epcot Belgium than real) most beloved by Philadelphians, and Belgian beer is a big deal in Philadelphia. Gourmet Magazine declared Philly America's best beer town in part due to its consumption of Belgian beer, reportedly the largest in the USA.

I am sorry but I have to disagree. I tried Siam Lotus recently and I was very disappointed. Thai food very much in the American style. I accept that this is the best Thai restaurant in Philadelphia, but if this is the case, Philadelphia lacks decent Thai food.

Why did Joe's Shanghai close? What was the true reason for the controversy on Chowhound about shilling for that place?

What restaurant did the above poster refer to when he wrote "Square on Square?" I walked by that address and I did not see any such restaurant.