percyn

I am obviously not Shelby, but would like to share a tip if I may - ensure that you have an extremely fresh egg (straight from a farm are best). Also make sure that the water is very gently boiling and has a tbsp of white vinegar in it. If you want a good round shape, swirl the water with a wooden spoon like a tornado just before cracking the egg in the middle of the vortex. I am liking the soft scrambled and spicy-ish combination, so I used up some left over Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken)

Oops...sorry, thought it was mentioned somewhere on this thread that they are closed on Sundays. Specks is OK for a greasy meal. This weekend I went to Bombay Kitchen, which is 50 yards from Specks in the Collegeville Pit Stop go-cart place. This place opened about a month ago and serves Tandoor dishes as well as snacks (Bhel, Papdi chaat, etc) along with the typical dishes of biryani, vegetables, etc. They specialize in Goan (Indo-Portuguese) dishes and their naan is made in the tandoor oven. They also have a catering service, specializing in Maharashtran dishes (Western part of India). On the day I went, the place was empty at first, but started to fill up by 1pm. Clientele so far is mainly Indian as the word is still getting out. The dishes here are less spicy (haven't tried the Goan dishes yet) than they are at Dosa Chaat hut a few miles down the road. The seating arrangement is a lot nicer than Dosa hut as well as is the tableware. Anyway, I still need to try many items on the menu, so will report back.

Scrambled Eggs with Chicken Tikka Masala - Creamy, soft eggs with spicy curry to balance that.

Marly's is the latest edition to the now thriving Phoenixville restaurant scene. The day we visited, Marly's had been open a week or two and while I realized it might be too soon, I decided to try it anyway. The decor and ambiance were fine. Dining room was about 1/3 to 1/2 full. Wait staff opened our wine and provided an ice bucket within minutes of us sitting down. Took a bit longer to take our order, which consisted of: Bento box appetizer special which included "salmon roll" (which was cooked salmon in a rice paper wrapper) which tasted like it was pre-made and sat in a fridge as bits of the wrapper seemed a bit dry. The chicken satay was a miniature version with 2 bite sized morsels. Pan fried wontons and sesame noodles were not particularly memorable. As this was a special and the price was not mentioned (nor did I think about asking it), I was a bit surprised at the $17 (I think) price for a not so well executed bento box, when I could get a much better rendition at any of the Asian places in the neighborhood. A bit of a shaky start. The Salmon and Shrimp entree I ordered with curry and cashew was a well balanced dish which portrayed what the kitchen was capable of. The curry was very mild and accented rather than overpowered the natural sweetness of the salmon and shrimp. My only recommendation would be to serve the salmon with a crispy skin. Unfortunately, my wife's Agnolotti (priest hats shaped ravioli like pasta) with wild mushrooms was not the best example of the kitchen's potential. The pasta seemed like it was frozen at one point and had not been completely cooked (much more raw than al dente). Through the course of the dinner there were a few service mishaps, though that is to be expected of a new restaurant. When they came to clear our plates and asked my wife how she liked the pasta (seeing her plate almost untouched), she was honest and they were kind enough to apologize and remove it from the bill. So, where do we stand? There is certainly room for improvement, but I also got a glimmer of hope based of the kitchen's capabilities, so I will give them some more time and try them out again.

Depending on the time of day, it should only be a 15-20 min drive each way, so depending on how bad your craving is..... You might even get lucky if he is smoking some ribs and butt.

Clue: Not the 2nd from right

While I don't refer to the "Best of Philly" list (or any list for that matter) as a definitive/authoritative source, it does help provide that extra little push towards places you have been wanting to try anyway. Plus, it is always fun to see a little previously unknown place in the burbs be recognized

Sakura Japanese Restaurant For the past 11 months, there is has been a small Japanese restaurant tucked away between the Superfresh and American Bar & Grill in Chester Springs/Lionville off Rt 113. The first time I stopped there was on a weekday when I had some good quality sushi, including Amberjack, which is a little hard to find in these parts of the woods. During that visit the sushi chef mentioned that they will have live scallops on Friday, so I went back to try them. Scallop sashimi - scallops were medium sized but very tender and sweet. Uni sashimi - was of average freshness and quality Sashimi dinner - 15 pieces of maguro, hamachi, saba (mackerl), octopus, shrimp, red snapper and saki (salmon) with a bowl of rice. The fish at Sakura is one of the best in the area and maybe on par with Bluefin in Plymouth Meeting but not as good as Fuji in Haddonfield. Wife ordered Beef Negimaki and a non-raw-sushi special of chicken teriyaki with some california rolls - not such to praise here...unfortunately I think sushi/sashimi is the strong point of this restaurant

Talat, welcome to eGullet and the Breakfast thread! Lentils with ketchup ??!!?? What kind of lentils...masoor?

I wish they would serve Reindeer like they do in Sweden.....hmmmm

More details on Primo please....

Had chance to try 101 Bridge in Phoenixville (484-927-4481). They have done a good job in renovating the space and I am glad to see someone using this historic building. Now on to the food... There were a few interesting sounding things on the menu such as Scallop Tart, Tuna Tower, Lobster Bread Pudding, etc which caught my eye, but since I had heard about the Ratatouille Napolean, I knew what appetizer I wanted before setting eyes on the menu. The presentation and assembly was a little surprising but in a good way (we can use a little more creative thinking in the suburbs). However, the assembly of the dish took away the dept of flavor you get when all the ingredients have been slowly cooking together for hours. Wife got the Wild Mushroom Cannelloni - with roasted tomato sauce and Parmesan whipped goat cheese(?) For our main entrees I got the Earth and Sea special - Hawaiian Snapper roll in a wonton wrapper over Asian salad (had some seaweed in it) and Moroccan spiced lamb over mashed potatoes and spinach. Interesting combination of the Asian and Moroccan styles on the same plate. The snapper roll could have benefited from a touch of salt and the lamb could have been spiced a little bolder. The special was priced at $30, which is on the higher end for dishes in the suburbs and for that people expect better execution of the dishes, similar to Majolica a few blocks down the road or Birchrunville Store Cafe a few miles away. Wife had Shrimp over goat cheese scallion polenta, roasted tomatoes and lemon basil butter. We were glad to see that the shrimp was grilled and the polenta was smooth and creamy. I was a little disappointed when we got a faint tint of amonia from the shrimp. However, since only my palate detected it, we did not send this back, but in retrospect, we probably should have. Dessert (not pictured) was dark chocolate mousse in layered puff pastry (like a Napoleon). It was good, but a pet peeve of mine is powdered sugar sprinkled all over the plate. Overall, food was good and hope they tighten up the execution of the dishes over time, service is friendly and there are few more items on the menu I would like to try, including the "bar menu". Said they would open for lunch probably in early Aug. Cheers Percy

WOW, that is high praise indeed. Personally, I would stick with Laban You are right in that good "Italian" places are scarce, though lets define "Italian" a bit more. Are you looking for "American Italian", "Traditional Italian" (Allegra) or "Italian Influenced" (Birchrunville Store Cafe or Alba) cuisine? If Allegria is not an option, you can try Alba in Malvern or Birchrunville Store Cafe if "Italian Influenced" is fine, though Birchrunville is more French than Italian influenced IMHO. A bit further is Teresa's in downtown Wayne, but that might be further than you want to go. There is an OK Italian place next to Basil's in Paoli (San Marco?). Skippack also has Basta Pasta, which might be a bit casual and since I have not been there, I have no opinion of the food/service. Hope that helps....more recommendations may come to mind if you indicate the type of Italian cuisine you are hoping for.

Just a note to say that I revisited La Crêperie Café Bis after my initial disappointing visit in Dec last year. This time there were only 5 patrons on a Sat morning (more came in around lunch) and even though they had only one waitress initially, they managed to get the food out in 15 minutes. I order La Complete, pictured in Philadining's review upthread and it was just as he describes it....not as crispy, but pretty good (everything tastes better with an egg on top). They get extra points for their orange juice, which is not only fresh squeezed, but rather squeezed to order at the drink bar. This experience gave me the strength to consider another visit for lunch or dinner. Still not sure I would go in when they are busy.

Interesting. Usually when I eat a big breakfast (or brunch), I certainly skip lunch and in some cases Dinner.

Helen, congratulations on a great restaurant and wish you much continued success!! As others have mentioned, the food was pretty good and I should also mention that the price was amazingly cheap. I don't recall the prices off the menu, but the noodles with duck dish I got to go (yeah, it was that good) was only $6.xx, which is quite cheap considering it had maybe a braised 1/4 duck in it.

How did you like the texture of the short ribs compared to traditional braising? I find the ones I prepare CSV are firmer and while tender, not quite as "fork tender".

Very nice breakfasts all. Special shout out to monavano

Ahhh..that explains the bright orange yolks one usually sees in Europe. ← Why is that? I wondered the same thing yesterday. ← Not 100% sure, but I heard it might have to do with pasteurization (or lack thereof). The unpasteurized fresh eggs I buy from the farm are orangish, but yet not as bright orange as the ones in Europe. Might also have something to do with the breed of chickens.

Ahhh..that explains the bright orange yolks one usually sees in Europe.

Bruce, the crab gratin is a great idea. Did you substitute the coconut milk for all the regular milk & cream?

Nice breakfast Prawn...I love sweetbreads, but never tried it accompanied with an egg, so will have to add it to my list. Today's breakfast was Corned Beef Hash w/Fried Egg - papaya and mango juice in the background Yolk shot Last week I made an omelette with left over moo shoo pork and some Thai sweet chili cause on top, with a roti.

From a few weeks ago... Steak Frites I felt like adding an egg to my version along with some chipotle sauce on the fries Yesterday we made Burgers w/Thai Satay Sauce and scallions - still getting used to a new grill with a TEC infrared burner, so the burgers were a bit more done than I usually like, though the peanut butter I added to the middle of the burgers kept them moist.

In my best Homer Simpson impression ..... arrrggguuuuuhhhh ... droool !!!

ushnishas, thanks for the compliment and the great description of the variation on Dahi Puris.