Rising Tide Restaurant

[Andrew Fenton]

Eleven intrepid Philadelphiegulleteers, assorted hangers-on and a good dozen bottles of wine headed over to Rising Tide restaurant last night for an evening of (sorta-)Chinese food, hijinks and tomfoolery. I didn't take notes on all we ordered, but here's a selection of photos. I'm sure others will fill in what I've missed.

First, an EXTREME CLOSE-UP (outa focus, sorry) of steamed dumplings. I'd thought these were going to be soup dumplings, but they turned out to be the regular kind (but plump and oh! so juicy):

Next, beef! On a stick. It looks like satay, it smells like satay, but brother, it ain't satay. Or a corndog, for that matter:

And braised beef short ribs. These were my favorite:

Except maybe the fried sea bass (actually, two basses, I think):

Finally, an overview of the whole table, with carcasses and leftovers plainly visible. David is making his move for some fish:

And then, dessert! (not pictured) at Capogiro. Hooray!

Rising Tide was pretty good, I thought. The menu is weird: lots of non-Chinese dishes (we had quite good tom yum soup, and those satay thingies, for example). But they seem to be able to pull them off with a fair amount of aplomb. It's definitely a good place for a group- they had us locked up in a glassed-in room, where we wouldn't bother the nice folks in the room next door.

[davidbdesilva]

Good pictures Andrew (except for the fat guy scarfing up the fish!). I was really tempted by the pigs blood and fried pigs intestine, but liked what we all got. I really did enjoy the grouper fillet in curry sauce that I ordered and thought the fried sea bass(es) was very good as well. Did 12 of us really down a dozen bottles of wine? Damn that Gewurz Katie brought and the Sept Grains that Gary brought were very delish. A fun time for sure!

[herbacidal]

You guys ordered pigs blood? Whatja think?

[Mummer]

You guys ordered pigs blood? Whatja think?

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I did, but they brought a second order of shrimp with lemon grass instead.

[philadining]

You guys ordered pigs blood? Whatja think?

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I did, but they brought a second order of shrimp with lemon grass instead.

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If fact, no matter what we ordered, they brought shrimp with lemon grass. Actually they just did that once, but it was interesting to observe them not offering to fix it when it was brought to their attention.

I posted my recollections over in the Chinatown Help topic here. I cruelly impugned Gary's character, mostly because it was so amusing to observe his indignation about his order of Soft Noodles with Crab. There didn't seem to be much crab in it, although, in the restaurant's defense, it's easy to lose crab amidst tangles of noodles, so there might have been a little more than appeared. But the dish was expensive for something not loaded with crab. The noodles themselves were good though.

We did wimp out and skipped the pork blood, and the duck tongue, and the intestines, but the sheer variety of the menu is pretty impressive.

[chowfun]

I have never eaten there, but I have had take out cups of hot sweet black tea and coffee and milk mixed together. Weird but really good.

[brescd01]

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.

Edited April 11, 2005 by brescd01 (log)

[KatieLoeb]

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 ethncities 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 rataurant in Chinatown by a large margin.

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And indeed, it was your personal recommendation that convinced me to detour our group dinner to Rising Tide. We'd already been to Lee How Fook before, so your glowing praise had me convince the rest of these intrepid gourmands to change locations after all the plans had been laid. I really enjoyed everything - mistaken dishes be damned, and I'd certainly go back another time to further explore what has to be one of the most extensive menus in Chinatown.

[brescd01]

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.

Edited April 11, 2005 by brescd01 (log)