Tampopo is a Korean fast food joint located a little south of Chestnut St on the 21st street in Center City.
My colleague Marina got a promotion recently and will be joining her new team next month. My other colleague suggested we should give her a congratulatory Lunch. So I did some search on google to find what kind of reviews this restaurant had. I always wanted to try this place but did not want to subject my colleagues to the cruelty of my curiousness. I was not surprised when I found some really good reviews and decided to take a chance.
We were a group of 6 who walked to this restaurant on a windy Tuesday afternoon. The interior is small, simple and well kept. They had about 8 small tables, each table could seat only 2. We had to join 3 tables together so that we could have our lunch together as a team.
Since this is a fast food kind of a place, they take a note of our name while taking orders and announce our name when the food is ready. The food is to be paid for while placing the orders like any fast food place.
It was first time to all of us excepting one who gave a overview of the menu. Having read some good reviews and deciding to be safe I ordered bi-bim-bob with chicken($7.50). My other colleagues ordered a very similar stuff which was really surprising. One colleague who had been to other Korean Restuarants had bi-bim-bob with beef($7.50). Marina ordered bi-bim-bob with chicken and egg($8.00). One friend requested hot spicy chicken breast bowl($7.25), one ordered chicken breast bowl($6.75) and other had chicken breast bowl($6.50).
All the stuff we ordered fell under [Donburi Rice Bowl] section. According to their menu site Donburi (don) means a bowl of rice served with different toppings. You can choose from white rice or brown rice. The bi-bim-bob with chicken that I ordered
had cooked carrots, bean sprouts, zuchini apart from chicken and white rice. The zuchini was cooked in some mild spices that gave it a very good taste. The chicken was grilled and had a flavor like barbeque chicken. The food also came with a sauce that was sweet, sour, spicy all in one. It was great with the rice. It was so good that my colleague who ordered just the chicken breast bowl had some and did not stop raving about it. The bi-bim-bob that I took had a mild pleasant smell and looked colorful and beautiful in the bowl.
At first the serving seemed to be small. The food was served in a maroon colored bowl that looked like procelain at first. But my colleagues who had almost finished my lunch while I was half way through said the quantity was more than enough to satiate the hunger. I found that they were right as I was full on completion on my meal.
The maroon bowls looked really cute and were sturdy. I was almost tempted to take it home with me, but did not do that to avoid people staring at me on the road. The colleagues all liked their food and thoroughly enjoyed their food. I was happy that they liked their food as it was the first time for most. It is difficult to make everyone happy while trying an ethnic food but this place proved to be match for everone on our team.
None of the items on the menu were more than $10. Most items fell with the range of $7-$8. You can also find [Bento Box](comes with white or brown rice, salad w/ginger
dressing,edamame and your choice of broccoli, mushroom, gyoza,or egg cake), Sushi Rolls, Noodles items, Salad Bowls and some side dishes like Kimchi (I will try this the next time I come here). They will find in me a very satisfied and returning customer. By the way if you are not used to eating with chopsticks, you have to specifically ask for a spoon or a fork. The bowl comes with chopsticks only.
1 comment:
it was delicious!
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