Thai Chef and Noodles @ 2028 Chestnut St

It's been a while since my first visit and hopefully not the last visit to Thai Chef and Noodles located at 2028 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19103. My memory is a little rusty as I have been there about a month and half ago. I discovered the place on my daily strolls around the city. The selling point was the promotion on their doors about the free appetizer and soup with an entree for lunch only.

Here are some pictures from the food my friends and I had.





I wasn't very much satisfied with what I had. But the thing about going with a group and close friends is that you could share the food. So I tasted some of the appetizers and they were good. I should have gone more conservative and ordered something like a pad thai as it was my first time. Instead I ordered something that I did not know and was let down. The service was great, the lunch promotion was great selling point and I am definitely going back to try their regular fare with their tasty appetizers.

I will be making updates to this post soon with the detials of the soups, appetizers and entrees my friends and I had on our visit later. I wanted to do a quick post so I dont lose track of it.

Bindi - Indian Cuisine @ 105 S 13th St.

Located on the 13th st between Sansom and Chestnut Street is this Indian BYOB restaurant called Bindi. I have read good reviews about this restaurant on several occasions including, Best of Philly, Zagat and Yelp. I wanted to try it out but on reviewing the website, I was kind of apprehensive of the authenticity of it. The chef was American and I was not sure how authentic the Indian food would be. Ethnic restaurants should be authentic unless they state they are fusion which is fine, as long as I know what I am getting into. I did not want to go this restaurant expecting Indian food and find myself eating chicken tikka masala with no masala in it.

The second factor that weighed in against this restaurant is the cost factor. The menu clearly shows that this restaurant caters to the upscale audience and the high price defeats the purpose of this blog. An occasion like a Birthday, anniversary etc could be used to go this restaurant where price is not a factor. On one such occasion I pulled my experimental side out and set forward to experience a culinary pleasure that was to happen.

We were four and were seated at the corner close to an emergency exit towards the glass wall. The interior was dimly lit as is a norm in restaurants in the evening. The ambiance is well suited for a date where you might want to impress your date with your experimental nature without actually getting burnt eating the spicy Indian food. Or that is what was my first impression on entering the restaurant was and that remained through the end of my dinner. There were about 6-8 tables on the main floor for seating differnt sized parties. It looked like they had an extended section in the basement as they were stairs leading downstairs. I have checked out the basement section and hence cannot confirm it. It might as well lead to a kitchen.

We skipped the appetizers and ordered the main course directly. We ordered, the 4 types of breads(roti) hat the menu contained and 3 entress namely Prawn and Pumpkin curry, Ghost(Lamb) curry and spicy Tomato Cauliflower vegetable curry. The Prawn curry came with Lemon Rice and Lamb curry came with Pulav. Pulav is a boiled rice with vegetables and onions cooked alongside with the rice and sometimes containing raisins and nuts. But it is different from Biryani in the sense that it does not contain any spices and is mostly vegetarian.

The breads were a revelation. They were one of the best Indian breads I have had in any restaurant in Philadelphia. The lentil bread though small was more like an appetizer than a bread. It should have been included in the appetizer section. It was tasty and so were the other breads. The curries were not typical Indian stuff that you expect at Indian restaurants. All the curries we ordered had some kind of yogurt base which is not what a typical Indian curry contains. Having said that, they were prepared with good care and appropriate spices(though very moderate to my taste).

The lamb curry though was a complete detour from what I am used to. The lamb curry had no spices, it had a huge lamb shank boiled really soft in different kinds of beans. It was something that I would have expected in a Mexican or a Middle eastern restaurant and not definitely at an Indian Restaurant. That aside the whole experience was wonderful.

As they say the climax of the movie comes at the end. All the good beginning we had was kind of tamed when the waiter said that they accepted only cash. Put together we had only about $40 cash and was not enough to meet the check payment. In their defense, their website cleared stated that they only accepted cash. There must have been a note at the entrance somewhere but was not prominent in the darkness and we did not look for any such signs. So one of us had to go out, after such a wonderful dinner, in search of an ATM machine(of course pay the 2+2 surcharge by the ATM bank and the Debit Card bank) and get the cash to pay of the dinner.

An average entree on the menu is about $22. The breads were $4 each and the appetizers about $8. All in all we had to dish out $84 for 4 including tips meaning each dinner was about $21. That to me is expensive unless it is hosted by someone else or if it is a special event.

My recommendation is stay away from this, but make sure you try it on some special occasion. Everyone deserves a good spoiling once in a while and the food at Bindi will surely delight your culinary senses.

Mantra Philly - Vietnamese @ 122 South 18 Street

I have never been to a Vietnamese restaurant before. I always wanted to try them, but did not do. I was browsing the internet other day and found this fusion Vietnamese restaurant on 18th street couple blocks south of Market close to the Rittenhouse square. I perused their website and found their lunch menu interesting.

At first I wanted to go out with my work team but was never able to gather a group lately due to scheduling issues. So one Wednesday, I decided to go there myself but luckily two other colleagues agreed to join me.

The waitress was courteous and seated us on a table. The ambiance was great and has an instant appeal. She asked if we needed anything to drink and I said water should be fine. She asked bottled or 'Philadelphia's finest' to which I replied bottled but I was served regular water. I did not complain as I did not care as I was busy looking at the menu shocked. Shocked at the prices that were way off of what was on their menu online.

The lunch menu online has several sandwiches and wraps at $6.50 and to my surprise there was nothing on the menu of what I had seen online. I asked the waitress and she replied that they had changed the menu recently and did not update the website. I had to apologize to my colleagues as we were not ready for what we saw in the menu. I was ready to leave but stayed back as my colleagues were willing to stay.

After feeling cheated with the whole fiasco, I began to look at the menu. I ordered shrimp salad that was $12. My one colleague requested a burger and the other a salad that were $10 and $12. The menu was filled with other items that were high 10s and 20s. I said to myself that I am not coming back here for lunch unless it is paid by someone else.

Having made up my mind as such, I waited for the food nonchalantly. The salad was actually good surprisingly. The shrimp was cooked and breaded but was not greasy. The lettuce was crisp with cranberries. The combination was perfect. I was eased into regular conversation after a surprisingly good food. My colleagues were also happy with their food and that helped ease my guilt.

The check came to $14 per head after taxes and tip. This was equal to 2 or more regular lunches that I am normally used to. But that was fine once in a while and even better if it was not for the non-pleasant surprise.

In all this is not a place if you are looking for quick inexpensive food. This is good for a nice dinner or an office party. The food was great and the ambiance splendid. The people were courteous too. I am going back only for dinner with my date or if it paid by someone else. Expensive but good food.