Center City Sips Review Week 3 (for us): Chifa

So last night we went to Sips at Jose Garces's newest restaurant, Chifa. A Peruvian-Cantonese place. Specials: $2 Philadelphia Brewing Company Kenzinger and Walt Wit bottles; $3 Valdivieso Sauvignon Blanc and Malbec; $4 Sparkling Mango Lemonade (mango vodka, lemonade, sparkling white wine) and Mula Cuzco (vodka, ginger liquer, cusquena pilsner, lime); $5 (I think) Ecuadorian Ceviche (fresh shrimp, yellow tomato gell, avocado) and Pork Belly Buns (grilled pork belly, hoisin glaze, pickled daikon and carrot, togarashi mayo).

Overall I was very impressed. We hadnt been to Chifa yet since it opened. It is an absolutely beautiful space. Sips is confined to the downstairs bar, which was apparently the bathrooms when the space was 707. It is a bit small and loud considering the number of Sips participants, but understandable, again considering the number of Sips participants. We stood for about half the time and then got seats (the seating filled up almost immediately at 5). I think I preferred standing at the bar. The seats are mostly benches along the wall which make conversations between more than 2 people difficult and it was also much louder when we sat down so that added to the difficulty conversing. The drinks were yummy. I stuck with the lemonade. It was a bit tart but refreshing. I tried the Mula Cuzco but after the tartness of the lemonade the pilsner/ginger combination was a bit tough to take. I dont eat shrimp so I didnt try the ceviche but I heard it was delicious. The pork buns (more of a mini sandwich really) were really tasty as soon as I managed to ignore the fact that it was pork belly. I dont know why, but the word belly freaks me out. So overall a definite winner and we would go back, definitely recommended. I would really like to try going there for dinner at some point.

The rest of the night we wont talk about. Just suffice it to say that while walking home I tweeted this: "too drun to read tweets nd wakking aomeeem finw right ?" What I meant to write was that I was "too drunk to read tweets and walk" and something else apparently. I dont know what. Ooops. Well it is a holiday week right? I have decided to take tomorrow off. Which I am pretty happy about. I hope that the weather is nice this weekend. Hope you all enjoy your weekends!