Weekend trip to Philadelphia

A few months ago, we went to Philadelphia to visit my sister and her fiancé! This was the first time I’ve even been to Philadelphia so I was super excited for the weekend. I have only heard good things about the city, and it was time I finally made it out there. We flew in on Thursday night after work, after a few delays, we finally made it there. We went to bed that night, since it was late, the next morning we had brunch plans with my husbands cousin. We went into KOP and had brunch at x. The food was very good especially the French toast, and I loved the ambiance!

After brunch we headed back to my sisters place because Chaitan was still working, and we was my future brother in law and sister. The had surprised us by getting a hotel in downtown Philadelphia Friday night to get the most out of the weekend. My parents were coming into town Saturday so this was our opportunity to have a night out together.

After my sister got home from work, we all got ready and headed into the city for the night, we checked into the Warwick Hotel in Rittenhouse Square. We didn’t have any reservations coming up so we stopped at HipCityVeg for a vegan Phili Cheese Steak and vegan chicken nuggets. Our next stop was Time, for some cocktails and live music. This place had a great vibe, especially with the live music. Our next stop was McGillin’s Old Irish Ale House, which is the oldest bar in Philadelphia. This was for sure a college bar, sticky floors and very crowded. We had time for one more stop before we had dinner reservations, so we went to Graffiti Bar. This bar was behind a restaurant and you had to walk down a graffiti alley to get to it, which was pretty cool. We didn’t order food, but the food menu looked amazing, definitely something I would try if we went back.

It was finally time for dinner and we had reservations at a popular vegan spot called VEDGE. We ordered a lot of items, but overall I would say that the food was okay. I don’t think it was bad, but I wouldn’t go back. And as some of your guys know, my favorite restaurant in Chicago is a Vegan spot, so I am a fan of vegan food.

After dinner, we decided to check out a place called National Mechanics, which was a former bank turned into a bar, we ordered some espresso martinis but they weren’t that great. Our last stop was an ice cream shop called Franklyn Fountain. We split a giant brownie ice cream, which was served in a Chinese take out container. Honest it was pretty good but a complete rip of, click here for the whole story! Our night cap was ordering kati rolls from Masala Kitchen, and they were 10/10 FLAME.

We woke up on Saturday morning, and decided to walk around the farmers market in Rittenhouse Square. We got some tea and fresh apple cider donuts. Then we walked to Reading Terminal Market for a food crawl. This market was legitimately the BEST market/ food hall I’ve ever been to.

We grabbed some coffee from Old City Coffee and headed to Beiler’s Donuts. The donuts were absolutely amazing, there were SO MANY FLAVORS. The best part, you can watch them make the donuts live. Our next stop was Miller’s Twist for a pretzel. Honestly I am not sure why we didn’t buy 4 of them, they were just perfect. After sweet, and savory it was time for something sweet, so we went to Dutch Eating Place and split an order of the pancakes, these were the most perfect pancakes I’ve ever had. Fluff and warm. After this course, my sister and I ventured off to pick our next item. We got a “bread boat” from Sammi Somi which was filled with cheese, mushrooms and a runny egg. Our last stop was a vegan corn dog from Fox & Son Fair Foods! We were stuffed, but I strongly suggest this market, to try all the amazing foods!

After all the food we decided to go check out Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Art Museum, and grabbed some water ice. Then we walked up the steps, it was really cold though so we spend the rest of the day at the mall until we had to pick my parents up at the airport.

After picking my parents up, we took them to Levante Brewing Co, until it was time for our dinner reservations at Trattoira La Tavolas. We had an amazing Italian dinner with them family before we headed to my sisters apartment.

The next morning was our last day in Philadelphia, my parents were staying there for a bit. We started the morning at World of Beer for their pretzels before we went to lunch at Buddy’s Burgers followed by Rita’s for dessert. We had a wonderful weekend with the family, I can’t wait to go back to Philadelphia in the summer!