Past Philly RW: Haru, Amada, Valanni (Pic Heavy)

Since Philly's Restaurant Week is still happening (until this Sunday!), let's take a look at a few more restaurants that I've tasted in the past years (after Estia).

Fall 2010- Haru 

(update: closed)

Where are the fun rolls?

That's a whole lotta whipped cream! 

Have to be honest here, I don't remember Haru all that much. It was just another modernized Japanese restaurant. There was nothing special or memorable about it. Actually, I do remember whispering about how cute (and nice) the young waiter was... but besides that, nothing on the Restaurant Week menu stuck out to me or my friends. In fact, only a few of us participated in RW's $35 for three courses at Haru, everyone else just ordered sushi from the regular menu. That never happens! They might have good food (since Yelpers give them such high ratings), but their RW menu was just very average and not worth $35. Also, I just found out they've closed the one in Old City, so now I'll never know. 

Philly RW 2010: Estia was my first!

Continuing from the last post about Philly's Restaurant Week, here's my first RW dining experience!

 Estia's the one that started it all

You know what they say... You always remember your first! Honestly, this has to be my favorite out of all the restaurants I've been to during Restaurant Week in Philly. If you love Greek food or are in the mood for something new and different from the usual, I highly recommend Estia! I loved the beautiful decor, romantic lighting, candles & music, and awesome service. They even busted out the crumb scrapers and that's when you know it's legit! Everything about that evening was memorable. It's a great place to impress a date, celebrate a birthday, or just wine & dine with good friends! They have big booths in the back for special occasions and various table sizes to accommodate your party size. I believe you can also book the whole banquet room downstairs, which my friends and I got to see when we went to the bathroom (located downstairs). Before we left, a server (that was preparing to go home after a long shift) saw us taking pictures (my idea, of course) and gladly helped us with our photoshoot session! If you appreciate wonderful decor like I do and decide to check out Estia, don't forget to go downstairs (where the bathrooms are), because it's just lovely.  

Okay onto what you came here for: GREEK FOOD! To start, we got our first courses, Spread Pikilia, two plates of Octupus & Calamari, and a Greek salad. All the appetizers were delicious. Z's three spreads tomato, greek yogurt, mushroom (or eggplant), and pita bread was everyone's favorite. She was nice enough to share with all of us too. This is a great starter to get if you're dining with 2-3 people. Enchante and I both ordered the chargrilled octopus and stuffed calamari, and let me just say, most well cooked octopus I've ever had!  It was sliced so thin and was so crispy, I didn't even know I was eating octopus. We made Z, who does not eat any type of seafood, try it and she actually liked it too! Did it make her cross over to the fishy side? No, but at least she can say, "I don't like the taste of seafood, but I liked Estia's octopus!" On the other side of the plate was grilled calamari that was stuffed with Greek cheese. It was tasty, but didn't live up to its big brother, the Octopodi. I wonder if that's why the RW menu this year only offers the Octopodi... 

Spread Pikilia: tzatziki, htipiti, melitzano

(AMAZING! Everyone's favorite)

Octopodi & Stuffed Calamari

(New found love for chargrilled octopus because of Estia)