Scooter Chronicles

Last night, Marcia and I were invited along to go with David and Catherine to a place called Monk’s Café in downtown Philly. The attraction to this place was good food and a beer menu of mostly Belgian beers. Though the place looked different, the food and beer selection reminded me of Belgo’s in London, England.

The place is very small, and very busy. I would say the both the front and back bar area’s are only 15 feet wide. When we got there, they told us it would be a 45 minute wait for a table. We were willing to wait, but were having a hard time finding anywhere to stand or sit. After finding a piece of wall to lean up against, David and I decided to get a beer from the front bar. Before we did though, one of the wait staff had flagged us down and got us a table. We had been there a total of 5 minutes at that point. The only thing we can figure is that we were the right size party for the table that had just become available.

The food was very, very good. We had a sampler plate appetizer, with cheese, sausage and bread. And Marcia had ordered chicken fingers which were pretty tasty, too. Then Marcia and I both ordered their chicken dinner, which came with an chicken and apple sausage stuffing (yes, you read that correctly). Then we also had dessert, me sticking with the mango cheesecake, of course. All the food was very tasty, and would have been worth a 45 minute wait.

As for the beer, I had the Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Red Ale. This is a Belgian brewed beer that is made specially for this restaurant. I decided to try that, given the café was the only place you can get it. It came across like a Belgian fruit lambic, which is a style of beer that I really like. Belle-Vue Kriek (which is a cherry lambic) happens to be one of my favorite beers. Monk’s Sour Ale has a sour-citrus-like taste to it, and it’s up front. The taste lingers a little after, just enough to remind you that you had it. And it went quite well with the chicken. Next time we go (we all decided that numerous trips will have to be made later) I will get a different beer. There are many that I have not even heard of, let alone had.

It was a great night out, and it’s always cool to see downtown Philly lit up at night. Especially when you are hanging out in the safer neighborhoods.