January 7, 2010 4

Kanella (Philadelphia)

By in 11: Philadelphia, Favorite Food Entries

Another thing I notice about Philly downtown is that it is full of either BYOBs, or wine bars. I found Kanella, a Greek Cypriot restaurant at the Washinging Square area. The menu sounds different from the usual Greek flair, and its small, lovely Greek Island rustic-ness had me sold.

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The place is PACKED (despite my photo) and it was lucky that I got the last table. RSVP is a must for this place.

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The bread and garlicky dipping is SO good!

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Bureki: fillo pastry parcels stuffed with feta and thyme, drizzled with thyme honey, served with roast beets. It’s  so delicious! The pastry is very thin and flaky, and sweet and savory flavors of honey and feta is just irresistible. Even the roasted beets are very well seasoned.

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Lemonnana: Half mint tea, half lemonade.  Since I wasn’t hungry so I ordered another appetizer.  Koubes: Bulgar whear stuffed with spiced ground lamb and pine nuts served with tzanziki and herd salad. It’s crunchy and flavorful, I wished I brought my own bottle, it’s made to go with wine.

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Galatoboureko: filo pastry filled with semolina custard. The filo pastry is used differently here. Its combination with the custard layer and the way it’s baked gave it a very nice chewy-ness (with just enough crispiness at the corner).  Needless to say, this is so good!

I could only look on with envy at the big table of people where they can share the temping looking but huge entrees. I love this place a lot — the waiters are very friendly, the vibe is festive, the menu is unusual (you would want to try everything) and the cooking are fine and delicious.

Moreover, there’s this intimate and natural feel to it that just makes it very lovely. It reminded me of this place, even though it’s completely different types of food. Is it the white walls? wood tables? homemade bread on wooden pan?

Where can I find similar food  here in LA? ;_;

Kanella (215) 922-1773
1001 Spruce Street. Philadelphia, PA 19107

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4 Responses to “Kanella (Philadelphia)”

  1. tomoko says:

    Galatoboureko looks sooo good!
    making me crave pastry as well
    hope you find good greek place in LA

    btw do you write down all the menu names?
    Galatoboureko is a term I would never be able to remember ^^;;

  2. Bird says:

    Love this website!
    Bird in Japan

  3. Freda says:

    Tomoko, I would never be able to memorize Galatoboureko too haha. I always snap a picture of the menu~ 😉 Even though most menu can be found online nowadays, but many items are special-du-jour that they won’t post online!

  4. […] wonderful meals at the Greek Cypriot Kitchen Kanella! (check out my 1st dinner and brunch there). I didn’t get to order their entree the first time, I can finally try […]