Holiday Foodsteps: More Philly

So, in my previous post, I gave you one reason why Philly was one of my favourite stops - I've got three more:

Funnel Cake by the Pier

We caught a whiff of funnel cake being fried as we walked down to the pier and were immediately curious. Were they conventional doughnuts or would they taste more like youtiao, the Chinese version of doughnuts? In pure tourist fashion, we promptly got ourselves some and settled down by the river to dig in. The sugar-topped dough was a hybrid between Western and Eastern doughnuts - on the sweet side like a usual doughnut but crispy like a Chinese one. Like all doughnuts, though, funnel cake makes for a highly addictive snack.


Frozen Custard from Rita's Italian Ice

I know that Rita's is available not just in Philly but in a whole host of other locations around the United States but because we had our first (and only) taste of that delicious frozen custard in Philly, I'll always associate it with the city. We opted to share a cup of vanilla frozen custard and mango ice between the four of us after having had far too much Bassetts ice cream for lunch a few hours before. It was another first for us as none of us had ever had frozen custard before and it's a shame really because it's got such a wonderful, smooth, slightly jelly-like texture that's quite unlike anything we'd ever had. My only regret is that we didn't give any other flavour combinations a go that day and didn't have time to go back for more.


Sunset along Schuylkill River

I know that this isn't a food-related reason but a girl needs her sunsets and this one was the cherry on top of all the funnel cakes and Philly Cheesesteaks. None of us got the name of the river right the first time (why do they spell things not like they're pronounced?) but that didn't matter as we took a slow stroll along the river, recapping the day, enjoying the outdoors and ultimately being in awe of the beauty of the setting sun.

Character - that pretty much sums it up for me. Philadelphia has character.