Dahlak Ethiopian Bar in Cedar Park - The food is delicious and they have live music, DJs/Dance parties, and karaoke on the weekends. Also hookah deals if youâre looking. Cafe La Maude - A French and Lebanese Restaurant with great brunch and itâs BYOB Honeyâs Sit and Eat was also great breakfast. Probably an obvious one but me and my friends really liked the Magic Gardens. They're gorgeous and it felt immersive/interactive. The Please Touch Museum was also fun for this reason. Also thereâs a Barcade in Fishtown/North Philadelphia that was really fun. We stayed there for so long after happy hour. The games were great and they had a great beer selection and it just felt veryâŚclassic.
If youâre in on a Friday night, start with Art After 5 at the Philadelphia Museum of Artâ they have live music in the atrium, local food and spirits and itâs a really good time for a gallery wander in a museum with a lot of famous pieces. I would also suggest Meg Saligmanâs studioâ sheâs a Philadelphia muralist and her studio is itâs own art installation; itâs a really brilliant space and I go whenever Iâm back in the city. Foodwise, I would go to the terminal market, but walk with your elbows out and donât let tourists from the suburbs bowl you overâ I would also check out a.restaurant, the Dandelion, or Libertine for a restaurant experience, and El Merkuryâs churros, Toast cafe for soulfood, or Winkel for brunch. The botanical garden is really lovely depending on the season you go in (if youâre going this weekend maybe not, but in April and May itâs beautiful). Check out Harrietâs bookshop, or Brickbat or Mollyâs Books & Records. Skip the riverfront park, and honestly the city center square, but the Rodin garden and the magic garden are deserving of all hype.
CENTER CITY EAST
Shaneâs Confectionery & Franklin Fountain
An ice cream and candy shop that are a portal back in time. Walk through Society Hill
Amble up and down the streets between S. 2nd to S.6th and Walnut and Lombard. Redding Terminal
Where the Amish have brought their goods to be sold for over a century, but now a market of all types. Touristy but worth it. Locust Bar
Sunday night karaoke is the best time to go. Once saw a man with a walker and an IV drip wheel himself in from Jefferson Hospital across the street and sing âMy Wayâ. CENTER CITY WEST
Goldies
Falafel sandwich is great but the dairy free tahini shake is game changing. Metropolitan Bakery
Canât go wrong with anything from here, though Iâm partial to the millet muffin, the chocolate cherry bread, fennel pretzel and I HIGHLY recommend getting a lemon Pequea Yogurt. Mutter Museum
If youâre feeling up for it and you can stomach this after all the food this is one of the greatest museums in America. Itâs a medical oddities museum. Grace Tavern
Grace has my favorite burger in town. Itâs messy and the blackened green beans are great too. Curtis Institute of Music
One of the most esteemed music schools in the nation where you can catch free performances by students and visiting musicians. WEST PHILLY
Fischer Fine Arts Library
A Frank Furness building on UPennâs campus and is normally open to the public.
Queen of Sheba
An old haunt of mine. Part dive bar, part Ethiopian restaurant. Great place to watch daytime TV over injera. NORTH PHILLY
Pizza Brain
Metal head pizza shop. Wagner Free Institute of Science
Like no place on earth. A free natural history museum thatâs frozen in time. Once went to a lecture on botched taxidermy here. PS - if youâre driving I highly suggest a stop in Lambertville, NJ just for the Boat House (bar) and the vampire room at the Antique Center.
-I already recâd my fave cheesesteak, so stoked to see dahlak here too (get the okra) 𼰠abyssinia in west is also good and fiume is a popular lil bar right above it
-trestle inn in northern liberties for disco music, whiskey, and gogo dancers
-nan zhou in chinatown for noodles
-oscars in center city was my fave dive bar
-Barnes foundation is $$ but I found it worth it, ymmv, same w the art museum
-takeout from que chula es Puebla might be the only thing that got me through winter 2021 thereâs so much more too, Philly is wonderful. enjoy!! I miss it!
It bums me out whenever someone's trying to say something but cuts themselves off or says "nevermind" because they assume that they're wasting time. Think it through, or let it come back to you. 3 years ago, I started saying, "Talk through the thought" with my friend, and I think it's made me more patient, and I've ended up hearing/saying some cool shit (or at least some funny shit) that I would've probably missed out on otherwise.