Chifa

This is a new, Latin-inspired Peruvian-Cantonese restaurant located in Philadelphia's Center City. Hubby and I had prixe-fix dinner here during Philadelphia's Restaurant Week. At $30 per person, it was a great way to try out Chifa. We were able to get a table before all the reservations were taken and we arrived about 30 minutes early. We were able to get a table after a little wait and the dinner began in full force. The inner decor looked warm with lots of dark walls, wood and soft lighting however we had dinner outside (curbside) to save time. Our waiters were very polite and each dish of the tasting menu was announced, and descibed in some detail.
The food was very generously seasoned and tasted spectacular. Even Chicken Wings were given a special touch with a spicy garlic ginger sauce. The Bao Buns were succulent with the right amount of pork belly in the center. They were simply heavenly. The Scallion Pancakes were to die for but the Pho was rather too light on taste for us. The dessert was Turron de Chocolate and it rounded up a superb evening.
The curbside seating lacked much sights and sounds but the food and service more than made up for it. I would run back to Chifa any day, and today, it's highly recommended with a 5 out of 5 rating.

Pictures courtsey of http://www.uwishunu.com/

Tamarind

Tamarind is a BYOB Thai restaurant located at 117 South Street. I like Tamarind a lot, and have never needed to make reservations prior, even when we've had up to 5 guests in our party several times. I think I just have good luck because the spot fills up rapidly. The restaurant looks small at first glance but it could probably seat 30 diners at a go. With it's dim lighting and wood furniture, dinner could be romantic for two, or laid-back for a group. South Street itself is a fun, eclectic area where many younger adults hang out all year long.
Service is generally prompt and polite, although once in a while there's a new temp who seems to struggle somewhat with the English language. Never an issue that affects the service in any great way, however. The Tamarind Menu is divided into 'At First Bite', 'Spoonful Indulgence', 'Greatful Greens And Things', 'Spicyfications', 'Isan Far Away', 'Tamarind's Angels', 'Bangkok’s Goldmine', 'Vegeterian'. From  'At First Bite', we find the Steamed Dumplings and Spring Rolls to be excellent. The chicken and vegeterian spring rolls are served with a house special sauce that is sweetly spicy similar to the soy pepper sauce that is served with the steamed dumplings.
I have so many favorites from the 'Bangkok’s Goldmine' that I am yet to try the other meals. Pad Woonsen, Angry Salmon, Tear-Drop Snapper top my favorites list. Succulent, tasteful and served hot, these meals embody everything I desire in a dinner. Served with fresh, crunchy stir-fry vegetables, the portions are a good size and of course, the price is excellent, even for anyone on a strict budget. There is no great dessert menu, but various types of coffee and tea are offered in place.
One of the features I love about Tamarind is the fact that you have an option to select the level of spicyness in your meal from a certain scale of 1-7. The default spicyness is 1-2, which is really not spicy at all. I have not yet met the one brave enough to try a pepper-spice level of 7 but I did try a 6 with my Pad Woonsen once. My head nearly caught fire while eating that meal but I loved it so much, I plan to try that again! Since then, I have tried levels of 4 and 5, which are fantastic for me but would not be good for you if you cannot eat raw hot pepper ;)
I wish Tamarind would expand to having outdoor seating. Hopefully, that will happen in the future. And their drink list could benefit from some creative expansion. The BYOB option attempts to ease this issue, I suppose.
Tamarind rates a 4.8/5 for me. Ambience, Service, Cuisine, Price are all excellent.

http://www.tamarindsouthstreet.com/new/

CinCin Restaurant

Hubby and I heard good things about the duck dish in this restaurant and decided to see if it's really as good as the hype. Chestnut Hill is a quaint, little-explored area of Philadelphia with CinCin located beside another restaurant Hokka Hokka. There is street parking available though CinCin has a small parking lot in front for about 10 cars. Friday night, we made 8.30pm reservations an hour before and the host was actually able to seat us even though we arrived 30 minutes early, short by 3 people from our original reservation.

CinCin describes itself as Chinese and pan-Asian. The host and waiter were gracious, the ambience was made soft with dimly-lit lamps and candles, the air filled with low talk and laughter from other diners. Our gracious waiter gave us food menus and a wine list but was unable to clearly tell me what types of Martini were available. He later explained that he was a new staff. After clearing up the confusion, I had a nice Chocolate Martini before me. Definitely one of the better martinis I have drank, and I've drank so many!

Our dinner started with Crispy Spring Rolls. Crispy on the outside with soft shrimps and scallions on the inside, served with 3 sauces that were sweet, sour and spicy. I liked the spicy one the most. The Sizzling Triple Delight with brown rice was perfect-well done, well-seasoned, with crispy vegetables. Of course we had to try the duck, so we ordered a half Peking Duck. 20 minutes later, the waiter was wrapping the low-fat succulent duck meat into Chinese panckes at our table. The Hoisin sauce tasted somewhat chocolatey but not in a candy-sweet way. I didn't care much for the Hoisin so I dipped the wrap in the spicy hot sauce, really liked that combo. We were stuffed after dinner and didn't order dessert.

Overall, we spent about $55, with a tip. I would definitely return to CinCin for dinner another day, I already have my eye on the very spicy Wild-Peppered Lamb. CinCin is a 3.8 out of 5 in my books.
http://yangmingrestaurant.com/cincin/