Trip to the City of Brotherly Love

City Hall

Every year the company I work for organizes a conference trip where employees are invited to attend workshops, mingle with our vendors and get to know the rest of the company a little better. This year, our conference trip took us to Philadelphia, PA.

I have been to this city a few times before but never actually stayed for more than a day. Most of my trips had been day trips at best, sometimes even just a few hours long at most when I needed to make a drive down for some work stuff at Philadelphia Airport.

I got in via Amtrak at 30th St Station in the evening on Tuesday and the company had arranged for us to stay at a hotel in downtown. The Amtrak train station is really nice in Philly, definitely something I noticed as I got off the train.

30th St Station

30th St Station 

My coworker, Pete, and I shared a cab to the hotel together thinking that we would just split the cost for it. However, Uber had something else in mind. They gave him a "Welcome to Philly" credit and we found out that the ride was free after the driver dropped us off.

After dropping off our luggage and getting comfortable, we met in the lobby to hang out and chill for a bit. One of my long time friend from NYC had moved to Philly after getting married and her husband was available for dinner that evening so after spending some time with co workers, he picked me up and we decided to go to a Mediterranean place for dinner. Aya's Cafe was a very laid back spot with great food. We were seated right away and after some catching up we ordered our entrees. I ended up settling on the Lamb Shank while he ordered the Lamb Stew. It took sometime for the food to come out but it was well worth the wait. We both enjoyed our choices and I barely finished mine while he still had half of his dish leftover when we were done eating.  After dinner, I came back to the hotel and joined coworkers in the lobby again. We hung out until around 1am before we all headed to our rooms since we had an early day next day.

My buddy Nihal and Saad's Cheesesteak

Next day, starting at 8am, we were in meetings most of the day. Around 230pm, a good friend visiting from overseas had a layover at Philadelphia airport and he stopped by the hotel. Unfortunately I was still stuck in meetings so he waited until nearly 4pm for me to get out. Once I met him, he got the crazy idea to catch a cab to Saad's Halal restaurant. Having heard of the popularity and eaten there once before, I agreed to join him. We caught a cab and went to Saad's. I have to say it was well worth the trip. He had preordered a Philly Cheesesteak and seeing how large it was, he offered to split it. We sat down and soon afterwards the cheesesteak was gone. It was definitely delicious but I think that due to ordering it ahead of time, the bread got a bit too soggy and it wasnt as enjoyable. Regardless, we had fun running across town for a little bit before his train left Philly for New Jersey.

Elixir coffee beans - $30

After I got back to the hotel, I ran into a coworker who was stepping out for some coffee. Having heard his ravings about a coffee spot nearby, I decided to join him. After what seemed like a long time, we arrived at Elixir coffee. I came in with high expectations for their coffee since I trust my coworker's taste in coffee and he swore this was as good as it got in the area. We both ordered our drinks and looked around the shop while we waited for our order. I noticed that they were selling chemex supplies, which gave me the impression that they knew what they were doing. We both got our coffee and started to walk back to the hotel since we needed to get back for an evening event. After the first sip I looked at my coworker in disbelief since the coffee did taste that great. There was a sweetness to it that required no added sugar and the coffee had depth to its taste. I savored every sip of the coffee in the brutal cold wind of Philadelphia night as we walked back to our hotel.

Mahi Mahi Fish Taco

After the company cocktail reception, everyone slowly made their way towards their respective dinner plans. I didnt have anything specific in mind so I tagged along with some coworkers to a place nearby called Smokin' Betty's. Not surprisingly we ran into a few coworkers there. Since I had already had some cheesesteak, I ordered a small meal. I settled on their Fresh Grilled Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos. The tacos were surprisingly very delicious. The fish was grilled just right so that it was juicy and wasnt dry, the toppings created a very unique flavor with chili aioli, cilantro, cabbage, lime, topped off with slices of mango. My only regret was that there weren't more than 2 of these in a single order. We turned in for the night after dinner since we were exhausted from the prior night and the day of conference activities.

Final fitting test

The next day started the same, early morning wake up, and all day conference activities. The workshops ended in the evening and then we had a few hours before the gala dinner event that night. It was a black tie event so everyone was going to be dressed up. I ended up buying a tuxedo instead of renting it and surprisingly it ended up fitting really well. The gala was amazing. There were h'orderves that were really delicious, from cocktail shrimp, sushi to some that I obviously couldn't eat.  The dinner was equally delicious. We had 3 courses, salad to start, surf and turf entree of filet mignon and lobster tail, and creme brûlée for dessert. Since I was passing on the filet mignon, I got to enjoy two lobster tails which were delicious.

Lobster Tails

After dinner as everyone was enjoying dessert, we were treated to a few performances. First one was an interpretive art performance using sand. It was very cool and the lady who did the performance was very talented. The second was the more memorable one. The Roots came on stage and performed for about 2 hours. I had never seen them live and it was very enjoyable. Everyone there enjoyed it very much and I had a great time, evident by my eventual loss of voice the next day. 

The Roots

Next day was Friday and we needed to check out from our hotels. I had planned to meet with some friends and stay in Philly another day so I got picked up at the hotel by a friend that I knew from NYC. We drove over to Federal Donuts and bought a few items there to take back so we can all sit together in their home and eat. I have to say those were probably some of the best donuts I have had in a long time. We also quickly had to rush off to prayer since it was Friday and the midday prayer needed to be offered in congregation. We went to pray at a masjid near their house called the United Muslim Masjid. There was ample space for men and women to offer prayer and we arrived in time to attend the congregational prayer.

Chicken Maroush

Once back at the house, we sat around and caught up on what we had been upto since the last time we saw each other, which must have had been the day of their wedding ceremony in NY. Since I had bought my return ticket from the Trenton train station, knowing that I would be staying at another friend's house who lived closer to Trenton area, we decided that we would all get together for dinner to hang out for a bit and then I can go with them to their place. As you might have guessed, we picked Saad's Halal for the meet up. When we arrived, a family was just leaving and we were able to snag some seats for five of us. Another couple, husband was my H.S. friend, were also on their way so we kept an eye out for seats for them as well.

Various desserts

House tea

Since I had already had the cheesesteak, I opted for the Chicken Maroush(?) since everyone was raving about it. I have to say that I think I was wasting my time with the cheesesteak. Chicken Maroush was on point and well made. The bread was properly toasted so there was a crisp crunch to each bite. The chicken was not spiced, which I remedied with sriracha sauce, but it was cooked just right so that the meat was juicy and tender all around. I enjoyed this once better than the greasy cheesesteak that I had a few days prior.

After dinner, Manakeesh Cafe was recommended for dessert by a few of my friends and its right across the street so we decided to stop in there for a bit. We sampled a few of their desserts and had their house tea as well. The desserts were really delicious. I honestly cant remember which ones we ended up ordering but they were all tasty. We ended up chatting for so long that they had to kick us out of the restaurant to close up.

Even though the night was still young, or relatively young, it had been a long week for most of us. So we decided to head home. I went home with my friends who lived near Trenton since they had so graciously agreed to put me up for the night. We spent sometime talking when we got home and then turned in for the night.

The next morning, my friend's wife cooked up a storm for brunch and fed me delicious veggie omelettes, cinnamon buns, home made hashbrowns and ofcourse coffee. I had a great time hanging out with them and catching up about everything, even planning a possible trip if they could take the time for it. They dropped me off at the train station soon after our homemade brunch and I headed back towards my beloved New York City. Cue "I'm coming home"