Everybody loves Circles so I finally went! Why did I wait so long? I have no idea. There are two Circles, one take-out place and the sit-down place. I went into the take-out place and got very confused. But they kindly sent me across the street! Ah… that’s more like it! It’s a small dining room with no kitchen. That’s right, all the cooking is done across the street at the take-out place! I don’t know how the logistics of this works, but it just does! I would like to videotape all of the trips the servers have to make crossing the street.
Here are the famed tofu and corn fritters. These hot little suckers are battered and fried and served with a side of citrus aioli and a warm curry tomato compote with crabmeat. These were definitely a win for me. As a fan of tofu and corn, I saw everything right about putting these together.
The pad thai! We both loved it, and M is a big pad thai fan. As for me, I never ever tried pad thai very much, so I hadn’t ever been much of a pad thai fan. Not because I don’t like pad thai, but just because I’ve barely ever tried it. Well now, I’m a convert. Everything just works well here. The ingredients are super fresh, nothing is overcooked, and all of the flavors blend well together.
Drunken noodles are my usual thai dish of choice. I could never get enough of thick rice noodles. And I love the spicy sweetness of drunken noodles. It’s great here, and the portions here are large!
The Fried banana dessert aren’t just slices of banana fried up. Instead, they’re fried spring rolls stuffed with banana, drizzled with a sticky and sweet caramel sauce. They’re incredibly decadent!
We also tried the Thai Donut. Let’s face it, put the word donut on it and I’ll try it! These little donuts are more like plops of fried sugary dough. So they’re like fingerling donuts. And they are amazing! They come with a creamy and sweet dipping sauce, but you don’t need it. These hot puppies are great, as is. I probably haven’t tried enough of the thai restaurants in Philly, but with how good Circles is, I almost feel as I don’t need to! 

Ramen in Philly, you say? Until Ramen Boy just opened, the only places to get ramen-like bowls of noodles were at Yakitori Boy, Tampopo, Morimoto, and some random pop-up events. And now, Philly has its very own ramen shop. Brought to you by the same people who run Yakitori Boy, Ramen Boy is in Chinatown. It’s a small place, tastefully decorated, where wood rules. The stools at the bar have a big concave dip for your tookus, and ladies, you can store your purses inside this stool. Handy! The menu is simple: 4 ramen options and a few other appetizer type things. I think they also do have curry and tonkatsu, maybe, for those of you wanting an entree, but not wanting ramen.
I got the spicy ramen. I only got the spicy ramen. I did not try the other options. I really enjoyed it. The broth was spicy, but not too spicy so that it was painful to eat. The meat was tender, although there wasn’t enough of it. There were sprouts as well. I liked the noodles in my ramen the best, as it was firm and not overcooked. But like the meat, there wasn’t enough of the noodles. And at $13, I don’t have to be stuffed, but I should be fairly full, and I could have eaten another bowl. I think they really need to rethink their noodle portions. I’ve read some very mixed reviews of the other ramen options so I’m curious to try them all, but I definitely do have to give the spicy one my thumbs up. But they really need to up the amount of noodles if they’re going to charge me what they’re charging me and still leave me hungry.
I’m no ramen expert, aficionado, connoisseur or anything like that. In fact, I would say I really don’t know much about it. I haven’t even been to Ippudo, shame on me. But I have been to Katana-Ya and a few other respectable ramen joints in or near San Francisco and Seattle. I enjoyed my bowl of spicy ramen at Ramen Boy just as much as I enjoyed my spicy ramen in those other places. It’s overpriced though, considering I can get more bang for my buck in San Francisco, but hopefully, they’ll do something about that. We know Philly has a hankering for ramen and I just hope Ramen Boy will step up to sate our hankers!

When it comes to an easy meal out near home, SangKee is always one of the top choices. The last time my mom and I stopped by, they had brand new menus with a fancy and colorful cover. It doesn’t matter what day or what time I go to this place. It’s always busy! And it makes sense, because their food is always consistently good.
Here’s something I’d never tried before in all of my previous visits – the fried shrimp dumplings. These suckers are hot, stuffed with yummy shrimp, and serviced with a sweet and savory dipping sauce.
My mom got the whole bronzino with ginger and soy sauce. This was a huge whole fish! Neither of us expected it to be this big. It was light and flaky and fresh. The sauce was a little boring and bland, they certainly could have kicked it up a notch. But it was well worth it. My mom got several more meals out of the leftovers!
I always like their big broth noodles bowls, so I mixed it up from my usual and got the stewed beef with udon noodles. The meat was tender and strong with 5-spice flavor, and I’m a total sucker for thick udon noodles. Service here is always good.