Gabi Restaurant, Philadelphia

Restaurant Week in Philadelphia – a great opportunity to find and try restaurants you haven’t visited yet!
(…Ok sometimes I go to a restaurant I already know/like, but I love the food and the menu looks yummy!)

But the point is THIS winter we went to check out a new French Restaurant on North Broad that opened the end of 2019, Gabi. DELICIOUS! We had the fabulous Felecia serving and bartending in the bar area – love sitting in the bar area either at the bar or at a high top! Felecia gave us great suggestions from our starting cocktail, to wine paired with our main dishes, to unexpectedly enjoyable dessert wines.

Started off with a fun comparison – Roku 75 vs. French 75. The Roku 75 was a specialty drink added for the restaurant week menu – made with Japanese Gin. We favored the Roku 75, but did enjoy the French 75 (not my first) – loved the flavoring as we enjoyed it with the appetizers: Escargot & Salmon Tartar. The escargot was a delicious garlic & parsley flavor melted into the butter – we even asked for more bread to soak up the savory butter. Between the appetizers and the entrée, we then enjoyed a salad – we both went for the Beet Salad with whipped goat cheese.

The entrée choices: Plat Aux Légumes for Tamara (at home she typically keeps to a Vegan diet so is cautious how much meat she ventures to enjoy in 1 sitting – know your body). My choice was the Duck Confit – delicious. The one part of the dish that I don’t typically dive into are potatoes – but these were hard to say no! Felecia gave great recommendations for wines to pair with our dishes: a Muscadet (Domaine de la Louvetrie) for Tamara and a Bordeaux (Chateau de Monrecueil) for me!

Then came dessert – normally I’d say you save the best for last… but I’m not sure if it was the Escargot at the beginning or the ending that came after dessert… yes there was more! So, first the dessert – The Apple Tart and the Chocolate Mousse. I typically always favor chocolate, but it doesn’t make the Apple Tart any less yummy…just I love chocolate! As we enjoyed our apples & chocolate, Felecia suggested we try a dessert wine – our trust in Felecia grew – we loved the dessert, much more than I thought I’d enjoy. We enjoyed the Guillaman Gros Manseng, followed by the cherry on top: Lillet, a French Aperitif.

The food and drinks were delicious, but what really made the night and dinner was the experience. We were greeted by a very friendly host who was able to fulfill our request to sit in the bar area – got a high top! Loved the experience and atmosphere of the bar area, the conversations you can have with your bartender – food suggestions, drink tastes, and the company of others with the love of the industry. Eyed up the happy hour menu – let me know when you’d like to go! If you enjoy French food or interested in trying some – Check Out Gabi’s on North Broad!!

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