Talula's Garden - Form Over Function
- C
- Feb 16, 2018
- 5 min read
Hey readers, sorry for the unexpected hiatus. Life sort of caught up to me for a little, but I’m back on the grind and hopefully be will regularly posting again for the next few months at least.
Talula’s Garden is a well known hotspot in the Philly dining scene. It’s an offshoot from the very popular Talula’s Table out in the mainline, and specializes in locavore, farm to table cuisine. I’ve had multiple acquaintances rave to me about the ambience and the food, so when A and I finally made our way over there on a Sunday night a few weeks back, I had pretty high expectations.
Walking into the restaurant, those expectations were completely met. The dining area is composed of a few different spaces - we were seated in the room with the bar, which was probably one of the most gorgeous restaurant spaces I’ve seen. The incredibly high ceilings with the concrete walls, intricate wall runners, and wall of windows really gave the space a cathedral-like feel. Though I enjoyed the effect the wall of windows created, the one downside was that it was definitely chilly in the room during dinner, probably due to a combination of the 20 degree weather outside and our proximity with said wall of windows. Another beautiful touch was their plates and cutlery. The bread plates all have different porcelain designs and each piece of silverware we received was also unique. It was definitely fun to see all the different pieces we were given throughout dinner and compare their little intricacies.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of their menu, but the apps are generally $13 - 17 and the mains were $30 - 35. A general thought I had about the menu was that it wasn’t as creative as I was hoping. The chicken liver toast was probably the “bravest” option in the apps but everything else, including the mains, seemed pretty standard. Maybe pork belly was a more daring entree back when it first appeared on the menu, but it’s a relatively common dish nowadays. But there were a few things that caught my eye on the menu, so I wasn’t too put out.
The meal started out with a complimentary bread service. Two pillowy rolls with a generous smear of pepper butter on each. The texture of the rolls were amazing - the epitome of an airy, buttery dinner roll, and the butter tasted like if pepper jack cheese got turned into butter. So good. A was shunning carbs again, so I devoured both of the rolls. Leave no good carb behind right?
For my app, I ordered the fried oysters, which came with a creamy tangy sauce and pickled green beans. I was lured by the fried oysters because I got the perfect fried oyster years ago and have been chasing that perfection ever since. However, sadly, this was not it. By the last oyster, I had realized that the issue was the crunchy breading was completely overwhelming the more subtle flavors of the oyster. I picked most of the breading off the last oyster and that was the best oyster by far. The best parts of the dish were definitely the diced salad in the sauce, which tasted like a toned down tartar sauce, which I really liked, and the pickled green beans which were also on point. I was also pleasantly surprised at the portion size, which was definitely sharable.
We had a late-ish lunch, so A wasn’t too hungry when our reservation rolled around. He ended up ordering a vegetable side as an appetizer and an appetizer salad as a main. For his “app” he got the collard greens, which he absolutely loved. I had a taste and they were done really well - very savory with a sweeter marinara like sauce on top. The portion in the photo looks small, but it was actually relatively sizable. Definitely shareable between two people as a side dish.
For his main, A ordered got the seasonal root salad, which was very colorful and pretty. I honestly don't remember too much about it, other than that it was good, but probably not portioned for a main, which it wasn't meant to be anyway.
For my main, I got the duck breast, which came with fried wild rice, and kimchi scallions. The duck was great. I got it cooked the chef’s recommended medium rare. When I first got it, both A and I thought the duck portion looked a little stingy, but there was actually chunks of duck buried throughout the fried wild rice. The fried wild rice was really tasty, especially mixed with the tangy sauce that came smeared along the bottom of the plate. I was intrigued at the idea of kimchi scallions, but the scallions were fried into the rice and I didn’t really get any kimchi flavors, though they were tasty. The duck itself was super tender with flavorings very similar to Peking duck. Clear asian inspirations but done in a way that you would never find in an asian restaurant. I was very pleased with my choice.
For dessert, I was stuck between three choices: a peanut butter ice cream sundae with caramelized bacon and bananas, a toffee pudding option, and an apple crostata. I asked the waiter to help me chose and when I asked him what toffee pudding was, he described it as “like a fruitcake.” I think he could tell that that did not sound appealing to me at all because he tried to immediately backtrack but it was too late. I ended up getting the apple crostata with cardamon ice cream and was very happy with my choice. It was a beautiful dessert with a thin circular slice of apple that had been dried to a crunchy crisp perched on top of the scoop of ice cream. The crostata was warm, buttery, and perfectly flaky with the cardamom ice cream as the perfect accompaniment. There was some sort of berry coulis smeared across the bottom of the plate too which I loved - definitely scraped all of that off the plate.
I have a lot of positive things to say about Talula’s Garden, but honestly overall, though a very pleasant experience, there was nothing I had that I would categorize as “must return to have this again.” The duck and the apple crostata were delicious for sure, but worthy of a second trip? Not sure, which is a little disappointing considering how much hype surrounds Talula’s Garden. The food is good, but the competition in Philly is too savage. At the price point of Talula’s, there are a handful of places I can think of off the top of my head that I’d rather go. In the end, I wouldn’t not return, but will I go out of my way to come back? Probably not. I will say that I have a pretty specific palate though (notice I said specific, and not discerning), so this obviously just my opinion. I have plenty of friends who rave about Talula’s, so to each her own right?
TL;DR - Worth coming to cross off the Philly restaurant bucket list, otherwise only when someone else is footing the bill.