Amada

David and I have wanted to go to Amada for about 7 months now but we weren’t able to go before I left for Japan. Amada is a Spanish tapas restaurant with a new Iron Chef as head chef and owner. The weekend I came back to Philadelphia we went. It was a bit of a disaster getting there, we completely missed our reservation, but they were accommodating and we only had to wait 10ish minutes. We did have to sit at the bar though and it would have been nicer to sit at a table. Our server /bartender was unenthusiastic, but the food came quickly. This is one of those poorly lit restaurants for ambiance effect which was nice but not so much for my pictures. Over by the main bar there is a wall covered in a shelf housing many wine bottles, bar seating in front of the kitchen, bar seating at the main and back bar, and then seating in a main room and back room. First we were offered baked pita chips with tuna something, it was ok but I’ve had better tuna. We ordered the Aragones which was cheese with sliced apples, sliced baguette, and raisins soaked in sangria and then put in honey. It was pretty delicious especially all piled up on the bread and dipped into honey. The hint of sangria was a great flavor and something I’m definitely going to try to recreate. The next item of food that came out was Amada's Empanada which was spinach and manchego and artichoke. Then we had rabbit ravioli, it was amazing, tender and flavorful, and the cherries were such a complimentary taste, I just wish there had been more. Then we had a flatbread topped with short ribs, parmesan, horseradish, and bacon. It was very salty, but the meat was tender and the flatbread wasn't too hard. Finally we had ham croquettes. They basically tasted like ham put in a blender with some sort of classy spicy ketchup concoction, that may not have been the best description but trust me they were good. All in all the food was delicious, but a bit pricey for the portions which were small, even for tapas. We finished off with dessert from Franklin Fountain, a "lightening rod" which was topped with espresso, chocolate covered espresso beans, and chocolate. yum !