Where to Eat in Philadelphia Right Now

You might think you know Philadelphia through its legendary cheesesteaks, unhinged hockey mascot, and a scrappy fictional boxer with a chip on his shoulder. But Philly has always been full of surprises, and nowhere is that more evident than in the city’s food scene. You’ll find Michelin-starred tasting menus alongside laid-back BYOBs, and century-old Italian bakeries a few blocks from an epic Cambodian feast that’s become one of the hardest tables to book in the country. There’s a 19th-century public market packed with Pennsylvania Dutch classics, and, on weekends in warmer months, an open-air Southeast Asian market in the middle of a sprawling city park.

When it comes to eating and drinking, Philly continues to punch above its weight. Read on and plan your own culinary adventure in the City of Brotherly Love.

For breakfast, seek out regional Italian pastries and creative takes on scrapple

In East Kensington, Fiore is an Italian bakery and daytime cafe from husband-and-wife chefs Ed Crochet and Justine MacNeil, serving custard-filled bomboloni, pistachio cream cornetti, and egg-and-ricotta sandwiches on focaccia. If you arrive early but want to try the housemade pasta, they’ll happily make you a bowl of cacio e pepe too. At Out West in West Philly, don’t miss the lamb sausage stacked with over-medium egg, cheese, and strawberry harissa jam sandwiched in a potato bun.

For a taste of scrapple, the Pennsylvania Dutch specialty made with offal and cornmeal, try the version at the Dutch Eating Place in the cavernous Reading Terminal Market, the city’s 19th-century food hall and an essential stop regardless. For a more contemporary version, the signature at Sulimay’s, a cash-only Fishtown diner, is panko-battered squares of spicy whitefish scrapple served with a sunny-side up egg and long hots.

For a lavish Sunday brunch, visit Dancerobot, chef Jesse Ito’s retro-style izakaya in Rittenhouse, and order the sourdough pancake, a wobbly, table-sized cloud served with red miso maple syrup. If it’s something savory you’re after, Griddle & Rice in South Philly splits its menu between Indonesian and American breakfast, and the nasi uduk with coconut rice and fried chicken is worth the trip.

For lunch, a sandwich pilgrimage and a Cambodian cult favorite

While it’s nearly impossible to snag a dinner reservation at Mawn, the perpetually packed Cambodian BYOB is open for lunch, and queueing up early is your best bet to try chef Phila Lorn’s dishes like the banh chow crepe salad, a coconut rice crepe with ground chicken, shrimp, and fistful of fresh herbs. While waiting, you may also notice another line snaking out of Angelo’s Pizzeria a few doors up. It’s home to some of the city’s best cheesesteaks and hoagies, all made on rolls baked in house each morning.

Seek out Middle Child Clubhouse for a modern spin on a classic Italian hoagie: the So Long Sal, layered with Genoa salami, prosciutto cotto, and an artichoke relish. At John’s Roast Pork, a shack next to Columbus Boulevard operating since 1930, the namesake sandwich is piled with thinly sliced, garlicky roast pork, sharp provolone, and sautéed spinach, forgoing the typical broccoli rabe in favor of something simpler. Delis and specialty shops all over town can build a stellar sandwich too: Cosmi’s Deli, a corner deli in South Philly, and Paesano’s in the Italian Market are both reliable, and neither usually requires a long wait.

In West Philly, Alif Brew is an Ethiopian coffee shop and community hub where owner Hayat Ali rolls injera wraps filled with beef tibs or spicy lentils that make an ideal lunch. On the other side of Center City, La Jefa, the “Guadala-delphian” all-day cafe from the family behind decades-long Center City institution Tequilas Casa Mexicana, is a must for a house-fermented limon aguacate soda and, when it’s in season, a bowl of Jalisco-style pozole. (Go back in the evening when the all-day cafe transitions to a low-lit lounge mixing excellent agave-based cocktails.)

And if you happen to be in town on a weekend from April through October, don’t miss the Southeast Asian Market in South Philly’s FDR Park, where nearly 80 vendors—many of them Cambodian and Lao (and Thai, Vietnamese, or Indonesian) refugees who’ve been cooking here since the 1980s—sell fragrant beef skewers off charcoal grills and papaya salad made to order.

A snack stop in a century-old Italian bakery or a former auto body shop

The sweetest legacy of South Philadelphia’s Italian immigrant community—which arrived in waves beginning in the late 19th century—can be found in its enduring bakeries. Take a number at Isgro Pastries, a fourth-generation Sicilian bakery just off the Italian Market that’s been operating since 1904, and pick up a twine-wrapped box of freshly filled cannoli. (Ask for them without powdered sugar if you’re not eating immediately; it makes the shells soggy.) Less than a mile south, Termini Brothers Bakery, founded in 1921 by two Sicilian brothers, is the other essential stop for cannoli and sfogliatelle—flaky, shell-shaped pastries filled with sweet ricotta. And at Cacia’s Bakery, a family-run institution since 1953, find tomato pie: a room-temperature sheet pan pizza topped with herb-flecked tomato sauce, cut to order.

Beyond the Italian bakeries, Mighty Bread Co. turns out seasonal pastries and loaves of exceptional, naturally leavened sourdough. The Bread Room, the latest venture from James Beard Award–winning restaurateur Ellen Yin, is the place in Center City for flaky viennoiseries. In the Bok Building, pop by Machine Shop for beautifully laminated pastries made with seasonal produce, while upstairs, Second Daughter Artisanal Bakery adds babka, thick sourdough focaccia and one of the world’s best brownies. And in Queen Village, Majdal Bakery is serving sourdough flatbreads topped with za’atar grown in baker Kenan Rabah’s father’s garden, and a babka stuffed with tahini, maple, and pecans.

For dinner, a supper club or an izakaya screening anime

In South Philly, Sao—the Southeast Asian oyster bar from the team behind Mawn—is an electric experience where the mignonettes come infused with Cambodian black pepper and lime. A half a mile down, Bomb Bomb Bar is Joey Baldino’s love letter to South Philly Italian American seafood with lobster francese, black squid ink pasta, stuffed squid inside a historic neighborhood institution. Marc Vetri pioneered modern Italian fine dining in Philly when he opened his eponymous restaurant more than 25 years ago, and it remains a worthy splurge. A few blocks away, Fiorella is his more casual spot for equally exceptional pasta.

Friday Saturday Sunday exemplifies the best of Philadelphia’s fine dining scene. Chad and Hanna Williams’ Michelin-starred Rittenhouse restaurant offers an eight-course tasting menu upstairs, but arrive early for a drink at the downstairs The Lovers Bar and let bartender Paul MacDonald build you a Fibonacci cocktail. Spinning a wheel with 21 different components will yield you a personalized five-ingredient cocktail, each methodically adhering to the famous mathematical sequence—it seems like it shouldn’t work, but it does.

Not far, Her Place Supper Club is chef Amanda Shulman’s Michelin-starred supper club, where a French- and Italian-leaning prix fixe changes every few weeks and, like one joyful dinner party, everyone in the room is served at the same time.

In Queen Village, chef Jesse Ito’s Royal Sushi & Izakaya is really two restaurants: a casual izakaya with a menu of karaage wings, chirashi bowls, and excellent sake beneath anime projected on the walls, and, tucked behind a curtain, one of the most coveted omakase counters in the country. Honeysuckle, chefs Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate’s Michelin-recommended restaurant on North Broad, is among the most singular dining experiences in the city. Every course of the tasting menu—sourced from local Black farmers and rooted in the foodways of the African diaspora—is both a dish and a story, told with warmth and skill.

Philly’s BYOB culture, born from arcane state liquor laws, remains one of the city’s great gifts to the diner. Pop into nearby Cork wine shop on your way to Illata, a 24-seat neighborhood gem in Graduate Hospital to experience chef Aaron Randi’s ever-rotating menu of small plates, like marinated mussels in miso chili oil and for dessert, a rich brown butter tart. Or for a BYOB pizza situation, head to Char, where blistered pies land on the table alongside big, bright salads and soft serve desserts in a lively, low-key room.

Also in South Philly, Mish Mish is a corner spot just off East Passyunk Avenue with a breezy Mediterranean menu and, on warm nights, windows that swing open to the sounds of the avenue outside.

Fishtown is home to a density of the city’s buzziest restaurants. Emilia—led by Greg Vernick, the James Beard Award–winning chef behind Vernick Food & Drink and Vernick Fish at the Four Seasons—is a trattoria-spirited Italian spot where chef de cuisine Meri Medoway oversees a menu of handmade, seasonal pastas. Kalaya, James Beard Award–winner Nok Suntaranon’s ode to southern Thai cuisine, is a stunning feast set inside a soaring, palm tree–filled space. Start with the flower-shaped shaw muang dumplings and don’t skip the gui chai (garlic chive rice cakes) and all the curries. A few blocks away, chef Frankie Ramirez charts a course through Mexico at Amá, where house-pressed heirloom corn tortillas come with six regional salsas. Standouts include a wood-fired octopus and a tender lamb neck birria.

Don’t leave town without: an aesthetic, Philly-made trinket from Yowie on South Street. Shannon Maldonado’s lifestyle boutique is packed with art books, ceramics, and design-forward objects from independent makers, including sleek incense burners from local ceramic artist Domenic Frunzi. And on your way out of town, grab a brown paper bag of warm soft pretzels from Philly Pretzel Factory for the ride home.