Saturday night, our quest to visit each neighborhood in the city took us to Manayunk and our day of hiking around Valley Forge sent us in search of a good patio to sit back, relax, and enjoy the nice evening with some new beers. A semi-quick but painful Metromix search pointed us to Manayunk Brewery, where we were both almost turned away for our IDs. After winding through an unnecessary maze to approach the “outdoor hostess” we got a table on the gigantic patio nestled right on the bank of the Schuylkill. Once our waitress finally came to give us a beer menu, we were excited about the selection of hometown brews to try. All-in-all we had: Thai Chicken Bites(good basic bar snack) & White Pizza(nice ‘n lite) and drank: Manayunk Lager(good standard crisp ale), Krook’s Mill(not-so-smooth pale ale), Yunkers’ Gold(lager with a bite), and Peach Wheat(a little sweet but not too sissy). The whole evening was decent enough, but I don’t see us rushing back there anytime soon…I was hoping for MB to be the awesome local brewery we can’t get enough of but we’ll have to keep looking(and drinking)!

Rating: 3.5 forks
Location: 4120 Main St
Price: food $5-$20, beer $5

Unfortunately, it wasn’t rave reviews that brought us to Hikari (though it should have been). Once we decided we wanted to check out the Northern Liberties area and that we were hungry for sushi, Hikari was our only choice. Luckily for us, there were plenty of seats(we were even able to get a table outside on such a gorgeous night), and our waitress promptly greeted us and took care of our bottle of wine. The menu was pretty standard, although quite extensive including a section of Korean entrees and a long list of specialty rolls. We decided to go with the Polar Bear Maki(salmon & avocado topped w/ white tuna), Palm Spring Maki(tuna, salmon, mango wrapped in cucumber), and a Spicy Yellowtail Maki. When the rolls came out they were not only beautiful but plentiful – and they certainly tasted as good as they looked! So good, in fact, that we ordered a second plate of the Polar Bear & Spicy Yellowtail (left of photo). This place has already beat out some of our Chicago favorites so needless to say, we’ll be making the drive back to Hikari for the mouth-watering Miso and scrumptious sushi, not to mention the wonderful hospitality.

Rating: 5 forks
Location: 1040 N American St
Price: $7-$15