We got into Philly late afternoon. Our room wasn’t available until 4pm, so we weren’t in any rush to leave the house OR our cute kittehs! 
I had a serious hankering for HK-style roast duck & pork, and the OG plan was to hit up Sang Kee Peking Duck House in Chinatown. Unfortunately, they close at the ridic hour of 8pm, and that was a bit early for us.
We pivoted to E Mei, a very popular, highly rated Sichuan restaurant that’s been recommended to us many times. We’d never gone, as we have very good Sichuan food back home & prefer to seek out other cuisines while traveling. Because it is one of my favorite cuisines with many dishes I love, I also much prefer to enjoy it with a bunch of friends.
We decided to go with a couple of our faves, having to limit our order to an app and a couple of mains: the garlic cukes, dry-fried green beans, and the Chongqing chicken.
The cukes were lightly dressed with sesame oil and lots of garlic, but we missed the tingling ma la from toasted and ground up Sichuan peppercorns from my personal golden standard.
We asked to make the chicken “spicier,” not knowing what the regular level would be, and it was alright. Not as spicy as we are accustomed to from another place back home, and more than a few pieces were on the dryer side. It hit the spot, but wasn’t remarkable in any way.
The dry-fried green beans had lovely, smoky wok hei with a large amount of ya cai, providing a vital salty kick.
I’m looking forward to meeting friends for a Mexican lunch tomorrow, and our very own @bigley9 for dinner.
Looks like I won’t be starving here. Phew! 
