Alma de Cuba

1623 Walnut St

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Occasion: Jared and Mark took Ella and I out to dinner on a Monday night. 10.18.10

Tuna Tartare Tacos

candied lemon and pickled onion

Yummy little appetizers with tuna tartar in it. I am always down to eat some good raw tuna. I loved the fish in combination with the tart lemon and pickled onion. It really did compliment the fish well.  Too bad Ella does not eat raw fish...cuz it was delicious.

Thai Mixto

Crab, shrimp, octopus and fluke with coconut-leche de tigre, mango and tomatillo

Amazing! Love the combination of all the flavors. Coconut, mango...it just tasted very tropical to me. It is definitely worth trying.

Panela Chilean Sea Bass

Creamy quinoa with a cubanelle sauce and a baby cucumber and poblano pepper salad

It was the best entree we got and everyone else agreed.  The seabass was soooooooooooo goood and the meat was so tender. The outsides were crispy and full of flavor. The flavor was so unique I still remember it til this day.  I had to ask the waiter what the secret was and he says that it is the flavor of the quinoa that gets soaked up to the fish. It's seriously the most scrumptious thing I had all night...maybe even my whole trip in Philly. I love love loved it!

Maine Diver Scallops

Pastel de chocolo and piquillo chimichurri

Ella got this dish, but she wished she'd gotten mine. It was good, but it did not compare to my seabass which was amazing.  It was my first time having chimichurri flavored anything, well at least first time I'm actually aware of, and it was pretty tasty.  It had all the herbs and flavors that I liked, so no complaints for me.

Beef Tenderloin

Jumbo lump crab salad, grilled asparagus and horseradish chimichurri

I got to try a little bit of Mark's and thought it was pretty tasty, but not as tasty as my seabass. Yes I'm still talking about it! I'm not big on meat anyway, so I'm glad I didn't get an entree to myself.  I like how it came with a crab salad, which wasn't much but at least there's variety. Meat and seafood. Nom Nom Nom!

Yucca with Creamy Mojo

I wanted sweet plantains and Mark thought my description sounded like yucca.  It has a crispy fried skin with a soft inside. It was really really tasty and I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely, not the plantain I wanted but still delicious. Yucca, another first for me that night.

Sweet Plantains

Yes, exactly what i was looking for. It was AMAZING and hit the spot. When I think of latin american cuisine, I think of plantains.  I absolutely love them and it was very scrumptious here. I'm glad I got three other people to split this with because between the four of us, we did order kind of a lot of food.

Chocolate Cigar
Award winning almond cake wrapped in chocolate mousse, dusted with chocolate and served with dulce de leche ice cream

Though we were reallly full, Jared said they're famous for their chocolate cigar dessert and that we had to try it. Presentation was amazing. It really looked like a cigar.  In my opinion it was too rich for my liking. I only had a bite and that was enough. But if you love cholocate...this is the dessert to get. It's so chocolatey!