{ prima facie } the Temple Law newspaper

By Ben Parisi

Reviews of Sang Kee Peking Duck House and Fiume (a.k.a. Abyssinia Upstairs).

Ratings are on a 6-star scale.

Sang Kee Peking Duck House
238 N 9th Street | (215) 925-7532

Food: ★★★★★✩
Atmosphere/décor: ★★★✩✩✩
Value: ★★★★✩✩
Service: ★★★★★✩
Total: ★★★★✩✩

If you like duck, you’ve got to try Sang Kee. A Chinese friend of mine recommended it to me as a place with “pretty real Chinese food, but a menu in English.” I have a t-shirt with their logo—a happy duck wearing a chef’s hat, apparently unaware of what he’s gotten himself into.

The roasted duck noodle soup is wonderful; the broth is almost perfectly balanced, not too rich or too thin. The soup also comes with roast pork (excellent), roasted duck and pork, or any of the three with wontons. The wontons in the soup alone are enough reason to go; the wonton wrapper is wonderfully light, and the filling (though my palate is too unrefined to know exactly what is in them, besides shrimp) is delicious.

The fried calamari, served with lightly sautéed onions, sweet peppers, and jalapenos, is some of the best I’ve had anywhere. The water spinach (which, according to Wikipedia, is also known by the less restaurant-friendly moniker “swamp cabbage”) is served sautéed with garlic, and cooked to perfection—still firm, but not underdone.

The décor in Sang Kee is done in the standard Chinese restaurant style. Not what you would call a date spot, but it is clean and well-lit. The restaurant is fairly large, and while there may be a waiting line on weekends, I’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes. The prices are very reasonable, with most entrées going for between $6 and $10, except for Peking Duck, which will run you about $25. Highly recommended.

Fiume (a.k.a. Abyssinia Upstairs)
229 S. 45th Street | (215) 387-2424

Atmosphere/décor: ★★★★✩✩
Drink/food selection: ★★★✩✩✩
Value: ★★★★✩✩
Total: ★★★✩✩✩

Fiume is above Abyssinia, the Ethiopian restaurant in University City. This is unequivocally a hipster bar, and hipsters will not be disappointed. But, even for non-hipsters like me, Fiume can be a pretty nice place to hang out.

The beer selection is ok, but there are no draft beers—only bottles and tall-boys of Pabst Blue Ribbon. The prices are not high, but Fiume is not a bargain either, save for the City-wide Special, a can of PBR and a shot of Jim Beam, $3. There is no food, but they will let you order from Abyssinia downstairs, and eat in the bar.

Fiume is tiny. If your living room was the size of Fiume, no one would compliment you on the size of your living room. I have never sat in Fiume, and there have been times where there wasn’t room to stand, either. But, it is a pretty pleasant little place, dive-y, and there is a sign above the bar that reads: “Johnny Cash is dead. Long live Johnny Cash.” That buys at least one star in my review.

One surprising note; on some Thursdays, a Bluegrass band plays there. The band I saw was excellent, and it was fun to see the hipsters get into it (with only a modicum of irony). Stop by if you’re in the area.