Starting Saturday, December 20th the Northern Liberties location of Tiffin will be serving an all-you-can-eat brunch featuring Indian specialty entrees, appetizers, tandoori grilled kebabs, chutneys, rice and fresh breads served table side along with desserts for only $8.50. If you’re a Tiffin Card members you ca knock off an extra 10%.

Tiffin [Official Site]

As a commenter told us last week, Brett Perloff who is a part-owner of Pearl is taking over Monkey Bar. It’ll remain the Monkey Bar for the time being but will be reconceptualized come January. [Meal Ticket]

Get ready for weird dreams about tackling pony-sized unicorns to become commonplace as Philadelphia Distilling, makers of Bluecoat Gin, prepare Vieux Carre Absinthe for sale. [Daily Examiner]

Tampopo’s third location is coming to 44th and Spruce later this winter. [Meal Ticket]

Tiffin expands its delivery area to include East Falls from School House Lane to Indian Queen and Kelly Drive to Henry Avenue. [Tiffin]

The ballyhooed Union Gourmet Market & Cafe in the Western Union Building on Locust has closed up shop after opening back in May.

Foodzings overdoes the spices at Tiffin but will be back. [Foodzings]

David McDuff revisits Maia, delving deeper into the menu and coming away feeling it is more flash than substance. [McDuff's Food & Wine Trail]

The burrito at Jose’s Tacos is a lot of delicious for Living On The Vedge. [Living on the Vedge]

The restaurant and delivery service Tiffin.com has announced it will be bringing its raved about Indian food to Mt. Airy with a second location at 7105 Emlen Street.

The location will provide delivery to the northwest section of Philadelphia as well a dining room with room for 28. The tentative opening date is set for Friday, July 18, 2008. Also coming soon is Tiffin and a Movie.

Tiffin [Official Site]

UPDATE: Michael Klein reports Tiffin is also looking for locations in South Philadelphia and Center City, perhaps on 11th Street near Jefferson.

No, it’s not open yet, but it’s getting closer… devotees of the Indian restaurant will recall that Minar Palace, which had to close and depart from its former location on Sansom Street, is opening a new location at 1304 Walnut Street.Manager of Operations Davinder Singh tells us that since the restaurant is still under construction and there have been some unforeseen delays the original March opening date has been pushed back. This, of course, is the norm for every single restaurant in all of Philadelphia. (Want to read about how hard it can be to get a restaurant open in Philly? Click here.)

Singh anticipates another month of construction and then, assuming inspection occurs in a timely fashion, is hoping to be open shortly after. So we’re betting first week of May. Until then, we recommend getting your Indian fix at Tiffin.

Mac & Cheese sits down and eats at Tiffin and finds lot to like and at least one gripe.

All of the dishes we had at Tiffin were delicious, and probably even some of the better tasting Indian curries I’ve had in Philadelphia, but, of course, I’ve got a gripe.

Where were the vegetables in the vegetable curries? Yeah, malai kofta never has vegetables – just those vegetable dumplings – so that curry is off the hook. But the navratan korma had about four slices of carrot and a few beans. If the baingan bharta had eggplant, it must have been pureed, or maybe it narrowly missed the spoon that ladled our curry into the bowl. Peas seem to have made it into every curry, but that doesn’t compensate for the lack of substantial vegetables in the curries.

Tiffin Store [Mac & Cheese]
Tiffin Store [Official Site]

Craig LaBan takes a look at Tiffin, the Indian restaurant/delivery service set up by a Wharton grad on Girard Avenue.

The bone-in tandoori chicken is plump and juicy, its yogurt and chile-marinated meat ringing with mustard oil and ginger and the singe of a charcoal roast. This kitchen works off-the-bone chicken wonders, too, as in creamy tomato butter chicken, the juicier dark-meat cousin to the white-meat “tikka masala,” both of which exude cardamom and clove and smoke-toasted fenugreek leaves.

We also loved the special mint chicken, breast meat napped in an herbaceous green puree that pulsed with fresh chile heat and mint. The badami chicken tikka was another surprise hit, tenderized in a white marinade of sour cream, pureed almonds and roasted fennel seeds that proves flavorful Indian cooking isn’t always incendiary.

Two Bells

Tiffin [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Tiffin [Official Site]

Foodaphilia declares Tiffin’s somosa the best. [Foodaphilia]

The Polpo pizza was the star at gas•tron•o•my’s dinner at Osteria. [gas•tron•o•my]

Tampopo gets a nod of approval of Luscious, a Korean and Japanese food connoisseur. [gas•tron•o•my]

Cafe Spice offers a bargain weekend buffet with a free mimosa or bloody mary for just $13.95. [Metroblogging Philadelphia]

The Philly Food Guys get their hands dirty eating Ethiopian at Abyssinia [phillyfoodguys.com]

Yet another new Philadelphia food blog, phillyfoodguys.com. PhillyFoodGuys “searches out and presents great, but lesser-known, food places in and around Philadelphia.” What adds to the uniqueness is the podcast reviews of the restaurants.

In their latest podcast PhillyFoodGuys, Tushar and Bill check out Tiffin Store and enjoy the fresh food and a sideshow.

Northern Liberties’ Indian Surprise [PhillyFoodGuys]

Adam Erace of the Courier Post tries out the Tiffin Store, at the corner of “Grit and Gentrification” on the outskirts of Northern Liberties, where he finds authentic Indian food at a bargain price.

Chicken tikka masala ($9.95) is more delicate, the rich garam masala and slightly acidic tomato tempered by cool yogurt. Probing chopsticks produce hunks of tandoori chicken from beneath the sauce like sunken treasure. After they’re gone, the sauce is still moving when drizzled on snowy Alps of white rice (complimentary) or singed florets of broccoli and cauliflower hot from the tandoor ($6.95).

Tiffin Store offers [Courier Post]
Tiffin Store [Official Site]