For my final pre-holiday lunch, I met up with yet another friend and former colleague at The Dandelion, an English-themed restaurant in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia’s downtown. I’ve been there a few times before, including once for afternoon tea with my wife. But this was my first visit in a few years.
It was a fairly cold day, so the active fireplaces in both the downstairs and upstairs dining rooms were a welcome sight. The place was also decorated in seasonal fashion.
I took a shot of the raw oysters they have on ice before heading up to our table.
My friend Nancy started with the house salad, which included avocados. I ordered Welsh Rarebit, which I hadn’t had since I was in junior high school, where it would occasionally be served for lunch. Back then, it came as pieces of toast under a thick pool of cheese sauce. So when today’s order arrived at the table, I was surprised to see the whole grain mustard and cheddar sauce spread onto the thick toast in a thin layer. It tasted very good nonetheless.
While we both enjoyed our first course, the best was yet to come. In Nancy’s case, that was Fish ‘n Chips; the perfect Friday lunch. She gave me a nice-sized piece of the beer-battered cod to try and I would have to say it was up there with any fried fish I’ve ever eaten. The coating was nicely seasoned, while the fish was wonderfully light and tasted fantastic.
I ordered the aptly named Dandy Burger, which came topped with very high quality and thick cut bacon, lettuce, onions and pickles. I skipped the “Churchill Sauce” that it also normally comes with in spite of my adoration for the great former Prime Minister and hero of World War II. It was a perfect medium-rare, just as I had requested, and as you can see in one of the photos below, which I took after cutting off a piece of the burger for Nancy.
The fries – or chips – were not suited to my taste. I prefer them thinner.
All in all, it was an outstanding lunch with great company. I will cherish the memories of this and the other weekday lunches I’ve reported on over the past few months. After the New Year, I will start a new job, which will leave me with a lot less time for dining out and will also mean fewer blog posts per week.
In the meantime, I’ve got two more lunches to report on planned for next week.
BZ Maestro Eats 
Welsh Rarebit as a middle school lunch sounds pretty fancy until you describe it. Do you think the sauce was probably straight from a can? The Dandelion’s version looks and sounds much better.
The cod and burger both look perfectly cooked. Because the batter looks relatively smooth and not particularly craggy I’m guessing it was fairly thin.
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I would guess the Welsh Rarebit sauce in Junior High was from a can.
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