Triumph Over Hunger...

Triumph Brewing Company

117 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106
http://www.triumphbrewing.com/philadelphia/

I had been saving one of my gift cards to go out to eat for about a year before I decided to finally use it. I took my girlfriend out to Triumph Brewing Company in Olde City before we went out to celebrate one of my friend’s birthdays. I was really excited to try it because it is totally right up my alley. Not to mention, it reminded me of my girlfriend and my favorite place from college that we spent a lot of time in. I love when places brew their own beer, and I love them even more when they have great food to pair with it.

As I perused the beer menu, I came across the German Rauch bier, a smoked lager that I was completely enticed by. I ordered it and was really impressed with the taste of it. The best way for me to describe it is to say that it tasted like barbeque in a glass. It was super interesting, and I really enjoyed the full punch of smoke I got with each sip. My girlfriend ordered their holiday ale, which is served on a nitrogen system and had the consistency of a Guinness. It was very good, the right amount of spice and hops, but those types of beers don’t really tickle my fancy. 

We decided to split an appetizer, so we ordered the biscuits and gravy with duck confit per the recommendation of our waiter. I was in heaven as soon as it came to the table. I wasn’t really expecting what we got, but it was absolutely scrumptious nonetheless. There was a pile of duck confit in the middle, on top of a puddle of gravy, and there were a few really nice pieces of crunchy toast on the outside of the pile. All of the flavors paired so perfectly together, I seriously could not get enough of it.

I was pretty excited about the main course coming out as well. I have been on a burger kick lately. For whatever reason I have been craving burgers, a bit more so than usual, so I decided on the Philly bacon cheeseburger which was topped with a thick slice of pork belly, truffle aioli, fried egg, and mornay sauce. While I really enjoyed the burger, it was a bit too rich with all of the ingredients on it. The beef was rich, the pork belly was rich, the aioli was rich, the egg was rich, and the mornay sauce was rich. It tasted really good, don’t get me wrong, but it was a little too rich for me to order it again. The fries that it came with were like large size frites you would get in a Belgian café. I really enjoyed them in between bites of the amazing burger.

Lastly we decided to split the cinnamon sugar pretzels that were iced in a really delicious vanilla glaze. I thought it was pretty interesting attempt at a dessert, but the execution wasn’t quite there. The pretzels were a bit too dense, so chewing them was a bit tough. They tasted pretty good, but they definitely could have been improved if they were lighter and a little more airy.

Triumph is an awesome place to find great beer and some pretty high end bar food. They are doing some pretty fantastic things, so you should get out there and try it and let me know what you think! Cheers!