Moon Child Eats Dines at Bardea Food and Drink this time around because it happens to be the talk of the town currently! Also, I heard from a good friend that the food was really good and worth the trip. When looking up the restaurant before dining I found out some interesting things. The first thing I found out from the site is that Bardea is the Italian term for “the goddess of food and drink”. What a perfect name for a restaurant. They have an Italian and American influenced menu that utilizes ingredients from local Delaware Valley farms and purveyors. All these little facts just excite me that much more to dine at Bardea!
Moon Child Eats First Impression of Bardea
As we, myself and my foodie companion (my mom), walk into the door and see a cute bar. The bar is lined up top with bottles of Limoncello, which gave it a nice look. We were then greeted and seated almost immediately. After several minutes of being seated we are finally greeted by our server. We order our drinks and look over the menu. At this point we realize how small the tables are in the restaurant. I was handed an over sized menu with very little space available to comfortably look over the menu and discuss what we are going to order. We decide that we are going to order a few items to share. This helps us to be able to try several items on the menu without getting too full. The waitress also informed us that they like to serve things family style.
Moon Child Eats Starts the Meal
We started by ordering from the Snacks and Boards sections of the menu. Our order consisted of the sunflower hummus from the snacks and an artisanal cheese board consisting of three cheeses. As we waited for our order to arrive we realized how noisy the restaurant was at the time of our visit. They informed us that the food would arrive as it was prepared; our hummus arrived first. The hummus looked quite tasty and was served with grilled pita. The hummus had a different consistency than your basic hummus. It was more light and airy instead of thick and dense. It had a light sunflower flavor to it that wasn’t overwhelming.
Next, our cheese board arrived. When ordering our cheese board the waitress had no clue what kind of cheese was going to arrive on this board. I was a bit frustrated that she had no idea what cheeses were available during that evening. She just told me it was whatever the chef had on hand. I’m okay with the chef choosing but I would like at least a list of a few possible choices that may show up. When the board arrived the person who delivered it stumbled through the names a little. This means I have no idea what three cheeses we had on our cheese board. They were good; whatever they were. We thought that the portions were a little on the skimpy side. Also, knowing that two people are sharing something means we don’t send out three crackers for the cheese!
Moon Child Eats’ Next Two Picks
The next thing we ordered were two small plates. The first of the two to come out was the eggplant parmigiana. The plate presentation had great eye appeal. The eggplant parmigiana was a nice size. Searing it on the outside gave it a crispy outside and soft inside. I like the contrast in textures. Served with a parmigiana fondue, a tomato basil sauce and topped with a cheese crisp. The fondue was a nice addition to the plate. The fondue was very light and creamy in texture. The tomato basil sauce was a little light on the salt but when eaten all together it was well balanced.
The next plate to arrive was the pork belly. Let me start off by saying that this plate looked quite appetizing when it arrived at the table. Nice big pieces of pork belly! I am a huge fan of pork belly and I couldn’t wait to dig into this plate. The tender meat and delicious pork belly fat just melt in your mouth. The cucumber salad with charred jicama was a great addition to this plate. It cut the fattiness of the pork belly very well! The crunchy texture of the cucumber was a smart contrast to the texture of the pork belly as well. The plate was definitely bare by the end of the meal.
The Final Plate
Finally, our final choice for the evening was the truffle pizza. It actually arrived moments after the pork belly arrived. Once again, making us realize the small size of the tables. We eventually found a way to arrange the plates so that we could eat both the pork belly and the pizza at the same time, but it was a tight situation. The truffle pizza was topped with goat cheese, walnuts, pickled onions, and Amarena cherries. This pizza had a lot of complimentary components. I do not know any other way to describe truffle, but it has this delicious funk that took me years to appreciate. The truffle meshed with the creaminess of the goat cheese and crunchiness of the walnuts; it was a great combination of textures. Then, the tang of the pickled onions and the flavor of the cherries was a delightful fusion!
I absolutely had to Google Amarena Cherry because I had never heard of them. What I discovered was that Amarena cherries are small bitter dark colored cherries that are native to Bologna and Modena, Italy. The name comes from the Italian word for bitter, amara. It is usually bottled in a syrup and paired with rich chocolate desserts. The syrup takes away any hint of bitterness. Pairing it with all these other non-traditional flavors on this pizza was genius!
Dessert
I almost couldn’t eat another bite, but of course I have to try out the dessert! The menu consisted of about seven desserts and a variety of after dinner drinks. Some were alcoholic but there were a few non-alcoholic options as well. The one dessert that stood out to me was the Chocolate Torta. I am not a huge chocolate fan but chose this because of its accompanying sauces that would cut the richness of the chocolate. The sauces that went with the torta were passion fruit, banana and dulce de leche. The torta was a cross between a flourless chocolate cake and a rich ganache. It rested upon some sort of nutty shortbread layer. The tanginess of the passion fruit and mellowness of the banana made this dessert very tasty. The gelato helped cut the richness as well. Delicious but still too rich for my palate.
Overall Impression
This dining experience had some peaks and valleys needless to say. The table size was a pretty big deal. I wish they would have focused more on the size of the tables compared to their plate sizes when setting up this restaurant. Another option would be to cut down on the number of covers per seating and make more comfortable accommodations per seating and maybe sacrifice a few covers. The decor was trendy which included mason jar lighting and an open kitchen concept. The noise level was also a bit much for my liking when I’m out to dine. Thankfully, the meal was enjoyed and makes up for the things I wasn’t quite pleased with during my dining experience. The chef definitely created an exceptional menu. A little something to please everyone’s palate. Moon Child Eats will definitely be telling people about the meal at Bardea!
Check out the food pics here!
