Part of the plan for a long weekend in Philadelphia with my two boys was that I would make myself scarce for some of the time so they could enjoy themselves without the encumbrance of a boring adult. I made myself scarce Saturday lunchtime so they could take advantage of the junk food options that Philly had to offer while I tried somewhere a bit more upmarket.  However, I hit something of a roadblock when it came to finding somewhere to eat. Philadelphia magazine published its top 50 places to eat for 2013 in January and many of the places sounded great. However, the biggest problem was that very few of them were open at lunchtime on a Saturday. The list of places I was interested in shrunk further with the exclusion of those that changed their menu to serve brunch only on the Saturday.

As I sifted through the list, I eventually settled on Fountain restaurant ranked number 20. The food is described as smart American cuisine with French overtones and the restaurant was cited for exceptional service. One note of caution was that it was a hotel restaurant so was likely to lack any real character.

Fountain is in the Four Seasons hotel on Logan Square, just off Benjamin Franklin Parkway with General Thaddeus Koscuiszko standing sentry outside. The hotel is an inglorious concrete bunker with an equally unlovely tower block growing out of its back. The restaurant sits well back from the hotel lobby. Without dwelling on it too much, the dining room is Fountain’s biggest problem. It’s a vast space where it is impossible to generate any kind of atmosphere so the room feels totally stilted as a result. The seats by the window look directly out onto Benjamin Franklin Parkway so at least they have an interesting view. Service is of the over-attentive variety where there is no real attempt to interact.

The lunch menu features a mix of a limited number of appetisers, salads, mains and sandwiches. Main portions looked big but there were a few items that I’d identified beforehand that I wanted to try. The drinks selection was on an iPad that was circulated round the tables. Bread was lightly grilled onion foccaccia, accompanied by a small bowl of olive oil.

The first of my starters was baked Cape May oysters topped with bacon, kale and pernod cream. Each shell contained a lovely mild mix of flavours with the oysters the star. The cheesy crust and creamy sauce added a luxurious edge to the dish while the finely diced bacon and kale added complementary flavours that never threatened to overwhelm. All in all, this was a good starter.

Nice as they were, the oysters were left completely in the shade of the next course. The crispy Duroc pork belly with a honey tamarind glaze, toasted peanut, Thai chilli and shaved heirloom carrot was a lovely dish. The cube of pork was crunchy to the initial bite turning wonderfully chewy and the flavour was excellent supported ably by the other fresh ingredients. The subtle heat of the chilli added a nice burnish to the dish and the vinaigrette on the salad was a refreshing counter to the rich pork. The dish was a lovely balance of flavours and textures with the chewy pork a taste that dreams are made of.

Moving onto mains, I had been tempted by the braised beef short rib but opted for the lighter option of oven-baked George’s Bank cod. This came with Swiss chard, runner beans, Jersey clams and a smoked tomato broth. The cod was pleasingly tender, flaking easily to the fork, and it soared on the palate thanks to the heavy sprinkle of fresh ground pepper on the fish. Swiss chard worked well in the dish but there was way too much of it so it wore out its welcome pretty quickly. The spicy tomato broth added a welcome piquancy while the shelled beans added crunchy texture and the clams a pleasing chewiness. If the chard had been toned down this would have been an excellent course but unfortunately it was just too much for it to fully succeed.

Having been impressed with the food up to this point, I really wanted to try dessert but was close to having eaten too much. However, the menu came to the rescue with two options, sweets and treats being full-sized portions and sweet miniatures that were small menu items. I chose the Dulce de Leche described as cream cheese flan with saffron poached pears and granola clusters. Good choice. The lovely dense pudding was almost Gjetost-like in flavour, a rich creamy delight. The mildly spiced pears in honeyed syrup added a lightness to counter the richness of the flan. This rounded out the whole meal very satisfactorily.

Overall verdict
Quite honestly, the Fountain dining room is sterile and awful and really sells the food short. However, the food itself was really good. Lovely balanced dishes with only one minor misstep through the meal. Executive chef Rafael Gonzalez obviously leads a capable team in the kitchen

Would I revisit Fountain?
Definitely. The food justifies a return to sample more of what the kitchen can do. Just hope that I get a window seat so I can ignore the rest of the room.


Overall Rating - 4/5