Last Friday, a couple of friends from work and I went to Royal Boucherie (52 S. 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA) for an adventure in cheese boards! Invited along last minute, I was excited about the prospect of checking out the Royal Boucherie for the very first time. Normally, it’s a bit out of my price range for a casual after-work drink, but my friends were on a mission and apparently it was time to check out their cheese board.
We arrived just after work, around 5pm, and were given an option of indoor vs. outdoor seating. Since last Friday had such beautiful weather, it was a no-brainer. The hostess took us upstairs and out onto a beautiful rooftop patio. There were hanging plants, lights criss-crossing across the room, and plants lining the walls and on all of the tables.
For a while we had the rooftop to ourselves, along with a friendly waiter. After admiring the space and ordering some cocktails, we decided it was time to dive in and order some sharing plates as well.
Between the 4 of us, we ordered the cheese board, a warm sourdough boulee, and a Philly take on barbajuans (aptly called “barbajawns” on the Boucherie menu).
The presentation was nothing special, but we absolutely LOVED the barbajawns. There were so many wonderful flavors going on here, and of course who can pass up a fried empanada-like snack? We also enjoyed the creamy “dip”, that tasted far better than I can describe. We ended up dipping the rest of our sourdough bread into it as well.
But really, what we came here for was the cheese board, which had 3 different cheeses on it: a hard, sharp cheese, a bleu cheese, and a soft cheese. The bleu cheese and the sharp cheese weren’t quite to my taste, so the winner of the cheese plate was the soft cheese. It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious and paired really nicely with the apricot preserve that was also included on the cheeseboard. I wish I had written down what they were, but they presented the cheese names so fast that I missed them!
Between the four of us, cocktails and food didn’t end up costing too much– no more than I might spend on an average Friday evening on drinks alone– and we did have a really fun time hanging out on the rooftop on such a lovely evening.
I can see this being a perfect spot for a date or to bring your parents for a nice meal. The atmosphere of Royal Boucherie was really what made the whole experience sing. Well… that and the barbajawns!
Traveler in Philly 