Amina Resturant Review — Brunch Besties

February 8th, 2023

Authored By Nina Wilson and Dynisha Murray

*Pictured above Coffee, BLT Deviled Eggs ($10), Amina’s Old School Omelet ($18), Loaded Oreo Pancakes ($22), and Apple Cobbler ($12). Photo Courtesy of the Brunch Besties.*

February is Black History Month, a time to reflect on the history, obstacles, accomplishments, and stories of Black Americans. In honor of this, we have decided to focus our attention on 3 black owned restaurants. The first restaurant on our list for this month is Amina.

Amina is located in Old City, and is co-owned by Felicia Wilson and Chef Darryl Harmon. Wilson, who got her beginnings in social work, owned several daycare facilities within the Philadelphia area prior to opening Amina. She always aspired to own a restaurant as a retirement dream and it was not until recently that the dream became a reality (Philly Grub).

Chef Harmon, is a decorated celebrity culinary professional who has worked at the likes of Slate, Chelsea Hall, and more locally known the Water Works Restaurant (All American Speakers). It was under his guidance that the Water Works won an award for Best New Restaurant. He has been featured on multiple local and national programs, such as Fox 29, Food Network, Man Vs. Food, and Good Morning America to name a few (All American Speakers). Additionally, he has executed catering for massive prestigious events such as President Obama’s Rally with the Roots, Mayor Nutter’s Welcome to America, Disney Block Party, amongst multiple other high tiered events (All American Speakers).

Amina, named after Wilson’s daughter who was named after a Nigerian warrior goddess, opened on May 18th, 2022. The interior design of the restaurant, although small, reflects these roots. From a mural of two warriors which adorn the rear of the restaurant to the usage of golds and dark woods.

We visited Amina on Saturday, February 4th, 2023. We made reservations in advance, and would recommend you do the same as a general rule of thumb. We ordered the following: Coffee, BLT Deviled Eggs ($10), Amina’s Old School Omelet ($18), Loaded Oreo Pancakes ($22), and Apple Cobbler ($12).

Drinks and Appetizers

Coffee

Amina has a full bar that can serve a wide variety of alcoholic beverages, and we would encourage you to give them a try. However on this particular morning we were not in a boozy mood, so we opted to get coffee. This coffee was delicious. It wasn’t bitter, and it had a balanced earthy flavor. You’re provided with cream and sugar to fix it how you like it. Overall, it was good standard coffee. You can never go wrong with it. So we’ll score this 5 out of 5 stars.

BLT Deviled Eggs

Moving onto our appetizer, we got the BLT Deviled Eggs. This was because it is not often that you can get Deviled Eggs as an appetizer. If you don’t know Deviled eggs are a staple for any black family gathering, whether it be a cookout or the holidays. You can always rely on someone to either bring or ask about having Deviled Eggs at the function. The ones that we received at Amina were described as consisting of bacon (beef bacon), and micro arugula.

The presentation of the deviled eggs was perfect. It was simple, clean, and well executed. The flavor and overall egg was phenomenal. The egg filling was smooth and creamy in texture, and retained a mix of seasonings and flavors. There was a slight saccharine flavor. And you could taste subtle notes of the beef bacon as well as a tomato jam that was delicately placed on either end of the egg. The bacon added a nice umami smokey flavor to the egg, which was really spectacular. The only con about this dish is that you only get 4 deviled eggs. Which should be a sin considering how good they are. Overall, we give these decadent deviled eggs 5 out of 5 stars. They are definitely something you must try if you go to visit Amina.

Entrees

Amina Old School Omelette

There is something to be said for the complex simplicity of having an omelet for brunch. Every restaurant has their own unique twist that they may spin on this classic breakfast dish, and it can either be really good, abhorrently bad, or somewhere in the middle. However we are happy to report that with the Amina Old School Omelette, it was the perfect dish to get and was appetizing. The menu described this dish as consisting of “ Cooper sharp American, collard greens, blistered tomatoes, charred onions served with home style hash browns.”

We decided to order this dish mainly because it featured collard greens. If you know anything about cooking collard greens, it can be difficult to incorporate into other dishes if you do not know how to properly break it down and cook it. Additionally, collard greens are another quintessential side dish of soul food.

The presentation of the omelet was beautiful. It was similar to the plating for the deviled eggs in its simplicity and efficiency. The dish itself, like we previously stated, was delectable. The omelet was fluffy and perfectly cooked. All the elements within the dish married well together, especially the collard greens. The sharp american cheese, added the right amount of rich umami flavor that tied the whole dish together. The hash browns were crisp and crunchy, but not greasy and were absolutely mouthwatering. If you decide to split this dish it would be best to get your own serving of hash browns, otherwise you will be fighting over them. We opted to add the chicken andouille sausage, and it was the right amount of savory and saltiness to pair with the omelet. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed this dish. We think it did an amazing job at mixing different elements of black cuisine with a traditional american breakfast dish and we give it 5 out of 5 stars. This is another must have dish if you visit Amina for brunch.

Loaded Oreo Pancakes

This dish in particular was one that we were most excited for. Mainly because again, it is not often that you find loaded oreo pancakes on a restaurant's menu. The menu described this item as “Chocolate pancakes, homemade cream filling, Oreo crunch, chocolate syrup, and powdered sugar.”

The presentation of this dish was gorgeous and is consistent with what was to be expected of the plating that we had seen thus far. The texture of the pancakes were perfect. They had a nice crisp exterior, while being warm and fluffy on the inside. The oreo was incorporated in a chocolate syrup that was drizzled on top of the pancakes which was delicious. The whipped cream also tasted like oreo filling which was a really smart way to incorporate those traditional oreo elements.

Our only and main complaint is that these were not really oreo pancakes. They were topped with pineapple, blueberries, and watermelon. Which were delicious but would’ve worked better on a summer pancake as opposed to oreo pancakes. So these loaded oreo pancakes were not loaded with oreos. And that’s the only negative thing that there is to say about it. We’re not sure if they ran out of some of the ingredients that day and were just trying to make do with what they had. But unfortunately, that is what led us to rate this dish 4 out of 5 stars. It was still delicious, but just not what we were expecting.

Dessert

Apple Cobbler

As always we saved the best for last. We didn’t initially anticipate getting dessert but some of the best choices are the sporadic ones. The menu described this dish as consisting of “Cinnamon sugar crust and cinnamon ice cream.” I believe on the day of our visit, they ran out of cinnamon ice cream so it came with vanilla served a la mode.

We don’t need to tell you that the presentation was spectacular on this dish, because we’ve already said that. So we’ll move on to talking about the cobbler itself. It was amazing. The apples were tart and we believe there was a hint of apple cider vinegar, because we detected notes of that. Along with notes of citrus and a slight sweetness to the dish. It was warm and the ice cream melted perfectly with the cobbler, it didn’t create a soupy mess. This can happen when the temperature of the cobbler and ice cream are not balanced. Which was not the case here. It was the perfect comfort dessert and a spectacular note to end our visit on. We rate this dish 5 out of 5 stars.

Conclusions

Our visit to Amina was awesome to say the least. It was everything you could want from going out to brunch. From the good coffee, to the excellent service that our waitress provided to us, and especially so the amazing food.

Amina is a relatively new restaurant, and I believe they are potentially considering opening a second culinary concept that might be a bit more casual. However we will see in the future how that may come to be. In the interim, we give Amina 4.8 out of 5 stars. We definitely recommend you guys check it out for brunch.

We’re also curious to check it out for dinner, so let us know if you guys would be interested in hearing our thoughts on that as well.

Thanks for reading this post! If you like this post and would like to read our last post, feel free to do so here. Please support black businesses this month if you can. And until next time…

XOXO,

The Brunch Besties

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