Helm

This place is quickly gaining traction and for good reason. Everything on their menu is unique and perfectly crafted. They take care in their menu items and pride in their work. This is the real deal folks. I’ve been here twice– their menu changes slightly but some highlights for me were the escargot, mussels (de-​shelled and in the most delicious broth), and for dessert– the Gâteau Basque.

The tasting menu was fantastic. The ingredients are fresh and everything we had was delicious. Very romantic atmosphere and BYOB to boot!

If I could replicate one restaurant and put it on every block in my neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, it’d be Helm.
My darling and I decided to spend our special weekend in Philadelphia and we reserved a table of 2 for 8:30 at Helm. Reading the reviews, we knew we’d be in for some tasty food, but we were absolutely blown away with EVERYTHING the restaurant had to offer.
Upon finding out about our special day and reasoning for my sweetheart and I’s visit to Philly, our server Justin bought us a bottle of champagne. REALLY GOOD CHAMPAGNE. We were absolutely blown away with how kind the gesture was and everything just went up from there! We ordered the brussel sprouts with hazelnuts and the root vegetables with duck confit to start. Incredible as expected — my other doesn’t usually eat vegetables and he managed to finish both plates! Then came the chicken two ways (probably the moistest chicken breast I’ve ever bitten into) and the steak with jalapeño. Unbelievable. Extravagant. Over the top.
All the while, enjoying champagne, each other’s company, and the service of Justin.
I’d come to visit just for this place. Thanks, Helm, for making our night one to remember.

Pretty awesome food. They were able to squeeze us in last minute. Carrots were great. Mussels were unique.

Went here for the first time on New Year’s Eve and will be going back for sure. Great addition to the food scene outside of Center City.
While not normally the case, it was a pre-​fixe ($ 75) four-​course meal with ‘complementary’ stiff and delicous cocktails for each course plus it was still BYOB. A lot of booze was flowing!
Even better than the booze was the food. I ended up going with a venison appetizer that was amazing… perfectly cooked and seasoned, followed by a pasta course, main dish of NY Strip with jalapeño sauce… once again perfectly cooked and seasoned, and dessert.
Two out of the four people at our table were vegetarians, they were not disappointed either. Very accommodating without diminishing the integrity of the dishes or food options.
The competency of the wait staff was impeccable, knowing the ins and outs of each menu item.
Looking forward to a return trip!

Service, quality, taste. All top-​notch. Eat everything on the menu. Sometimes twice, which is what we did with the coffee and coriander pork tenderloin. Perfection on a plate.
1^st: Mussels with potato and shishito; yolk with root vegetables and duck ragu; Squid. All A+++.
2^nd: Strip with jalapeño (slightly over salted for my taste but cooked just right); Pork Tenderloin with coriander and coffee — ordered a second round of this; Duck and Kale
3^rd: Gâteau; Custard
Wines:
2012 Chimney Rock Stags Leap Cabernet (decanted 3+ hrs) — excellent.
2014 Mas de Libian Khayyam Cotes Du Rhone (decanted 1 hr, had this first)
Overall, this is an extremely good dining experience. One of the keys here is that their dessert was just as good as the appetizers and entrées. There are many restaurants in Philadelphia make a wonderful dishes but always come up short on dessert which is extremely disappointing. Thank you for refreshing my mind and palate. It takes a special kind of restaurant and highly-​skilled chefs to make meals that you will not forget and the Helm is nothing short of this. Bravo.

Loved Helm. Its a super cool, cozy, and intimate BYO in an area that could use a few more options. I like the writing the menu on the chalkboard. We got there and were seated immediately and the server was kind enough to go over the menu with us and explain the specials. We started off with the apples with guanciale and the octopus. They were both really great and a perfect light start to the meal, the octopus was a cool take on ceviche and was really creative. For dinner we went with the rabbit and the steak. Again everything was really good and the portions were hearty but not so big that you couldn’t finish them. The prices of Helm are super reasonable and for the quality of the food and the dining experience overall it’s a steal. Definitely will be back soon and you should head there if you haven’t aleady.

The best new BYO in town? Maybe it is (it is). Maybe it isn’t (lies).
Either way, any restaurant with this caliber of food that is not above having a keg of Miller High Life to serve to waiting patrons (or my husband who could care less about the nice bottle of wine I brought) is okay by me. Nice touch, Helm. Nice touch.
And their pasta game is ON POINT. If you don’t order AT LEAST one pasta dish, you’re a fool and we have nothing more to say to each other. The red curry ravioli special and the kale, duck and gouda tortellini were solid winners for our party of three’s favorite dishes of the night. Dare I say they were *almost* as good as the pyramid pasta at Mercato? I dare.
And the apple gâteau? Save some room for this one. I consider myself a tenured professor in the desserts department and this is one of the best Philly has to offer.
Easily one of my favorite meals of 2015 (no lie).

So helm happened last night and it changed the way I feel about crossing Girard for byobs.
Dinner with the GoodMans could not have been better. Wine opened and menu reviewed with us by our server (audible menus usually aren’t my thing but they also list them on a chalkboard)
Our server made everything sound so amazing we had a hard time deciding .
Eventually we went with the Brussels, carrots and a Ravioli special to start and we shared two entrees the duck ragu tortellini and the cod.
Helms pasta game is so tight our favorites of the night were the ravioli starter and tortellini. Both filled with the right amount of stuffing and cooked perfectly. I didn’t eat any of the ragu but the Goodmans said it was bomb.
Desert changed the way I feel about saving room for extras the gâteau was amazing Apple, Carmel, and salt perfection. 3 apps 2 entrees and a dessert was the perfect amount of food to share between 3 peeps.
*protip helm is byo but in the event you forget you have the option of ordering a beer or glass of wine gratis.

My girlfriend and I hit up helm on a Friday night with two other couples after hearing rave reviews about the place. Helm is located in the Northern Liberties area of Philly so parking is relatively easy and it’s BYOB.
The rumors are right. Helm is everything that it’s cracked up to be. The food is fresh and local; the restaurant atmosphere is inviting and comfortable; and the service is exceptional. Our server Justin was on top of his game and very knowledgable about the chalk board written menu.
Appetizer highlights included:
— hickory smoked carrots
— red curry ravioli
— squid in a salsa verde
Main course highlights included:
— cod fish
— ny strip steak
— tortellini with gouda, duck and brussel sprouts
— pork tenderloin with slow cooked cabbage
Overall this place is a must visit! We’ll be back soon! Thank you to the Chefs for the top notch meal and dining experience!

We don’t give out many 5 star reviews, but we had an amazing meal at Helm! I HIGHLY recommend you try this restaurant in Philly!
We started with a carrot app as well as a mussel and cauliflower dish. I was hesitant about the carrot app because how good can carrots be?! I was wrong because it was amazing!!! It didn’t even taste like carrots. The mussel appetizer was different and delicious as well. The mussels were already out of their shell in a delicious sauce/​broth. We got the strip steak and pork tenderloin for our meals. The strip steak melted in your mouth and the sides were phenomenal. The pork tenderloin was so flavorful! The only weaker part of the meal was dessert. I think they can improve their options as the dessert we had was not a great representative of the meal we had. I am still giving 5 stars because the meal was that good. We need more of these quality restaurants in Philly.
There aren’t a lot of tables because the place is small so make sure to have a reservation. It is BYOB. The waiter and waitress seemed a little overwhelmed though.

My first foray in Philadelphia was almost 10 years ago… Many a date were had at quaint little byos that the city was known for… 10 years later, it seems that the phl byo scene isn’t quite as flourishing and I’m puzzled by how I can eat great food and drink too much wine at a decent price again.
Enter helm. It reminds of the days of yore. The food is written on chalkboards. Tables are close together. The staff reads your tweets about your #oldladydinner and ask you about your life. The food is amazing to the point where I asked for more bread to dunk into my sauce. Each course was better than the last and the dessert was big enough to share for 2 (although the weakest part of the meal I think).
Happily I’ll be back with my bottle of wine to enjoy a lovely dinner.

I love food more than anything in the world but I’ve never felt compelled to post a Unilocal review until now.
I’m writing because I support what this place is doing with the food they serve and I want them to succeed. And because some of the dishes we tried there rendered me speechless, save for a few blissful moans but more on that later. Helm nailed it; interesting innovative menu, refined technique, complex dishes with simple platings. A cozy, intimate feel with chalkboards, bookshelves and a record player which felt reminiscent of being in someone’s living room but with a lot of stemware and serious talent in the kitchen.
It’s a bit of an off-​the-​beaten-​path location, (a block north of Girard) which translates to the sweet, sweet ample on-​street parking that’s become increasingly scarce these days. We were able to get same day weekday reservations for a medium-​sized party. Eating out can be hit or miss, but I always jump at the chance of trying a new place with a bigger group and tasting the menu family style in order to try «all the things» in one dining experience. It is pretty much my favorite thing ever.
Another thing I liked about Helm was its relaxed but attentive service. At first the menu *does* read a bit foodie, and needs a good bit of explanation but when the food hit the table it just felt like good eatin, no pretension. I enjoy watching the culinary scene here evolve and flourish, but some chefs are in show-​off mode, one upping each other with trendy ingredients, techniques, artful plating, and overly conceptualized dishes. I grow wary of it and I was worried Helm would fall into that territory, but it did not. I am a fan of a more approachably worded menu however the food itself was simple, and well prepared with heart and soul innit.
Don’t be afraid to look stupid and ask your server what things are if you’re anything like me and your eyes glaze over and you start fantasizing about the joys of dog ownership while someone is standing at the head of the table reading specials. Dishes like basquaise, piperade, with brandade and guanciale. What. Last night I ate all the things and I still don’t know what a sunchoke is. Just shut up and get in my mouth. If the menu didn’t change regularly based on local availability but I’d return for the: potatoes with mussels, smoked chèvre carrots, stewed tomatoes, smoked swordfish, cod entrée, saffron sweetbreads, and the rabbit eggplant pasta.
As a refreshing change of pace, the chefs and line cooks ran our food and gave another breakdown of each dish, with a sense of pride and satisfaction. I really, really loved that touch. We also tried all three desserts of which we unanimously agreed the standout was the apple gasteau, a buttery bisquit tart pie thing. That gasteau was so retarded. Eloquence isn’t exactly my strong suit but I am a pretty huge loudmouth and I couldn’t even speak after I ate it. I needed a personal moment of silence. I could have slapped the forks out of everyone’s hands and took the whole glorious thing to my face. I’m getting jittery just thinking about it.
So many of the dishes here are perfectly executed, on a I-wouldn’t-change-a-thing level. The only thing I’d pass on second time around was a shaved apple salad. I would also like to see Helm offer more options before I’d send any vegetarians here, as the large majority of starters and all of the mains were meat/​seafood based but then again their menu is fairly small. Regardless, Helm exceeded my expectations and I’m looking forwards to returning!

Welcome to the neighborhood, Helm!!!
As soon as Helm opened, it’s been on the top of my list and boy I’m glad I made it a priority. The ambiance is like your typical philly byob, small and quaint which works great for me.
The menu changes all the time as they work with seasonal ingredients which I just love. Some higlights for me were the artic char which was perfectly poached, the skirt steak with an aged jalapeño purée (delicious!) and the corn tortellini with long hots. The tortellini was so unexpected. I couldn’t believe how much I loved the sweet corn and spicy flavors together!
Unfortunately, by the time we got to dessert, we were all too stuffed so I’ll have to save some room for the next visit!

Thank you Helm for helping to raise my property value! Without a doubt the best new addition to the ever growing Girard/​Kensington area. Helm takes a great leap by opening in an area mostly void of any establishment… bravo!
The meal was remarkable! Starting with the amazing carrots with chèvre, and the pork with wax beans and egg. I’ve never had or probably ever will have better prepared vegetables. The mains were the perfectly crispy duck and the skirt steak with aged jalapeños. We also opted to share the aged corn filled tortellini as an extra added accompaniment. Yum!
Desert we had the famous gateaux along with some grilled haloumi. The peach gateaux was the stand out. Buttery and not too sweet.
Reasonable prices, takes credit cards, and BYO along with the expertly prepared food and seasonal menu makes this a must go to!

nice addition to philly!
helm offers a relatively smaller menu but don’t worry, they all pack in a good punch for your taste buds! we dined at helm on a sat night and the selection were all the ones that have been mentioned on Unilocal already… probably playing it safe. so okie, the waitress recommended sharing dishes for the table which sounds like a great idea for me. we decided to get 2 apps: local greens and carrots. local greens was served like a salad and the carrots were smoked, served with this orangey sauce with bacon bits on top and creamy goat cheese (?) on the bottom. for me, i’d much prefer the carrots over the local green b/​c it was a more unique flavor and tbh i didn’t know carrots can be smoked! lol the sauces and cheese they used really complimented the smokey carrots. we were skeptical about it at first, but really glad we got it.
for entrée, we got the duck, lamb and arctic char.
after trying all three, i gotta say the duck was my favorite~ very rich in flavor but very small in portion :/​of all the dishes, the duck was definitely lacking some meat compared to the other 2… Thankfully, my appetite was not too big so that, the pâté and side veggie filled me up…
The lamb was my 2^nd favorite! Very tender and the pesto sauce was an awesome compliment to the flavors.
The arctic char was very smooth but my friends didn’t like the kick from the horseradish? So just a heads up~
I’m really glad I got to try helm~ great addition to the city similar to pickled heron and atmosphere is like high street on market~ just be sure to make a reservation before coming bc they are always packed!

I LOVED IT!!! What a lovely experience from our enthusiastic server to the delicious food and chill ambiance. I dined with 2 other friends and we shared 6 plates and 2 desserts. Total was $ 123.00. It is BYOB, but they do take credit cards (smart!).
As the night progressed, some of the accompaniments on the menu chalkboard changed. It’s a very clever way to move product. We had the Duck Breast with sauteed greens, but then as the greens ran out, the other diners has theirs with fava beans. I took photos but tried not to be That Chick. But the sun coming in through the windows offered a light that I could not ignore!
There is lots of energy and heart put into this project. I am spreading the good word out of my big mouth and telling everyone to get over there. And don’t forget to tip your server in cash because we really appreciate it!

What a strange location for a fantastic new BYO! I’m guessing the neighbors are thrilled by this new opening. Helm is set back a block or so from Girard on 5^th and is easy to miss if you’re not looking. Once you enter into the space, the location is quickly forgotten. It’s a warm, inviting setting with friendly service, a lively buzz from the other tables, and plenty of great scents coming from the corner kitchen.
The service experience was interesting and a bit unique: no menus and everyone pitches in. It felt like a pop-​up type of arrangement, and I liked that. The menu is like a rotating draft beer list on the chalkboards with items coming in and out all the time based on seasonality and availability.
Our appetizer courses were the cucumbers, carrots, and aged cabbage. All three were good, but the carrots stood well above the others. They were deep in flavor and had wonderful sauces that were not overpowering, but very distinct. The cabbage was interesting and nearly meaty in texture, but I would have liked a bit more flavor profile in addition to the small amount of sauce underneath it. It needed something (maybe a little saltiness or crunch?). The cucumbers, while interesting and well-​prepared, were our least favorite. I think it was all in the construction: too pretty and spread out without enough of each component to get all the flavors together (aka too deconstructed).
The mains were showstoppers, particularly the olive oil poached arctic char. I’ve eaten a lot of fish, but that preparation ranks right up at the top. I highly recommend trying this. The pea tortellini was also excellent and it is a perfect vehicle to highlight peas. Pea filling, pea sauce, pea garnishes, and it managed to be a great summer dish without being pea overkill.
Stick with the pastry dessert, and don’t worry about whatever fruit they decide to mix it up with on that evening. Our sour cherry variety was fantastic.
Overall, it’s not an inexpensive BYO and I would have liked to see a little better portion sizes on the apps for what they were charging (vegetarian apps in the $ 10 – 13 range at this size is pushing it). Well worth a try and easy to find parking if you’re not from the city or if there’s miserable weather.

Sweet love of all byobs, howdy Helm! Adore, adore, adore.
It’s been so long since I’ve frequented an amazing byob in these parts, I had almost given up, but then Helm walked through my door… or ahem, I walked through their doors and sat down with anticipation.
I was apprehensive, because I wanted this place to be amazing and it was, in every possible way.
The food, my friends, the food!
Interior, so coolly casual, like the service. Restrained, informative, well-​paced.
Ingredients fresh and executed so perfectly.
To start asparagus with boar ragu and an egg (each asparagus spear grilled and succulent); the grilled leeks with goat yogurt and soft shell crab with a basquaise sauce. Then the amish chicken and the delectable lamb with turnips and garlic with all the proteins cooked to temperature. Ending with a buttery gâteau basque and the whole meal finished in a quiet flourish.
Oh me oh my, welcome home Helm.

Wonderful meal hear at Helm over the weekend during a visit to the city. This BYOB established is a great addition to the area! My mother and I arrived early for our reservation but were still able to be seated immediately. The staff was very attentive in opening up the bottle of wine that we brought and bring the correct red wine glasses without prompting.
We split two appetizers: Leeks, Tewksbury cheese and goat yogurt as well as the Rhode Island squid with fennel. Both were well executed and flavorful. The squid was cooked perfectly and not chewy at all!
The main dish we split was the Monkfish for two that came with a side of kale and carrots with mushrooms. Beautifully plated and presented by the chefs. Yes, that’s correct, the staff takes the orders but the chefs serve their food. This really brought the experience to a new level for me and its wonderful to see an establishment that is so proud to serve their food. Seasonings are light with the fish but allowed the flavors of the monkfish to shine through. The carrots and mushrooms were roasted and cooked to perfect caramelization.
I had chocolate custard with ricotta and buckwheat for dessert. I was just too full to finish it. I definitely recommend Helm to any of my Philadelphia friends and would come here again when I visit the city. It is a bit noisy so better for an outing with friends over a romantic meal.