PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — This week on FYI Philly, it’s Women’s History Month and we are celebrating all the female creators of flavors both sweet and savory, and women devoted to beauty and wellness.<\/p>\n
Dara Restaurant has been open just over a year and it’s already famous for its hor mok.<\/p>\n
It’s a truly authentic Thai dish made with a mix of seafood, homemade red curry, coconut milk and egg. It’s decorated with the Thai flag and served inside a fresh coconut.<\/p>\n
Chef Wichittra Phansaeng grew up in Thailand, cooking with her grandmother since she was a young girl.<\/p>\n
She went to culinary school and worked in kitchens in Thailand and then New York City before discovering Philadelphia and opening Dara.<\/p>\n
She’s also known for her crab fried rice. It’s wild-caught jumbo lump crab served on white rice with her special seafood sauce.<\/p>\n
The restaurant is BYOB, but they do serve fresh coconut water complete with the umbrella<\/p>\n
Dara is the Thai word for star, and it’s the chef’s way of staying connected to her homeland because the stars in the sky can be seen from anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n
She hopes hungry Philadelphians will stop in and say hi, said “Sawadee ka” in Thai.<\/p>\n
Dara Restaurant<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> |Instagram<\/a> Insatiable by Chef Denise was opened by chef and owner Denise Gesek.<\/p>\n She learned to cook from her grandmother in South Philadelphia. Now, she has her own restaurant in Point Breeze serving her unique culinary creations.<\/p>\n Denise went to Johnson and Wales to learn the craft and spent years bouncing around high end kitchens in Boston, California and Lake Tahoe.<\/p>\n She returned to Philadelphia and worked while she raised her daughter. After years of working in other people’s kitchens, she finally made the leap to open her own place.<\/p>\n Insatiable by Chef Denise is a cozy atmosphere with elevated dining options and a neighborhood vibe. You can find everything from a lobster roll to her signature French Onion Soup dumplings.<\/p>\n And the cocktail menu is equally inventive with themed cocktails for women’s history month.<\/p>\n Insatiable by Chef Denise<\/a> | Facebook <\/a>| Instagram<\/a> Seaforest Bakeshop feels like home, with artwork gifted by Suerim Lee’s grandmother and painted by her aunt hanging on the wall.<\/p>\n The doenjang caramel rolls are made with Suerim’s buttermilk dough and her mom’s fermented soybean paste, creating “a more savory, funky version of miso.”<\/p>\n There’s black sesame cake, a streusel coffee cake baked with roasted soybean flour, a scallion cheddar roll infused with fermented chili paste and hotteok mochi hearts.<\/p>\n Hotteok is a popular Korean street food. Suerim’s baked interpretation is a bite-sized, rice cake-based treat that reminded me of every great thing that my mother would have made.<\/p>\n Suerim says a lot of her Korean customers have expressed excitement and, to her surprise, gratitude for the flavor-filled memories she’s baking.<\/p>\n Suerim opened Seaforest Bakeshop last fall. Suerim, in Korean, means seaforest.<\/p>\n Seaforest Bakeshop<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> The J Spot is the creation of Jacqueline Clarizio. It’s a multi-use space with a caf\u00e9 for the neighborhood and a med spa for patients.<\/p>\n Jacqueline opened the space after working years as a PA in aesthetics and surgery. She created the med spa with an extensive menu of treatments from anti-aging fillers to IVs, massages, facials and hot\/cold therapy.<\/p>\n There are rooms throughout the building for personal treatments and consultations.<\/p>\n The front of the building is a neighborhood caf\u00e9 open to the public daily. Jax Caf\u00e9 serves coffee drinks, fresh pressed juice, light bites and there are tables where guests can sit and work.<\/p>\n The J Spot & Jax Caf\u00e9 <\/a>| Facebook <\/a>| Instagram<\/a> Loretta’s on Headhouse Square is serving up a specialty latte called The Steel Magnolia for Women’s History month.<\/p>\n It’s an Earl Gray Lavender Syrup with milk, a shot of espresso or matcha and topped with salted honey cold foam, lavender sugar and glitter.<\/p>\n $1 from every sale will go to Philadelphia’s Women’s Way. The organization, celebrating it’s 50th anniversary, works to enrich and empower women.<\/p>\n It is the first in what will be a monthly giveback program for Kelsey Bush and her Loretta’s staff.<\/p>\n Loretta’s Philly<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> The National Constitution Center’s 19th Amendment exhibit explains how women won the right to vote.<\/p>\n It starts in 1848 with the Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls and there’s a rare copy of the Declaration of Sentiments written up by the ladies.<\/p>\n You can see the tactics they used to win public favor, join the parade for suffrage and see a jailhouse pin with a heart padlock that was gifted to the women arrested for fighting for their rights.<\/p>\n National Constitution Center 19th Amendment Exhibit<\/a> |Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> In honor of Women’s History Month, the Valley Forge Visitors and Convention Board puts the spotlight on a few of the many women-owned businesses in the county.<\/p>\n At The Grand Fromage in Skippack, owner Celestin Holmberg carries cheeses made everywhere from Pennsylvania to around the world.<\/p>\n Her specialty shop also carries a variety of gourmet goods to make any cheeseboard special, and she can make custom cheese platters to-order.<\/p>\n The Grand Fromage<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> At Plant 4 Good in Ardmore, former nurse Carolyn Vachani specializes in house plants, and carries everything you need to get started with gardening — including vegetable and herb seeds.<\/p>\n She has a certificate in ‘therapeutic horticulture’ and shares her knowledge of the health benefits of plants and gardening with beginners and green thumbs alike.<\/p>\n Plant 4 Good<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> In Hatboro, Cyrenity Sips Winery is the first Black woman-owned winery in Pennsylvania. Owner and Head Winemaker, Shakia Williams, starts with grapes from regions like California and Italy, then crafts and presents the wines — from fermentation, to corking and labeling.<\/p>\n Her urban winery also offers both self-guided and educational tastings, and is a growing presence on the wine scene across the country. Once a month, the Shakia hosts an event at the winery where guests bottle, cork, and label their own wines.<\/p>\n Cyrenity Sips Winery<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> Viviane Aires Skin Wellness offers a variety of advanced treatments.<\/p>\n Esthetician and massage therapist Viviane Aires is settling in her new space in Rittenhouse Square. Her focus is on the basics of skin wellness.<\/p>\n She specializes in facials for women of color after noticing a lack of representation during her 23 years working at spa resorts.<\/p>\n Viviane relocated her business from Plymouth Meeting to Center City with a room dedicated to facials and another for stress and muscle recovery.<\/p>\n The entrepreneur intended to create a haven outside Philadelphia by incorporating her Brazilian roots into the decor and music throughout the space.<\/p>\n You can purchase her line of skin care products at the new location.<\/p>\n Viviane says she hopes clients leave feeling replenished and with a better understanding of their skin.<\/p>\n Viviane Aires Skin Wellness |<\/a> Instagram <\/a>| Facebook<\/a> Step inside a living work of art and marvel at the Ministry of Awe.<\/p>\n The Manufacturers National Bank building now houses a creative mashup of disciplines from more than 100 artists.<\/p>\n Meg Saligman, creator of the Ministry of Awe, says you will see performance, along with beautiful murals and sculptures.<\/p>\n There are six stories to wander through in the building that is “a bit like a labyrinth,” with visual displays engage all your senses.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Awe operates as a nonprofit, giving back to the artists who built it.<\/p>\n Advance tickets for the Ministry of Awe are recommended.<\/p>\n Ministry of Awe (MoA)<\/a> | Link to MoA Tickets<\/a> Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. 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1221 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107<\/p>\n
1200 South 21st Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19146<\/p>\n
625 S 16th St, Philadelphia, Pa. 19146<\/p>\n
501 South 22nd Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19146<\/p>\n
410 S 2nd St, Philadelphia, Pa. 19147<\/p>\n
525 Arch St, Philadelphia, Pa. 19106<\/p>\n
3910 Skippack Pike Skippack, Pa. 19474<\/p>\n
100 Cricket Avenue Ardmore, Pa. 19003<\/p>\n
31 S. York Road Hatboro, Pa 19040<\/p>\n
255 S 17th St, Suite 2407, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103<\/p>\n
27 N. 3rd Street Philadelphia, Pa. 19106<\/p>\n