Since discovering Cafe Koi, I’ve been back three times within a month and am continually looking for reasons to go with family and friends (it’s often hard to sway my carnivorous peeps to leave their meat-filled haunts). We headed there this week for a friend’s birthay and I was super excitd. I’ve been trying to order different menu items each time I go (I can actually experiment here, not just have a veggie burger or a salad!).
On my first visit I ordered the Pink Velvet beer, which is a mix of Wild Rose’s Wraspberry Ale and Velvet Fog beers. I really enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t too sweet (which is what I often dislike about raspberry and fruit-flavoured beers), however, not generally being a fan of lighter lagers, I actually found that I preferred the Wraspberry Ale that my friend ordered. I also ordered the Panda Bowl, wanting to try the tofu and feeling in the mood for a thai-like dish. I found my meal good, but a bit too sweet for my liking. The waitress had told me that the tofu was comparable to french toast in sweetness, but I still was unprepared for it. While I love desserts and sweet things, I tend to prefer saltier main dishes. Additionally, I prefer firmer tofu. Both of my friends ordered the Lotus Bowl and told me that it was delicious, though it too has the tofu chunks in it, so I may still refrain from ordering it in the future.
On my second visit, I ordered the Buddha Bowl, which was amazing. I highly, highly recommend it. I also ordered a side of the yam wedges, which are good, but I find the miso soy dip too liquidy; it’s difficult for it to actually stick to the wedges and I find that they don’t get enough of the flavour, particularly since they’re so large. This time around I ordered the Wraspberry Ale (good choice).
On my most recent visit, I started, once more, with the Wraspberry Ale (can’t go wrong). I decided the mix things up and, rather than ordering a main dish, I tried an order of the hummus and a side of the Baby Fuji Food. My cousin had ordered the full Fuji Food on our previous visit and had raved about it. The baby version is much smaller and doesn’t come with rice; it’s delicious but a little pricey for the very small portion. The hummus was very good, but a little oily for my liking. This is just a personal preference thing as I tend to find most restaurants make hummus a bit too oily for what I prefer. The flatbread that came with the hummus was delicious.
Overall, I highly, highly recommend koi. They have options for everyone, the food is beautifully prepared, delicious, and the portions are perfect, never too big.
[...] Anju. On account of their vegetarian options and Asian influence, the restaurant reminds me of Koi (one of my favourites in the city), thought the menu isn’t as extensive. The food is very good [...]