Month: August 2005

Biff and I have just returned to the homebase after having dinner at Koi.

Being a fan of Vietnamese food, I was looking forward to trying the new restaurant. I was especially intrigued by the idea of a finer dining Asian experience.

The interior of Koi is interesting. The walls are done in a kind of red Venetian plaster with a visually appealing texture. Two enormous chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Several glass cases of pottery and other art fill the front room. I had quite a bit of time to take this all in as we waited for someone to show us to our table.

Koi’s menu is small, but I thought this was encouraging, as I hoped it would mean they were very good at making what they did offer. Biff and I agreed we’d get a couple of appetizers and split an entree, to maximize our sampling capacity. We started with the summer rolls with peanut sauce (3 for $5) and an order of chicken satay, also with peanut sauce (4 skewers for $6).

The summer rolls came quickly, and were exactly what I was craving. These are raw rolls, wrapped in a rubbery rice shell and filled with rice vermicelli, shrimp, lettuce, cilantro, and mint. I would have liked some more shrimp, but was well satisfied with what we received, and eager to try the next dish.

Luckily I didn’t have to wait long, as both the chicken satay, our entree, the chicken curry in bread bowl dinner soup ($9), and the “salad” (a tiny plate of chopped lettuce, served with a dressing that made me wish the salad had been more substantial — or at least that the lettuce was in pieces sized to be fork-friendly) that came with the entree, arrived before we’d even made a dent in the summer rolls. The satay was excellent; the chicken tender, juicy, and flavorful.

The chicken curry arrived with only one spoon — an Asian-style broad based soup spoon — and I made eye contact with our server several times before Biff finally waved him over and requested another spoon. As it was, we may have been just as well off using our forks, as this chicken curry “soup” came with barely enough non-solid material to qualify as stew, let alone soup. It was comprised entirely of cubed potatoes, carrots, and a few pieces of chicken, slow-cooked in a thick curry sauce. I’d try to explain the flavor, but it’s one we’ve all had before — curry powder and salt. And a lot of both.

When we quickly ran out of broth or sauce or whatever it was in which to dip the copious amounts of bread supplied by the bread bowl, a server (not our own) asked if we’d like some more sauce. I thought then that our experience might turn around. But no, she came back several minutes later to inform us that we’d gotten the last of the chicken curry, but we could have beef broth instead. We accepted, and when it finally arrived, after Biff asking over and over, “Is she coming? Is she coming?” it tasted just like beef gravy from Grandma’s house. My grandmother uses gravy from a can.

I should say that the curry wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, and I had much higher hopes for it. But Biff picked it out, so maybe if I’d been choosing we would have had better luck (this sounds horrible, but usually Biff just lets me pick, and it tends to work out well).

Still, when the bill came, I had to admit that the food we’d had was worth the $20 it cost. But will I go back? While I’d like to try the crab and rice vermicelli ($10), the grilled wasabi chicken ($14), and the smoked salmon sushi salad ($13)…Probably not, unless I hear that both the service and the food have improved. Too disappointing.