Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Good Food Great Price

The lunch crew decided to try Koi Japanese Cuisine as we said farewell to a fellow coworker who will be leaving us for Australia.  This location is a very busy part of town and there were a fairly good number of people there for lunch.  The interior has a very stylish Japanese look and allows a good deal of privacy in a booth or tables closer on the floor.

In looking over their menu (available here), I was glad to see that they had a significant lunch menu.  It took me a while to decide which item I was going to pick, but finally decided to go with the Tonkastu Bento Box lunch which came with a breaded pork loin, California Roll, two pot stickers, rice, orange slice, and miso soup.  Granted there were 10-15 of us there so I wasn't expecting fast service, but I was still rather disappointed with the length of time it took to even place an order much less bring out our food.  However, the food looked and tasted very good.

The Bento Box starting in the upper left: Breaded pork loin,
California roll, rice, pot stickers, orange peel, and in the
middle a dipping sauce.


I really appreciated the variety that came with this bento box and thought that it was the best value out of all their lunch items.  The pork loin could have been more tender, but the rest was excellent.  The pot stickers were really good and well cooked.  Too often I find them undercooked which may be to some people's preference, but I prefer mine cooked for a little longer and these came out perfectly.  The four slices of the California Roll were your average roll and the miso soup was excellent.  For me the thing that makes or breaks the miso is the tofu.  This tofu wasn't strong but it provided the broth with a good amount of flavor and really went well with the meal.

Next time I come, though, I will have to try one of their specialty rolls.  I was hoping for an all-you-can-eat menu, but this place doesn't offer one which makes it difficult to order the specialty rolls.  However,  I would like to see if these rolls compare in taste and excellence to some of the other ones I've had elsewhere.  All in all, I came away from this place very satisfied.


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