Chocolate & Ginger

Last night after the gym, me and the boy were in a lazy mood, so on our walk home, we stopped by one of our favourite casual eateries, Koi, for some vegetarian-friendly asian cuisine..

It’s a small space with dark black walls and bright red accents designed as a cool hangout for artful minded individuals. They feature artwork by local artists that change each month as well as host various events like spoken word, open mic and live music with a DJ on certain nights of the week.

The menu features a wide range of delicious and nutritious asian-inspired  rice bowls, salads, sandwiches and pastas. Tonight happened to be Vegalicious Monday, which means $2 off all vegetarian rice bowls and $1 off vegetarian appetizers. Woo hoo!

We started off by sharing the gyoza ($8.95) – pan seared vegetarian dumplings encased in a thin spinach wrapper served with a side of citrus soy dip.

These were awesome, the flavour tasted almost exactly like a real japanese gyoza (minus the fatty pork). I definitely could have eaten another plate of these..

For the boy’s entree, he went with the Buddha Burger – a handcrafted secret vegan black bean patty seared in garlic olive oil and oven roasted caramelized onions. It was served on a bed of cream cheese flatbread with roasted beets, spinach and pea shoots.

A really hearty burger with lots of flavour and “meatiness” to it and the flatbread was wonderfully fresh and pillowy. The boy loved this dish! He ordered it with a side of their signature yam abushi wedges with a green coconut curry dipping sauce. The best yam fries EVER!! A hard choice to pick my favourite between these and my go-to vegetarian restaurant, The Coup.

I went with my “usual” Lotus Bowl ($14.95) – fluffy white rice topped with a mountain of maple chili stir-fried vegetables and sticks of seared five spice tofu. *An award winning bowl as voted by FFWD magazine* The dishes here are so tasty that you really don’t miss the meat.

What if your guests are carnivores? They also offer dishes like their teriyaki steak sandwich, citrus salmon and mediterranean chicken to satisfy everyone’s tastes

If you stop by, be sure to check out their lovely selection of yummy drinks too, a great way to wind down after work on a Friday afternoon ( I recommend the Kimono martini – soho, vodka and lychee juice…swoon)

Koi - #100, 1011 – 1st Street SW |  Phone: 403-206-1564 or reserve online