Greetings my diligent explores of good food far and wide and
welcome to anther belated installment of Novice Fork food judgery. For our
discussion today, I must confess I have recently been caught in straight up
foodie ignorance. I regrettably admit that, living in and around Portland, ME
for most of my life, I begin to think of the peninsula as the only food stop
for the state. I know this is a very limiting view of food in Maine because tip
to stern Maine is lousy with good restaurants.
However, with such an aggressive concentration of eateries
in Portland, my personal vibe usually is: why go anywhere else? So an
invitation to try a (relatively) new Sushi and Chinese restaurant in Biddeford
(say whaaa?) was a chance to branch out, tuck in, and get out of my own
gastro-way.
Enter Koi, in
Biddeford, ME.
Koi
11 Elm Street,
Biddeford ME 04005-2007
207-282-1288
The Novice Fork gives
this Chinese and Japanese killer combo
4 Forks for amazingly
tasty Asian food
at a surprisingly
affordable price.
As stated above, traveling south of my beloved Portland for food
I can easily get in, well, Portland is often a stretch. I mean, we have King of
the Roll, we have both Miyake's, and we have Yosaku. Pretty fine roster if you
ask me. But I wouldn’t do the readers out there their due diligence if I didn’t
get the heck of dodge once in a while. So to Biddeford I travel, dinner date
lined up and hearty appetite ready to go.
Upon driving to the unassuming restaurant, in a parking lot
off route 1, the outside does little to quell any suspicions I have. The décor
when inside doesn’t do much either. Standard, almost bland/nondescript colors do
little to describe how lip-smackingly good the food is here.
The menu is more of a translators dictionary of Asian all
stars, the names and descriptions are familiar. But with Koi, it’s all about
the execution, which as I discovered was spot on. Feeling overwhelmed by the large
menu, my friend and I choose a bit from column A and B. Two specialty Sushi
rolls, an assortment of soups (Hot and Sour and Miso) and an entrée. First let
me say this was the BEST Hot and Sour soup I have had in Maine. Period. Balanced,
savory, sweet and sour all at once, I could have had a bathtub full. And the
Miso? Suffice to say it was also delish.
The sushi? Settling on the weekly special “Oh My God” roll
(the name is well deserved) and the Tiger Roll, both had excellent depth of
flavor and freshness. I could not stop eating. But the all-star of the evening
was the Crispy Orange Beef entrée. Holy crap. It was literally plate licking
good, perfectly crispy and flavorful beef, perfectly cooked broccoli, perfectly
steamed rice. The beef was gone far to fast, in fact the entire meal was done
before I knew it. There wasn’t much talking, and this is a great sign that the
food is so good words aren’t necessary.
Lets not leave out the service, as this was also perfect. Very gracious, our server was always ready to refill water at a
moments notice. Lastly, the price is so affordable you can get a second roll guilt free. (Wallet not waistline guilt)
I was very impressed with this meal. Not only because I was
surprised by where the restaurant was located, but because a good meal anywhere
is a happy thing to experience. And yes, Biddeford has good restaurants. Who
knew. So look far and wide, food eaters, your next meal could be right outside your
door, in a different state or even Biddeford, ME.
-NF
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