• 4
• A mixed experience

I decided to try Bodhi Choi for dinner last night. I arrived just past 8pm. There was only one couple inside and they were getting ready to go. I saw no posted hours and when I entered the lady at the front end seemed surprised. I asked "are you still open? I never got a straight answer, just a suggestion: "this is to go, right?" I can take a hint, the only thing worse than being alone for dinner out, is being the last guy in the place too. So to-go, it was. I ordered some fried oyster mushrooms with a gluten type stir fry. The waitress said it came with mixed vegetables and broccoli. I asked if they could prepare it with Gai Lan, which is a Chinese style broccoli that I am partial too. She seemed very surprised that I knew what that was let alone asking for it. Sometimes I think I startle people at these places, especially if it is after work like last night. I'm a fairly big guy, work clothes and steel toe boots. Due to my status with the rental car companies, I always have some high performance car sitting out front. Guess I must look like I'm lost, more often than not the first thing out of their mouth is "you, umm, know this is vegetarian, right? It has no meat." It must just be a weird sight. Anyway, we got past those formalities and I was offered some hot tea while I waited. The food came pretty quick and I promptly took it back to my hotel room, 45km away in Surrey. The fried mushrooms were unfortunately soaked through with oil. I put them on a napkin and in a few minutes it looked like the Exxon Valdez had parked on my desk. I *think* maybe they were shutting down for the night and had to re-heat the oil real quick. I wouldn't be surprised. Could only manage to eat a couple of them. Probably shouldn't have done that. The dish was OK, but bland, most Buddhist places won't use onion or garlic at all, should have asked for some chili sauce. But the Gai Lan was perfect, fresh and crunchy, so they got the job done. Leaning towards 3 stars, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt that I came at the wrong time. An hour earlier probably would have been a 4 star report. I will try them again one day.