buddha’s feast

this weekend was not good eats. this weekend was a) studying or b) procrastinating (a.k.a., not studying but not able to do anything else because of feeling guilty about not studying). but prior to weekend-proper starting, despite school’s best attempts to bury me alive in gratuitous make-up classes, i made it to buddha bodhai.

buddha bodhai is heaven on earth. it’s the most fantastically delicious place in the world and is a) cheap and b) full of deliciousness (as i’ve already said, but maybe you weren’t paying attention. IT IS DELICIOUS.)

it’s a chinese/dim sum restaurant in chinatown, and because it’s buddhist, everything is vegetarian. and delicious.

what it is not, is efficient with the use of space. there were a few large round tables, and many small tables, and when we got there with our group of seven, the two large tables were each occupied by no more than two people, while many of the little tables were wiiiiide open. stupid. after being angry, the waiter offered to seat us at two separate little tables that weren’t even next to each other (because there were people sitting at the separate little tables but spread out all over the restaurant so that no two open tables were together, although there were many open tables). after watching us struggle to divide ourselves into two tables, one of the groups at a large table offered to move to a little table (and thank goodness, because they were eating slowly, and i don’t like having to deal with splitting up a group, it’s too difficult).

we thanked them profusely and helped them move their tea and plates to their new little table and then settled in and proceeded to order (practically) one of every kind of dim sum on the menu. again, buddhist, so all the regular dim sum substituted their meat portions with soy fakes. SO MUCH DELICIOUSNESS.

we got: some kind of taro jelly/pudding thing with bits of vegetables in it, lots of “pork” buns, durian pastry (actually not as offensive as durian generally is – flaky pastry crust and mostly generic yellow custard filling), two kinds of sticky rice (the regular kind, studded with “pork”, and the kind that comes wrapped in bamboo leaf and is stuffed with “meat”), two kinds of dumplings (fried and steamed), two different kinds of “short ribs” with black bean sauce (really more nuggets than anything really resembling ribs; don’t really know what the difference was between the two dishes, but one seemed more barbecue-y and came with napa cabbage….yummy napa cabbage), fried mochi balls (light and crispy with sesame seeds on the outside – one of my highlights of dim sum at jing fong, where i take the meat-eaters for dim sum)…i forget what else, but there was lots of deliciousness. and tea. our bellies were groaning afterwards. my mouth is salivating now just remembering all the tastiness.

the waiters just get bringing different dishes to the table, an endless parade of yummy happiness. and as they kept bringing us different things i kept eating, no questions asked: whatever they brought went in my mouth. one of my favorite ways to eat (that is, when it’s all delicious; point is, i don’t like having to stop and ask what is in each dish just to make sure i can eat it). after we had cleared the mondo mounds of food, what was the bill? eight dollars per person. that’s it! i couldn’t believe it either. it was the best.

and they sell lots of things for take-home too, so andy and i both got boxes of their yummy, yummy pork buns (six hefty buns for $5.50). then stopped at a bakery on the way back to campus to get portuguese-style mini egg custards…so much flaky buttery crust and creamy eggy yellow custard filling, with little burnt spots speckled across the top, leading to many mouthfuls of happiness and satisfaction (all for one dollar!).

i love chinatown. and buddha bodhai. and egg custards. so hungry now.

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