I'm always very opinionated and talkative in my Yelp reviews. I have a lot to say about food. But coffee I don't have much to say about. I dunno how to explain it. I just have trouble with it.
The coffee at Koken was fine, I guess. It's strong. But what does that even mean? First I had it and it was pretty strong. Then I asked them to add more milk and it was a little too weak. So isn't it the amount of milk that matters? And isn't that very variable?
Anyway, the reason why I came here is because I asked a barista at a different coffee shop what her favorite other coffee places are, and she immediately said Koken is her favorite. That's gotta count for something.
But as I started saying, I'm more of a food person than a coffee person. And I got a dish here that I really, really liked.
I forget what it was called. Their menu isn't online, so I can't look it up. Which is kinda refreshing.
It's basically little pieces of bread that are sauteed/fried in some sort of African butter, with an African spice blend, and eaten with yogurt. And it was absolutely perfect.
The warm, chewy, spiced bread with the cool, tart yogurt is just so great. Such a good combo. Simple. Not distracted by a bunch of other stuff. You really just get that wonderful contrast.
The bread was perfectly chewy. And had a little bit of a crisp on the outside, in a perfect way. Check out the picture.
Ultimately, it was just so homey, so satisfying, and so novel. It's like an hour long trip on public transit for me to get there, but I don't care. I know that I will be back. read more