Lexington's Main Street is becoming a true destination, finally. Having grown up in Lexington I can attest to its previous lack of fun and therefore can really appreciate what's happening out there now. One of the best upfits of an old Main Street building is the former BB&T bank building into an upscale Thai restaurant, Bodhi Thai Dining.
I spied the work beginning on the restaurant last May when we were on Main Street at Keg Cowboy for my birthday dinner and have been eagerly anticipating it. Though it opened late in 2017 I didn't get the chance to get out there until this past weekend and took my not always so adventurous in eating family to test their limits.
First off, this is definitely not a place to go when you're trying to keep the purse strings tight. You won't enjoy it if you're trying to pick out the cheapest things and forgoing dessert or cocktails due to cost. But it is a worthwhile experience of food as art that's also delicious. Their plating was a rare combination of beautiful but not ridiculously inedible.
The restaurant itself is small, being a former bank. I didn't count but I bet they don't seat more than 50 people at a time. Like many upscale Asian restaurants, their decor is on point with large modern chandeliers, select soft lighting, and unusual features in the bathroom. The lighting while fairly abundant, still wasn't enough to make these photos look professional but I hope it conveys a fraction of the prettiness we experienced at the table that night.
I started off with a lemon lavender cocktail, which was the perfect combination of can't taste the alcohol in it and not sweet, not overly floral, but unusual all the same.
Next I saw something on their Facebook page that I wanted to try despite it being filled with chicken, the chor muang. These flower shaped dumplings are in fact a light blue, and colored with butterfly pea flowers, and stuffed with ground chicken. It is a fun appetizer and this is probably the only place in town you'll find it.
Next I was told by a vegetarian friend that you can substitute tofu for almost any of their entrees, so I did that. I went with the pork plating, which has carrot puree with pepper jam and Panang curry. Their plating is gorgeous. The tofu was really good, I ate every bite, including the flowers.
And finally, we got all three of the desserts that night and ate a little of each amongst the five of us. Funnily enough, the ones we ordered for ourselves ended up being our favorites. Shown below is the coffee gelato with chunks of meringue, and then my choice, the Thai tea gelato also served with chunks of meringue and mint.
Again, I definitely recommend a trip out here but make reservations and if you're a regular old middle class person who does need to go to work to continue enjoying your lifestyle, this is the kind of place that you go for an experience so be prepared to drop some cash but also be prepared to be wowed. Or, this is a great birthday dinner place when you know someone else is going to be picking up the tab jussayin'.
I'm also including some photos below that my mom took because she went a little nuts documenting the experience to text to a friend.
This is the toong tong, an appetizer of fried wontons stuffed with chicken, mushrooms, water chestnut and spices, tied up in a little meat purse.
This is the salmon.
The ribs, which were apparently fall off the bone tender.
Finally, one of the most noticeable decorative accents is their real 24k gold leaf wall that's near the entrance. They encourage photos in front of it but I guess we let our photographer have too many cocktails.
