Monsoon Poon

 

Rating: 2/10 Complaints - Delicious Food, Group Dining, Cocktails, Extensive List, Chill Staff, Noise, More Noise, Busy, Espresso Martini, Booze and More Booze

When we were invited to a mate's work event at Monsoon Poon, I had only eaten there once before when I was 18, trying to impress some silly boy and ordered lemon chicken in a panic without thinking about the fact that I hated, and still hate, lemon chicken. So it doesn't count. Wasn't sure what to expect, was nervous as all hell about meeting a bunch of new people and had just been berated by some old guy for parking one of those e-scooters near his apartment so was definitely in the mood to sit down and have a cocktail.

I'm so glad I decided to change out of my heels and into my Docs before arriving at the restaurant, in anticipation of a slightly legless end to the evening.

Monsoon Poon was incredibly packed with diners, being a Friday night after all. It's quite a large restaurant with what seems to be a couple of levels, looks like they need the room to accommodate how busy this place was. The noise in the main area was at an oppressive level when we arrived, but the staff member (who had the calm and stoic demeanour of a grizzled sea captain) quickly showed us to a separate private dining area for group events. This room was long, silent and closed off from the main dining area. My sensory overloaded ears were so relieved for the peace and quiet, and the hope of actually being able to hold a conversation over dinner instead of desperately smiling and nodding my way through an unintelligible chat and coming out feeling silly.

They do a set menu for group dining known as the Sultan's Banquet. This relieves the pressure of having to decide what to order, the frustration of your food arriving last and the disappointment when you wish you'd ordered what your friend is having. This set menu turned out to be extensive and had options for everyone including vegetarian and non-spicy. Because of the cocktails, I can't remember all the details of what was on the menu but I recall starting off with a vege and dip platter, spring rolls, salt and pepper squid, prawn crackers, tandoori chicken and an espresso martini.

I love a good espresso martini and those at Monsoon Poon are nothing short of divine. They use Baileys as well as the rest so it's a beautiful creamy coffee and could stand in for a dessert. We had two of these each and I ended up having some really good chats with various people as my social shyness dissipated.

The cocktail list is massive, interesting and caters to just about all tastes. On our table I saw jugs of plum punch, a cocktail in a tall glass with an actual Popsicle and the ubiquitous beers and bourbons. Also had something known as a Banoffee Dream which tasted exactly like a banoffee pie, came with a float of meringue on top and got me much more inebriated than expected because the bottom layer was pure rum. I'd gladly go back there just to drink a few of these.

The main course likewise catered to most tastes and consisted of several noodle and curry dishes with naan bread and rice, We also got the spicy chicken which wasn't really that spicy according to Spice Fiend Mr Karenson, but definitely carried a bit of a kick and woke me up after that banoffee cocktail. 

I thought the service here was pretty good. Food came out in a timely fashion despite how busy they were, the staff seemed very poised and remained calm under pressure and I can't stress enough how much I appreciated the private room and actually being able to hear the conversation.

Later on that night, we all went to the Malthouse for further drinks. I'd review this place too but it's literally just a bar that does standard bar stuff, serves a beer as you'd expect, and there's very little to review/mock apart from the gallantly poured bourbon and cokes that resembled those we make at home and which knocked me sideways very quickly. My memory of the latter half of the night is patchy, I may have had to sit down and have a water but I know that if I hadn't changed my shoes it could have gone even worse than it did.

I'm giving this 2 complaints just because if you were to dine here casually, you would probably be seated in the main area and this is very very noisy. Apart from that, great dinner and time.