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Monsoon
Category: Restaurants Thai Thai [Edit]
100 Simcoe StToronto, ON M5H 3G2
Neighbourhoods: Entertainment District, Downtown Core
(416) 979-7172
- Price Range:
-
$$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
2 reviews for Monsoon
2 reviews in English
-
Review from Min Min T.
Scarborough, ON
4/9/2009
I came here one evening during Winterlicious 2009 with a group of friends. Being a herbivore, I checked ahead and was delighted to find that they had created a separate menu with vegetarian dishes!
The okonomiyaki, an egg-based Japanese pancake typically served with bonito fish flakes, was a great starter. The organic baby greens in a pappadam basket was good, but the marinated crispy tofu and shaved daikon wasn't particularly impressive to justify the price that they charged. You can't fool a Chinese woman; a block of tofu costs no more than $2!
I ordered the meat-free version of laksa, a Malaysian staple typically made with noodles, shrimp and fish broth. As I was enjoying my laksa and reminising my backpacking trip through Sarawak, Malaysia, I suddenly realized that there was something fishy ... stuck in my teeth! Hmmm, simply removing the salmon doesn't exactly make this a herbivore-friendly dish.
Despite the fact that they kept messing up the vegetarian orders, the servers handled our concerns diplomatically and addressed them promptly. Being in good company and having a pitcher of sangria probably kept us all in an agreeable and cheerful mood. For me personally, the fact that my date looked smoking hot all dressed-up and that my mango sorbet was deliciously fresh and probably the best I'd ever had in my life, made my first experience at Monsoon quite memorable.
I hope to visit again for Summerlicious, but not before 1) finding a job and 2) making sure the manager knows that taking meat out of a dish doesn't make it vegetarian. -
Review from edwin h.
6/7/2009
Monsoon has consistently been one of my favourite restaurants for modern Asian cuisine. Whether for after work drinks in the lounge, a fancy dinner, Summerlicious or Winterlicious, the beautiful and cozy subterranean room, great food and nice ambience have always made any visit good.
It has since changed chef and not surprisingly, the menu has also changed. Focusing on what the chef terms 'rustic Thai' cuisine, I found the cuisine far from 'rustic' but not in a bad way. Rustic is what you get at the road side stalls all over Thailand, Monsoon's menu is what one would expect as 'royal Thai cuisine'. Regardless of what you call it, I can say this: the food is superb! Delicious to the core!
I have some gripes though:
Service, although polite and efficient was very very slow. No fault of the server, I suspect the kitchen had either run into a few snags that evening or have yet to figure out an efficient system.
Also, they seemed to be out of everything. Wine, beer, pork for the pad see ew (for which they kindly substituted beef).
Yummy: duck curry, scallop in tamarind lemon sauce, pork hock, tofu clouds with mango salad.
Food - ****
Ambience - ****
Price - $$$$
Service - **
Overall - ***
