Monsoon: an Old Friendship Renewed

[richards1052]

Last Tuesday night, my family was recuperating from two hard blows--a burglary/break-in the previous night and news that a medical lab had erroneously told my wife that she'd miscarried (when she hadn't). We all thought it was time to get away from the house for a nice, easy, delicious meal in the neighborhood. I suggested Monsoon. My wife felt that our less than adverturesome three year old wouldn't find much to eat there. But I persisted because I had a hankering for their cozy, informal cuisine. We've been eating at Monsoon almost since it opened. But a few years ago we found that they weren't changing their menu often enough and that if you ate there too often enough you could become quite jaded with the offerings.

Monsoon is a Capitol Hill restaurant owned by Sophie and Eric Banh. While StarChefs.com describes the cuisine as "Vietnamese," I think I'd call it Southeast Asia meets the Pacific Northwest. In 2002, Bon Appetit named it among the nation's Best Neigborhood Restaurants. Check out this link for two of the Banh's recipes.

So last night we returned after an absence of many months and the menu is not only new (from the last time we were there), but it shines. While several old standbys remain on the menu, much of it is new. We ordered asparagus soup with enoki & lobster. It came in a slightly viscous broth that was delicious. The lobster meat was wonderfully tender. We ordered soft noodles with wild mushrooms, green onion & duck egg. Another wonderful dish. The scallops over crunchy wild rice risotto were quite fine. My favorite style of scallop preparation is to saute them over very high heat. While they'd been prepared this way, they were then doused with a sauce which, while very tasty, caused the scallops to lose that crisp, slightly crunchy exterior texture that is so wonderful. The sticky wild rice risotto is a preparation I've never seen before and it was quite good. For dessert, I ordered bannana cake which was soaked in butter and perhaps a liqueur as well. It had a dark, slightly crusty exterior that gave it an unusual flavor. With such a potentially banal dish as this, one needs to change it to relieve its ordinariness and the Banhs have done this well. There are many other dessert offerings which are new to me which I'll have to return to savor.

I asked the waitress for a recommendation of a white wine and she suggested the Albert Mann Alsatian Pinot Blanc and it did not disappoint. It had a pleasing yellow gold glow and was smooth, complex, and neither too dry nor too sweet.

Our meal made us feel as if we'd become reacquainted with an old friend we hadn't seen for years.

Monsoon Restaurant

615 19th Avenue East

Seattle, WA 98112

206.325.2111

Edited April 24, 2004 by richards1052 (log)

[mamster]

Sounds like the perfect antidote to a crappy week. I like Monsoon a lot, and it's nice when a restaurant that's been around a while is able to retain both its popularity and quality.

[MsRamsey]

You mentioned having a waitress, so luckily you didn't get my most unfavorite waiter in Seattle. If I could avoid getting him every time, I'd be at Monsoon a lot more often. Everything is beautifully prepared and the flavors delicate and elegant.

[nightscotsman]

I love Monsoon.

I miss Seattle.

[richards1052]

You mentioned having a waitress, so luckily you didn't get my most unfavorite waiter in Seattle.  If I could avoid getting him every time, I'd be at Monsoon a lot more often.  Everything is beautifully prepared and the flavors delicate and elegant.

I wouldn't say the service is stellar, though it's serviceable. There were two waiters, one male & one female. They had that young, slightly distant, taciturn 'Capitol Hill attitude' (sorry if anyone takes offense at my generalization). I don't know if I'd call it slightly supercilious or what. I definitely wouldn't call it solicitous, which is what you like in a fine restaurant.

While the waitress gave us good food recommendations when we asked, she didn't reallly take much time to listen carefully to me or respond in any detail. During meal transitions when we wanted to order our main courses and dessert the waiters were desultory. I don't like waiters who see you looking at them & pretend they don't see you. It was a bit like that at Monsoon.

That being said, I'm from New York & I have less patience for this sort of 'stuff' than most Seattleites I know so perhaps I'm being somewhat harder on them than your average diner would be.

[mb7o]

one question: how was the noise level? until they quiet the place down a bit (add some padding or something), I won't be back. which is too bad.

[MsRamsey]

When it's full, the noise level is extreme. It's a drag, because I love their food. But until that one horrible waiter quits, I don't think I'll be there much either.

[Kent Wang]

I went to Monsoon on Saturday, July 15 for their weekend brunch.

Steamed BBQ pork buns, pork siu mai, shrimp har gaw.

Zong zi, pan-fried daikon cakes, shrimp bun. The thing I never liked about zong zi is that there is not enough meat; Monsoon's version is about one-third pork, exactly what I've been looking for.

For a place that doesn't specialize in dim sum I was very impressed with the quality of all of their dim sum items, on par with even the best dim sum restaurants.

Duck leg curry with morning glory greens.

Banh xeo. The rice crepe is nice and crispy at first but after absorbing some moisture develops an unpleasant, mealy texture. I like bean sprouts but it's hard to eat a half plate full.

Mem nuong. Casing-less sausage. Flavorful seasoning, skillful grilling job. Isn't a casing-less sausage just a meat ball formed into the shape of a log -- a meat log I suppose?

Brunch menu.

I'm not a fan of Vietnamese cuisine but I liked Monsoon's take on it a lot. The incorporation of Chinese and colonial elements really appealed to my taste. Good value for the dollar.

[little ms foodie]

Della, I and the SO's went to Monsoon last night, the 4 of us had never been! it was wonderful! we started with squid stuffed with duck which was my favorite of the night. Pork belly was the other favorite- just perfectly braised! Then halibut cheeks with morning glory greens- the sauce with the cheeks had a nice little spice to it. soft noodles with oyster mushrooms and duck egg was good but not as flavorful as we had hoped. marinated flank steak special with rice noodle cakes and pineapple was very tasty. a nice bottle of mosel spatlese. not only was the food very good but the value was wonderful! less than $100 per couple with tip. I do really want to go back and try their brunch.