Last Saturday we had a few hours between opera shows to get dinner. So, we went to Monsoon Poon. We'd been there once before and had an outstanding meal. And this time, since we got there before 6pm, we got to have the lucky hour cocktails as well, which on that day was "Gone Pete Tong".
As stated in the menu, it was a really refreshing drink, cold and cucumber-infused. The Wasabi liqueur gave it a really interesting flavor too, which was quite nice. I've had a gourmet chocolate with wasabi-flavored filling before (at last year's Chocolate Festival - it's on again soon in Wellington, so if you're around do give it a try!), which was not such a great flavor pairing, but it worked a lot better in this cocktail! As you can see in the photo, it also had pieces of cucumber in it too, which sometimes liked to get caught in the straws! But again, this feature of the drink wasn't unpleasant.
They had an ethnically themed decor for the most part, with lots of red. On the wall behind us there were a series of plates signed by notable people who have eaten at the restaurant - below is one signed by Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords! It reminds me of what is probably more commonly seen in cities like New York, with restaurants that can advertise that presidents and celebrities have had dinner there.
Food-wise, we ordered two entrees, the Little Dragon Tacos (which we'd had before and had to have again!) and the Wanzi's. The Little Dragon Tacos are a mixture of shrimp, chili sauce, coriander and avocado wrapped in a soft roti shell, and the Wanzi's were described as "crispy bean curd, smoked pork, spring onion and panko crumbs, served with a honey, chili, and ginger soy dipping sauce" - we ordered those because they sounded most interesting. The mix of flavors and textures in the Little Dragon Tacos was absolutely outstanding, and the Wanzi's were soft, warm, and delicious with the sauce. The sauce had a really nice sweet-but-tangy flavor too, which complemented the more plain flavor of the Wanzi's.
And for mains, we got the Shaking Beef (served on "peppery leaves with a lime dipping sauce") and the Malay Hawker Style Fried Fish and Prawns, which came covered in a "kaffir lime, coconut, candlenut and chili sauce." We did have to get the rice separately, but one order was enough for the two of us, and we got coconut rice (they have saffron and jasmine options as well). They do have other sides available too, like vegetables and fried rice, and additional condiments too - not that we needed them!
I found the beef (my dining companion's order) to be a bit too well-done for my liking, but delicious nonetheless. (Perhaps one can request to get it more rare, we didn't ask!) The sauce it came with was really zesty, and it was great that both dishes came with vegetables, something that often doesn't happen in Asian-style restaurants! My fish and prawns came with cucumber and grated carrot, and a cherry tomato. This is definitely one of those dishes that tastes a lot better than it looks - the sauce was amazing, with the consistency of a thick gravy but with a smooth, sweet and aromatic taste, the fish was perfectly cooked inside, with a delightful crispy outer layer of fried batter (not greasy at all), and the prawns were of the very large and fresh-tasting variety. The rice was nice too, having its own coconutty flavor as well as being an accompaniment for our other sauces.
After our fantastic dinner at Monsoon Poon, we headed over to Chow for the 2 for 1 Saturday cocktail special. I have posted about dinner at Chow (an Asian fusion restaurant) before here, and they've definitely got great food, so we wanted to see how their drinks stood up.We ordered the Lemongrass and Sake Martini, which was, as you may have guessed, a martini made of lemongrass, sake, and lime. We also ordered the same dessert we'd had last time, the chocolate brownie spiced with lemongrass and fresh ginger, with vanilla ice cream. This Chow (Tory Street) was a different location to the one we'd been to before, so the dessert was a little different than the one we had at the Woodward Street location.
One thing we hadn't realized and wasn't clearly advertised was that the 2 for 1 cocktails meant that we could get two of the same cocktail for the price of one, not that we could get any two cocktails and just pay for the higher-priced one. The Lemongrass and Sake Martinis were luckily something we were both interested in, but it would have been nice if we could have gotten different ones and had a taste of two, as they've got some others that sound interesting as well. So unless you're planning on having two cocktails each (which could be a good thing) you've got to have the same cocktail, so hopefully you and your companion don't have conflicting tastes!
The cocktails were quite nice though, clear and not very flavorful as such, but very clean and simple-tasting, with a couple strands of lemongrass as a garnish. I'd had hot sake before, but never chilled, so it was interesting to taste the very different flavor of cold sake.
As for the dessert, well this was VERY different from the one we had in the Woodward Street restaurant. It still tasted great, after all you can't really go wrong with a dense chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream. However, a lot of the details that the other one had, this one lacked. The hard chocolatey layer of the other brownie? This one didn't have that. The cold icy patches in the ice cream? None of those... it didn't taste as home-made either. And the sauce, the lemongrass and ginger sauce, well that was clear on the last one we had, and here it's quite yellow, as if they've added something else to it too, yet somehow making it less flavorful...couldn't taste much of the ginger in this version. It's still a great dessert, and the brownie's texture and ice cream go great together, but this one definitely wasn't as spectacular as the first one we tried. So be warned, it's a very hit-and-miss dessert with lots of potential but inconsistent results. However at the same time, you'll probably never be disappointed by this choice if you're after something sweet!
All in all, these two restaurants were a great way to prepare ourselves for our final Wellington performance of the show (The Gypsy Baron, by Strauss).
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