Blogging platforms should come with a warning: Do not write reviews of tasty Vietnamese restaurants while under the influence of hunger! My belly is telling me to get back in my car and drive to Monsoon East. No, belly, no.
Here’s the scene: It’s lunchtime on one of the last sunny days for Western Washington. After driving around the block four times looking for any parking spot, I find one right in front of the restaurant. My baby, Rodger, and I stumble in and take a look around the swanky, contemporary restaurant. No hostess, but smiling cooks behind the open-view kitchen.
Finally the hostess appears from the back and seats us promptly with the menus and a high chair. Ah, the menus. Everything sounded so enticing, it took me forever to order. Luckily I had a cheerful waitress who recommended the organic chicken in the vermicelli bowl. Sounded good to me, but first a salad.
The salad was Green Papaya with Grilled Prawns and Caramelized Pineapple. It was tangy and bright with really well-balanced flavors, despite the sad looking pineapple. Although, it couldn’t be too sad, because afterall, it was caramelized pineapple. I think the prawns were good. I’d love to be more descriptive, but Rodger only let me have one bite!
Then the vermicelli bowl came, filled to the brim with lemongrass chicken, crispy imperial roll, cucumber, mint, and a sauce that carried a real kick. Wow, when the menu said “crispy” roll, I was expecting something along the lines of a deep-fried spring roll, but the Vietnamese apparently don’t use the word “crispy” lightly. It had a serious crunch factor. Delicious. The only thing about the meal that left me wanting was the dry chicken. Very unfortunate because if it weren’t for a little too long of a kiss on the grill this would be a gripe-less review.
All of this came at a very reasonable price for such flavorful fare. The vermicelli bowl was only 9.50 and if you don’t have a monkey stealing all your prawns and chicken, this would probably be more than enough for lunch, but I spent an extra 8.00 to get the salad too. There were so many cool things on the menu I didn’t order, like Idaho catfish claypot, bo la lot beef and the raw bar. I’m going to have to go back and try each of them!
