We did a little bit of travelling in April, flying to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Greece. Some of our good friends travelled the United Kingdom, whilst another friend went to Switzerland. Upon all of us getting back into the country we agreed to meet up for dinner and discuss how our trips went. For our meet up we decided to head to Moonsoon Restaurant in North Adelaide. Moonsoon is a fine dining restaurant that serves modern Asian cuisine with culinary influences from Vietnam and Thailand dominating their menu.
Moonsoon is located at Shop 2 & 3, 143 O’Connell Street, North Adelaide, near the Piccadilly Cinemas. Upon arriving to the restaurant, you are greeted by a big black steel framed glass door which initiates the styling of the interior. Once inside you see the continuation of the black and brown colouring throughout the restaurant. From the bar, the ambient light fittings, wallpaper and intricate name display, you can see that someone has put some thought into this restaurants appearance. This attention to detail and design sets up the atmosphere within the room, there’s just a natural warmth to the room. The table settings are all neatly laid out and the large leather seats are really comfortable. You know you can indulge in their food and refreshments without having to shift in your seat because you’re uncomfortable. The only design fault I could find in this restaurant is, they have a single unisex toilet. Therefore, you may have to wait a while to use their facilities when the restaurant is at full capacity.
In regards to their menu, it is extensive. You will not be short for choices here. I know at some places this can be an issue, because being able to maintain the freshness of the produce and the quality of the food being served can be difficult with so many different dishes being prepared. Sometimes making excellent dishes on a smaller menu can be better than making good dishes on a large menu. In my opinion, Moonsoon doesn’t have this problem, they make their large menu work very well. I can’t go anywhere without also tasting their wine selections, and they have a really good choice of local and international wines. Additionally another positive note for them is they allow their customers to bring your own (BYO) wine, which we did for our red wine choice, but it was probably not required. Due to this solid wine list we also bought a bottle of their Babich Black Label Sauvignon Blanc at AUD$40 a bottle.
If you have trouble deciding what you want to eat, I suggest trying one of their banquet options. This is what we decided to do, so we chose the 6 course banquet at AUD$28 per person. The banquet consisted of a mixed shared plate, a Vietnamese salad, Green curry which we selected one with chicken and one pure vegetarian. The fourth course was a seafood hot-pot, followed by sizzling steak with black pepper. The main dishes were accompanied by steamed jasmine rice, and the banquet finished with lychees and ice-cream.
The mixed platter was the first course to arrive, this platter consisted of beef satay with peanut sauce, pork meat balls, soft spring rolls, rice paper, a variety of salad vegetables and a dipping sauce. The waitress serving us explained that the rice paper was so we could utilise the various ingredients on the plate to create our own cold rolls. To begin with we were unsure about making the cold rolls, but once someone got the confidence and started making one, we joined in. It was an enjoyable and relatively easy to do, just don’t over soak your rice paper. As a group we were happy with the mixed platter selections, and they tasted pretty good too.
Once we had finished the platter our waiting staff made sure we were finished with the dishes, cleared our plates and restocked us with clean ones. The second dish came out and the freshness of the Vietnamese salad stood out instantly. It brought me back to Ha Long Bay, where I first tried a Vietnamese salad whilst on an overnight bay cruise with my family. The sweet flavour of the dressing and the small pieces of chicken, mixed in with fresh salad vegetables, was lovely.
The third dish was the creamy green chicken and green vegetable curries, this was served with a medium-sized bowl of jasmine rice. I must admit over the years I have had many Thai green curries, from the “mouth burning, watering eyes, I need water curries” to the “sweet coconut intricately flavoured creamy textured curries” that you can eat all night long. In comparison to the many I’ve had all over the world, this curry probably rates as a good solid curry. It’s not hot, it’s more of a smooth simple curry, but not the worst I’ve had by far.
The fourth dish was our seafood hot-pot, which didn’t have that over powering fish stock flavour. It was more of a subtle winter broth with some nice sized prawns and Chinese vegetables. I don’t think I would have had a problem eating more of this dish. It was pretty small in comparison with the rest.
The fifth dish listed came out at the same time as the green curries. The waitress placed down an empty hot plate and warned us to sit back as she poured the sizzling steak from a bowl onto the plate. Immediately it sizzled and the sauce started to pour onto the table-cloth, maybe a touch too much sauce. Apart from the mess it made, it tasted great, the beef was succulent, the black pepper sauce was thick, fragrant and flavoursome.
Dessert was offered at the end, and two of our party opted to have coffees instead, while the rest of us decided to try the lychees and ice-cream. Not much to say about this dish, fresh lychees on what I believe was store-bought vanilla ice-cream. If it was fresh made ice-cream then unfortunately it was nothing special to rave about.
What I can rave about was the service the waiting staff gave us, constantly topping up our water glasses, and asking politely if we wanted more wine in our glass before pouring. The clearing and replacement of our dishes between some courses, plus ensuring everyone was finished with the courses before clearing everything away. There is nothing worse than waiting staff taking plates away whilst others are still eating. It is like they are trying to rush you out the door. Moonsoon’s staff make sure they look after you, even with a full restaurant so you don’t feel rushed. We were there for a good three hours, and were the last of many customers to leave for the night.
Like most Asian styled restaurants the prices of the food is reasonable, with main dishes ranging between AUD$17 -AUD$24. The best value for money are the banquets, because 6 courses for AUD$28 and you come away not wanting more food, in my opinion is excellent value.
For readers that are visiting from overseas or from interstate, the best way to get to Moonsoon’s from the city centre, is by taxi, or catching a public bus on King William Road. Make sure it goes down the full length of O’Connell Street. So, if you decide to try Moonsoon Restaurant, then tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!
Rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)
Decor = 9
Atmosphere = 9
Service = 9
Price = 9
Food = 9
Overall = 9
