Monkey King Pan Asian Bar

This is a great little hidden secret in the Elizabeth street end of the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre. Tucked away in Menzies Alley is Monkey King, a Bar/​Restaurant inspired by the Chinese 16^th century novel ‘Journey to the west’.
Beers are served in the usual pots and pints, but there is no sign of any old scratchy plastic jugs that other bars seem to prefer. Instead they use over sized ceramic teapots to serve beer in, which is a nod to the prohibition times of the 1920’s.
The waiter guided us through the menu, which is designed to share and took us on the Monkey King journey through China, Korea and India. We selected the Beef skewers and a assortment of dumplings to start with, then shared the curry of the day, which was a velvety Malaysian chicken curry.
Once we finished dinner we moved into the bar area and treated to a live acoustic duo. Which was a great way to finish the night.
Monkey King has something different every night from free entertainment to a Mario Kart Comp every Thursday.
The team at Monkey King are genuinely keen on making sure you enjoy your experience.
Cheers Monkey King looking forward to our next journey together.

I’d been walking past this place quite often, namely because I work in the area, and have been meaning to check it out for quite a while. One afternoon I decided to do just that and I have to admit that it was okay, but nothing really all that fantastic. They call themselves a Pan Asian Beer Bar, and seem to be providing an alternative to the Asian Beer Café upstairs. It is a bit flashier than the other, but it really didn’t grab me as much. Sure, it is much easier to get a seat, and the décor is nice, though the beer selection didn’t seem to be all that huge. While it is fairly convenient, it isn’t one of those places that I’d probably go back to all that often.