Monsoon Poon

My lovely girlfriend brought me here as a surprise for my birthday. I must have walked past this place a dozen times when I was living in the city, but never realised it was a restaurant.
We arrived early so managed to get a good seat by the windows, which meant that there was some good natural lighting over our seating area. It was very quiet at that time, and I was questioning why they had such a massive restaurant. But it quickly filled up over the next hour and a half.
The pricing seemed a little steep in comparison to Lucky Buddha and White + Wongs, given they all serve reasonably similar fusion style food. But otherwise the meals were tasty, and used what I could tell to be good quality ingredients. We shared a range of dishes, and left feeling very full.

Impressed with the atmosphere and the décor. Nice feel to this place. The food was fast and above expectations. The beef rendang was very good and the fire cracker chicken comes with a chilli warning, it was borderline for me, nearly to hot to eat. But I enjoyed the meal very much as to often these dishes are softened for the general public. I like beer and was happy to see some pretty rare beers on offer, my first Laos beer experience.

Stumbled upon this place when searching for a Sunday evening dinner locale with a friend. The inside is decorated in theme with a southeast asian feel punctuated by plates signed by local new zealand celebrities (a.k.a. rugby players). It’s a large restaurant with lots of room for large groups and flexible seating arrangements — would be good for a big group birthday events.
All in all a good experience, but with tourist prices for the prime location and food that was good but not standout I landed on the three star rating. We had the wontons and lettuce wraps to start followed by butter chicken, a beef dish and green beans. We did have prompt service, however the restaurant was not that busy.

I have mixed feelings about this restaurant. The negative: waiting an hour for a table and having to follow up staff twice to find out what was going going on, a live caterpillar in my salad (cute but not really okay), the long wait between main and starters (we ordered everything at the start).The positive: my salad was taken away and dealt with quickly and we didn’t have to pay for that item (thank you), our waitress was really lovely and helpful, the food was good (a little too spicy for my taste but that’s just my preference!)
Mixed bag — the food is good if you don’t mind a long wait if you’re a group of more than 2.

Yum! This place was great! We chose this based off of a recommendation of our concierge (and of course some verification from my friends at Unilocal!) and we were super happy with our decision. This place is very unassuming from the entrance and location but you walk in and it’s a trendy, but casual, atmosphere. We ordered the following and thought it was all great:
Singapore fried noodles (with firecracker chicken) caution they don’t lie when they say it’s spicy
Shaking beef (probably the favorite of the table even though the description didn’t make it seem like it would be)
25 spice and herb lamb curry
Imperial lettuce cups
Tandoori chicken little dragon tacos
Peppered squid (basically spicy calamari)
We also got the Penang chicken but we weren’t in love with it. The coconut cream sauce was a little too sweet for some of us (although I personally am a huge fan of all things Penang so I liked it!) and for others there wasn’t enough sauce. Service was decent. Our waitress was hard to find at times but this place was packed when we walked in without a reservation at 9 pm on a Tuesday. Despite this, they were able to seat us pretty quickly. I’m glad we got to check this place out!

Nice atmosphere, but the service was erratic. Seated for 15 minutes before anyone came over.
The food sounded great on the menu, but was not as good as it sounded.
I was excited to try the Roti based tacos. There are 3 to an order and unfortunately they don’t let you mix fillings (lamb, seafood, chicken). That was a shame as this dish would be much better with some variety.
Good roti is meant to be like a croissant, its all about the pastry layers. The roti tacos were instead thick pancakes, and the 3 lamb tacos proved to be too much of the same thing.
I tried 2 other items. The red lamb curry I had was too heavy on the tomato base. The yellow fish curry was nice.

One of my most favourite restaurants to go to. Excellent staff, vast menu full of tons of delicious options! Would highly recommend going here for a fun adventure of tongue tingling and heavy touch of the pallet…
The interior is awesome and strikes the eye with a strange asian feel.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would bang

Monsoon Poon has been in that corner of Auckland since I can remember. Known for the fusion South Eastern flavours, I figured it should be a safe option for a multi-​cultural group. Auckland is going through that no reservations trend, so a place that lets me plant my name on 8 seats deserves a tentative round of applause.
They have a massive cocktail list, with $ 6 cocktail of the week from 4−6pm. Not bad at all for Auckland’s sky high cocktail prices.
We ordered Ping’s crispy skin chicken wings to nibble on. True to its name, it had a nice crunch but it lacked in the flavour department. It was also a bit pricy at $ 13 for a few chicken wings… snatched up in seconds by our unabashed diners.
I ordered the Shaking Beef (Vietnamese style seared beef), mainly because I did a class at Sachie’s Kitchen with TriBeCa’s Hayden McMillan and it was surprisingly easy and fun to make.
The first few mouthfuls were soo good. I always get the coconut rice over jasmine or plain — it’s just so much better with curries and sauces. After a while, the carb monster in me had finished my rice and I was only a third through the beef. With no rice, it was just WAY too salty. The beef was nicely seared and flavoured through and through, and it would have been nice itself without the accompanying sauce.
I must have been high on coconut rice, because I even had a couple of mouthfuls of the «Firecracker Chicken» — chilli breaded chicken with Malaysian chilli sambal. It looks lethal but to my surprise I enjoyed the burn. It tasty without being lip and tongue numbing.
Together with the happy hour cocktails, Monsoon Poon would be a safe go-​to in town. Sure there are a few creases that could be smoothed but I didn’t have to wait over an hour or pay ridiculous amounts for trendy «fusion food». The food is tasty, uncomplicated and I appreciate that.

Get the Singapore fried noodles and the firecracker chicken. A much needed hit of spice on a mild sojourn through ANZ. Also nice people, good (albeit pricey) cocktails and fun casual vibe.

Long before Auckland went mad for South-​East Asian fusion cuisine, and quintessentially «east meets west» interior design, stood Monsoon Poon; a little piece of the Orient, standing proudly on Customs St in the CBD. From the minute you walk through the strikingly red doors, into the big and eclectically oriental space within, you can’t help but feel your spirit lift a little at the excitable vibe of the place. The space is home to a luxurious sized bar (where if you don’t have a reservation, you can expect to be waiting for quite some time on any given night) full of all your fave eastern inspired and regular cocktails (think Singapore Sling — Yass!). The food menu itself is definitely fusion as it contains popular dishes from the South East ranging from Butter Chicken to Thai Yellow Curry. However, it’s a little limited in that it only has standard dishes, there’s no cross-​country flavour, like you might expect in more modern fusion places like Woodpecker Hill. Featured below is their 25 Herb and Spice Indian Lamb Curry, Malai Chicken and Billy Wong’s Wontons. We really enjoyed all 3 dishes, especially the Curry, which we found really well seasoned and balanced. Definitely recommend this place, especially for group meals when you can’t pick between Indian and Asian Cuisine. This place is definitely the best of both worlds!

Service was pretty good and the atmosphere was great. Went there on a date 2 weeks ago.
Food was ok at best, we ordered a duck curry (Thai) and a fish dish (Malay), both taste OK but nothing special. This restaurant does offer a variety of South East Asian/​Indian dishes which is great but the two dishes I ordered I could’ve gotten much tastier options at a Thai or Malay restaurant for probably half the price.
It’s a great place for a function or a date regardless

First timer, impressed. Went with the extended whanau, got the $ 35 banquet which was heaps of food even for fatties like us. Delicious tour of Asia and the subcontinent, primarily via curries. A bit more variety (other than curries) would have been good. The starter combination was a bit weird, having fewer of dish x than diners n; would recommend fewer options but one of each pp.
Service was friendly. Lovely ambience. Good drink selection and love the fact they have $ 5 singha cans, gives it a bit more of an Asia feel than most places with their $ 10 – 12 drinks.
Would definitely go again.

Lovely food, very friendly staff and really like the atmosphere. Enjoyed the steak I had from here too was very nice

What a delicious find! Came here for lunch with the family. Here’s the breakdown:
Food: Oh hells yes! We ordered:
Butter chicken– So darn good! Chicken was fresh and tender. The sauce was creamy and delicious.
Saffron and Jasmine rice– delicious and complemented the butter chicken nicely
Pappadam and a chutney trio– WOW! I usually don’t like chutney that much, but these were incredible. Especially the mint chutney.
Steamed prawns– AMAZING! These were so fresh and tasty. Seasoned to perfection. A wonderful starter.
Corn fritters– Not my favorite. These were actually too spicy for me to eat.
Nann– Mmmm so, so good. Light and fluffy.
Service: Excellent. Our server and the hostess were phenomenal. They gave us great suggestions on what to order and were very attentive, but did not hover.
Atmosphere: Gorgeous! The décor made this experience so special. It’s a really beautiful and magical setting. I bet this place is lovely at night.
Price: Very fair considering the great food, service, and décor!
Overall, if you want good Indian food without going to a divey take out place, come here! You will be very glad you did :)

What can I say? Definitely the best Indian food I have ever had.
My partner and I were staying in Auckland for the night and had been recommended Monsoon Poon by a friend. We popped in around 4pm that afternoon to see if we could make a reservation but they don’t take reservations for dinner. The hostess let us know to come by 7.30pm to get a table as it gets quite busy after that. We turned up at 8pm (after getting sidetracked drinking cocktails elsewhere) and though it was busy we easily got a table.
The service was awesome — very attentive. We ordered a carafe of NZ riesling at the recommendation of our waitress — one of the best wines I’ve had in a long time and it complimented our food perfectly!
We ordered prawn crackers, coconut rice, duck noodles and butter chicken. The servings were generous and there was no way we were going to be able to finish everything we ordered. The food was fresh and absolutely delicious. I have never had such incredible butter chicken before. Often I find Indian food too heavy and oily, but this was just superb.
After eating ourselves into a food coma we left very happy. Auckland, you are awesome!

It’s Auckland’s Restaurant Month, and this was my first stop.
I wanted Indian food, as another restaurant whetted my appetite one dinner; alas it was dark and closed, so I came upon Monsoon Poon.
I’m a fan of spicy, so naturally I choose the Firecracker chicken. The waitress warned me that it was hot, to which I tilted my head, asking her if I would drain the 750 mL bottle of water on the table. She distinctively said, «Yes.» I ordered it anyway, without rice.
HOLY MOLY. She was not kidding.
The first bite was delicious, so I had another. The heat continued to build until I was halfway done with my water. She returned, asking how it was, to which I replied, «You were sooo right.» She asked if I wanted anything to help, so I ordered coconut rice to cut the heat (it helped greatly).
I also ordered a Thai Iced Tea, which was not what I was expecting; must have been the alcoholic version with jalapeños stirred in.
All in all, I will definitely return for a less spicy dish, most likely the Penang chicken. The coconut rice was delicious as well (and I don’t normally eat rice).

Don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed in a restaurant. Especially Monsoon Poon! We had organised to have our mid-​winter Christmas function here. We had some prerequisites for our function and that included BYOW and when we had called to make a reservation we were told at the time that BYOW was fine as they were licenced. On arrival we were told that they weren’t licenced for BYOW and that we would have never been told this. The head of house was rude and had told us that they couldn’t have one large table for 18 of us due to disrupting other diners and too hard to cater for. Really, really disappointing. We ended up make a quick reservation else where. I have to say that this level of customer service just sucks! I’ve taken Monsoon Poon off my list of favourite restaurants. Customer service is everything these days! It’s all that differentiates you from your competition!

Belonging to a curry club was, for me, meant to be an exercise in curry appreciation. Be it Thai, Malaysian, Indian, Pakistani, et al. It mattered not the curries’ source.
We started our curry club about a year go at Monsoon Poon and have returned to have another crack at their TNT Chicken night.
On the first Monday of the month, $ 30 buys you all you can eat, TNT Chicken curry, naan and rice. Also included is a glass of beer. Not a pint, perhaps half a pint I’m not sure.
If you find butter chicken too hot, then this curry is definitely one to avoid. It is hotter than an «Indian hot» vindaloo. And I have eaten my fair share of those.
We regret to say that the TNT chicken curry is mostly curry sauce. There’s hardly any chicken in it compared to a year ago. The morsels of chicken included in the dish are marinated in a hot sauce and are scrumptious. The only thing is that they are few and far between.
I could only stomach one plate and had to pike out with a mango lassi.
Not for the faint of gut! But worth a crack all the same. Especially when you love seeing your fellow dining guests squirming in agony. :-)
I have eaten at Monsoon Poon about 5 times now. Each time I have been has been a pleasant experience. I love the décor and the ambience. It is what it is and I’ll keep going back.

Have visted here on a couple of occasions and have been impressed both times.
The staff are super and seem to really enjoy their work!
On my most recent visit, I was struggling to choose my order. The waitress helped me by filling me on the most popular dishes, and those that were more spicy (which I wanted to avoid on this occasion) etc. Furthermore the bar staff whip up delicious cocktails (from their rather extensive drinks menu).
My friend and I were both really impressed with the speed our meals were delivered to our table. We had mentioned that we had a concert to attend at Vector Arena. The restaurant itself is well set out, with lots of great detailing. And although there are a lot of tables, they aren’t too close together.
Moonsoon Poon is a great central city dining option for anywhere from 2 people to large groups.

Looking for a funky, bustling downtown restaurant that will suit everyone’s tastes? Look no further. Monsoon Poon is a great fusion of Asian & Indian food, situated just around the corner from the Viaduct. The friendly waitstaff will make sure your night starts off just right.
The bar is a great spot as a stand-​alone venue. There are always new cocktails with a spicy, herby Asian twist to try out, or stick to your old favourites. As you can only book for larger groups, its a good spot to wait for a free table if needed; generally you won’t be waiting long.
You can pretty much order anything from this menu & its bound to be great — I’ve eaten here many times and never been disappointed. My personal favourites are The Shaking Beef, Duck & Pineapple Curry and the Kung Pao Chicken with prawns. If your tastes extend to the hotter side of Asian & Indian cuisines, you’ll find something to cater to you as well.
I recently headed here with a large hens’ party full of giggling gals — we took over 2 large tables! We had a great time, were catered for brilliantly with a banquet menu that covered vegetarians as well, and lapped up the party atmosphere. Highly recommend.