Monsoon - Gaslamp Quarter
Over the last 6 months, my husband and I have initiated ourselves into the world of Indian food. I’ve heard several times that there’s no good Indian food in San Diego. That may be true. I can tell that Indian cuisine is very complex and regional, so maybe it’s hard to get it precisely right. But we’ve found a couple good Indian spots this year and Monsoon is one of them.
Upscale and located in the downtown Gaslamp district, Monsoon is nowhere near the business park lunch buffets that we are used to when it comes to Indian food.
Recently, my husband Daniel and I took our Saturday night and totally winged it. With no specific plans in mind, we parked in Horton Plaza, got our parking validated for 3 hours, and set off to do whatever we pleased. After a cocktail or two on the roof of the Marriot overlooking the eerily vacant ballpark, we walked to dinner at Monsoon.
Dinner didn’t start off very auspiciously. We ordered a bottle of wine and were instantly disappointed. The thought of drinking this sub-par wine for the entire meal felt oppressive. Fortunately, our waitress was nothing but compassionate and didn’t make us feel bad at all for sending the bottle back. She totally salvaged our meal by doing everything possible to make sure we were happy with our wine before taking our dinner order. We ended up ordering a couple wines by the glass and then we were on our way to good meal. If our waitress had been difficult or annoyed with us, the whole evening might have turned out quite differently.
The next cool thing that happened was that a lady came around and gave little rhinestoned bindis for all the women in the restaurant. I told my husband that this is a pretty brilliant marketing plan because it’s pretty easy to make most girls happy - give them something cute and sparkly to wear and they’re good to go. Or at least I am! Anything sparkly… I have a hard time resisting.
As for food, first we got the Non-Veg Appetizer Sampler (shown above) which included Lamb Samosa, Chicken Pakoras, Seekh Kabob, and Tandoori Chicken. I’m sure my husband was thrilled because I usually insist on vegetarian or fish appetizers. I guess it was his lucky day! Everything was yummy, but it was a pretty heavy, filling appetizer. The portions were huge, too. I don’t think we finished everything.
Paneer Masala for me… this might be a good starter dish for me to try making at home…
I’d definitely recommend Monsoon for high-end Indian cuisine with a energetic atmosphere that makes for a fun night out in the Gaslamp Quarter. I’m sure the food isn’t terribly authentic, but it was definitely delicious and you get pretty good portions for your money.
Now I just have to get my act together and try making Indian food at home!
Monsoon
729 4th Avenue
San Diego, Ca 92101
Monsoon is good but Bombay (same owners) in Hillcrest is even better! There’s lots of excellent Indian food here in San Diego & among the best is Ashoka the Great and all the other eateries & Indian snack shops around Black Mountain Road … there’s much yumminess to be found around there!
Comment by Rorie — February 17, 2006 @ 4:09 pm
Hi Rorie! Actually, we’ve been to Bombay as well and I liked Monsoon better. At Bombay, I was totally under-whelmed by the food. Plus I asked them to make it as unspicy as possible (I’m a spiciness wimp) and it was so hot that it was inedible for me.
I do love Ashoka, though!
Have a great weekend!
Comment by Administrator — February 17, 2006 @ 5:29 pm
Sounds like a great night out - thanks for the review! I think I’ve been there once - do they do a sometimes buffet in back or am I thinking of another place nearby?
Comment by Scott — February 18, 2006 @ 11:53 am
I have a indian friend who is eating a lot in indian restaurants in the US and he thinks that Madras Cafe is one of the best south indian restaurants in the US. The menu will be different then what you expierenced in Monsoon and Bombay but it is great food.
Comment by honkman — February 18, 2006 @ 1:55 pm
That looks tasty. Sometimes I don’t care if something is authentic if it’s really good. I’m actually not familiar with Indian food and would like to learn more about it so maybe that would be a good restaurant to try.
I love that you sent your wine back. I’ve never had the guts to do that but, fortunately, never had a really bad wine brought to the table. I’m glad your waitress wasn’t rude about it.
Comment by Kady — February 18, 2006 @ 2:50 pm
I totally love shiny sparkly things. That is the #1 marketing ploy that gets me…particularly if it is pink.
Comment by Amy — February 25, 2006 @ 6:56 pm
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