Hi! I’m back for the FINAL week of CRR! I was joined today by a good friend who’s starting grad school next week (he’s a real economist). 

This was one of the most enjoyable meals I’ve ever had. We had some great discussion about econ, life, goals and some laughs over the proper way to hold chopsticks.

Unfortunately, the food did not contribute to the experience. Tl;dr: Cambridge is not great for sushi, regardless of what the reviews say…. ><

The Mad Monkfish.

The Mad Monkfish is an Asian Fusion restaurant in Central square right across from Little Donkey. Although they’re a highly rated restaurant, they’re just as known for their live  jazz shows every night from 7 to 10pm. I’m not a jazz fan, but there’ve been some quite well regarded performers

Food

I’ll put it bluntly: the food is mediocre at best. Maybe we ordered the wrong items, but the menu definitely suffered from excess diversification 

We started with some pickles: daikon, carrots, cabbage and cucumbers

These were quite good! Strong and sweet. They reminded me of the pickles I’d get at the market near my grandparents place.

I would have liked the cucumbers to be more crisp, but other than that, all good.

The pickles were the highlight of the meal.

For my main, I got a tasting of sashimi.

Is it their specialty? No. But if they offer it, it better be good. A good portion of their dishes also include permutations of raw seafood on rice, so if the sashimi is good, chances are much of the rest of the menu would be too. It wasn’t. 

1. The shrimp was over cooked
2. The mackerel was over cooked and lacked vinegar
3. The scallops weren’t fresh. Lacked flavour and watery
4. The uni tasted off, also lacked flavour….

The smoked salmon and roe were quite tasty. I should have ordered more

My friend (a vegetarian) got the vegetarian deluxe. This came with two rolls: avocado cucumber maki and oshinko (pickled daikon) maki

He wasn’t too impressed either. The oshinko apparently tasted better than the cucumber avocado though. Make of that what you will.

Service and atmosphere

The atmosphere was interesting…. The restaurant seems to have two personalities. The front room had the vibe of a swanky night club.

The back room was almost Victorian esque with ornate mirrors on the wall and bird cage chandeliers featuring (hopefully fake) stuffed peacocks.

We went for lunch, but at dinner time, I’m sure the atmosphere would be quite lively. 

Service was decent. We did not have much with our servers, but they were courteous and quite fast with the food. 

Overall impression 

Overall, I was quite disappointed with the Mad Monkfish. It’s definitely not a restaurant I’d go to for the food. With that said, it would be a nice place for happy hour or date night with someone who enjoys jazz

That wraps up the Cambridge Restaurant rush!!

I’ll be back next week for a wrap up and reflection. Until then, Bye!

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