Post #340837 by Lapu-Lapu on Sat, Oct 27, 2007 11:35 PM

Posted: Today; 11:20 pm

My family and I just came back from the Mon-Kou.

We were searching for another Polynesian restaurant near the Emerald Square Mall that we dined at, twice, about nine or ten years ago (see bottom of this post).

We drove all around and couldn't find it. At first, I thought it may have been the "Kai-Lua" (or something like that) but, when I went in, it looked like an old strip club in the latter stages of bankruptcy -- so we left to keep searching.

We passed the Mon-Kou and my wife was sure that that was the place. It looked like it (inside and out) but I am positive it wasn't called "Mon-Kou" (as we had a private joke back in the 1980's about the Mon-Kou from a certain, local TV commercial that ran ad nauseum: with patrons reviewing the food in different (and badly spoken) foreign languages). We finally gave up our quest and drove back to the Mon-Kou.

It was pretty quiet for a Saturday night (but I think there are a lot of Halloween parties tonight (Oct. 27) and the Red Sox are playing Game #3 in the World Series)

We had a Pu-Pu Platter, crab rangoons, and pork fried rice (boring, huh?) but it was exactly what we were in the mood for.

The chicken fingers and fried shrimps were enrobed in big, puffy, crispy golden batter and the rice was nice and dark and delicious. Great boneless spareribs and big and juicy chicken wings (no crappy pub-food "Wing Dings" here - but real Chinese wings!)

The rangoons were actually too crabby - but that's a good thing and how they should be made -- we've just gotten used to the super-cream-cheesey ones served everywhere else.

No tiki drinks (just hot tea tonight) but we saw several big Scorpion-Bowls-For-Two being served.

Pleasant and efficient staff and groovy decor (weird, chartreuse backlighting through bamboo lattice-work, etc...)

This is one of the last "old school" Chinese restaurants around Central/Southern Massachusetts.

Worcester, MA has one (The Ho-Toy Luau) and it's in a scary area and the interior looks like it was lacquered with nicotine. It's more Chinese than South Seas/tiki.

The Honolulu is gone (a damn Bertucci's now) and the old Wind Tiki has become a Japanese place that has seen better days (it is now Sakura Tokyo: not one renovation since 1993, I fear)

The Mon-Kou will see us again, soon.

So...
Does anyone know of a similar place just north or south of the Mon-Kou?
It had a hard-to-decipher/pronounce name and looked a lot like the Mon-Kou inside.
I know the Mon-Kou has been around for 36 years, but was it originally at another location/address?
The Mon-Kou we were at tonight looked a lot like this other place we visited (twice) back in the mid-1990's.
Did it close and the Mon-Kou move in?

[ Edited by: Lapu-Lapu 2007-10-27 23:38 ]