When I first heard of the restaurant Monkey Magic, the instant images of old school movie Monkey Magic, and its dodgy dubbed engrish voice overs of the crazy characters featuring: Monkey flying on cloud with his signature finger blowing moves, Pigsy being a clumsy blond haired lazy pig, Sandy being the weird bloke with the bizarre hair cut and skulls around his neck and Tripitaka being the elegant chick who’s the occasional man???

Can someone confirm if i was a broken child??????
I grew up watching Monkey Magic as a child and I have flash backs in my memory of Tripitaka being a man???? and the white horse she sits on talks?!??? I was too young to understand and still plays a question in my mind on his/her sexuality? From memory in the episodes she’d have a manly voice and grow the occasional facial hair – beard???!?! Help.. after 20years i still don’t know if shes a man or a woman???

After reading some mixed reviews, thought I’d give this place a try as Japanese seems to be one of my favourite cuisines. Turns out Monkey Magic is fusion Japanese restaurant.. which im not a fan of… including all forms of fusion Asian food (cos im ASIAN YA’LL). To my surprise (B) liked the dishes, although had some questions about what works with what.

Ox tail tortellini, seared scallops and wasabi jus
Wasabi jus is a sweet sauce which made you want to soak the tortellini in it. The Ox tail was tender and delicious almost like eating a tender piece of beef which melted the mouth.

My only suggestion is its kind of weird seeing something Italian (tortellini) on a japanese-ish menu. I think a better option would be using something down the asian line e.g. Wonton wrapper as it tends to absorb juices better without it getting soggy or sludgy like tortellinis can. – interesting dish and combination – but over all I really liked the flavours, s callops and the ox tail *thumbs up*.

Crab on Betel Leaves
One of my favourites on the night because the crab meat was mouth watering and the betel leaves were huge and fresh. I could tell it wasnt a dodgy crab stick but rather, moist juicy fresh crab flesh with tiny bits of caviar.

Waiter suggested we order something else as we may have under ordered. I asked him what does he recommend and he recommended this pork dish. Immediately said yes trusting his judgment. Shocked when it came out looking like a sang chow bow fusion style – Not happy at first cos im chinese and we eat this a particular way with pork mince but boy just shows you cant judge before you’ve even tried.

Pork Belly?? – Sang Chow Bow style (Not sure of the name of the dish)
Never the less, once eaten it was absolutely delicious!!! Not what i expected and totally blew me off guard. The pork was caramelised with crunchy bits, the sauce was amazing with hints of lime and the bits of chilli. – Swallowed this so quicklyyyy omg soo good the combination of the sauces and flavours!

Monkey Magic Sushi Platter – Small
I’ve heard great reviews about their sashimi selection and boy it was good. Produce was flash and it pleasurable to eat. Plated up beautifully even though fairly small and fancy but still very nice. My favourite was the king fish I could eat king fish all night especially when its fresh like this.

Pepper Seared Tuna with Anchovies
(B) wanted to order this and be different and it was a scorching 35°c heat so we were in no mood to eat anything hot but rather something fresh. My love for sashimi and raw tuna meant this was something we should order.

Tuna was seared to perfection leaving the center fresh and raw, the coriander and chilli and flavours of fish sauce and lime was yummy.

The only thing that didn’t quite hit me on the spot was the baba ganoush (so it think it was??!?!) It tasted like grilled eggplant which had a burnt taste to it leaving a bitter taste when combined with the tuna =( The burnt taste overpowered the fish so we ended up trying to salvage the tuna :(

Salt & Pepper Cuttle fish
Different to having the usual salt and pepepr calimari, this had a really nice texture and was soft and tender.

Overall fairly costly, two of us cost us $135 *ouch* then again it explains its location as its opposite form bills and kylie kwong. *ouCh* pours out poor empty pockets. Apologies for my crappy photography, this restaurant is really dark inside. Started of bright then they dimmed the light really dark so it was hard to take photos. I would have flashed the food if tables next to us weren’t sitting 30cm away.

Monkey Magic
Shop 3&4,
410 Crown Street,
Surry Hills, NSW 2000
P: (02) 9358 4444