Thelonious Monkfish | That Fish Cray | Guest Post by Riki

Another guest post from our silent partner, Erika aka RIKI — you guys may remember her from her Parson’s Table post…enjoy!

Hey it’s me Riki and I like SUSHI. I recently paid a visit to Thelonious Monkfish in Central Square. Given the crazy name I was expecting to see something exciting like tanks full of blowfish, live jazz, or magic! So I guess my dreams were crushed  I was a little surprised when we walked into a very basic interior with plain decor. Named after the late great jazz artist Thelonious Monk, this place touts a range of musically-themed menu items like the Bebop, Sophisticated Lady, C Jam Blues, and even Gaga’s Monster Roll.

We started with a few snacks. The Agedashi Tofu (fried silken tofu cubes in hottentsuyu broth, bonito flakes & grated spring onion) – light and crispy tofu with flavorful broth makes a great starter for sushi, and isn’t it pretty?

The Tiger’s Eye appetizer (calamari rolled in seaweed, smoked salmon & avocado; baked & served on shredded daikon with ponzu sauce) sounded like a winning combo, but was not what I expected. It was so dang chewy I forgot about the flavor and was basically just trying to get the job done.

The Ancient Fried Rice (duck and crisped bacon, egg, shiitake, carrot, celery, white onion, scallions, ginger, peppers are stir-fried with jasmine rice) was the favorite of the night, but how can you go wrong with egg, bacon AND duck? You can’t. Plus scallions, ginger and shiitake! I’ll be back for this one.

The Frog Prince Roll with salmon, mango and tempura crunch, outside layered with avocado, then crowned with a spicy snow crab and tobiko salad was fantastic! Great flavor and texture.

The Spicy Tuna Roll had to be thrown in for good measure, and it was great as well.

So overall, this place definitely sounds great on paper – a cool name and wacko menu really got my hopes up. Worth a try, but my favorite will always be Symph Sush!

524 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02139