Seattle’s 50 Essential Restaurants: Monsoon is No. 8

Nov. 7, 2026 at 6:00 am Updated Nov. 7, 2026 at 6:00 am

This capsule restaurant review is part of our ongoing Seattle’s 50 Essential Restaurants project. Find more at seattletimes.com/tag/restaurant-news and in print on Nov. 15, in a special edition of The Mix.

No. 8: Monsoon

Vietnamese

615 19th Ave. E., Seattle (Capitol Hill); 206-325-2111; monsoonrestaurants.com/seattle

This groundbreaking Capitol Hill bistro helped define neo-Vietnamese cuisine in the 21st century, as siblings Sophie and Eric Banh showed that their homeland’s cuisine, done expertly, deserved the same white-tablecloth treatment afforded to French food or any other “highbrow” tradition.

The Banhs also embraced the “eat local” mantra long before it became a buzzword, implementing Dungeness crab and organic produce into their traditional Vietnamese fare and Indochine takes .

Dishes like the caramelized catfish claypot and the rice-wine-soaked drunken chicken have become synonymous…