Typhoon Restaurant
Category: Asian Fusion [Edit]
Neighborhood: Santa Monica3221 Donald Douglas Loop S.
Santa Monica, CA 90405 (310) 390-6565
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 12:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
Mon-Thu 5:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Fri, Sun 12:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
Fri-Sat 5:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m.
Sun 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. - Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: No
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
77 reviews
Neighborhood: West Hollywood
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61 Reviews for Typhoon Restaurant
Been here twice... once with a friend and once with a date. The food is very very good and very very pricey. They have everything from normal food to insects LOL.
Was disappointed last time because I made dinner reservations for my date and myself but didn't know that you had to specifically request to sit near the windows... When we arrived we were told that everybody had already reserved the window tables. So we didn't get to see the runways during dinner. Instead we hung out at the observation deck for a little while afterwards.
I went here this weekend w/ my familia to celebrate my mom's birthday. The location and the interesting dishes are why I'm giving Typhoon four stars. If it weren't for hte location I think I'd give this place 3 stars. It's located at the Santa Monica hangar and it's pretty cool to see the private planes taking off/landing while you're dining. The menu is Asian fusion including a selection of "insects" and "amphibians." I've actually tried the crickets here before..mostly just for kicks. They weren't half-bad! Plus they're a great source of protein =P.
i have to say that their brunch menu is sorta weak..I ordered the coconut french toast and it was actually really tasty, but it was about $9...they could have thrown in some eggs and hashbrowns or something too! So I ordered a side of eggs and garlic rice separately. My sis had the adobo, 2 eggs & garlic rice. The catfish is pretty delish too. Also my favorite appetizers are the samosas!!! yummay!!!
It's a bit pricey, but it's definitely a different atmosphere so I think it's definitely worht checking out at least once.
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As a wee little child in the motherland of Iran, I used to love to nibble on chicken feet...I ate cow tongue...cow/chicken brain...liver...all sorts of wonders. As I grew up and became more and more white-washed in the good ol' US of A, I started to stray away from foods that look like what it did when it was once alive.
To challenge myself, we go to Typhoon and I was excited to eat something 'weird'....I went with crickets (http://www.yelp.com/bi... beginner insect. Here's how the meal went:
1. Kimchi - nothing too amazing, same as everywhere else
2. CHA GIO CHAY (deep fried Vietnamese vegetable spring roll) - decent enough...nothing special again
3. SAMOSA (potato filling, raita, chili sauce) - I liked this one the most out of the appetizers, it came with this yogurt like sauce that I liked
4. VEGETABLE GYOZA (pan-fried Japanese-style pot stickers with cabbage, nila & onion filing) - 2nd favorite item....
5. TAIWANESE CRICKETS (Taiwanese stir-fried, raw garlic, chile pepper, asian basil http://www.yelp.com/bi...) - It took a little bit to get the courage to eat these little bastards I despise so much...I tried to hide them under other foods so I wouldn't be able to look him in the eye as I forked him in my mouth...after some time, it got a little better...didn't taste like much, just crunchy
6. GARLIC RICE - I didn't like this much at all, it was just regular sticky rice with chunks of garlic
7. GARLIC NOODLES - nowhere near as amazing as the garlic noodles at Crustaceans!
8. HONEY WALNUT SHRIMP - very very good, this was delicious
9. STIR-FRIED EGG PLANT (taiwanese-style with garlic, chile & asian basil) - oh man..........I love eggplants....you can never go wrong...
10. DESSERT - I got the ginger creme brulee (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) which was very good, you gotta get a spoon full of creme brulee and make sure you get some ginger with it...don't eat them separately...the coconut and raspberry ice creams were very very good as well, I highly recommend it!
I was very proud of myself for eating the little buggies, and the waiter was nice enough to bring over the scorpions for me to take a look at...so I could get familiarized with my next victim during my next visit to Typhoon.
p.s. view was cute too, right next to the runway watching planes come & go =]
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The food here is decent. If you want "pan Asian" or Asian in a pan you are in the right city, though Typhoon needn't be Choice #1. What you do have is a unique experience. Located at the Santa Monica Airport (yes, Virginia -- Santa Monica does have a crappy little airport,) Typhoon is located within view of landing aircraft. It's a perk.
There's something nice about the possibility of a single-engine plane crash to be dinner's entertainment. I don't know where else you can find that. Such entertainment, while not likely, isn't out of the question. Maybe your meal will be luckier than mine.
_C$
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Finally mastered the menu at PF Changs and want a graduate level course in the exotic cuisine of the orient?
Catch an episode of Bizzare Foods and wish you could be just like Andrew Zimmern...at least for a moment?
You've come to the right place!
The rest of y'all might want to try the joint upstairs instead...
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While I'm not so adventurous as to try the insect options on the menu, this is the place where I learned to love catfish....and fish cheeks.
Its location by the Santa Monica airport, as mentioned by other reviews, provides a romantic backdrop for sunset watching. I've only been here at night, often foggy ones, and there's something about both Typhoons location and lighting that harkens back to an older era. But that might just be the nearsighted romantic in me.
The menu is quite varied, and the presentation of the whole fish is worth the order alone. Though if you're enjoying cocktails and apps at the bar, that's probably not such a good idea.
We came here after a long day of work. From the beginning when we ordered drinks, I was already thrown off because I don't like having my Vodka Tonic served in a slender (anorexic) highball glass. When my boss came, he started ordering cosmopolitans and those were served in the tiniest martini glasses, which even looked tinier because my boss is over 6'3 and 300lbs +. My impression of the restaurant might have already been skewed after my nit picking of the glasses - I know OCD.
The bugs served were pretty good considering I traveled through Southeast Asia and they definitely didn't look as appetizing on the street as ordering from this restaurant (I like to think I'm adventurous but if you're on business and time is limited, the last thing I want to risk is being on the toilet half the time). However, after the novelty of serving bugs, this is a half to full star above PF Chang's food so If you're alright with PF Chang's, this place will be good to great for you.
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Typhoon's about ambience as much as it's for the food. It's a mix of Pacific Rim cuisine, and there's nothing quite like having dinner with friends, eating the grilled pork or lamb and drinking cold sake. The restaurant overlooks the Santa Monica airport runway, and having private jets and prop planes land while you're eating does add a nice touch to the atmosphere, especially for lunch. Dinner at sunset is especially nice. If you're feeling like dipping into something off the beaten path, try their fried crickets. My own preference are their grilled meats. I've had better noodle and rice dishes, but for a very laid-back, expansive environment with drinks, food & friends, Typhoon's worth a shot if you're in Santa Monica.
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Excellent location, cool vibe without being pretentious, and a great place for celebrations with a group!
Typhoon also gives me that special, warm, fuzzy feeling for including Filipino food along with the more commonly found Thai, Chinese, and Japanese fare. Their Filipino selections were great and it's about time some of the "Asian Fusion" restaurants in Los Angeles started integrating Filipino food into their menus!
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If someone were to tell you they would charge you 10 bucks for a plate of ants and fried potato strings you'd probably laugh and punch them in the neck. But, tell me I get to see a big band jazz ensemble with it and you might grab my attention.
Not only do they have a large amount of Pan Asian cuisine, like dishes from Thailand, Philippines, China, Korea, and Japan. But they serve bugs. That's right, bugs. Ants, crickets, scorpions, waterbugs, and sea worms. They even have frog legs for good measure.
With all the shows on TV nowadays, which require you to eat bugs to survive or win some cash, eating bugs in a restaurant seems a little defeating. I should be moving on to the next round! I just ate a plate of ants! OK, so maybe my ants were served over a bed of deep fried shredded potatoes and weren't crawling around and biting my fingers. And maybe the crickets weren't still chirping, but were actually deep fried with some thai spices. Regardless, it was still an adventure to be eating bugs for dinner.
Not thinking we could be filled up by just eating insects, we ordered plenty of other dishes as well. Like the Korean Kal Bi, Mongolian Lamb, Filipino Grilled Pork, Scallops, Mussels, various Gyoza and any other type of meat we could find on the menu, it was all very tasty.
The Goodyear Blimp even did a drive by along the runway as we started our meal. We also got to see Tim Davies Big Band perform. Mostly brass, this 17 piece band was amazing! He plays all around town and Jim Bianco usually joins him at some point in the set for some vocal jazz stylings as well.
I won't be craving more bugs anytime soon. Although sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go out in the yard, grab some crickets and scramble them up with some eggs. Look out Survivor Man, here I come!
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how many places can you eat insects and watch private planes?
Decor is beautiful here the food is delicious but overall its a little on the pricey side but youre paying for the views and the atmosphere. Fairly large to accomodate a large grioup of people, reservations are highly recommended. If youre looking for a low key place, somewhere where you wont be recognized, come here.
A 2-tier restaurant, lower level is basic dining area which people can see outwards to the airport and the upper area gives you a overall view of the whole restaurant.
Service is great as there are starving students so treat them well and let them know that you'll take care of them adn they'll treat you with royalty!!! Im just sayin!!!!
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I'd come here for the insects. It's just fried and salty. No biggie. The meals are small and I could always eat more after coming here, but i go here to watch the jets take off and land.
The crickets look the same cooked, as when they're alive. So that was kinda gross. I guess I like my crickets a little more burned, like the scorpions.
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Good for group lunches as you look over the runway at Santa Monica Airport. Decent pan Asian menu (Thai, Chinese, Philipino) but nothing is great or particularly authentic.
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Mmmmm good... Mongolian Lamb is excellent, especially when you ask for it spicy.
They have an exclusive cold Sake that is delightful.
Excellent views, great place for lunch or a sunset summer dinner.
The location and atmosphere is wonderful. It is lively on a Friday night to provide an upbeat sensibility but it is never overcrowded. The range of Fusion food on the menu is incredible. The bill can be on the spendy side, but in my opinion you are definitely getting what you pay for. Excellent, interesting cuisine, classy atmoshpere, a nice view, and good service.
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I've always heard the stories about this restaurant's infamous menu, the crickets, the ants, the worms, and the grasshoppers. So when my girl suggested we eat here last night, images from the movie Temple of Doom flashed through my head.
Cut to me sitting at a table with live crickets in a bowl, crawling all over the place. Camera pans up to my girlfriend with a mouthful of bugs, little legs and wings are all over her face and chin...
Noreena: "Aren't they just delicious? Why aren't you eating yours? Aren't you hungry?"
*white flash* back to reality... I slowly come out of my day dream.
Apprehensively I said "...Sure... wait isn't that the place that serves bugs? I ain't eating no insects, so they better have other things on this menu."
Well after going here I can testify, they do have other things on the menu. Its more like a fusion or mix rather of different types of Asian cuisine. Its actually very good. We ordered the Filipino Pancit Molo Soup, Mongolian Beef that is served with these delicious sesame buns, and an order of the Stir Fry Green Beans. I was impressed. Usually restaurants that try to do multiple types of cuisine don't usually succeed. I would definitely like to go back and try more dishes from the menu, but whether or not I'll be trying the insects is another story.
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From a semi-large party point of view, this place was F-ing excellent!
Rice and I decided to have all the family go here for dinner after our LAX Courthouse nuptials. We prearranged a menu and seating for 16 people the weekend before. They were very helpful, called us back quickly telling us the price, and the moment we all started arriving, they took good care of us.
Since Rice had set up the menu ahead of time (with my strong suggestions, of course) I had no idea we were in for so much food. When he told me they were going to serve us 2 orders of every item we selected, it turned out to be 4! (But exactly the same price they quoted) We were overrun with dishes: crab cakes and dumplings for starters, honey walnut shrimp, chicken Adobo, Kal Bi (korean short ribs), broccoli, curry vegetables, a Malaysian noodle dish along with tons of rice. Everyone was having such a good time trying everything, passing it around, drooling over their faves (like the crab cakes, honey walnut shrimp, short ribs and curried veggies) while the waiters never let us go too long without an empty glass or let empty dishes clog up the table.
I was very nervous about how this whole dinner was going to go down, what with possible family drama or a kid that wont sit still, but it was a great night, everyone was in a great mood, and we had great food and service while watching the SM runway.
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Just the atmosphere I wanted, to celebrate my bday with my one of my best friends. We met in Tae Kwon Do, years back, when both of us hardly knew a word of Korean. I still don't know how to speak it, much less spell it, though I am certain I love to eat Korean food (my grandma cooked it just the way I liked it).
Had been here a couple of times before, but tonight was unusally special. When we walked up to the restaurant without reservations, alas, there were no tables left inside.
Thus, we ended up outside. Instanteous special effects included! Jets roared up on the runway, propeller planes buzzed in so close to park that the wind caused our candle to be extinguished. Front row seating definitely had its perks = very exciting & authentic was this TYPHOON restaurant, ha ha. Comedy ensued (menus flew away) as we watched other diners' table settings take off without prior clearance whenever another plane taxied in. Eventually the planes came to a screeching halt. They had a curfew of 11 p.m. By the way, the patio heaters warmed us up, once the diners behind us figured out how to turn up the flames. The waiter reignited our candle, uh huh, at our request.
Ordered green beans which came with cellophane noodles, a Korean based taste sensation, both of us eagerly gobbled up. It would have been much better though, if it was hotter in temperature.
The stir fried eggplant had a sweet , hot burn, with a carmelized texture. Sort of similar to Panda Inn Express garlic eggplant, but better, as it did not leave my stomach feeling greasy afterwards. Again, we both liked it equally as much. However the downside was that we had to ask 3x for the eggplant dish. What was going on, we questioned the waiter? "Oh, the order got lost", was the answer with an apology.
The green curry was bubbling hot. However too salty for my taste buds.
The Ko chi chung (butchered Korean spelling, I know) beef salad was the hit with my best friend. A definite "date" restaurant was the consensus.
After dinner, we ventured back INSIDE to find a live (not worms, scorpions, ants, crickets or any other type of unusual food items) 17 piece jazz band. Members of which were decked out in costumes. Some were dressed in Latin costumes, others were pirates, very festive, even a Rastafarian. Reminded me a little of the Ricky Ricardo band on the TV show "I Love Lucy". A nice surprise ending to fantastic bday celebration.
Spoke to the staff re: the live band. Apparently they were recently granted a permit by the city for live entertainment on the last Monday night of the month. Reservations highly recommended, concerts begin between 8-9:30, depending on the band. However be forewarned, the music is loud inside, so conversation is best heard outside, that is, if you can talk/hear above the taking off & landing aircraft!
I overheard the elevator blew out when they set up the 17 piece band. So be advised elevator gators!
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The view is better than the food.... But the food is good too!
I love to watch the planes take off (@ night) give this place a try if you are feeling adventurous and want something out of the ordinary. I would best describe this as Thai / Filipino fusion.
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The traditional Thai menu items were pretty good. I ordered the Thai seafood soup,Tom Yum, which was delicious. The pad Thai was pretty good, garlic noodles were yummy, and the spring rolls were good too. We wanted to order the soft cold spring rolls without the seafood but that was impossible. Might be difficult to order something if you are allergic to shell fish. But on that note, there were a lot of options on the menu so don't avoid the trip on that account.
The service was not very great. We had reservations, intending to avoid waiting for a table, which reservations are usually good for, but we still had to wait. Our waitress took at least 10 or 15 minutes to make it to the table. Every time we tried to politely get her attention she knowingly ignored us. None of the food came out at the same time and our waitress forgot some drinks. It was a not so busy Sunday night which was disappointing. Coming from an experienced waitress, the service could have been better.
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Stir fried crickets? Oh, I'm in! I figured insects + thai food = wonderful, but unfortunately this place just ain't up to snuff. We reserved a table just in case it was busy on a Friday night, and it was pretty packed. We sit down and order drinks. The drinks come eventually and are horribly watered down. Anger meter rising...
Of course my main goal was to try their insects, so watered down drinks wasn't a huge problem. We order off their paper placemat / menu (wtg, very classy, Typhoon) a bunch of insects, frogs legs, some curry, some mushu chicken and some garlic stir fry noodles.
The food comes eventually and amazingly the crickets and the ants were the exact damned same thing. Here's some insects sprinkled over potato strings. Pretty piss poor. The chicken stuffed waterbugs were more impressive, but everyone should know that waterbug is fancy wordage for cockroach. Anyways, we eat those - way too salty. Don't eat the heads or the wings. We ate the heads even at the warning of the waitress; horrible texture and bad flavor.
Frogs legs were competent - weird cilantro sauce, curry was good, mushu crap was average, and the garlic stir fry was basically spaghetti with some garlic flavoring - BAD.
The view is interesting of the airport, although you don't see much. The service is average and the food is a little overpriced, but it's at the airport, so I guess that's understandable? It doesn't excuse the food being average and their insect dishes were so simple, my 5 year old cousin could have come up with the recipe.
3 stars only for location, parking (one of the few restaurants to have free parking in santa monica), having some decent dishes, and actually serving insects. This place is really a 2 1/2 for me. I won't be coming back. Go here if you want to try bugs. Don't bother ordering any booze, your drink won't have any in it.
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I'm gonna let you in on a little secret from The Decider. Typhoon is my hidden gem location for watching the Super Bowl. There. I said it.
As a sports fan, I take my choice of Super Bowl viewing location seriously. Assuming I choose to not watch the game at someone's home (always a risk because the food might be shit or the seating limited), I need a couple of key things for enjoying the day. Most importantly for a YELPER, I want good food and plenty of it. I don't want the kind of food that will clean out my colon by halftime either (sorry, Hooters). I also don't want to fight people for a seat...especially not a seat where I can actually still see the TV screen or a seat that requires getting to the place 4 hours prior to kickoff to reserve. Plus, I want to be able to hear the game. To me, there's nothing worse than a crowded bar where you need closed captioning to understand what's happening when a player is on the ground, being serviced by a team of doctors. Plus, without sound, you miss any chance to make fun of the commercials. I also don't want to hang at a place where everyone is drunk by the 4th quarter and you're stepping on someone's puke as you head to the bathroom.
So all that said, Typhoon has become my restaurant of choice for watching the big game. They set up a big projection TV screen, which you can see from most of the tables (there's another TV at the bar). They get a crowd of about 40 people...enough to have some energy in the small room, but not too many people that you can't get a good table. They serve a ton of food. There are usually two or three platters of some basic sushi (cali rolls, spicy tuna, and some hand rolls), some Chinese chicken salad, fried rice with chicken, potstickers, egg rolls, chow mein, and maybe one or two other items. They keep the food coming for the duration of the game and then serve some fresh fruit during the 4th quarter. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, the all-in-one price for this meal is just $25 bucks. How can you beat that!? You'll pay as much for a big burger and some chicken wings at your local bar. I'm not claiming this food is gonna rock your world...but all things considered, it's a great food option for watching the game.
What I also must compliment these guys about is the service. I've been going here for a couple of years for Super Bowl Sunday and the staff has been fantastic. You'll never need to get up from your chair to ask the bar to refill a drink. These guys will come by your table every ten minutes and make sure you have a fresh glass of whatever you're drinking and they clear your old plates and such. Honestly, you can't ask for more. You can just hang and watch the game.
I'd also add that you can avoid watching the ridiculous halftime shows by heading to their deck area and watching the planes land on the airport runway, which serves as Typhoon's back yard. All-in-all, just a chill place to watch the game and get some good food and drink.
For a place that is known for serving fried bugs, it's my Super Bowl central. The Decider hopes to see some of you at Typhoon next year to watch my Eagles hand the Patriots another loss!
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The appetizers (kimchi, ma la dumplings, chicken in lettuce cups) were excellent -- full of flavour. The service was friendly and attentive.
Unfortunately, the main course -- vegetable chow mein, kung pao chicken and string beans -- was pretty bland.
I can eat here everyday and I try to!!!!!! YOU GOT Planes landing and taking off as your view as well as the Hills and Ocean. then you have fod from every asian country and it's all great ingredients and freshness and quality and it''s affordable. WHATTHE HECK ARE YOU WAITING FOR AND GO TO TYPHOON and then comeback and write a review about it!
The bartender's name is Ooooooooh
If that's not cool, I don't know what is.
I was really hyped up to eat bugs. I really was. I thought it was going to be huge plates of insects, just smothered in each other, where everybody could have heaping helpings of it and feed each other and it would have been so awesome and so funny and so cool. I may have been hyped up on another restaurant that was featured in "NEXT!" on MTV that also served insects as their main culinary attraction. I want to go to that place and see what's up on their dishes.
Anyways, I suppose it's enough to be said that it was a bit of a disappointment. First off, since it's on the second floor of the Santa Monica Airport and you can see the planes taking off and coming in, I expected the noise level to be less than 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. Ah, expectations... how they were let down.
I don't expect anything instead of a culinary delight in this restaurant, although seeing 'yukeejang' on the menu surprised me. The food wasn't all that delicious, except for maybe that waterbug head and the duck that Rony ordered. The potato strings that the ants were on were crunchy and delicious as hell, but the ants tasted like nothing. The GM (General Manager) told Rony also that the scorpions were cooked on a skewer and SERVED on a skewer.
So, here we all were, sitting down, expecting a full-formed scorpion to be presented to us when instead, we get a plate with two triangles of shrimp toast and a little piece of black on top. I thought it was some decorative sauce, but it turned out to be a piece of the scorpion. What the hell?? $10 dollars for a dish of two little triangles? You've got to be kidding me.
We might go back, but we might not. As soon as I find more insect-serving establishments, we'll go to those first and compare exactly what the big deal is about this place.
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I admit, I was drawn to Typhoon by the promise of seeing Fear Factor, the Yelp edition. And I wasn't disappointed in that regard, yelpers came, saw, and ate bugs early on in the dining experience. But if you're able to look past the extremely large chicken stuffed water beetle on the table in front of you'll see one exceptionally nice restaurant. Quite lovely actually, with floor to ceiling windows looking out onto the runway @ santa monica airport and what seemed to be an excessive number of private jets landing and taking off (how do I get one of those?).
The non insect food was good.
Have I had better?
Yes.
Have I had worse?
Oh hell yes.
Have I ever had better asian/fusion style food in as lovely a setting?
Never.
Typhoon, come for the bugs, stay for everything else.
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Have you ever tried crickets?? Go to Santa Monica airport Typhoon restaurant!
First I was skeptical about asian fusion because it's usually some b.s. to cover their incompetent cuisine. It's just really-really hard to pull this type of stunt. But I have to say I was very pleased at Typhoon.
More than food, I like their drinks the best!
In addition to the food, service, drinks, I have to mention the location, it's just so cool to be out there at the airport! Just like vodka Hangar One in ex-naval base in northern California, how cool is that!
Eggplant , Stringbeans, pa thai.... really good! Moderate price and its right below The Hump. Amazing....
Check out this one of a kind unique restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised. When my friends took me here, I was saying to myself, "How good can restaurant at airport be?..I was assuming its a cafeteria style food. Man was I wrong. You have to try their Deep fried catfish with black bean sauce...sucker is so huge. It could easily feed 3 people. I know I'll never try their insects..there's just no way. I hope they keep them separately so they don't wonder around the kitchen.
We have gone to Typhoon once every year or so since we moved here in 2002, and on this trip took a group of visiting friends on a Saturday night. The atmosphere was great, as usual; it's a little less "scene-y" than many Santa Monica restaurants, and there is also the usual smattering of barfly pilots hanging out (hopefully after they have flown).
This is a great restaurant to eat family-style, and we ordered a ton of dishes. The highlight (as always) was the whole fried catfish with black bean sauce. Also very good were the garlic noodles (which look really boring but taste great) and the shrimp pad thai. On the miss side, I found the fried vegetarian spring rolls to be way too greasy.
I've never had any of the insects before, but I've been emboldened by watching Andrew Zimmern eat weird stuff on Bizarre Foods so I decided to order the fried crickets (only a few at the table actually tried them). They were rather greasy and heavy with garlic, which I guess kept them from actually tasting like cricket, but I found it a bit overpowering.
The service was a bit hit or miss. On the good side, when one of our friends ordered a drink that she found to be absolutely nasty (some sort of banana cocktail), the waiter took it back with no questions and didn't charge us for it. On the minus side, one of our dishes never arrived, but it was ok as we had ordered way too much food.
Overall, Typhoon remains a fun and tasty place for dinner.
Fear factor food if you want it.
The food is good here, I recommend the Spicy Scallops with Asparagus. However if your feeling adventurous you can try the crickets or ants. Of the two I recommend the ants as they are more sanitary. I worked in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and I learned how filthy crickets are (even cooked), ants are relatively clean insects.
The view is ok during winter, but in the spring/summer you can watch the planes take off and land. If your luck you can see some biplanes or restored WWII fighters, very cool.
Service is good, parking is plentiful and free. Reservations help, but are not necessary.
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After reading the mixed reviews on Typhoon, I pretty much walked in with no expectations.
Since my mind was not daring enough to go the insect route, I just stuck to the rest of the menu.
The food was good, but food I could get at any other Asian fusion restaurant. Started with the pork dumplings (which were quite tasty and spicy)...Thai grilled chicken (nice crispy crunch)...pad Thai...molten chocolate cake (the best part of the meal).
The vibe was nice (who knew for this being at the airport) and busy for a Sunday evening. For a local Asian fusion spot, this hits the mark.
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After a long day of work, it was nice to be out in the city with some good company. We decided to go to Typhoon, a trendy Asian fusion restaurant on the west side. Located in the Santa Monica Airport, it's on the second floor of an administrative building - a somewhat difficult place to find unless you knew where to drive. Luckily, I was a passenger.
A first-timer at Typhoon, I was surprised to see the crowds of people at the restaurant on a Tuesday evening. As soon as we walked in the door, the maitre d welcomed us and immediately recognized my friend who used to manage Typhoon and the Hump. We were seated right away at a charming little table overlooking the planes on the runway. There was a lot of chatter in the open spaced restaurant, with a couple of large parties celebrating a birthday and an eighth grade graduation. Columns were covered with pilots' licenses, a map doubled as a mirror behind the bar, and photos of planes and their pilots lined the walls.
Since we were all in our "just put the food in front of us" zone, we ordered a number of dishes to share family style:
- Taiwanese Sausages w/Raw Garlic & Cucumbers which is still with me a day later - great mix of complementary flavors and textures;
- Cha-Gio-Chay - hot deep fried Vietnamese vegetable spring rolls wrapped in cool crisp romaine lettuce with cilantro, bean sprouts, and sliced carrots (definitely my favorite of the night);
- Filipino fried squid with a pepper-garlic-vinegar sauce - not very different from the calamari I've had at other restaurants, although the sauce was unique with its Asian influence;
- Chicken Adobo; Mongolian Beef; and Stir-fried asparagus - all of which were tasty and reminiscent of home cooking.
The total bill was around $80 and included a couple of soft drinks. I was lucky that S was well-known at the restaurant, and several items were left off the bill (such as our extra large bowl of white rice and my Onikoroshi Sake). Overall, Typhoon was an epicurean delight. Great eats with great people in a great city.
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FOOD IS REALLY REALLY GOOD!!!
I used to come here when I was in college, and the food hasn't changed. However the last time I came was on Mother's day and the service was horrible. Just horrible..everything took forever..but man is the food good...
I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that it was a busy night...but really go for the food...
AND MAKE SURE YOU TRY THE MASHED POTATOES!!! THEY ARE THE BEST SPUDS IN TOWN!!!
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How cool is it that you can eat on the runway! The ambiance was what you'd expect from a trendy casual restaurant. As for food, Yelpers have talked me down from eating bugs here. I've eaten them before, so not a huge thrill. Ordered their famous mashed potatoes and they weren't bad. The veggie gyoza wanton things were pretty good, too. The service wasn't anything good or bad. I didn't find any $24 drinks; prices were reasonable. Typhoon is still on my list for out-of-towners, but not a local hang favorite. I wouldn't mind trying The Hump one day.
I like the ambiance of Typhoon, the food was delicious but did not care for their assortment of insects - I must admit I did eat a cricket after one of my friends gave me $5 bucks. My favorite thing about the place was being able to watch the planes take off and land, especially at night from the patio upstairs.
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