The Frothy Monkey, located in the heart of 12th Avenue South, is everything you want your neighborhood coffee shop to be. And then some. It’s clean, cozy, efficient and eclectic; overall, it’s a very comfortable place to spend an afternoon.
As far as food and drink go, I have to call out The Frothy Monkey here a little bit because I would assert it’s actually more of a café masquerading as a coffee shop than anything else. I know that will make the baristas shudder with anger, but I’m sorry: if you want your coffee to be the main attraction, you’ll need to fire your chef and go back to serving the standard microwavable blueberry muffin other coffee shops push as “food.”
As coffee shop fare goes, the menu is pretty extensive yet very affordable. For just over $10 I got a full sandwich, a cup of soup and a side of chips, and I topped that off with a solid Chai Tea Latte for $3.35. The sandwich was “The PMP”, a popular choice that features prosciutto, mozzarella and provolone with basil, mayo, and avocado on toasted sourdough. The prosciutto was salty and perfectly portioned, and the natural creaminess of the avocado and mozzarella balanced the sandwich in a satisfying way.
The soup of the day was Cream of Mushroom, and it was smooth, tangy and garnished with pieces of sautéed mushrooms which gave it great texture. To be honest, after that, I really didn’t even care about the chips (which were tortilla). Actually, I don’t even think I was supposed to get chips, and I’m pretty sure they gave me a bowl of soup instead of a cup, so go ahead and add “generous” to the heaping pile of compliments I’m doling out to The Frothy Monkey staff today. Finally, there was the latte: it was piping hot, not overly sweet, and finished with a good kick of spice. But as I’ve already said, this show was seriously stolen by the goodness of the grub.
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