[CLOSED] Mono Izakaya

26-27 April 2024

Espresso ribs 24+svc for 180g

Tender, with a proper espresso glaze. It's slightly bitter, quite sweet, and full of wicked espresso aroma.

PSA it really is exactly where they say it is. On top of Prata restaurant is a corner shop, and this is directly beside it. The exterior is like any other shop so look carefully. Unit number 02-208? I think

Absolutely delicious as well. Not very bulgogi tbh but doesn't rlly matter. It's got a slightly crisp, skin that was a bit hard as well, but not unpleasantly. The meat was tender and thickly sliced, and most importantly it's super flavourful from aging. Absolutely awe-inspiring stuff and a must try

PSA During lunch there's only lunch bowls, no ala cart

This was delicious. Kimchi was solid, but the pork belly. Wow. It's tender with just a little bite, super fatty but not greasy. Chef chose to slow roast it so it's not just super soft, and the espresso miso glaze, despite the fancy name, made for a simple and effective sweet savoury glaze.

Chef has been trained in both Jap and French cuisine, as well as stints at Michelin establishments. A lot of young chefs come out from Michelin places to set up their own restaurants lately but I feel like many don't live up to the hype. But this chef, from his food it's clear he knows what he's doing. Really excited for this place, except the location is too hidden lol

We’re fans of mono, having first tasted their food when they were still sharing space with gather the misfits. They’ve since moved to somewhere in between lavender and Jalan besar and we’ve discovered they’re on beyond to boot! The Unagi mapo tofu was very generous and you can taste the individual flavours of the eel, mushroom, peppercorn and sauce perfectly complimenting each other. So glad we’ve managed to taste their food again!

We wanted to use our Burpple vouchers and understood that the vouchers were applicable to the donburis only. As there were only a few donburis on the menu, we decided to try the bulgogi duck donburi as it sounded like a fusion of Korean and Japanese tastes!

While the kimchi and mushrooms were decent, the most memorable part was the slices of duck breasts used as the mainstay of the dish. The slices were thick and came with a generous strip of fat, which we love! The duck was also seared on the outside and had a little smoke imbued in it, and to top it off, it was coated in coarse black pepper to add more flavour! Pretty decent dish for $24++, but it is even better when you take into account the Burpple Beyond voucher!

That being said, the dish required almost 20 minutes to be served and it seemed that the restaurant was pretty short-staffed at the moment. :( I guess the restaurant is still ramping up it's operations as we heard that it just moved over from it's previous location. We hope this will get better in time 😁

Visiting an izakaya, we decided that it was a must to get an alcoholic drink otherwise there would be no izakaya feels. As the yuzu highball looked unique, we decided to try it! For $14++, you get a tonic water drink mixed with yuzu choya. Despite choya being mixed into the drink, the drink was more bitter rather than sweet as the tonic water dominated. Note that there is some yuzu pulp added to the drink and you may want to stir before drinking the munch on the pulp as well. Pretty refreshing drink, although it is not exceptionally special, as you can easily buy your own tonic water and yuzu choya and mix them together!