Weekends at Monniker – Exciting Experiential Kitchen + Dining Concept, 1st in Singapore (PERMANENTLY CLOSED)

Are you constantly on the lookout for new and good food? Or are you a budding chef looking for a space to showcase your culinary masterpieces? If so, you should check out Weekends at Monniker, a brand new and exciting experiential culinary concept. Update: Monniker has closed down permanently.

Experiential Kitchen + Dining Concept (1st in Singapore!)

Monniker is a steampunk-themed cafe located along Balestier Road that serves delicious brunch items. Starting 1 April 2017 and every weekend thereafter, the cafe will be launching Weekends at Monniker, a new experiential kitchen+dining concept. So what exactly is this new concept about?

1. Experiential Kitchen
Firstly, on every weekend, Monniker will allow you to use their kitchen and cozy 25 seater space to showcase your very own signature menu. This is targeted at both professional and home chefs. I love this idea because it allows passionate chefs to get their feet wet in the F&B industry, and not have to worry about perplexing issues of manpower, overheads, logistics, etc.

2. Experiential Dining
Secondly, if you are a diner, not only do you get to enjoy the unique menus, you would also get to interact with the chef. During your meal, the chef will share inspirations, stories and tasting notes. Wine lovers will be happy to know that on selected weekends when the menu is complimented with wine, there will even be a sommelier to provide you with wine pairing stories and notes!

Experiential Dining with Chef Jonathan Ong

Salad

Slurp Bowl

Earlier this month, we were lucky enough to attend the soft launch of Weekends at Monniker. The chef du jour was Mr. Jonathan Ong, a talented young chef who trained at the Culinary Institute of America and was formerly head chef at upscale restaurant SPRMRKT Kitchen & Bar (located at Robertson Quay).

The carefully curated three course meal ($39) consisted of salad, main course (choice of “Slurp Bowl” or “TMBH Bagel”), and dessert (fruits with yogurt). I loved the salad which consisted of bean vermicelli complimented by century egg, lettuce, carrots, ginger, chili and cucumbers. Surprisingly, the varied ingredients came together nicely to form a wonderful harmony of flavours which I enjoyed very much.

For my main course, I went with the Slurp Bowl. This hearty plate of handmade pasta was doused with scallion and ginger oil, and topped off with pork collar, bacon, cured cabbage and soy pickled mushrooms. The highlight of this dish was the pasta, which was cooked perfectly al dente and had a wonderfully smooth texture. The scallion and ginger oil added a sharp tangy flavour which complimented the pasta very nicely. The pork collar was delicious too, though we found it to be a little too salty.

Chef Jonathan came out a few times during our meal to check if we were enjoying the food. During our interaction with him, we were impressed to learn that he made almost all the ingredients from scratch, including even the pasta which was made using a pasta machine.

It is hard to put a finger on the culinary style of Jonathan, which can probably be best described as “delicious fusion food”. His menu was a globally influenced one that marries elements of French, Japanese and Chinese cuisines. I got the feeling that this young chef is still in the midst of experimenting and developing his own style, and I felt lucky to be a part of his culinary journey.

Conclusion

Singaporeans are a bunch of sophisticated eaters who are constantly on the lookout for new and good food. There is also a growing number of passionate chefs in Singapore who yearn to open their own space and showcase their culinary creations.

Therefore, I love that the creative minds of Monniker have come up with this exciting experiential kitchen+dining concept. I enjoyed my experience here very much because the food prepared by chef Jonathan was delicious and the Monniker staff were all very sincere and friendly too. Weekends at Monniker launches next weekend on 1st April 2017, make your reservations now!

A partner of the cafe who is a good friend of mine invited me for this media tasting.

What: “Weekends at Monniker” – Experiential Kitchen + Dining Concept
How: Make reservations via Monniker’s Facebook page or call +65 62502433
Where: 387 Balestier Rd, Singapore 029795
When: Weekends at Monniker launches on 1st April 2017 and every weekend thereafter

Monniker
Address: 387 Balestier Rd, Singapore 029795
Phone Number: +65 6250 2433
Email: crew@monniker.com
Opening Hours: | Mon: Closed | Tue-Sat: 9am to 10pm | Sun: 9am to 6pm |
Website: http://staging.monniker.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AirshipMonniker