Tiny Urban Kitchen - Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

Mono Hong Kong

May 23, 2022 By Jennifer Che

Mono HK

Despite the fact that it’s still cumbersome to travel outside of Hong Kong (though at least now the quarantine period has been reduced to 7 days), we still are fortunate in Hong Kong to have the world travel to us, opening up restaurants that reflect cuisines from all over the map. Mono is a Latin American influenced restaurant from Chef Ricardo Chaneton. Chef Chaneton has worked with some of the finest chefs in the world, including Quique Dacosta (Spain), Mauro Colagreco at Mirazur (France), and Petrus in Hong Kong.

Mono is Chef Chaneton’s chance to express his South American roots (he’s from Venezuela) while using techniques he has learned from his rigorous French training. This past year Mono earned one Michelin star, and Chef Chaneton became the first Venezuelan chef ever to obtain that honor.

Below is a meal we enjoyed in 2021, right before Mono received the Michelin star. As you can see, Chef Chaneton clearly puts a lot of thought, heart, and soul into each dish.

Highly recommended!

Amuse Bouche

Mono HK — Amuse Bouche: a tiny pastry with a phyllo dough-like wrapper with lobster inside.

Mono HK — Amuse Bouche: a tiny pastry with a phyllo dough-like wrapper with lobster inside.

1st Course

Mono HK — Our first course (pictured on the left) was razor clams topped with caviar from Germany. To be honest, I didn’t really like this dish. It had a strong, ”fishy” taste that I did not love. Thankfully, I absolutely loved the next dish, raw shrimp wrapped in thinly sliced Peruvian root and topped with a sauce that included seven (!) didn’t chilis. It was not spicy, but instead earthy, complex, and interesting. I tasted flavors I had never tried before. I really enjoyed this course.

Mono HK — Our first course (pictured on the left) was razor clams topped with caviar from Germany. To be honest, I didn’t really like this dish. It had a strong, ”fishy” taste that I did not love. Thankfully, I absolutely loved the next dish, raw shrimp wrapped in thinly sliced Peruvian root and topped with a sauce that included seven (!) didn’t chilis. It was not spicy, but instead earthy, complex, and interesting. I tasted flavors I had never tried before. I really enjoyed this course.

Freshly Baked Bread and Amazing Olive Oil

Mono HK — The bread course was amazing! Out came a fresh loaf of quinoa sourdough for the two of us two share. Ours was the 698th loaf made with the same, original ”Mother Yeast.” Would two pieces per person be enough??! The bread, which was hot when it came out, was absolutely heavenly. We ate this with a very special Arbequina extra virgin olive oil that is extremely difficult to source. In fact, it is only available at three restaurants worldwide, a restaurant in Japan, Odette in Singapore, and Mono in Hong Kong.

Mono HK — The bread course was amazing! Out came a fresh loaf of quinoa sourdough for the two of us two share. Ours was the 698th loaf made with the same, original ”Mother Yeast.” Would two pieces per person be enough??! The bread, which was hot when it came out, was absolutely heavenly. We ate this with a very special Arbequina extra virgin olive oil that is extremely difficult to source. In fact, it is only available at three restaurants worldwide, a restaurant in Japan, Odette in Singapore, and Mono in Hong Kong.

Mono HK — Caprese re-defined: a slice of tomato sits on a layer of house made cheese. On top, avocado leaves, on the bottom, a flavorful lobster tomatillo sauce. Put it all together for a familiar yet also innovative bite.

Seafood + Meat

Mono HK — Lobster tail served with a lobster head sauce and coconut milk foam.

Mono HK — A delicious beef round served with a flavorful jus and microgreens.

Mono HK — One fun aspect of dining at Mono is getting introduced to new ingredients and flavors. We learned about this Peruvian root vegetable that tastes like a radish when raw and is cooked like a potato. It would be one of several different components of our next course.

Mono HK — The chef brought out this HUGE grilled monkfish with perfect grill lines. It was to be the protein portion of our next course.

Mono HK — We enjoyed a slice of the monkfish (haha, no that entire piece was not just for us), together with a bright green coriander sauce, and the Peruvian root vegetable. The monkfish was really nicely prepared, hardly cooked (almost raw), and super soft.

Mono HK — Next, the server brought out a whole cocoa pod and explained to us the different stages of how cocoa beans are processed.

Mono HK

Mono HK

Mono HK — Before we knew it, our server rolled out a cart with a mortar, pestle, and various ingredients. She began to mix and grind together a number of different ingredients in the stone mortar, manually stirring and grinding up all the ingredients with the pestle.

Mono HK — I don’t typically like pigeon, but I absolutely loved this next course. It was fantastic. The perfectly executed pigeon was almost rare, super tender and soft. We enjoyed it with a super deep and rich mole sauce, a guava sauce, pigeon jus, and a bright cilantro sauce that was just a bit tart. Overall, it was excellent.

Sweets

Mono HK — We cleansed our palate with a light and refreshing hisbiscus granita with avocado cream.

Mono HK — Chocolate, ice cream, and a beautiful intricate chocolate laced dome.

Mono HK — Alfajores, a classic South American cookie sandwich.

Mono HK

What a unique journey to Latin America! Chef Chaneton’s is indeed breaking boundaries and introducing a whole new audience to the ingredients and flavors of South American, prepared in ways that are innovative, creative, and fun.

Mono Hong Kong
5/F 18 ON LAN STREET
Central, HONG KONG
https://www.mono.hk

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