I have walked past this place a couple of times before, since it is near my workplace, but I never got the chance to step in for a meal until we had a celebration lunch
Opened in 2021 at Star Vista, the owners shifted from their original location in Holland to the new location with a facade which showcases Taiwan with a painted wall mural at the side. Resembling a breakspot in Taiwan, they have cute road signs and chairs outside to cater to waiting customers when the restaurant is full
The interior is small and cosy, which is quite similar to many breakfast shops in Taipei. You are first greeted by the service counter, where you can order your food before finding a table to sit down. The counter is plastered with a great variety of Taiwanese dishes, from night market snacks to popular local meals
Although predictable, I had to order the oyster mee sua with chicken to try if their flavours were authentic. Compared to my flavour mee sua in Taipei, the flavours are lighter and less starchy. Without the pig intestines, the taste is clean, while the coriander and fried garlic add a deeper layer of flavour to balance out the starchy flavours. It is a nice bowl of mee sua, but I would liked it if the braised flavours were stronger
At this point, I was also missing the Taiwanese chicken shredded rice, so I ordered 1 serving for sharing, and the dish came with pickled vegetables, shredded chicken, cucumbers, lettuce, and braised fishball. The flavours were quite different from my expectations, as they were missing the fragrant chicken oil flavours, which they tried to compensate for with shallot oil. While it was a pretty delicious bowl of chicken rice, it was not quite able to settle my cravings for the authentic one in Taipei
We also had the braised pork belly bun served with fries, which was nicely braised with a good proportion of fat and lean meat. They served chunky fries with the bun, and it was lightly flavoured with chilli powder and flavoured salts like those for the huge chicken cutlet, making the overall dish quite savoury
Lastly, we had to order the spicy fried chicken, which is a night market favourite, and it was fried to extreme crispiness. The chicken was seasoned with the same chilli and flavour salts, giving it a light spice and strong umami flavours. I found the meat slightly dry on its own
For drinks, I ordered the milk tea without boba, which wasn’t too sweet with a nice tea flavour and a nice change from the usual bubble tea outlets
Overall, the food at Monki was ok, and some of them do remind me of dishes from Taiwan, but while the flavours are not 100% on point, there are pretty decent dishes with a good price tag
Address: 1 Vista Exchange Green, #01-41 The Star Vista, Singapore 138617
Opening hours: 9.30 am to 8.30 pm ( until 9 pm on Sat and Sun)
Bear Travels . Bear Eats . Bear Cooks 