the monkey chews kitchen

Ever since moving to Tokyo, I’ve had this restaurant on my “to try” list, and we finally got to 
 

Their course menu starts off with hitokuchi (one bite) tray

we both had a glass of this, medium body, I was disappointed they served this chilled though

gougere (savory puff) filled with a mushroom purée and I think a cheese disk on top

pate de campagne (foie gras pistachio & pork, topped with a fruit leather and fig compote sitting on a mochi mugi (pearl barley) sable (biscuit/cracker)

-presentation was nice but the uncooked pearl barley at the bottom of the tray got stuck to the pate…try not to break any teeth!

anno imo (type of sweet potato) and shallot? a la grecque (type of pickling) and olive

smoked butter waiting for freshly baked focaccia 

madai (red sea bream) with fermented strawberry sauce

raw oyster topped with yogurt pineapple and dill…super refreshing!

first time for me to have raw oyster

beet crepe filled with housemade smoked salmon and lots of different herbs & greens

Satoshi had a glass of this 

focaccia finally came out drizzled with olive oil..the crust was so crisp! and the butter was delicious too, we should have saved a piece for the upcoming dishes though

scallops with risotto fermented brussels sprouts, foam (not sure what it was made of) and some yuzu zest…warm “cozy” kind of dish

sawara (spanish mackerel) cooked poiret (spooning oil over while cooking) style, shungiku (chrysanthemum greens) tempura style, blanched nanohana (rapeseed greens) matcha dashi and parsley oil

a little bitter from the shungiku, but the fish was cooked perfectly

A5 wagyu sirloin, bordelaise sauce, with beet purée, mashed potato, kale and leeks…a little fatty and some gristle but tender, delicious

The name of the restaurant is after the chef’s music band days, The Monkey Chews, when he lived in England

He also trained at La Mere Poulard on Mont Saint Michel, so he makes the airy omelette…10 servings only at lunch time, the airy omelette can be chosen as your meat dish for the dinner course menu

From November 2023, they changed their dinner from a la carte to course only.

We were bummed we couldn’t choose different meat dishes, Kat wanted to try the duck.

The interior has an English pub feel on the 1st floor and French bistro feel in the 2nd floor where we were seated

Overall, this was a nice way to celebrate our anniversary, we want to try their lunch menu so we’ll be back…18,200 yen (tax included)

The Monkey Chews Kitchen

5-8-4 Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Closed Sundays

Hours 11:30-13:00 (lunch), 18:00-23:00 (dinner)