Done up in shades of black, grey and red, Monk’s Plate stands invitingly on the East Coast Road in Injambakkam.
A friendly laughing Buddha watches as you ascend the stairs to the dining area. The restaurant also has a private dining area in the basement and a couple of alfresco dining tables under a canopy of lights that is ideal for date nights. The basement also hosts live music gigs, especially for Sunday brunch. We choose a table overlooking the ECR and settle down for a relaxed lunch. Since it is a week day, the crowd is sparse and the music mellow.
The menu offers a wide variety: there’s quite a selection of Continental and Pan Asian fare to choose from. Given the balmy weather, I skip soup and settle instead for the Zen Garden. A concoction of gin, cucumber and lemon, it’s a refreshing day-time drink, the kind that you wouldn’t mind requesting seconds of.
For appetisers, there’s prawn tempura, chicken satay and BBQ pork ribs. The prawn tempura wins hands down and is a great dish to pair with my cocktail. Fried in a batter that seems as light as air, the prawns are cooked to perfection and the sweet chilli sauce lends it that extra zing.
The BBQ pork ribs aren’t far behind in the popularity contest with generous layers of lard and lashings of BBQ sauce. A side of grilled veggies is a sensible way to cleanse the palate after all that fat. Of the trio, it’s the satay that fails to impress with its lacklustre flavour and chewy texture; even the accompanying peanut sauce falls short of expectations. Fortunately chicken suimai makes up for this. Mildly spiced chicken in a tender dimsum wrapping, the suimai are generous and satisfying.
As we await the main course, a group of college kids makes its way in and heads straight to the basement; there’s a private party on.
Fortunately, none of the banter reaches the dining section, nestled on the first floor. Just then the wait staff arrives with bowls of steaming nasi goreng , Thai red curry with prawns and sticky rice, stir-fried lamb in oyster sauce and a spaghetti lamb bolognese.
A little overwhelmed by the variety on offer, I reach for the pasta first. The bolognese is redolent with the appealing, fused flavours of lamb and tomato. The nasi goreng though is nothing to write home about. Without the bold flavours of the kecap manis and shrimp paste that usually go into the dish, this feels like just another fried rice.
A portion of the stir-fried lamb though helps elevate the nasi goreng a bit. The lamb is succulent and lightly coated in a batter that has soaked up the goodness of oyster sauce.
However, Thai red curry with prawns, is the unparalleled star of the meal. Silky coconut milk curry with juicy prawns pairs very well with the sticky rice, but it’s also the kind that one wouldn’t mind eating spoonfuls of by itself.
By this time I’m rather stuffed, but there’s dessert to be had. And I firmly believe that allowances can always be made for something sweet. The first dessert is sticky rice with mango ice cream; usually a winner when paired with mangoes, this one is served with ice cream since the fruit is now out of season and hence doesn’t win any favours with us. But then the grand finisher is dark chocolate mousse. Smooth and ever so slightly bitter, it’s a crowd pleaser. And by the end of this meal, I’m feeling rather zen like the laughing Buddha fresco.
