I was very fortunate to have been able to score a spot at Monk. It was probably the hardest reservation I’ve gotten mostly due to how small the restaurant is, the timing of when reservations open and the fact that the reservation app/website is in Japanese and the translations can be a bit hit and miss.
The experience was wonderful. The dishes are less traditional fine dining and more like very high quality home cooking. It was warm and comforting. Chef Imai and his assistants operate a smooth and very zen kitchen, moving deftly amongst the tiny space to prepare and serve the dishes.
Being at the counter, you’re about a metre away from the Chef and can watch as each dish goes into the wood fire oven and is assembled and plated before being served.
Chef Imai is very humble and good natured. He personally has a hand in every dish served, and at the end of the meal, he sees off each guest. I can’t recall a warmer or more personable fine dining experience.
A few of the diners bought his cookbook at the restaurant and he was more than happy to autograph them as well as to pose for pictures with diners who asked.
Cannot recommend this experience enough. Reservations are hard to get but very much worth the effort.
by epicurious_aussie
5 Comments
I can’t seem to edit so I’ll add some additional detail here.
One of the things that was really great was Chef Imai being willing to stop and chat with diners, or answer questions or discuss the dishes while he was working. Questions about the ingredients, his experiences as a Chef, why pizza, his influences and inspirations. Nothing was off limits, except where his favourite pizza joint is. Lol.
That looks amazing. I’ve been interested in them since seeing Chef’s Table.
What was booking like? Their website says two months in advance but is it like the European system of August booking opens in June or more specifically than August 10th opens in June 10th?
Yeah, was just in Kyoto, we couldn’t get one…looks great
Agree about the reservation, really tough one. But was lucky enough to take a spot the day before, probably due to someone last minute cancellation. Also siting at the counter was a true blessing!!
I see there is counter, 1F table and 2F shared table. Going to try multiple ways to book for two people, but any idea if 1F table and 2F shared can both fit just 2 people?