Menya Monaka

Menya Monaka is the restaurant counterpart to sibling venue Cafe Monaka, a couple of hundred metres away. But where Cafe Monaka focuses on traditional Japanese breakfast and tea, Menya Monaka concerns itself with two things: ramen and izayaka-style dining.

The ramen comes into play during the day. Growing up in Japan, Menya Monaka’s owner Fuminori “Bun” Fukuda trained at his friend’s ramen shop in the Kanto region (which includes Tokyo and its surrounding area). There’s a variety of broths and styles on hand here – from a classic tonkotsu to a vegan tan tan option. Add-on toppings include bamboo shoots and seven-minute eggs. Ordering gyoza isn’t mandatory, but it’s highly encouraged.

After Menya Monaka closes for lunch and reopens for dinner, the brief changes. Bun and his wife Eriko Fukuda wanted Mona Vale to have more night-time dining options, and designed the crowd-pleasing menu with that goal in mind. The go here is to order a bundle of small dishes, from tuna tartare and garlic fried rice to ramen noodle pretzels and miso eggplant. If you’ve got an appetite, order something heftier like a wagyu sirloin to share and anchor the meal.

Finish off the meal with a yuzu Basque cheesecake or a monaka ice-cream sandwich. To drink, there’s a number of sakes by the cup or bottle, and an all-Aussie wine list to try.