Monocle Cafe - Marylebone (Part II)

Did I mention that we walked up from South London to the Monocle and I built up quite the appetite?! Well, the menu has a rather Japanese vibe (as well as a smattering of American and European dishes too) and the Japanese breakfast seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.

For £7 I was served Tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette), a ball of rice covered in sesame seeds, silken tofu & pickled cucumber alongside a miso soup and a small side salad. An interesting selection!

Tamagoyaki is a popular breakfast food in Japan and is made with layers of cooked eggs and has a slight sweetness to it. Silken Tofu is similar to regular tofu in that it is made with Soy milk curds, what makes it different is the moisture content. It was served chilled and had the texture of a crème caramel, however, I didn’t get much flavour from it in fact it is pretty much void of any taste! The hunks of cucumber were only lightly pickled so still had plenty of crunch to them adding a good contrast to the eggs and tofu.

The best part of the dish for me was the rice, when breaking into the well-presented mound I found at the core flaked tuna and throughout matchsticks of fresh ginger adding a kick of heat and flavour. The miso soup was an interesting side with fresh spring onion livening it up. 

If I was to criticize, it was all a bit dry (I added soy sauce which helped a little) and the ingredients are fairly plain in terms of flavour. On the flipside it seems like a very healthy choice to start the day, certainly no sign of a frying pan having been required!

The verdict

All very different to what I’m used to but equally quite plain and a little dull in terms of flavours.