This seems to be the story of all afternoons at Café Monique. But especially on one’s visit to check out the summer specials at the outlet in The Manor at the end of a cul de sac in Friends Colony, the overall picture is one of harmony. Of blue with white, colours of the French national flag, finding its echo in the white and blue tableware, the blue cups against the white tiles and the chairs outside on the patio.
The menu, too, is harmonised to the season, a summer in transition.
There are also no grandmother versus grandmother tussles presented on the plate at this patisserie. If there is the picture of one grandmother up in the café—Monique, French chef Maxime Montay’s maternal grandmother after whom the café is named, and who has inspired much of the menu here —the influences of his father’s mum are also felt.
Try these from both their kitchens. The brioche French toast with mango and caramel a la Monique or any of the savoury crepes such as the ratatouille crepe for vegetarians or the Milanese crepe for non-vegetarians with grilled chicken, a pesto base, pesto mascarpone, and Parmesan.
“The croque-monsieur that we have on our menu at Monique, on the other hand, has a bit of influence from my dad’s mother. Anytime I do a traditional ham and cheese, which goes with a bit of mustard, it makes me think of her,” says the chef.
Café Monique is owned by entrepreneur Shivan Gupta (founder of Amaara Farms) in collaboration with Montay.
Here are the chef’s recommendations for a light lunch, or a supper, for two, if one were to mix old selections and new additions from the menu. “For sharing plates. I’d recommend the mango avocado salad, which is balanced with a little bit of honey chili granola that we do homemade, along with a lime jalapeno dressing. Or, the Mediterranean chickpea and pepper one,” he says.
The grilled sandwiches, new additions to the menu, are also doing well, he adds. The duck and brie sandwich and the Mediterranean Turkish poached eggs we tried were delicious for sure.
“For dessert, I would personally suggest the pistachio profiterole, because I'm a fan of pistachio. Or, if you want to be more classic, then you could go for the vanilla one and with the hot chocolate sauce,” says Montay.
Monique, in fact, has not yet released the entire summer menu. They are waiting for the quality of mangoes “to be even better” in a week's time, says the chef.
The summer strategy for salads and desserts is to try to replace the main element into a summer element. “For example, we have a very popular pastry, the Le Chambord, made with dark chocolate and raspberry, which is a little on the acidic side. For summer, this is converted into another pastry that we call Aubery, which is going to be made with mango, and a bit of passionfruit to bring in the remaining acidity, so it’s lighter and has smoother flavours,” says the chef.
And to finish up, choose from among the fig latte, the classic mango iced matcha latte or the coconut matcha. The latter is almost a cloudburst on top of the coconut water. But for coffee addicts, an iced coffee with almond milk is also a good bet.
At The Manor Hotel, near Friends Club, Friends Colony West