Mono Sushi at Solaris Dutamas, Outside Publika: Restaurant Review

One restaurant, 120 different types of sushi – that’s the hook for Solaris Dutamas’ new Mono Sushi.

Tastefully Composed Setting

Our favourite thing about Mono Sushi is its setting, tastefully composed – no surprise, since the restaurant is run by the talents who crafted the polished look for Cosans Coffee. It seems plausible that – similar to Cosans Coffee – Mono Sushi is intended to eventually progress into a chain of eateries too.

Mono Means Simplicity, Slience and Focus

Lovely portraits adorn the restaurant’s walls, illustrating Mono Sushi’s philosophies – the outlet’s founders say Mono means simplicity, silence & focus; the feel here is ostensibly inspired by the Japanese city of Kawagoe & its old, evocative buildings.

12 Categories of Sushi

The sushi menu is divided into 12 main categories, each with a different seafood topping: Aji (horse mackerel), ika (squid), hamachi (amberjack), suzuki (sea bass), tai (sea bream), hotate (scallop), ebi (shrimp), unagi (eel), sake (salmon), managatsuo (butter fish), tako (octopus) & maguro (tuna).

10 Different Preparations

Each of the 12 categories then contains 10 different preparations – a clever concept that results in a dizzying parade of potential choices. Squid with natto, cheese, kimchi or ume shiso sauce? Horse mackerel tempura or tataki? Amberjack with mango or mentaiko? We could have listed more of the options, but the service team told us to stop photographing the menu.

A Light Snack…

Most of the pieces of sushi are priced at RM3.80 or RM4.80 each, reasonably priced enough for many visitors to Publika (though our favourite, the scallop, is a still-fair RM5.80). Customers can stop by for a light snack & spend less than RM20 for several pieces of sushi or splurge on a full-blown meal for very likely south of RM60 per person.

Or A Full Meal

Flavour-wise, Mono Sushi somewhat falters for us; the sushi showcases respectable effort, with sufficiently fresh seafood, but this is ultimately more of the mass-market variety, with imperfections in intricacies like the balance of flavours & the preparation of rice, falling short of the bar set by places like Sushi Hinata & Ichiro Sushi Bar – the price to pay for lower prices.