Mon

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price: 5140 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Yakisoba pie, all horse meat:  smoked tongue, deep fried innards, tenderloin steak
English Menu: No
Smoking: Yes

The only local whalemeat restaurant (Ren) had been replaced a while back by a new horsemeat restaurant (Mon).  I finally got a chance to stop by and check it out the other night.

I've had horse sashimi at other izakayas in the past and didn't really care for it (raw animal meat that isn't fish is just too chewy for my taste generally, and there's the potential for getting sick).  I was hopeful this place, being dedicated to horse meat, might have some cooked options on the menu.  I wasn't disappointed.

It's an izakaya, and there was smoking, so beware.  Also there's the mandatory appetizer, which was some roasted edamame.  Absolutely no English, but the server worked with me.  I saw they had some nice looking nihonshu (sake) bottles and managed to order a small amount of some...but it wasn't on the menu so I'm not sure how much it was.  It was delicious however.

Smoked tongue

For food I stuck with cooked options, ordering smoked tongue, deep fried horumon (innards) and the tenderloin steak.  At one point I noticed some dishes sitting up on the counter and one looked deliciously like an egg covered shepherd's pie, so I ordered some of that.  Mistake...it was a fancy yakisoba pie, with the inside being dark colored yakisoba noodles.  I really dislike the flavors in yakisoba, and of course they dressed the pie slice with the sweet sauce and mayonnaise typical of this fair food.  I ate it, but didn't enjoy it.

Deep fried innards

The rest of the food as all a bit of a disappointment too.  The tongue slices were just ok, thin and not that distinctive.  The deep fried horumon was chewy in the extreme, with no discernible taste.  And the steak was partly very tough, with a very long chewing session to choke it down.  Part of it was descent, but again, nothing to speak of in the flavor department, and swimming in a demiglaze sweet sauce that overwhelmed the meat itself.

Yakisoba pie

The price tag for the meal was quite high, and given my lackluster experience of the food, I can only rate this place Ok, despite the pleasant service and atmosphere.  I may come back again with a friend to try the horse sashimi options in the future.

Tenderloin steak