Mona is a Mediterranean-Asian fusion bistro at high-profile photography museum Fotografiska Shanghai, located along the Suzhou Creek.
About Fotografiska Shanghai
Fotografiska is a high-profile contemporary museum of photography, art and culture, founded in Stockholm with locations in New York, Berlin, Oslo, and Tallinn. Fotografiska Shanghai is housed in a repurposed warehouse facing the Suzhou Creek.
The three-story building includes exhibition spaces, a gift shop, a rooftop lounge, a café bar, a gelateria, and Mona bistro.
Plus, the entire building is dog-friendly indoors, including the rooftop lounge. Pets are also allowed into exhibition spaces but must be kept in strollers.
About Mona @ Fotografiska Shanghai
Mona, much like the rest of Fotografiska Shanghai, is artsy and chic in design. The space evokes a modern European bistro and boasts stylish tilework and an industrial design. There’s also outdoor seating, more for a casual bite and coffee.
The Food at Mona
Behind the menu at Mona is chef Mandy Tang, a young talent from Chongqing. She’s taken her learnings from working in restaurants in Shanghai and Macau and fused them with her hometown flavors. Mediterranean cuisine is the base for Mona, and dishes are speckled with Sichuan spices and Asian ingredients.
Highlights include the Beef Tartare, made with nori marmalade, spices, and a kick of horseradish, topped with caviar. It’s served with tempura shiso leaves in place of toasted bread.
A favorite is the Roasted Eggplant, flavored with spice from burnt Sichuan erjingtiao chilies, a hint of acidity, and smokiness from the grill. It’s served with purple sweet potato chips and preserved egg from Anhui, which is much milder than century egg.
Most memorable and perhaps most artsy in form is the Black Shrimp Open Dumpling, an “inside-out” fried dumpling with plump shrimp, yuxiang (fish fragrant) sauce, and five spice chili oil. It’s sweet, sour, spicy, tangy, and crunchy, and very enjoyable.
The bistro also has quite a few vegetarian options. One of them is the Beyond Bolognese, a spaghetti made in the style of Dan Dan Noodles with Beyond Meat. The plant-based meat is fried with Sichuan fermented bean paste, which lends a desirable kick and umami to the dish. It’s tasty, and as a meat eater, I’d order this again.
A comforting dish is the Oven Roasted Sweet Potato, a hefty whole baked sweet potato loaded with spicy chorizo and Sichuan sausage, and barley for texture.
Mona also serves a small selection of pizzas, made in a wood-fired oven. I don’t really see many pizzas with sardines, and I was pleasantly surprised by Mona’s direction with this one. The oil-rich fish and hint of tomato was nostalgic. It’s also topped with potato, fermented onion, salted lemon, and watercress.
A few egg-based brunch dishes are served daily during lunch. Those get swapped out during dinner for grilled mains like steak and seafood. One brunch dish to go for is the Crab Omelet, a silky omelet with seafood and flavored with oyster sauce.
For dessert, try the Rice & Bean Muse, made with soybean ice cream, rice pudding, pistachios, and yuzu. It’s light and milky. For something a bit more interesting, Mona has a sorbet made with Sichuan Pickled Chili. It’s uniquely savory and peppery.
For Drinks
Mona does some pretty good cocktails and they have a nice selection of wines in the wine room. Cocktails from ¥78, wines by the glass from ¥60, wines by the bottle from ¥280.
In Summary
Mona is a great spot for those living near Suzhou Creek, even if you’re just popping in for a coffee. I do recommend to make a day out of it — check out the exhibitions at Fotografiska Shanghai (admission is ¥120), browse the gift shop, have a meal at Mona, and pop into the rooftop lounge for the view and a nightcap.
Note: The rooftop lounge is currently open for VIP members and exhibition visitors.
Mona @ Fotografiska Shanghai
Address: 127 Guangfu Lu 光复路127号
Tel: 62563778
Hours: Tue-Thu, 11:30am-3pm, 5:30pm-10pm; Fri, 11:30am-3pm, 5:30pm-10:30pm; Sat-Sun, 11:30am-5pm, 5:30pm-10pm
