DINNER.
Dishes in Monai are lighter, subtler and more stylish than Momo Grill which is right next to Monai. Vytautas performs more experiments here in search for as various tastes and as interesting structures as possible.
Monai also offers more fish dishes. Although the restaurant is not far from the sea, the owners have fish for their dishes delivered from abroad. This is the only way Vytautas and Kristina can make sure that they have only high quality products. Fish is only fresh here – it is kept in ice vacuum before it reaches the kitchen. Those who understand that evaluate the freshness right away.
The kitchen also focuses a lot on desserts – at the end of a dinner the staff offers a tray with desserts of the day and tell about every of them.
Kitchen here, just like in Momo Grill, is open. It is actually even more open because restaurant guests are separated by a glass partition only. Thus people practically sit in the kitchen. This is a distinct feature of the restaurant.
CHEF.
Vytautas has had his internships in foreign restaurants, among them, in Noma set up in Copenhagen. Back in 2010, Samavičius was perhaps the first of the titled chefs who opened his own catering company. Before Momo Grill and Monai, he and his wife Kristina owned a creative kitchen bistro – La Cle.
Before Le Cle, he worked as a chef for the hotel Navalis for 9 years, also for Skandalas and Radisson Blue. Vytautas is not the type of person to go to the dining area and interact with clients. He is a reserved person but he expresses himself by expressing his imagination on a plate.
LUNCH SPECIALS.
The principle of lunch is similar to the one practiced in Momo Grill: soup (EUR 1.5), starter, a few hot dishes (EUR 4.5-8), the difference lies in preparation principles.
COMPARISON.
The menu of Momo Grill is simpler and more economic, classical grilled meat dishes prevail. Meanwhile, the menu of Monai is more sophisticated, in this restaurant, elegance, subtlety of sub-tastes and aesthetics on a place are sought for.
WINE CARD.
Recently, the hosts of the restaurant had to make a painful decision to narrow down the choice of wines – Klaipėda city dwellers are not big fans of wine. Wine culture is slowly coming to this region. Thus craft beer from local breweries, among them, the cultish Red Brick brewery (Raudonų Plytų), is offered to complement foods.
BREAKFAST.
The restaurant offers perhaps the most delicious breakfast in the city. It is especially noticeable during off-season time. The breakfast menu always offers a few egg dishes (for instance, Eggs Benedict and omelette), also different types of pancakes, raviolis, soup and even a few hot dishes for late breakfast.
INTERESTING FACT(S).
The Samavičiai were looking for the restaurant’s name for a long time, however, it was born naturally. They asked for their colleagues’ help from creative ideas’ agency New. They offered the name of Monai. Samogitians use this word to denote tricks. However, their friends joke that Vytautas in secret devoted his third restaurant to his wife (wordplay in Lithuanian: wife – žmona, ŽMonai).
