Mon Barton (@mons.monday)
Cleo Sol, a 4 course degustation and warm, low lighting
Taste Maker is a food guide from creatives, artists and professional eaters. Follow → Instagram → Google Maps
Multi hyphenated creative, Mon is the founder and owner of Sabi The Label, part time model, content creator, writer and a passionate cook, established through her online food presence and Naarm pop ups.
Where do you live most of the year?
My beautiful, 2 bedroom art deco apartment in Melbourne. I live alone with my dog, Beau.
What do you look for in a restaurant when you walk in?
Lighting and the seats. I love warm, low lighting, Creates such an immaculate vibe. I can't bright lit venues with cold/blue sterile lights. Floor lamps and candles have such a romantic vibe. And the seats... nothing worse than an uncomfortable seat (or worse, a bar stool).
What is your final meal?
Death row meal is a 4 course degustation (sorry, I'm that bitch haha). Starting off with the freshest New Zealand Bluff oysters, followed by foie gras, served with shitty, toasted, supermarket white bread and French butter. Then for mains: the most heavenly steak frites. A scotch fillet (or hanger steak) cooked medium rare, served with fresh french fries and a herbaceous, vinegarette-tossed leafy salad. To finish.... an espresso and a fresh slice of chocolate ganache tarte. fucking YUM!
3 guests for dinner, dead or alive?
Heath Ledger, My Grandfather (who died before I was born), aaaaand, ooft this is hard. Oh! Cleo Sol, my favourite music artist.
Mon’s Taste Maker Guide
Breakfast: Napier Quarter, Melbourne
Order: Anchovy toast and nothing else, every fucking time. Oh actually sometimes some fresh oysters and bellinis for the girlies when we're brunching all together.
Coffee: CIBI, Collingwood, Melbourne
Order: Long Black
Lunch: Soi 38, Melbourne
Order: They have the best lunch menu, cheap, fast and fucking tasty. Literally any of the noodles go hard. I like to pick something new each time but I've worked my way through the menu now haha.
Special dinner: France Soir, South Yarra, Melbourne
It's literally like walking into a restaurant in France. The wait staff are all french with thick accents and a very stern 'fuck you' vibe without it being offensive. They're always under the pump but the staff make it known that their 'customer service' only needs to go as far as being attentive, not necessarily nice. Because at the end of the day, you come to France Soir because you need France Soir, not the other way round. To order is almost verbatim what i stated in my death row meal although i've never had a choc ganache tart there. The entrecote, foie gras, bluff oysters (which you always have to ask for) and honestly any expensive bottle of crisp white or a stunning red will take you to heaven. When I was drinking, Chablis is always my choice for the starters, then move onto a beaujolais for mains. France Soir is an institution, call it 'done' but I will never stop going and ordering the same stuff over and over again.
Casual dinner: Honestly, Soi 38 haha.
Order: Firstly, Soi 38 is the most authentic Thai you can ever eat in us. From the food to the fitout... it's literally a 'restaurant' in a ground floor car park. The plastic chairs and tables to the single use paper menus they give you with a pen to mark your order, to the paper cups for tap water.
Okay to start: som tam (w peanuts and shrimp), scallop sashimi, larb moo, pork jowl, the crispy pork belly, any type of the hot soup (i love the seafood one) and a serve of the sticky rice and normal rice. Honestly though go nuts, get as much as you can - just make sure you go with a group of hungry humans so you can go ham on the ordering.
Special shoutouts
If you haven’t been to Thailand yet, go. Hit Bangkok and don’t be shy. Chinatown in Bangkok is crazy too. Eat all the street food and don't look back. Get ready for spice to serve you a solid arse kicking.
And then go to Vietnam and eat your body weight in pho and Viet iced coffees.
And then go to Nepal and have dahlt baht every morning made by the local women and hike through the Himalayas and eat their version of two minute noodles and drink the strong, infamous 'Raski' that literally puts hairs on your chest.
Oh and don't forget India. That will blow your mind in every sense... but the food, oh my god.