Mokonuts
Restaurant · Sainte-Marguerite ·
Imaginative breakfasts, lunches & homemade cookies, private dinners
Imaginative breakfasts, lunches & homemade cookies, private dinners
"Eclectic and bare-bones, this daytime-only 11th-arrondissement charmer has showcased co-owners Moko Hirayama and Omar Koreitem’s singular, wonderfully simple cooking since 2015, with signature plates like labneh on toast with seasonal vegetables and silky veloutés inspired by the freshest produce — but the cookies are the calling card. Baked in batches throughout the day so they’re served warm, several varieties have gone viral (Dorie Greenspan helped evangelize the rye, cranberry, and dark chocolate version), giving a Mokonuts cookie serious cachet at holiday cookie swaps. Hirayama embraces intentional imperfection — irregular shapes and rough-cut chunks of dark chocolate over chips — a philosophy that defines the beloved Chocochunks." - Erin DeJesus
"One of the most memorable meals I’ve had was lunch at Mokonuts, an intimate Japanese-Lebanese restaurant in Paris where a soothing, brothy meat dish with bread, red wine, and amazing cookies felt like a perfect, cozy representation of Parisian food; the restaurant’s eponymous cookbook gathers its best, ever-fluctuating recipes (Koreitem on savory, Hirayama on sweets and breakfast), reflecting the owners’ Lebanese, Japanese, American, British, and Parisian influences — some recipes are ambitious (shucking scallops, fileting trout, breaking down pigeons) while others are approachable, including the famed labneh, elegant dishes like eggs with peas and sea urchin, and savory breakfast options such as spicy avocado melts and Mokotecao cookies that invite customization." - Bettina Makalintal
"This studio-sized restaurant with a mint green facade has become so popular that it books up weeks in advance (you can join the waitlist, but there are no guarantees). It's generally filled with English speakers who are here for the sweet and savory dishes the French-Lebanese and Japanese-American couple who run the place make in the open kitchen. Expect mains like line-caught fish or chicken that’s flavored with Middle Eastern spices, and desserts like satsuma mandarin almond cake and sesame halva cookies. Everything is flavor-packed and near-perfect in execution." - sara lieberman, lindsey tramuta
"A beloved lunch spot that also sells housemade cookies to-go; the cookies routinely sell out and the recommendation is to try one of each flavor so you can taste the full range the kitchen produces." - Stacey Ballis
"Omar, who’s responsible for the savory dishes, got his start at Daniel in New York City, while Moko, a one-time lawyer, dreamt of making macarons at Ladurée. Together, they’ve created something wholly their own. Despite only serving lunch, they actually don’t do a prix-fixe option. But shortly after you take your first bite—of their famous zaatar-spiced labne; of Moko’s oddball flavored cookies; of Omar’s daily dish—you still feel as if you’re getting a deal. While the lunch menu changes daily, the Middle Eastern-skewed dishes plated on raw ceramics may include fish topped with artichokes and crushed potatoes or moist chicken served with fresh greens." - Lindsey Tramuta, Sara Lieberman
