Food Blog | Monti | Business Lunch | Marina Bay | Singapore

Been a while since I’ve been back in Singapore, and one of the meals I had there was at Monti, for their “Colapranzo” or their version of a business lunch / brunch for the weekdays. The main attraction of Monti is definitely its location, overlooking the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel.

Context: Had their Colapranzo / Business Brunch set (weekdays) in December 2022 with family.

Is it Halal?

No, Monti is a non-halal restaurant, serving up a number dishes including pork and wine. However, it does list the main ingredients used for each dish on its menu, and I’m sure the waiters are more than willing to help confirm any concerns that you have about this.

Where it Is

My best description of where it is would be that it is really near Merlion Park - almost a 5 minute walk away. It is located between the One Fullerton shopping mall and The Fullerton Bay hotel. The nearest MRT station is Raffles Place - which is about a 10 minute walk away. I actually got here via bus - and that led to a very short walk of about 5 minutes - although do check which buses are accessible to you. Monti is the giant ball out in the Singapore river.

I would recommend asking for a table by the window - because that’s where you get the best view! I would suggest that you make a booking via SevenRoom by clicking this link right over here!

Address: Monti Singapore, 82 Collyer Quay, Singapore 049327

Lunch Set Availability:

Weekdays - 11am - 2:30pm (not offered on public holidays)

What it Costs

I need to stress the fact that rates on the menu are pre-tax. Their 2-course is $48 and their 3-course is $58. There is also an option to get a 4 course menu for $88 - but this can only be ordered if the whole table is having it. There is a 10% and a 8% (this is the new 2023 GST - was 7% at time of eating for me haha). There are also additional options to upgrade your dishes.

We had a few of the upgraded dishes, but I would say that only the Blackmore Full Blood Wagyu Tartare was really worth the upgrade - I’ll talk a bit more about it in the next section.

You can take a look at their menu for the lunch set right over here:

How it Tastes

I personally felt that although the location is absolutely beautiful and the restaurant has a wonderful ambiance, the food fell a bit flat. I’m by no means saying the food is bad, I’m more just saying that the food didn’t really stand out to me.

The meal starts off with a selection of breads just to get you ready for the food to come.

We had 4 different appetizers to share - the service here was great and offered us the sharing plates before we even asked them. We had the calamari, seared marinated ahi tuna (SGD8 add-on), wagyu tartare (SGD8 add-on), and the roasted avocado.

I’ll start with the roasted avocado because I just want to mention something first. The salad is eerily similar to the one served with some of their mains. There are some subtle differences like the vinaigrette used and the avocado, but otherwise, I would therefore suggest that you don’t order the roasted avocado salad appetizer if you do end up ordering a main with a salad - like the wood-fired boneless short rib (unless of course you’re a fan of salads). I do think that the salad tastes fresh, the avocado is so-so and for me, doesn’t really work as a dish as a whole.

The fried calamari was underwhelming for me - especially having had such fresh and high quality calamari in another recent business lunch I’ve had - albeit in Dubai, but for a similar price after currency conversion and tax. I thought that their homemade pickled sauce was also a bit so-so. For people who enjoy fried food, I think this is still an okay dish to order - because this is the only fried option amongst the appetizers.

Monti Singapore Seared Marinated Ahi Tuna

The seared marinated ahi tuna was a bit flat for me as well - I had expected a bit more flavour from their sauce accompanying the ahi tuna. I think a nicer sauce would definitely have made this dish great - because the ahi tuna itself was pretty good on its own.

Monti Singapore Blackmore Full Blood Wagyu Tartare

The Blackmore full Blood Wagyu Tartare is actually a pretty interesting dish because of all the different elements it incorporates in the dish. The most interesting component for me was actually the red onion sorbet. Haven’t really seen anything like it - super unique and tastes really good as well. The whole dish really is an amalgamation of so many different elements - which makes it more worth it than the ahi tuna dish when compared side by side (considering they both require SGD8 add-ons).

Now on to the mains.

We had the wood-fired boneless beef short rib, spaghettoni aglio olio, roasted duck leg, and their featured dish: the Chef Giacomo Gallina’s Homemade Tagliatelle (SGD 9 add-on).

Monti Singapore Giacomo Gallina's Homemade Tagliatelle

I’ll start with the featured dish, just because you guys probably want to know whether it’s worth it to add-on. I would say that this is definitely for people who appreciate cheese for starters. The cheese taste actually isn’t THAT strong, but it’s difficult to appreciate this dish without being able to appreciate cheese, truffle, and a delicious pasta. At face value, the aglio olio actually looks a bit more bang for your buck - with the tiger prawns coming as a part of the dish, without any add-on fee - but as I said, this is more for those who want a premium pasta experience, with that yummy aged parmigiano reggiano fondue.

Next up, the aglio olio. This is a no frills, no complaints dish that we had. Someone else in my family actually ate the tiger prawns and said it was great - so I didn’t actually get to try the tiger prawns - but overall, the pasta was pretty yummy.

Monti Singapore Wood-Fired Boneless Beef Short Rib

The beef dish is the one that I chose. I think it was pretty decent. The beef had a lot of flavour and was nicely cooked - not to the point of melt-in-your-mouth delicious - but I would say it gets pretty close. I also mentioned the salad in the appetizers column - so just be mindful about that and order something else for the appetizer rather than the roasted avocado dish.

The last dish was the roasted duck leg dish. I didn’t have too much of this dish personally but the little that I had was really good. Really tender and had a lot of flavour.

My family went for two 2-course meals and two 3-course meals - so we had 2 desserts to share amongst ourselves. We got the dark chocolate fondant and the Monti’s tiramisu.

If I had to pick which one I enjoyed more, I would definitely pick the tiramisu. I definitely am a bigger fan of the hot, more runny interior type of dark chocolate fondant cake and this wasn’t really that. The tiramisu was really good though! I think that there was lots of flavour there that just really went together well.

Star Rating

6/10. If you were going to ask my to purely rate the food, this rating would probably be a bit lower, but the fact that the ambiance, service, and location are so good, it pulls up their rating ever so slightly. Definitely one of those come one time places for me - I think that the location is great for taking photos, enjoying over lunch, but food-wise, not really somewhere I would come back for again.