MONAN: Hearty & Satisfying Pork Soup With Offals In Chinatown Complex Food Centre

In these uncertain times, a hot, comforting bowl can do wonders to calm any anxiety.

MONAN at Chinatown Complex Food Centre serves precisely that. Of course, complying with Circuit Breaker regulations, these were all taken away and enjoyed in the comfort of my home.

MONAN is a real porky affair; they serve nearly all parts of the pork. From the meat, the leg to the offals, there’s something to suit anyone’s fancy.

I ordered three of MONAN’s specialities, MONAN Pork Soup (S$3.80), Pig Organ Soup (S$4.50) and Pork Rib Soup (S$5.80). Since they were takeaway items, they came with the soup packed separately. 

MONAN Pork Soup came with a generous serving of ingredients, from tender slivers of shabu shabu pork, pork skin, plump meatballs to MONAN’s signature egg sausage.

For its price point, this combination of ingredients was pretty generous, and I couldn’t wait to dig in.

The soup was light but full of depth; not the usual peppery bak kut teh broth.

This one was porky and would soothe on a rainy day. Plus, there was no thirsty MSG after-effects either. This was a win for me!

Now for the main event—all those goodies in the middle.

I started with the shabu pork slices that were still blushing when I poured in the soup. Just the right thin consistency, this tender shabu sliver had my vote.

A lesser-known cut from the pig has to be these gelatinous, crystalline curls of pork skin. I was little squeamish about these pale, translucent pieces but you just have to try them. Soft but still with a little bite to them, these jelly-like pieces were nothing short of delicious.

Prepared well and tasty, this seldom-offered cut of pork has to be my new favourite indeed.

The size of small ping pong balls, these meatballs were bouncy and juicy.

The meat is grounded up just right, not too smooth that it loses all texture but enough that it has a pleasant mouthfeel. Slightly peppery, I was thoroughly impressed by these springy orbs.

These egg sausages are something that you don’t see very often in our hawker food scene. Therefore, these pale yellow ovals were intriguing for sure. The eggs are whipped before being piped in sausage casing, and then steamed.

Well-seasoned and with a delightful bite to them, I found myself fishing for these flaxen slices. You can even order them as a separate topping, so I’d call it a win-win situation.

For those who go crazy over offals, MONAN’s Pig Organ Soup is sure to impress. A myriad of offals from heart, stomach, liver, intestine and skin, you practically have the entire animal in your bowl.

When it comes to any kind of offals, you have to make sure they are cleaned well lest they have that awful, metallic aftertaste that will turn you off from having offals of any sort in the future.

A somewhat gateway offal to get you started has to be the ever-popular pork liver. These were still a little red when I got them, which is a brownie point from MONAN. After all, the liver can’t be left cooking for too long as they turn leathery pretty quickly.

This was soft, rich and oh-so-delectable —no complaints here.

For the not-so-adventurous, the one you can try is the pig heart. Yup, you read that right.

The name might sound intimidating, but the heart is just another muscle, so it shouldn’t taste too different. MONAN’s heart was tender and delicately sliced, undoubtedly easy to stomach.

For the more adventurous souls out there, MONAN’s pig’s stomach and intestine did not fall short either.

These parts are a little more difficult to prepare since they require multiple rounds of cleaning.

The stomach was supple with a good bite to it while the small intense was clean and almost creamy. Both were satisfying and gratifying mouthfuls, for sure.

However, if you would like something meatier, tasty and safe, the last bowl of Pork Ribs Soup comes with two hefty pork ribs and a couple of those winning pork balls.

The meat gave way without any resistance and tore away from the bone without much effort at all. A simple but well-executed bowl, you’ll want to bookmark MONAN for future visits.

MONAN is your no-frills, simple, down-to-earth pork soup. Everything is well-prepared and seeks to put pork at the centre of the dish. Even though MONAN was not particularly mind-blowing or memorable, it does still make for a tasty bowl, and it’s one I wouldn’t mind having if I was in the area.

With their convenient takeaway packaging, it makes it all the easier to enjoy this at home, and I, for one, will definitely#tapauplease.

Expected Damage: S$3.80 – S$6 per pax