Mokonuts: The Cookbook

by Moko Hirayama, Omar Koreitem, David Lebovitz (Foreword)

Genres: Cookbooks, Food

240 pages, Hardcover

Published September 25, 2025

Reviews

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful cookbook that documents some of the dishes served at the Paris restaurant with the same name as the title. The place is run by a couple, Moko handles the breakfast and sweets while Omar manages the appetisers and mains. The book is divided by courses with Omar writing the first part and Moko finishing the latter section.

In the small restaurant everything is made from scratch and the recipes follow suite. They are well-written but seem to assume readers have some cooking experience. The book is beautifully designed as is often the case with ones published by Phaidon. There are tasteful photos for the majority of dishes, I believe almost all of Omar's had them but some of Moko's desserts did not.

The main thing that made me scratch my head was the choice to put the Notes on the Recipes at the back of the book after the index. Information it contained is very useful for executing the recipes correctly and safely. The other head-scratcher was why the explanations for what crowns and alternatives to leaven are were placed in recipes after the first time they are referenced.

But don't get me wrong, I still loved what this cookbook had to offer! The recipes are loving crafted with care. The story of the authors journey of finding and making their passion for cooking a reality was inspiring. I was also introduced to a few new ingredients, colatura (an Italian fish sauce) and scallops skirts. Anyone who loves cooking for the sake of cooking is bound to enjoy what this cookbook brings to the table.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly the kind of cookbook you'd make things from (I only bookmarked a handful of recipes to try, mostly from the Larder and the Sweets sections). Then again, the authors state in the beginning that this is more of a documentation of recipes they've made at the Mokonuts restaurant -- "a collection of memories for us, for our family, for our beloved customers, and hopefully for readers from afar." It doesn't pretend to be anything more or anything less. I will probably never visit their restaurant, so it was a charming look inside the thought process behind the food they offer. The foreword by Dorie Greenspan and David Lebovitz was fun to read as well.