Honbo, Chijmes

I probably wouldn't have taken interest or walked in if I hadn't known anything about Honbo (#01-09 Chijme, 30 Victoria Street). But we did from their shop at Wan Chai a few years back.

Setup was diner-esque, looking like a burger restaurant with table service. Run by a guy with a Hong Kong accent who obviously bases his behaviour on whom he thinks he's talking too. Nice and patient with a chiobu at the bar while brusque with others. I meant curt. Anyways, they're at the spot that used to be Tonkatsu by Ma Maison.

We had apple pie tea. Cinnamon flavoured tea with a slice of apple?

Honbo 2.0 was delicious. I mean it kicks Shake Shack in the ass and connects solidly kind of delicious. 😂 Burger looked thick with the 4 X 2oz smash patties but was tender and beefy and cheesy. Oozing juices like Omakase burger dripping their liquid cow into the wrapper. Pretty greasy but gratifying $28 there.

There's a limited time scallop burger. Just two sizeable scallops with pesto. I'm sure it tasted nice. If not for the cilantro/coriander in the pesto they've conveniently neglected to mention. 

Fries nice. 

Blue cheese dip which on hindsight wasn't necessary because the fries were good enough to eat on their own.

Jun Yuan House Of Fish, Clementi Central

This was a bowl of XO 双鱼汤 from Jun Yuan House Of Fish just next door to Texas Lone Star at the Kopitiam in Clementi Central (#01-271, 450 Clementi Avenue 3). Don't know if the XO meant that there's liquor in it because I couldn't taste any. 

What was apparent for me was that it's better tasting than the recent bowl from Jia Li Seafood Soup with a deeper flavour. There's a more rounded savouriness if you would. Also less expensive. That being said, we didn't get red grouper this time. But we were much happier with this one.

Texas Lone Star, Clementi Central

Pretty decent chicken chop from Texas Lone Star (#01-271, 450 Clementi Avenue 3). They're a local western food stall in Kopitiam. What made this memorable was the creamy mushroom sauce the slathered on top of the meat. Tasted like the ones from Botak Jones. Coleslaw's a little more sour than I imagined and that pilaf rice on the side tasted mostly of the brown onion-y sauce. This plate was a bit more pricey than I expected for a coffeeshop.

Jia Li Seafood Soup (佳丽), Holland Village

I've been seeing the mention of Jia Li Seafood Soup quite a bit of late so we checked out the branch at Holland Village which was located in the same coffeeshop as Pepper Castle (33 Lorong Liput).

It's okay. I wasn't sure what to expect but I didn't think it was impressive. This was the sliced red grouper soup. I wouldn't classify the flavour of the soup as great. Just passable. Measly quantity of slice red grouper and the texture was suspect. They're normally pretty firm and these were falling apart when I picked them up with my chopsticks. Meat patties were not bad tasting though. Should I have ordered the seafood soup that they're supposedly known for instead of fish soup?

Revisiting Pavilion Banana Leaf

Back at Pavilion Banana Leaf. Mango lassi's nice in a way where the flavours of both the mango and curd were balanced with each other. Delicious but not a lot of volume though and it did look very yellow.

We've seen a number of people ordering the lamb shank briyani. It wasn't bad tasting. Lamb was tender and the rich masala was spicy and nutty. But for at about $40, the portions of both the shank and the rice were pretty small.

This was masala chilli prawn. From the name, it sounded red or brown and smothered in a thick gravy. The dish turned out in an off-white (albeit very) and spicy coconut gravy.

The coconut-y gravy was infused with sweetness from onions, the crustacean flavours from the prawns and heat from chillis. 3 large meaty prawns with head fat. This was more delicious than I had imagined.

Some butter naan to soak up the masala chilli prawn's milky richness.

Lontong with paru and begedil for breakfast at Nusa & Tara

This lontong from Nusa & Tara was so satisfying. Savoury lemak from the coconut-y gravy, saltiness from the paru goreng and some spiced sweetness from the serunding.

Surprise update 5/5/2024...

No begedil or extra serunding today. Just paru goreng. Another satisfying lontong breakfast.