I'm a little late getting to Honzen Cafe, but better late than never. I was recently approached by Straights Times who were running an article on the increase in vegetarian places in Singapore, and the reasons why. The answer to that is simple - There is a new breed of strictly health influenced vegetarians/vegans who have converted due to the exposure of health consequences attributed to meat consumption. Which is why, eateries that put health as their prerogative are on the increase in Singapore - An example of one of these restaurants, which have embarked down this path will be the focus of today's review. Honzen Cafe is away from the epicenter of vegetarian eateries in Bugis, instead, it is around a 10 minute walk from Fortune Centre (vegetarian mecca). Upon entering customers are greeted by friendly (mainly Myanmarese) waitresses, with wide smiles.Honzen Cafe
Location: 470 North Bridge Road, #01-01 North Bridge Commercial Complex
Contact: 63330478
Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 11am to 9.30pm
The most optimum healthy eatery should fit into two criteria - Organic and vegan. Although a high majority of the dishes at Honzen Cafe are vegan, unfortunately it is not 100%. Moreover, there is no mention of the food being organic, so I think we can safely assume it is not. The menu looked beautiful, with there being a compact yet diverse selection of dishes to choose from. At the time of writing this, Honzen Cafe has a promotion for Chinese New Year where you must upgrade main course meals to include tea/coffee and dessert (for $12.90). Nothing should even be forced onto customers - This should be something that is optional. Nevertheless, with a small amount of restraint, they will be happy to revert back to the original price - So no real damage done.
I decided to kick off this food sampling bonanza with one of the cheaper side dishes. This is the Salted Bites. To translate this title into something a little more coherent, this dish is basically dry Taiwanese style fried mock chicken. In total there were six pieces. Presentation wise, the dish looked nice, with cherry tomatoes, lettuce and thousand island dressing all occupying room on the plate. Flavour wise, the mock chicken was not too greasy and had the ideal texture balance of crunchy, yet still maintaining a salivating level of juiciness. Some might argue that for merely a side dish the price is a little high, but there can be no complaints about the quality.Price: $3.90. 7/10
Next we have one of Honzen Cafe's real flagship dishes, the Honzen Special. This dish, along with the honzen paradise meal (which was not available) are assorted mixed rice dishes. It comes with brown rice in the centre, and several small tidbit dishes circling around it. In addition, there is also clear tofu seaweed soup. The essence of this style of dish is simple, uncomplicated and natural flavours - Which is something I am encouraging of. For those who are used to heavy salt, oil and sugar in their diet, however, this will be a largely bland experience. One aspect of the dish that was unquestionably packed with flavour was the black fungus, which was stewed in vinegar - Fantastic flavour, which resembles the famous Cantonese dish zhu jiao cu.Price: $8.90. 7/10
To diversifying this review, I also ordered one of the Western offerings. Here we have the Hamburger Set. The fries were soft and crunchy and sinfully delicious, but again chilli sauce was the accompaniment instead of ketchup (I can never understand that). The hamburger had a tasty mock chicken patty, but the let down was the hamburger bun. The bottom of the bun absorbed a lot of moisture from the heat of the patty - Thus, it was soggy. Who likes soggy bread? Well, if you do, you have serious palate problems. I would have preferred the bun to be toasted slightly.Price: $7.90. 6/10
The final treat for this evening was the Rendang Rice. Rendang, which was believed to have been created by the Minangkabau tribe of Indonesia, is a largely dry lemongrass infused meat curry. Its origins date back all the way to the 1500s. The traditional version of this dish is very heavy on salt and oil. It was pleasing to taste this rendang, as it was not too salty - But there was still a hefty amount of oil used. I must confess, I was disappointed by how little pieces of mock meat were found lurking in the curry. Flavour wise, it was certainly spicy, so perhaps not a dish for those with fragile stomachs.Price: $7.90. 6/10
Conclusion - While Honzen Cafe is not going to drop any jaws in regards to its originality or menu, this is nevertheless a solid inclusion to the vegetarian scene in Singapore. Honzen Cafe seems to be trying to find the middle ground between healthy food and sinful food - As it seems to display characteristics of both. Value wise, the food certainly doesn't come cheap, but the ambiance of the eatery is clean and fresh. Although recently opened, Honzen Cafe seems to be successfully attracting a diverse range of customers, so overall it seems this place will continue to thrive.
Overall Rating
Food - 6/10
Ambiance- 8/10
Service - 7/10
Value - 6/10
