I have to get this out of the way before a table gets tossed over my head: I’m an old-fashioned kinda guy. Aside from the certain fact that I prefer my ducks to be pan-fried rather than sticking them in food condoms before placing them in a water bath, I like cash. I praise the beauty of physical currency, finding joy in rubbing two notes together like Rob Schneider hinting for a tip in Home Alone 2. Of course, none of this information would be pertinent if not for an article detailing my experiences at a larger-than-life bunker-esque food paradise that half the Singaporean population may be familiar with: habitat by honestbee.
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This is the epitome of smart-living. From your first step into the converted warehouse space to your premature exodus, everything is assisted, motivated and carried out with your mobile phones. As a person who is stuck in time trying to maintain a heritage whilst simultaneously innovating and completely fucking over the same idea in deliberate contradiction, I have never been fond of utilising mobile phones for anything other than aimless social media crawls and sprawls. And also for writing an endless stream of paragraphs pertaining to food whilst trying unravel the very notion of pretentiousness at its core. That being said, habitat by honestbee requires a smartphone, an Internet connection and half a monkey’s sanity to traverse in one piece.
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If there’s one thing everyone comes here for, it’s the Poofy Pancakes ($14) by Riz Labo. This ethereal creation features three Japanese soufflé pancakes that are ever so fluffy and almost wobbly to the touch. A dough jelly, if you will. Paired with a ridiculously light and supple topping of vanilla Chantilly cream, the plate was cleared in less than 5 minutes after an almost 2-hour long wait.
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We also tried the Char Siew Rice ($8) by Char, which was a very traditional serving of char siew Brazilian pork belly, bok choy, ajitama and Jasmine white rice. This was followed by a lovely Snapper Fish and Chips ($14.90) from Captain Snapper, which featured a lovely crisp portion of beer-battered snapper and some sriracha mayonnaise to go along with the quintessential chips.
