Steamboat At Jubilee Coffee House

Everyone drove east to Jubilee Coffee House. All of us have separately come here for dinner at various times through the year, so it's not a strange venue. We never mind the distance. How far can it be in tiny Singapore? We like the restaurant for its decent unpretentious Asian Chinese menu, retro feel and casual vibes. So pleased to see friends that we haven't met for a while. We had quick chats at Laneway Festival two weeks ago, and wanted to get together again for dinner.

Jubilee currently offers a Lunar New Year charcoal steamboat menu. We liked its non-fancy ingredients. The chicken soup stock was thick. At large gatherings, steamboat is always a popular friendly choice. I have very few objections to a meal of steamboat as long as there's some form of garlic or chilli dip. Soup always makes me happy, and there'll always be eggs, cabbage, fishballs and mushrooms. Also ordered additional items from Jubilee's main menu. They've got a western menu as well. Fish burger, seafood pasta, chicken chop or Hainanese pork chop with baked beans and fries. Pretty similar to those cafes at the country clubs. Remember those from our childhood?

At these restaurants and cafes, I tend to prefer the Asian offerings. They seem to taste better. At Jubilee, I also appreciate it when I ask for the fairly tasty fried Hokkien noodles to be done without pieces of lard or pork belly, the servers gently remind me that the stock used already holds pork, which is fine. At least they're aware of that. The restaurant's big piece of otah with rice has been consistently fabulous. No complaints about their seafood hor fun either. Their assam fish with rice is surprisingly good too. If you still have stomach space, there's always a big serving of ice kachang and chendol for dessert.

We sat outdoors. No mosquitoes. It was a lovely night; still cool and comfortable enough to hang out for a few hours, even while downing spoonfuls of hot soup, and with two hotpots holding glowing hot charcoal at the side. We were dressed super casual anyway. Might as well enjoy the last bits of cool weather before the dry hot spell returns.