Johor Bahru Honbin Seafood Restaurant in Permas Jaya 宏运海鲜

✍ 25 July 2024. Buddy Wilson wanted to have lunch in the Permas Jaya area, and Honbin Seafood (a zhi char place) was one of the first to come to my mind.

Digression: We came first to this dingy somewhat forgotten Penang laksa place, and walked slightly more than 5 minutes from here to Honbin. 

Groups of local regulars were already here waiting for their food 😁

We got some time to browse the menu which has over 100 dishes from fish to pork, chicken to seafood dishes. Honbin is also famous for their frog, wild boar, terrapin, deer, etc dishes. 

Chef owner Hian was still hands to the wok, slugging it out in the kitchen 💪

My first choice here was their poached kampung chicken but it wasn't ready, so we had to settle for other preparations. We chose their "yellow wine chicken". 

The first thing that struck us from the bubbling, churning, steamy sauce in the claypot with big chunks of chicken was the sweet flora aroma of rice wine. 

The meaty chunks of chicken, tender chewy with nice kampung chicken flavour blended with the subtle sweet tanginess of rice wine. The slivers of jullienned ginger added subtle heat and ginger taste to the dish. 

Nice. 

Fried baby squid (sotong). 

Not my instinct to order deep fried preparations for fresh ingredients but Honbin does this dish very well. Crisp well browned outside and inside the squid still had a bit of residual juiciness and tender sponginess. Flavour was mildly savoury. Quite nice actually. 

Cantonese style steamed shovel nose head. 

Not many places can do shovel nose shark well as it is basically tasteless meat, gelatine, cartilage and bone. 

The gelatinous skin was thick, slippery smooth, soft tender. Doesn't have flavour of its own but Honbin's savoury aromatic sauce brought the dish to life.

Must order when you are here. 

Spicy garlic lala clam. 

It's the succulent plump type of lala clam almost like small oysters. Natural savoury sweet lala clam flavours accentuated by stir frying with chili and garlic. 

Not knowing what to order for the obligatory vegetables, we opted for the Four Heavenly Kings, a pompous name for humble green bean, petai (stinky bean), long bean, and bringal stir fried in a spicy belacan sambal sauce. 

Flavourful, juicy, crunchy, can't go wrong at Honbin. 

Before and after our sumptuous and scrumptious meal, I walked around to the other tables to see what the local regulars were having. The locals were all very friendly and allowed me to feed my camera 🤣

Honbin's famous terrapin soup. Got to try this next time. 

Curry fish head. 

Fried ginger chicken. 

Asam pedas patin fish (catfish). 

I want to try this asam pedas patin next time. 

Not sure of the name of this spicy looking steamed fish dish. 

Can consider Honbin for your group lunch or dinner in Johor Bahru (except Tuesday which is their rest day).

Honbin was one of our food trail stops. The stops were decided on the fly, some we have never been before while others we haven't been for a long time. All of us enjoyed Honbin, and we can vouch that their food is Confirm Good 👍

Restaurant name: 宏运海鲜咖哩鱼头餐馆 Honbin Seafood Restaurant

Address: 2, Jalan Permas 1/3, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, 81750 Masai, Johor

Tel:  ☎ +6012 690 2141 ☎ 019 754 7930 ☎ 07 388 0607

Hours: 12 noon - 12 midnight (Tues off)

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Written by Tony Boey on 25 July 2024

✍ 1 Dec 2013. My friend Bryan has been telling me about the steamed catfish at Honbin Seafood 宏运海鲜 for a while, and today we finally gathered a few kaki kaki to pay this restaurant a visit.

Honbin Seafood is located at a quiet corner of Permas Jaya, not far from the AEON JUSCO Permas mall.



The simple menu is written out on this white board. Besides the usual fish, prawns and crabs, Honbin has the proper license to serve certain wild game like terrapins, wild boar and squirrels.



Hian is the friendly owner and head chef. Honbin started as a street side stall, slowly working their way to today's simple but good size restaurant.



Sally and her husband Hian are visibly and deservedly proud of their restaurant which is the result of their decade of hard work.



First up was this mixed platter of crispy fish roll, fried chicken balls and crispy fried chicken.



The fish roll was made of tender minced fish meat and vegetables wrapped in crispy thin tofu skin. A quite interesting and tasty snack or appetiser.



The fried chicken ball is made of minced chicken and water chestnuts. Would be perfect if the chicken balls were a little more moist.



I like Honbin 's crispy fried chicken with a savoury and sweet sauce. The thin slice of chicken with skin on is fried till the skin is crispy while the flesh still retains some chew and juice. Though different, it did remind me of those small square pieces of roasted suckling pig. I like this.



Steamed catfish is one of my favourite dishes and I will order one whenever it is available. Honbin's steamed catfish is made with wild caught river fish. Very sweet and bouncy tender white flesh, with not even the slightest hint of muddiness.



Hongbin's herbal turtle soup is made with wild caught terrapin from the rivers near Kota Tinggi.



The clean tasting broth is clear and light with herbal and ginseng flavours, and aroma. (Note: This is not the murky, full bodied, umami savoury herbal style of turtle soup commonly served in Singapore.)



The meat and gelatinous parts of the turtle tasted mildly sweet and had mouth feel somewhere between fish and chicken.




We also had Honbin's braised catfish which is made from live fish. The large chunks of tender catfish were braised in a mildly flavoured savoury sauce. I love chewing the chunks of soft meat, silky skin and juicy fat of the catfish.



Sally is proud of this lala shellfish stir fried with fried garlic and shallots. Savoury garlic and aromatic shallot bits blended with natural flavours of chewy bouncy lala.

The total bill including a pot of tea and rice came to RM140 nett for 6 adults, which I thought was very reasonable (2013 price).

Overall, I found the ingredients fresh and the dishes well executed. Honbin's dishes use less robust flavourings (like sauces) and rely more on the ingredients' natural flavours. I like Honbin because over time I learnt to better appreciate the original flavours of ingredients.

For wild caught ingredients, it is best to give Sally a call at +6012-797-7231 or +6019-754-7930 to find out what is available before proceeding to Honbin. (Not sure if these numbers are still in use. The number now listed is ☎ +6012 690 2141 ☎ 019 754 7930 ☎ 07 388 0607.)

Restaurant name: Honbin Seafood Restaurant 宏运海鲜
Address: 2, Jalan Permas 1/3, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, Masai, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.517583,103.821069

Tel: +6012 690 2141

Hours: 3:00pm to 1:00am
Non Halal

Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hHMyfiuRscmEDKd3A

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Written by Tony Boey on 28 Nov 2013

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