Chicken Chop Mushroom Sauce Was going around the area around Kovan MRT Station one day and noticed a fairly unfamiliar sight whilst passing by The Coffeeshop by Yaowarat — the coffeeshop had seen quite a fair bit of changes ever since they had first started operations, and the most recent change seems to be the disappearance of The Breakfast Club; the stall of which The Breakfast Club used to occupy is now operated by a Star Western 星星西餐. Turns out, these Star Western is a concept by the very same folks behind The Breakfast Club — the online POS system that is used by Star Western still sees the name of The Breakfast Club in its URL; the same folks behind The Breakfast Club is also the team behind Joji’s Diner that is located nearer to Serangoon MRT Station as well. With the revamp of The Breakfast Club into Star Western, there has been some works done to the facade of the stall to install the lit signboards that hang above. The menu at Star Western is one that is focused on serving up Hainanese-style western cuisine that is commonly found across hawker centres, food courts and coffeeshops; whilst The Breakfast Club’s offerings could also arguably be classified as western fare, none of the items from The Breakfast Club’s menu were being carried over.
Skimming through the menu to see what Star Western has to offer, we eventually settled for the Chicken Chop Mushroom Sauce since it is a dish that we would usually end up with when visiting such local-style western cuisine stalls for the first time; it is also noted that the Chicken Chop Mushroom Sauce is listed as a “Must Try” item on the menu. Whilst the menu at Star Western does not describe the elements that come with the dish, it can be observed from our order that the Chicken Chop Mushroom Sauce comes with grilled chicken, cajun fries, sunny side-up, baked beans, coleslaw and two slices of toast. Going straight for the grilled chicken, the slab of chicken does come juicy and tender; the flavours for the chicken seemingly being largely coming from the mushroom sauce that it comes served with. The mushroom sauce itself does come with the usual hint of savouriness of brown sauces, though the mushroom sauce at Star Western does seem to come in a darker hue than that of what some other Hainanese-style western establishments serve up — also noticeable a little more heavy-handed as a result in terms of flavour with a slight peppery hint that comes along with it. The cajun fries can be something that some would find a little disappointing; the shoestring fries comes with a good load of Cajun spices, though it could result in the Cajun fries being a little salty and heavy for some — the fries were also soft and limp which wasn’t quite ideal for us. Interestingly, the baked beans here does come with some small chunks of hotdog that provided a good bounce, while the coleslaw comes chilled; creamy with a crunch factor that resets the tastebuds from the heavier tasting elements here. The sunny side-up comes with soft whites and somewhat of a runny egg yolk — free from any undesirable notes of overused oil. The two slices of toast were spread with garlic spread; toasted to a crisp, yet carrying a prominent hint of that garlicky fragrance that was pretty on point for us. At $9, the Chicken Chop Mushroom Sauce might be a little pricey to some, though one is technically getting a portion of food that is slightly more than what most local-style western cuisine stalls at hawker centres, food courts and coffeeshops would serve up. That being said, there is still room for improvement for the food; they could definitely look into their fries where it would have been better if they were serve all crisp on the exterior and fluffy within — also would help if they could go easier on the Cajun spices as well. Considering how Star Western is an establishment with 24-hour operations, it does serve as a convenient spot for hungry folks looking for western food during odd hours where not many options are available to choose from.
