The Honours is a good sized place with a modern interior design. The entry half is a large bar with lounge seating as well as counter stools. The dining room half has bench seating along one wall and well spaced free standing tables fill the rest of the room. Some tables are fairly small while others are better sized. I found it odd that when we were seated there were not many in the room yet, and it never did fill, yet they sat us at a small table right next to the noisy kitchen door. They definitely are trying for an elegant atmosphere and service was fine just not terribly polished. At lunch they have a special 2 or 3 course fixed price express menu, a couple fixed price 3 or 5 course menus and an a la carte menu.
We opted to try a few of their specialty items rather than the lunch menu. As we waited for our order they brought out nice doughy bread with a chewy crust. It was fine but mostly good for soaking up sauce.
We started with the tagliatelle hand rolled pasta with a roasted Orkney scallop and truffle purée. The pasta was rolled pretty thin and accented with a bit of cilantro. The truffle taste was mild but nevertheless wonderful. It really didn’t need the seared scallop, although it was quite good, as it would have been a fine offering with just the sauce and lovely pasta.
The Honours Côtes de Boeuf was cooked a perfect rare and presented already sliced. It was served with Béarnaise sauce, onion rings, steak fries made with duck fat and a side salad. The salad was pretty forgettable but the rings were really nice. They had a crispy light coating that did not separate from the sweet well cooked onion. The steak fries were thick with a nice crisp exterior and stayed hot for a long time. The beef had a subtle smokiness and was nicely tender. It was served with the bone.
For dessert we had the Honours Sundae which contained caramelized banana and pecans, honeycomb meringue, caramel ice cream, toffee and whipped cream all served in a tall glass. It looked nice and was a good sweet fix. I particularly liked the addition of the crunchy sweet meringue and the nuts which gave it good textural contrast.
