呷三碗車站 Eat 3 Bowls Station: Comfort Taiwanese Food at Pasir Panjang
Given that our borders haven’t been open for more than a year now, it’s fair to say most Singaporeans have been travelling vicariously through food— whether it’d be humble ramen shacks or bustling Korean BBQ joints. Good news for those missing a slice of Taiwan, as 呷三碗 Eat 3 Bowls opened a new outlet earlier this year at Pasir Panjang.
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Named 呷三碗車站 Eat 3 Bowls Station, this outlet unlike the Crawford Lane branch is themed like a Taiwanese train stop.
If you’re looking to get your Taiwanese food fix though, make sure you head down early, as even for a weekday dinner crowd, the restaurant was at full capacity by about 6:30pm, when a snaking queue started to form at the door.
Decor here is homely, and the train station theme is rather cute.
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Of course, the specialty here are the three bowls, namely the Braised Pork Rice (S$5), Chicken Rice (S$5), and Oyster Intestine Mee Sua (S$7.20).
We just had the Braised Pork Rice and Mee Sua this go around, but the former was definitely the winner of the lot.
The meat was packed with flavour, melt-in-your-mouth juicy and went perfectly with the short grain rice.
The Oyster Intestine Mee Sua on the other hand, was quite vinegary, the sharpness of which was quite cutting on the first few mouthfuls. The flavours did settle towards the end of the bowl though.
As a side, we got the Braised Chinese Cabbage (S$5.20) which had clearly been soaking in the stew for hours if not all day, as it was far too soft, to the point where it lacked texture.
Food was served very quickly, but I wish they were served hotter, especially the bowls of Mee Sua and Braised Cabbage. The quickness of which food was served was a probable indicator that large batches of food are cooked a lot earlier in the day, likely to keep tables moving. This does mean freshness takes a bit of a sacrifice though.
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Naturally, you can can order Taiwanese drinks here as well, but as all of my dining party aren’t massive milk tea lovers, we went for the Passionfruit QQ Tea (S$4.80) — where you can choose your sugar level, Lemon Wintermelon Tea (S$4.30), and Aiyu Jelly (S$2.80) which were all great, and really refreshing.
Prices here aren’t exactly street food cheap, though the portions aren’t big.
Overall, 呷三碗車站 Eat 3 Bowls Station is a decent fix for Taiwanese food cravings, but it’s not a joint I’m in a rush to head back to, if only for the fact lukewarm food is a bit of a miss for me. Aside from the Braised Pork Rice, I wasn’t bowled over by the other dishes we had too.
It’s nice to have a new Taiwanese joint around though, especially in an area of Singapore that’s pretty quiet. Just make sure you head on down before peak dining hours.
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WHERE | 103 PASIR PANJANG RD, SINGAPORE 118531
