Taiwan Braised Pork Rice @ Seah Im 呷三碗 Eat 3 Bowls

I was down at Harbourfront this morning for an errand, so the natural choice for me is to have breakfast at Seah Im hawker centre. I had lu rou fan and big intestine mee sua at 呷三碗 Eat 3 Bowls stall which I think can satisfy most people's craving for these Taiwanese food icons.



View of Seah Im food centre from the pedestrian bridge linking it directly to the Harbourfront building. I haven't been here for a decade but not much have changed in this old food centre.



I circled the hawker centre and stumbled upon 呷三碗 ( means "Eat 3 Bowls" in Hokkien) stall serving Taiwan braised pork rice 台灣滷肉飯. But, it was not opened for business yet, so I ordered a teh tarik and waited.



Official business hours start at 8:30am but they started serving as soon as they are ready slightly after 8:00am.



They have various Taiwanese style dishes on the menu but today, I shall keep myself to lu rou fan (S$2.50) and big intestine mee sua (S$3.50).

This stall is called "Eat 3 Bowls" because they started with 3 signature dishes - lu rou fan, big intestine mee sua and shredded chicken rice (which is no longer on the menu).



Cousins Jie Wei (left) and Pei Tang entered hawkering as they love cooking and wanted to own their own business. They started a pasar malam stall (night market) and when customers feedback that they would like places to sit down, JW and PT decided to take up a hawker stall. They have been here at Seah Im for nearly two years. The next milestone is to move to a shop lot so that they can serve more side dishes like the lu rou fan shops in Taiwan.

JW and PT tried numerous lu rou fan shops in Taiwan and their favourites are 金峰 Jin Feng and 三元號 San Yuan Hou in Taipei. I've tried 金峰 before, so I'll look out for 三元號 for my next Taipei trip.



Eat 3 Bowls' lu rou fan looks much like their Taiwanese counterpart, except for that optional chopped scallion topping and cut chili which I added.



The roughly chopped bits of braised belly pork were soft-tender including the lean meat. The fat, there a quite some of it, was soft and dissolved quickly in the mouth. The savoury sweet flavours were mild, milder than at Jin Feng. There was also no porky taste at Eat 3 Bowls.



The gravy, a blend of savoury braising stock, sweet juices from the meat and oil from the fat seeped into and between the grains of soft-tender pearly rice. I like it that the sweet rice also had a soft nutty bite.

Though not as greasy as Jin Feng (my benchmark), Eat 3 Bowls' lu rou fan really isn't that far off from the good ones that I've tried in Taipei. It will be complete when we have the full range of savoury side dishes and soups.



Of course, I can't leave without eating the other Taiwan food icon, big intestine mee sua 大腸麵線.

A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Nov 17, 2017 at 5:32pm PST

The mee sua soaked in an interesting mild savoury sauce was soft like thin tofu threads. The mee sua have a slight savoury sweet taste which complemented the savoury soupy gooey sauce well. The taste was zested up with a dash of black vinegar and spoonful of minced garlic sauce. (No chili sauce so I tossed in a bit of cut chili.)

The braised pork intestines have a nice savoury sweetness and they are very soft like tofu. (So, Eat 3 Bowls' pork intestines differs from famous Ay Chung's in Taipei which have a tender springy feel to the bite.)



👉 If you miss Taiwanese lu rou fan and big intestine mee sua, you can satisfy your cravings at 呷三碗 Eat 3 Bowls at Seah Im Food Centre near Harbourfront.

You may be interested in:

Jin Feng Lu Rou Fan in Taipei 👈 click
Ay Chung Mee Sua in Taipei 👈 click



Restaurant name: 呷三碗 Eat 3 Bowls



Address: Seah Im Food Centre, stall #01-21, 2 Seah Inn Road, Singapore 099114 (at Harbourfront Bus Interchange)
GPS: 1°16'00.5"N 103°49'07.2"E | 1.266815, 103.818668
Tel: 91548191 / 90227469
Hours: 8:30am to 6:00pm (Sunday off)

Non Halal

Date visited: 18 Nov 2017

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