One place that had seemed to have quickly made headlines on social media of the late is Tai One Wei (台One味). Having taken over the former premises of the now-defunct retail shop named Motorwerks at 751 North Bridge Road, Tai One Wei has been making waves of social media for serving up Taiwanese home-style cuisine. The entire establishment is decked in a style that reminds patrons of a homely Taiwanese vibe — filled with wooden benches on white walls matched with wooden dining tables and chairs, lantern ceiling lamps and brick-esque wallpapers; the interior also being fairly narrow considering the layout of the shophouse it is housed in. The menu here features quite a variety of dishes — there is a section dedicated to air-flown Taiwanese produce that are seasonal items priced at market rates; then there is a section dedicated to mains which comprises of items such as the Signature Braised Pork Rice and Fried Rice / Noodles with Pork / Beef. The rest of the items on the menu is separated into sections dedicated to dishes at either $5, $10, $15 or $18 per serving — something which does remind us of the same concept which then now-defunct Five Ten / The Salted Plum was previously doing. The list of beverages are also pretty extensive — whilst cold non-alcoholic drinks are pretty much limited to packet drinks, they do also offer hot beverages such as a Four Season Oolong and a Ruby Black Tea; alcoholic beverages include different types of canned beer, as well as hard liquor and red wine.

Ordered quite a number of dishes, which included the Signature Braised Pork Rice, the Signature Fried Chicken and the Stir-fried Clams with Basil and found them to be pretty good, but the Deep-fried Pork Intestine was an item that we found to be truly impressive even despite us being fans of innards. Being one of the $10 plates which they have to offer here, we had initially expected the Deep-fried Pork Intestine was to be served in a format that would be similar to the Signature Fried Chicken — turns out these were actually in a way simpler than we thought. For one, we really enjoyed how the Deep-fried Pork Intestine here has that crisp exterior, while the insides maintain some sort of chewiness — all that whilst not being particularly greasy. The intestines here are also very well-cleaned; there isn’t any undesirable odour that came with it, whilst the intestines also come stuffed with greens to help curb with that taste which one would usually associate innards with. One can also dip the intestine into the saucer or salt & pepper that further enhances the flavour as well.

Taiwanese eateries have started becoming a little more commonplace these days considering how establishments like Breakfast Hola!, Monki Cafe and True Breakfast has been sprouting up of the late. That being said, much of the focus seems to have been placed on Taiwanese-style breakfast fare — places that serve up Taiwanese communal plates are few and far in-between. Tai One Wei does seem to address this gap in the Singapore market by offering some pretty authentic Taiwanese-style communal plates — mostly dishes that are not exactly easy to find here; all that in a setting where it is also cosy and exudes strong Taiwanese vibes. It is little wonder how this spot is already so popular even before features of it on social media started to come online — a real gem of its own. With such a strong following alongside the features on social media, reservations via their online platform are definitely recommended to avoid disappointment; we are definitely looking forward to returning to Tai One Wei to try out their other less commonly found dishes soon!