THREE BOWLS (Whampoa Makan Place)

The kolo mee and the Hakka in the name misled me, given I love both styles of noodles. It's a rather ordinary bowl. The cutlet was the supermarket type and the seasoning tasted instant and cheap. Adding the basic fish sticks also made the bowl overly expensive.

Got to learn about the existence of Three Bowls 客家仔 来三碗 whilst scrolling around social media some time back — these folks are a recent addition at Whampoa Makan Place at 90 Whampoa Drive having seemed to have open their doors fairly recently at the food centre. Not to be confused with other establishments with similar sounding names such as Eat 3 Bowls 呷三碗, Three Bowls is an establishment that serves up Sarawak Kolo Mee; interestingly, the same exact stall was also once operated by another tenant serving up Sarawak Kolo Mee named Da Hua 大华 Sarawak Mee before Three Bowls 客家仔 来三碗 existed. The stall itself should be relatively easy to spot with its brown signboard that depicts an illustration of old school shophouses with a picture of its Kolo Mee on the side. Apart from its Sarawak Kolo Mee offerings, Three Bowls also does serve up fried wontons, wonton soup and fishball soup for those looking for an additional item to complement the noodles or just as a side to share around the table.

We opted for the Pork Chop Kolo Mee during our visit to Three Bowls during a weekday evening for dinner — it does seem that the stall had garnered a little bit of a popularity within the locality considering how there is some waiting time involved with a constant flow of patrons making orders even though there isn’t a queue at the stall; patrons are issued a electronic buzzer after making payment for their order which will be used to page the patron to collect their food once the order has been prepared. Three Bowls offers their Kolo Mee offerings with a choice of White, Red and Black variants which we went for the White version for our order of the Pork Chop Kolo Mee; apart from the Kolo Mee, Three Bowls also offers other noodle options such as Mee Tai Mak, Hor Fun and Yellow Noodles. Patrons can also specify if they would like their orders to come spicy or not as well; an option that we also went for.

Giving the noodles a little bit of a toss, the Kolo Mee is springy and coated with pork lard being the base of the White sauce; very fragrant, and the addition of chili does add a spicy kick that tickles the tastebuds that is somewhat similar to the Thai-style chili flakes that should work well with those that are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness. The minced pork here is actually pretty moist; the same that we have had from other Kolo Mee stalls located at various food courts / coffeeshops / hawker centres tend to be a lot drier; this makes for a better texture and better flavour considering how it does come with a vinegary tang that cuts through the meatiness of minced pork in general — goes especially well with the springy noodles that is being tossed in lard. The pork chop comes in a style similar to what Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 serves up with their Fried Rice with Pork Chop and Eggs. The Pork Chop comes all juicy, tender and easy to chew; a little crisp on the surface on some parts, savoury with no undesirable porky stench coming along with it. Thought that the Pork Chop Kolo Mee from Three Bowls was actually pretty satisfying; both the Pork Chop and the Kolo Mee were actually well-executed in our opinion — one that we do feel that we will develop cravings for. Three Bowls has priced their Kolo Mee offerings from $4 to $6.50; pretty affordable even to be considered as an everyday dining option. Looking forward to return to give their red sauce Kolo Mee a go someday considering how rare of a find it is around the island!