So, I am generally not the kind of person who has cravings for food of this or that. I eat as it is. Sometimes I go for a particular cuisine. Other times I just eat whatever comes to mind.
But there are certain days, however, that I find myself needing warm, soupy stuff more than any others, especially after caregiving hours, and that's where the choice of meal becomes more ngiao than usual.
It don't matter if it is a bowl of chicken noodle soup.
It don't matter if it is fried fish noodle soup etc.
Just so long as it is warm and comforting and calming, that's enough for me.
We had not thought to come to Taiwanese eatery Eat Three Bowls at first.
In fact it had not been on the plan at all, but then the queue at the Malaysian style eatery next door was too long, I was hungry, and tired, and didn't want to wait, so to Eat Three Bowls we came.
I'll be candid.
It was an eyeopener.
You can call me suaku, okay, but up till now I had not known just how popular this eatery was.
For starters, I had thought this eatery was new.
But no, they had actually been around for a while, beginning first with a stall at a hawker center opposite Vivocity, and now, with outlets at various parts of the island, including NEX, where this evening we were.
My meal today was the Oyster Shredded Chicken Mee Sua- with no intestines. I'm the kind of person who can take oysters and liver and spleen but I cannot take intestines.
Never mind how they're cooked- stewed, boiled or fried.
Doesn't matter.
I just can't.
I loved my bowl.
I loved how the mee sua was soft and slippery and how every mouthful filled with noodle and rich, flavorful broth brought me a pleasant sense of warmth.
I loved how the huge heap of shredded chicken soaked up the broth- it had hints of vinegar- and didn't taste nor feel dry at all.
Better yet, there were the oysters, big, fat and juicy.
I shared them oysters with my friend who loves them in the orh luak style but can also eat them any style.
He had the Braised Pork Rice, by the way, which he said had an appetizing gravy full of flavor with the finely chopped pork served up in a mix of fat and meat.
Easy to scoop up the meat with the rice too.
But I will say this.
Had I not been needing something warm and soupy and hot and comforting, I might have gone for another dish else.
There is (surprisingly) quite a lot to be had here at this place.
Popular dishes here include the Braised Beef Noodles, the Pork Chop Egg Fried Rice and the Shredded Chicken Rice.
So the last one might seem very very healthy, which it is, but maybe I might go for the first two instead.
They seem more... fun?
Like this evening, I was actually keen on the Braised Beef Noodles. The broth, a soy-spiced concoction, apparently, seemed stimulating yet comforting and warm at the same time.
And then I did take a look at the Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken Soup, and the Huadiao Wine Chicken Soup where the first one had ginger and for the second, I've always wondered how Huadiao wine is like.
This evening, as much as I hoped to, it would have been lovely had I been able to have the Pork Chop Egg Fried Rice and the Taiwanese Tomato Omelette. Taiwanese, after all, have a reputation for their skill in making fluffy, soft, fragrant, moist fried rice and a reputation for well-marinated, perfectly battered, perfectly fried pork chop fillets, which, had it not been for the need for a calm-me-down dish, I would have wanted to try.
Perhaps another time.
You know, I'd like to try their fried items then.
Especially their night market faves of Fried Tempura, Plum Sweet Potato Fries, Fried Oyster Mushrooms, and Salted Crispy Chicken.
Would be a bit of waste not to. :)