One Bowl is a charming place, using wood carved out from tree trunks as its table top. Each of these wood pieces have its own characteristic lines. The restaurant has a comfortable vibe and ideal for intimate dinners for two and spacious enough to accommodate groups of 4 to 10 pax.
 |
| interior |
 |
| dinner is about to be served |
Helmed by Chef Tammie Loke, One Bowl Restaurant and Bar offers diners an Asian flavour and goodness of a homestyle meal. Signatures included Pork Belly Char Siew Mantou (steamed or fried), and Char Siew Noodles or Rice. Dishes are reasonably priced too.
 |
| menu |
For drinks, one could try their House Special (non-alcoholic), juices, smoothies, coffee/tea, bottled beers or wine. Tried the Banana and Chocolate Smoothies, as well as House Special of Honey Lemon (hot), Apple Blossom and Shirley Temple. The Banana Smoothie was instantly recognizable when sipped. Liked the banana flavours as its ripeness was just right plus, a rather natural sweetness to it.
 |
| from left to right: Apple Blossom, Banana Smoothie, Chocolate Smoothie, Shirley Temple |
If you are feeling under the weather, the hot honey lemon was soothing. House Specials are $5.50 each while smoothies are $6.50 each.
 |
| hot honey lemon @$3.50 |
Starters
For starters, the must-eat is pork belly char siew fried mantou served in two's or half-a-dozen. Heard that many diners will order this for their private functions as well and often times, these little golden buns would be sold out pretty fast. I've tried them and I must say, those pork belly char siew are amazing! Fats that dissolves in your mouth, yass to that! Perfect with a glass of wine.
 |
| pork belly char siew fried mantou (五花肉叉烧炸馒头) @$5 (for 2) or $12 (for 6) |
If you prefer to start with something a little on the lighter side of things, opt for the cold or hot tofu. The Cold Tofu with Pork Floss and Century Egg was refreshing and enjoyable. Cut the tofu from top to bottom and get abit of that creamy century egg onto that scoop and drizzle some of those sauce on it. Simple and good.
The Hot Tofu has a light batter that fried to a nice golden hue and coated with sauce. Eaten when served, gave a warm fuzzy feeling in the tummy and heart. Just like how moms would make this dish. Or, at least Cantonese moms? Don't ask me to choose which tofu I liked better because both are equally good. I think the older folks would appreciate the warm ones as I remembered my granny used to dislike cold tofu.
 |
| Cold Tofu with Pork Floss and Century Egg (皮蛋肉松豆腐)@$10 |
 |
| Hot Tofu - Braised Tofu with Ginger Sauce @$10 |
Another appetiser that you might want to order for sharing would be the Ngoh Hiang (Five Spice Meat and Prawn Roll). Served with sweet sauce and chili sauce.
 |
| Ngoh Hiang (Five Spice Meat and Prawn Roll) (五香) @$13 |
Signature Dishes
For the mains, one ought not to miss the Signatures of One Bowl. Meaning, do try their Char Siew Noodles or the Char Siew Rice. The noodles are much much thinner than expected and loved the seasoning on the sauce. Noodles are lightly tossed and sauce had hints of sesame and soy. Served with a bowl of vegetable soup. We had radish, corn and carrot soup that day.
 |
| Signature Char Siew Noodles (招牌五花肉叉烧麵) @$9.90 |
 |
| radish, carrot and corn soup served with both Signature Char Siew Rice/Noodles |
 |
| Signature Char Siew Rice (招牌五花肉叉烧饭) @$10.90 |
The binding factor in its current Signature dishes, pointed back to the Char Siew. Yes, let's talk more about the delicious char siew! Again, it was the melt-in-your-mouth pork belly char siew that had its weight in gold. Noticed that the char siew in the noodles and rice had a more pronounced crispy sugary caramelization at its edges. Yes, those slightly blackened bits that my dad would've ask us to throw away. Nooo! That crunch when bitten and what followed was that savoury sugary sensation and melty fats that dissolves in your mouth. Yes, that's the awesome bits! Loved the garlic rice in the Char Siew Rice bowl.
Old School Flavours
Jumped at the opportunity to order the Pig Trotter in Vinegar with Ginger and Egg, as this dish seldom makes its appearance in restaurant menu. Drizzle a generous amount of that dark vinegary sauce onto the steamed rice and dig in. Tangy, sweetish and tasted of old ginger. Just that the sauce was a tad too sharp for my liking. The trotters were collageny good. While it doesn't fall off the bones, it was soft enough to devour. The meat were well braised and flavourful. Lovely with fats.
 |
| Pig Trotters in Vinegar with Ginger and Egg (猪脚醋) @$11.90 |
 |
| Rainbow Trotter Jelly (off the menu) (彩虹猪脚冻) |
Chef Tammie had a surprise for us, and that was in the form of trotter jelly. This is a traditional Teochew dish, given a colourful twist by Chef Tammie. Instead of just slices of pale looking jelly, this plate has a lovely yellow and green to it, from the pumpkin and spinach puree. More collagen goodness for us. Thank you!
Dessert
To end our meal, we had the aiyu jelly and Japanese ice-cream. Was pleasantly surprised by the presentation of the aiyu jelly as it had exceeded my expectation. Truth be told, I was reluctant to choose this when first saw the menu. But now, am a convert for this version at One Bowl. This dessert bowl was a visual treat where it had a bright colour and decorated with goji but it was the taste that captivated. Tasted of preserved lime and pretty much refreshing!
 |
| Aiyu Jelly (愛玉冰) |
The ice-cream was good and the yuzu flavour had real yuzu bits in it too. The goma flavour was intense!
 |
| Japanese ice-cream: Matcha, Kuro Goma and Yuzu |
Thank you to Ivan (@ivanteh_runningman) for extending the invite, One Bowl Restaurant and Bar for hosting the tasting, Annie for sharing with us more about the place, cuisine and Chef Tammie for the awesome food.
One Bowl Restaurant and Bar
Address: 101 Jalan Sultan, The Sultan Hotel Lobby (1.26 km)
199002 Singapore
Contact: 6291 9020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onebowlsg/
Reservation: reservations@onebowl.com.sg
Business hours:
Daily 07:30 - 15:00, 16:00 - 22:00
Posts
