The 3 Bistro & Bar

Maureen
Maureen
May 07, 2012
bistro

What can you find in Race Course Road?
For many of us, Indian food would be the first cuisine that came up to our minds. But hey, you can actually find cheap Thai food there too!
Opened merely three weeks ago, The 3 Bistro & Bar is the labour of love between 3 friends who used to work together more than a decade ago. Years on, each of them has since explored different paths. Ultimately their passion for food, combined with the aspiration of owning a place they could call their own, gave birth to The 3 Bistro & Bar.
The menu serves a variety of local, western and mainy Thai dishes. One of the owners is actually a Thai, so he and his mother actually takes care of the kitchen.

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Packed with a nice spicy and sour combination, the Tom Yum Seafood ($6.50) has a nice blend of lemongrass and galangal. The soup base wasn’t too overpowering. Though the fish slices may not be the freshest, but the overall package make up for it.

Don’t forget to order the Thai Ice Tea ($2.80). It is not as sweet as other Thai eateries. 

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Fried Spicy Kang Kong ($4.80) may be common but the sauce here taste abit different from the normal belachan sauce. The fragrance of the sauce lingered around the crunchy vegetables.

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Pandan Leaf Chicken ($5.80) was marinated with curry powder and coconut, it was indeed fragrant and has an addictive smoky flavour.

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Thai Style Satay (chicken $0.70 / beef $0.80, minimum order 6 pcs) is similar to Jumbo Kajang Satay where large chunky satay meat pieces is used instead. The satay gravy is thick and very nutty. There is also a bowl of salad with cucumber and vinegar dressing to go with it. The meat was well marinated but we found it a tad too dry.

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Next, we had Home-made Hor Mok (Fish $4.50) or steamed Thai Otah. A banana-leaf cup cradles fish meat, perfumed with kaffir lime leaf and capped with coconut cream. The egg binds everything into a luscious, silky whole.
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Created by The 3 Bistro & Bar, the Spicy Thai Chilli Fish ($6) was a lovely dish. Pieces of dory fish was first deep fried to achieve the crispy texture and then drizzled on with Thai Chilli Sauce. Good for customers who wish to have small bites while watching soccer match in the bistro. 
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Simple yet satisfying Thai Fried Rice ($6.20), very fragrant with a good amount of fish sauce. 

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I am a fan of Phad Thai and this is a must order dish for me whenever I visit Thailand or any Thai restaurants in Singapore. Unfortunately, the Pad Thai ($6) here did not elicit any ‘wow’s from the dining table as we found it to be a little dry and it lacked the fragrant wok hei flavours. The pad thai sauce was mild and it was covered by the generous amount of peanuts on the noodles.
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Dessert was Homemade Red Ruby Treasure ($3.80). The red ruby was definitely chewy with crunchy water chestnuts. However, I felt the dessert was not sweet enough and diluted by the excessive amount of ice. 

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I would definitely recommend the Mango Sticky Rice ($5) here. The mangoes are specially imported from Thailand and it’s exceptionally sweet. The rice is steamed nicely with enough bite still remaining. Mixed well with thick and fresh coconut cream, this is a sinful but worth every divine bite. The boyfriend was warning me,”If you don’t eat the mangoes now, I will finish everything by myself!”
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The bistro has an alfresco area and a wide array of alcoholic beverages at the cellar for you to chill out after your dinner. There is also a TV for soccer fans and some games for customers who wish to have a game with friends after meal.
There are definitely some hits and misses. Because the bistro is still very new, there are still some fine tunings to be done. But the reasonable prices is definitely a catch. One of the owners, Peter, said they even had a Thai Style Hor Fun, cooked in fermented bean sauce. Looks like I will come back to try it some day!
The 3 Bistro & Bar
Address: 178 Race Course Road
How to go? Farrer Park MRT – Exit F, a 2 minutes walk (There is FREE parking lots after 10pm)
Opening Hours: 11:30 am – 12:00 am
Tel: 6293 9956
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