The intricate art of crafting a beautiful burger; stacking meats with various ingredients, fusing the patty and toppings together with melted cheese as a bonding agent, drenching all of its components in flavorful sauces, and compiling everything within two fluffy buns; is difficult to master but Three Buns has successfully perfected it. Every burger and hotdog on Three Buns' menu is so intensely succulent and flavorful that it brings beatific smiles to both humans and dogs alike. Three Buns is the new kid on the block in Robertson Quay, situated alongside the tranquil and susurrating Singapore River. Three Buns was conceived from the Potato Head family, which is an Indonesian lifestyle brand making waves throughout Jakarta, Bali, Hong Kong and Singapore for its sophisticated yet laid-back concept and ingenious gastronomy featured in its establishments. Three Buns is an award-winning restaurant that focuses on preparing its culinary offerings with premium meat, unique house-made sauces, inventive bun choices, and imaginative toppings. Fresh, creative, and distinct from the classics, this burger paradise presents the epitome of ambrosial comfort foods.
The burger bar evokes pleasant vibes of dining at a restaurant in a beach resort with its airy open-concept design and potted foliage draped in abundance from the rafters. Three Buns is as equally conscientious to the environment as it is to its food. The interior is decked out in upcycled materials with pillars, ceilings and walls constructed out of compressed wood scraps, and furnished with sustainably made furniture handcrafted by Indonesian artisans. The ambiance reflects the Potato Head family's philosophy of “Good Time, Do Good”, with all-natural recycled wood and eco-friendly cement. The fires in Three Buns' kitchen are stoked by Executive Chef Adam Penney, who has previously cooked at the world-famous Lonsdale – one of London's trendiest restaurants, highly renowned globally for its iconic burgers that are made from scratch. Chef Adam continues to stay true to his roots, with 95% of the menu being handmade in-house. The talented chef has full control over every element of each burger, personally seeing to the curation of the ingredients and how well they coalesce as a single towering entity. Three Buns is fastidious to the quality of its beef patty and strictly adheres to superior-grade grass-fed Australian Angus beef. Each patty is molded from two prime cuts of beef that is ground up and simply seasoned with nothing else but kosher salt to allow its naturally delicious bovine flavors to shine through, and complemented with house-made sauces and deluxe cheeses scrupulously sourced from US, UK and Greece.
Dog owners who wish to enjoy a sumptuous meal outside in public, need not feel contrite with the thought of cooping their furkids up alone at home as Three Buns welcomes doggos of all shapes and sizes. Three Buns' al fresco seating is dog-friendly and teeming with oscillating fans mounted on the pillars to keep the area cool and breezy for you and your furball. Three Buns is also extremely attentive to your dog's well-being. The friendly restaurant staff, who are more than eager to coo over the dogs and heap them with affection, provides our canine pals with dishes of cold water so that they can stay hydrated and energized in the sweltering Singapore heat.
Perhaps the best perk that comes with dining at Three Buns alongside your furry best friend is that with every burger or hotdog ordered, Three Buns serves a complimentary Angus beef patty mixed with rice that will delight the tastebuds and satiate the appetite of even the most pampered pooch. My little fluffy Pomeranian, Sugar, who has been spoilt rotten beyond belief and turns up her nose at a wide variety of food (I have to beg and/or resort to tricks to get my pampered princess to eat her home-cooked meal on a daily basis), completely devoured her bowl of juicy Angus beef and looked at me expectantly for more with a radiant smile on her face.
When the dogs are substantially fed with premium beef, owners can kick back, relax and thoroughly savor their food without having to endure the manipulative dogs' melancholic whines and pleading puppy eyes. Madagascan Vanilla Milkshake, $10
Three Buns' milkshakes are so decadently thick and creamy due to its chilled contents being made almost entirely out of ice cream. The vanilla ice cream itself, is freshly churned daily in Three Buns' kitchen, to ensure that only the best ingredients are used in its creation and that it is as wonderfully fresh as it can possibly get. Pure Madagascan vanilla bean is used to create the vanilla ice cream, which is then blended with a splash of milk. The blender incorporates air into the concoction, resulting in the whipped and fluffy texture of the drink that tastes like a rich, milky and creamy cloud.
Ayam Chicken, $9
This bowl of popcorn chicken, copiously coated in a thick yangnyeom glaze and dusted with toasted sesame seeds, makes the perfect low-carb snack to munch on over a creamy milkshake or a refreshing cocktail. The yangnyeom is sweet, tangy and garlicky with just a hint of spice to cut through the syrupy sweetness, giving an intense burst of flavors to the popcorn chicken. Despite the deluge of the sticky Korean BBQ sauce, the chicken bites still manage to retain the crispiness of their savory shells which encapsulate morsels of succulent and tender chicken thigh meat within. The Ronnie, $19 (Brunch Menu*)
The Ronnie is essentially the upper crust and more sophisticated cousin to the Sausage Egg McMuffin. A 90-gram chicken sausage patty is made in-house and assembled with a fried free-range egg, arugula and miso béarnaise, compounded in between two slices of toasted demi brioche. The buns are so light, airy and pillowy, that they practically disappear into a buttery poof of air as you bite down into the burger. The miso béarnaise is creamy, buttery and umami, with a subtle acidic twang that pierces through the richness of the sauce and arouses the palate. The molten golden core of the egg explodes upon impact and inundates the juicy and savory sausage patty with its yolky decadence, while the arugula rounds things up with its peppery and ever-green freshness. This brunch burger is accompanied by a side of tater tots which are crisp and savory on its golden-brown exterior, and fluffy and earthy in its interior. *The brunch menu is only available every Saturday and Sunday, from 11am to 4pm. Red Man Burger (Beef Rendang), $28
This messy monster of a burger tastes as amazingly complex as it looks. A massive block of Black Angus beef cheek is sous-vide for over 24-hours and fully saturated in rendang gravy that includes a blend of over 10 different spices and ingredients. Sliced cucumbers, pickled mooli, chopped chives, crispy shallots, minced red chili and coconut mayo are thrown into the irresistible jumble. All that delightful chaos is then contained within a pair of fluffy coconut buns made from coconut oil and coconut milk. The long sous-vide process yields a buttery-soft texture for the Black Angus beef cheek with an intense melt-in-the-mouth effect. The dulcified beef cheek flakes apart with a perfunctory bite and is heavily inundated with thick streaks of sticky and gelatinous collagen which further intensifies its melty quality. The rendang gravy, redolent with fragrant spices, is sweet, spicy, nutty, hearty and chunky, and has a unique umami flavor that lingers at the back of the tongue even after the viscous beef has been ingested. The kaleidoscopic array of sliced cucumbers, pickled mooli, chopped scallions, crispy shallots and minced red chili add a sharp and invigorating crunch, providing a vital textural contrast to the soft and tender beef. The brilliant inclusion of the toasted demi brioche coconut buns, slathered in coconut mayo, acts as the perfect vessel in carrying the sweet and delicate perfumed aroma of coconuts which balances out the heavy and intense flavors of the rendang gravy. Sly Stallone, $27
This simple affair of a burger is pure and good, right down to the very last drop of the lamb patty's earthy juices. The burger squelches as your teeth sinks into it, a fine spray of juices squirting out from every crevice of the closely packed granules of minced lamb. There are no frills or flamboyant flavor combinations in this burger. A 150-gram Australian Droper lamb patty is simply sandwiched in between two buttery and fluffy demi brioche buns with herbaceous pesto, crunchy lettuce, melted gooey quader de cavra cheese and dewy heirloom tomatoes. This burger, despite being striped down to the basic quintessential burger ingredients, still manages to hold its own among its extravagant counterparts on Three Buns' menu. It is effortlessly delicious, kudos to the executive decision of only using first-rate produce. The Sly Stallone prevails from the extremely tender, fatty and luscious lamb patty, with every molecule of meat engulfed in the lamb's own naturally sweet, savory and earthy flavors.
Phife Dawg, $16 (Choice of beef or chicken sausage)
The loaded Phife Dawg comprises of hot beef chili, smoked cheese, sour cream, Big Poppa's hot sauce, watermelon relish and a toasted matcha butter bun. Biting into the hotdog releases a flood of savory and fatty secretions from the succulent beef sausage that very rapidly get soaked up by the matcha bun. The matcha bun, that envelops the sausage, is light, buttery and fluffy with a sweet green-tea flavor that balances out the creamy richness of the savory smoked cheese and tangy sour cream. The gloppy beef chilli has mingled with the Big Poppa's hot sauce, giving a smokey, beefy and spicy kick, while the zesty, uplifting and fruity watermelon relish harmonizes with the heartiness of the chili and enlivens the dish. Three Buns Singapore Address: 60 Robertson Quay, Singapore 238252 Hours: Tue-Fri 5pm-12am | Sat-Sun 10am-12am | Closed on Mondays Tel.: +65 6909 7838 Website: http://www.threebuns.com/singapore/
