This one’s for all my fellow Singapore Management University (SMU) pals out there. If you, too, study at this town-situated campus, then chances are you’ve heard of the little bistro called B3.
Started by the Singapore Management University Alumni Association (SMUAA), B3 is located at the basement between School of Economics and Social Sciences (SOE & SOSS), and Information Systems (SIS). My colleague and I are both SMU undergrads, so this was like a trip back to school for us.
Don’t be mislead, B3 is actually located on the level B1, and the name ‘B3’ actually stands for ‘Burgers, Beer & Bistro’.
If you’re not already one of those students who frequent B3 because of their amazingly affordable alcohol, I’m pretty sure you’ve at least seen or heard about it. The good news is that they’re completely open to public.
B3 has a cosy interior with lighting that isn’t too harsh, so that’s perfect if you want to get comfy with friends during your chowing and chilling sessions. If you notice, the place has been aptly decorated in light of the upcoming World Cup 2018 season.
Since we’re here, I should add that B3 is also doing World Cup screenings for the whole duration of the events. So you no longer have to squeeze with uncles at stuffy kopitiams at 2 am, nor have to pay for an overpriced drink just to watch your favourite team play.
The first dish of the afternoon was The Heart Attack Burger ($13.90), which came stacked with a beef patty, bacon, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and a double-yolk fried egg all generously drenched in barbecue sauce.
Despite the generous serving of bacon and egg, the dish on a whole just didn’t work for me. My colleague and I both found the barbecue sauce to be too sweet and overpowering, masking the taste of everything else on the plate. The beef patty had a weird, almost mock meat-like texture too.
We were next served the Black Pepper Seafood Pasta ($12.90) and I was hoping really hard that it would at least be better than the burger.
And I would say that it was — the classic seafood and black pepper combination is hard to go wrong, I guess.
The only bone I have to pick with this dish would be how strong and almost overpowering the black pepper was, but as a lover of spicy food I closed an eye and devoured it anyway.
The last main we had was the Beef Cheese Baked Rice ($9.90), which arrived in a piping hot dish (trust us, we tried to hold it up for the photo).
It comprised premium beef cubes on a bed of rice, baked with brown sauce and mozzarella cheese. Check out that stringiness of the cheese! We had loads of fun pulling apart the cheese for this shot, and I’m sure you will too.
The beef was tender enough, and complimented the cheese-topped rice pretty well. Although there are certain parts of the rice which missed out on the sauce, this seemed like a worth-it meal for $9.90 considering the sizeable portions of beef.
Apart from their beers, I’ve heard that B3 is well-known for their coffees too. When I had a look at their drinks menu, I immediately knew why; with drinks priced as low as $4.90 for a Hazelnut Latte, it’s no wonder why students come here for their quick caffeine fix before classes.
We had the Latte ($3.90) and Hamdan explained to us that they source their coffee beans from Dutch Colony Coffee. As expected, the coffee turned out to be an aromatic blend that didn’t disappoint at all.
My colleague had the Blended Mixed Berries ($4.90) which came with a cute little strip of apple peel twined around the straw, although I was struggling to make the connection between apples and berries. Nonetheless, the drink had a sort of medicinal aftertaste to it so this wasn’t my cup of tea (or slushy), and I wouldn’t order this again.
B3 has recently been into conservation as well, and have invested in metal straws like the one you see in the picture above. Through this, they hope to promote sustainable living, which I personally feel vested in too. So kudos to that!
B3 also has set lunches that change periodically, as well as happy hours that run from 5pm – 8pm on weekdays, so you’d want to be there early before everyone else starts piling in to enjoy the one-for-one beers during this time frame.
Before we left, Hamdan also told us that they’re going to start banging out a breakfast menu very soon, meaning students and staff alike have even more breakfast options before school/work begins. And remember, this SMU-based bistro is open to the public so don’t be shy to head on down.
Expected Damage: $12.90 – $16.90 per pax
