Review of 'Three Uncles'

Item: Three Uncles
Rating: 5
Author: Stephen Rice

A personal favourite

A friend of mine had told me that if I was ever in the Liverpool Street area and looking for somewhere to have lunch I HAD to try “Three Uncles”. He told me they do an amazing meat+rice bowl. Never one to ignore a restaurant recommendation I took him up on this when I was recently in the area joining the queue outside the restaurant on Devonshire Row opposite and just south of the main entrance to Liverpool Street station. Yes, a queue, Three Uncles is known for them. At 1 pm on a Friday I was waiting for about 20 minutes before I was able to order.

The tiny, busy, interior does have seating with a few tables and bar-style seating in the front window but it is of the fast-food kind and I would not necessarily recommend unless you don't mind people passing by you all the time as you ate. Really the big thing here is takeaway - Grab and go.

The menu (on the wall0 is quite simple divided into “Roasted”, “Dim Sum” and “Lo Mein Noodles”. You really need to be looking at the “Roasted” section which features meat and steamed Jasmine rice with an included side of Pak Choi. The meats on offer are: Char Sui Pork (£9.95), Crispy Pork Belly (£10.50), Hainan Chicken (£11), and Roast Duck (£12.95) with “meat combo” deals of “Any 2 Meats + Rice” (£11.75) or “Any 3 Meats + Rice” (£13.50) with special sauce available for an extra £1 (it includes one sauce anyway). The dim sum options are fairly typical: Char Sui Bao (£4.95), Mushroom & Pak Choi Bao (£4.75), Lamb Dumplings with Chilli Vinegar (£6.50), Pork and Prawn Siu Mai (£5.50), Wontons in Chilli Oil (£5.96) and Crispy Fishballs (£4.75). The Lo Mein noodles are available with Duck (£12.50), Beef Brisket (£11.25) or Char Siu (£11). Note that drinks were not available as the cooler was broken…

I opted to try as much as I could, going for the “2 meat” special with Roast Duck and Pork Belly as well as plum sauce on the side. Once ordering (it is plastic only payment) you wait for your number to be called to pick up your food. I quickly grabbed my order and found a nearby square to give a taste.

Simply amazing tasting. The duck was wonderfully plump and firm with delicious skin and the same can be said about the pork belly with it's crispy skin. The glazes perfectly accompanied the meat and did not in any way overpower the flavour. It is not for nothing that they are known for some of the best Cantonese-style meat in London. The hot sauce was quite spicy but not overly so and the plum sauce was quite good but the juices of the meat itself soaked into the (perfectly cooked) rice on which it was perched. The portion size was quite generous and the packaging made it very easy to eat.

Delicious and relatively inexpensive, genuine Cantonese meat and rice street-food in Liverpool Street. Not exactly suitable for vegetarians…

Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”

Review Date: 2022-09-30

Cuisine: Chinese

Address: 12 Devonshire Row, London EC2M 4RH ENGLAND

Public Transport: Liverpool Street Liverpool Street