Food Hunt: Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant, Singapore

Prelude

Dim Sim Order

Prelude

This dim sum place probably isn’t as inordinately talked about as compared to you know who. But, based on my two cents worth, I would say it is definitely comparable or maybe better for a few reasons.

So here goes… …

The wait time is definitely shorter, and the variety of dishes available on the menu is wider. It is imperative that you would be spoilt for choices, to a point that you wish you could have a disposable stomach in exchange for your current one so you could add in more delectable delights. In addition, the staff are very accommodating and efficient to make your entire dinner experience a pleasant one.

I went there twice, but had only tasted the food once. Yup, silly us went there when the restaurant was closed on its off day. To think that in this modern age with Google all so accessible, we actually made such an embarrassing mistake! So dearest, DO NOT go there on a TUESDAY! Alas, we were compelled to settle for something less satisfying and more pricey. What a downer it was.

We didn’t need to wait at all when we arrived at around 6 in the evening on a Wednesday. There were probably 2 groups of hungry gastronomers who arrived at around the same time as us.

The restaurant location, Jalan Besar, is not in your usual urban city district. Surrounded by the typical Singaporean’s quaint looking shop houses at almost two to three storeys high, this neighbourhood brings you back to the time during History lessons in school where you saw black and white photographs in textbooks of vintage houses in the 1800s or 1900s. With the surrounding plain concrete walls cracking and floors less maintained as compared to the urban part of Singapore, this area is good to somewhat preserve the history of Singapore.

Though it is within the near vicinity of the famous local street shopping district- Bugis Street, they are just worlds apart. Bugis Street is a place awash with youngsters clad in street fashion and accessories, loud music blasting in the atmosphere and bright luminous lights spotlighted on every corner to attract patrons. To get cheap buys and bargains this is the place to be at for tourists. On the other hand, Jalan Besar is a more reserved street and not jam-packed with people, and not as brightly lit.

Dim Sum Ordered

Given a fairly huge table for 2 people, we kept the orders coming in slow. We like having the food piping hot, so ordering them in intervals allowed us to have buffer time to appreciate the small dishes.

We started off with a plate of pan-fried dumplings and fried Mee Sue Kueh. Heavily coating the glossy dumplings in vinegar and topping it with a good bunch of thinly shredded ginger, is definitely the way to go for me. The harmony of the succulent juice oozing from the piping dumping as my teeth sink into it; together with the vinegar and ginger is just a cosmos.

The Mee Sue Kueh is just divine. My first time having this dish, and I would say I had a pleasant experience. The Mee Sua (Chinese noodles made from wheat flour) is well seasoned; flavourful, and compact such that the nicely cut cubes of the Mee Sue Kueh will not fall apart went picked up with a pair of chopsticks. Something quite unique I must say.

Of course a dim sum dinner cannot be called as one if a plate of Siew Mai (pork dumplings) is not ordered, now can we?

What I like about a Liu Sha Bao (Golden Custard Bun), is the oozing of the molten salted egg custard from the bun as it melts in your mouth mixed in saliva. Alas, I could say I have tasted better Liu Sha Bao.

I would have to say so too for the fried carrot cake and the Zhu Chang Fen (Rice Noodle Roll). Nevertheless, to each his own I reckon- everyone has different taste buds right?

The plate of fried tofu (bean curd) topped with pork floss was well fancied by J. On the other hand, I had my qualms. They are a little jarring to my palate.

The last dumpling dish was of course a plate of steamed Har Gow (Prawn Dumpling). You can never leave a dim sum house without trying their Har Gow. One thing I would say is that this house doesn’t scrimp on the prawns. Packed loaded with quite a decent amount of prawns within the cavity of the dumpling skin, this Har Gow is sure a good way to end off a satisfying dinner and move on to “dessert”.

As usual, we always end an exquisite dim sum meal with our kind of desserts- egg tarts and Char Siew Soh (Baked BBQ Pork Pastry). I adore Char Siew Soh more than egg tarts in general. So there’s not fight here- I admit my biasness on this. I love how the crispy crust meets the savoury sweet (mostly sweet) red pork inside- the combination of them both is just luscious.

Overall a delightful trip to this dim sum place with additional baggage of treats (egg tarts, and Char Siew Soh) brought home for the family to sample on! 😀

Travel whenever and remember to get yourself some DIM SUM! 😀

Dee