SWA Garden Restaurant 汕园潮洲酒楼

Ambience: Acceptable. Not in a prime location. Not near any MRT station either. But it isn’t that out of the way either. Typical Chinese restaurant set-up.

 

Food: Very good.

 

Fish Maw Broth ($16 for regular size, serves 4 standard bowls): Very good. I personally don’t really like fish maw broth, but just had to try it after reading the reviews here. An effective Shark’s fin substitute also. Don’t choose the fish maw soup by accident, that is a different item.

 

Teochew Braised Goose ($20 for regular size, roughly 4 to 5 servings): Very good. Should request for more of the sauce. D*** tasty.

 

Chicken and Duck in “money bags”: Unfortunately not available. Only on Saturdays.

 

Value: Good. While the price is possibly expensive relative to some other type of restaurants, for Chinese restaurants the price range is quite a comfortable one. Do note though that there is no GST and service, a waiverable cabbage fee of $1.50 and a non-waiverable Chinese tea / ice water fee of $1.20. They accept Visa and MasterCard.

 

Service: Above average. Pretty standard typical Chinese restaurant service. Possibly a bit above norm.

 

Overall: Good. Worth trying.

Read the full review and pictures at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com

Swa Garden has been a stalwart in the Teochew food scene, with a heritage that spans decades. They serve simple, delicious fare that keeps drawing its customers back.

We had:

1) Teochew Braised Goose ($18) must-try. Swa Garden's rendition is one of the best, tender, tasty and super fresh, totally devoid of any gamey taste.

2) Fish Maw Broth ($14), thick and rich

3) Teochew Steamed Pomfret ($65) Despite the fresh fish, I still thought that the $65 pricetag was a bit too much for a fish that had so little flesh

4) Four Treasure Beancurd ($14): must try. seafood-mixed tofu, with a luxurious egg-drop, mushroom, sliced chicken and sugar snap peas gravy

5) Stewed Eight Variety Vegetables ($15) is possibly the best classically vegetarian dish I've ever had.

6) Sweet Yam with Gingko Nuts ($3) very nice way to round off the fantastic meal. Sweet and smooth

We went back for dinner on CNY day 4. As they were promoting their CNY menu, some of the usual dishes were unavailable :( Finally I managed to take some quick shots before they were gobbled up.

We tried a few different dishes:

1) CNY special dish: Deep Fried Spring Roll (yam). The outer skin was very crispy and not too oily. Inner filling was strips of yam which was moist and fragrant. It goes very well with their thick soy dipping sauce.

2) Liver Roll. It was like ngoh hiang and the taste of liver was not too strong- thank God. Usually they'd recommend us to order a mixture of this and the prawn balls, but I'd give the latter a miss.

3) CNY special dish: "Gold Coin" Black Moss. A dish which I could feel their creativity effort. The presentation was beautiful with minced chicken and black moss wrapped in beancurd skin and braised to perfection.

It was my 2nd visit and though I don't fancy a restaurant with a 70s setting, I think it's a good place for family gatherings. 

We ordered:

1) Fish Maw Thick Soup. The soup was of the right consistency and not too starchy. Flavour was similar to shark fins soup which was enhanced by black vinegar. The fish maw was soft yet crunchy on the bite. I appreciate the prawns, squids and dried mushrooms which added more ingredients to the soup. I'd still prefer the clear version for more refreshness.

2) Black Pepper Crayfish. Our all-time favourite. Crayfish was springy after stir-fry and the black pepper seasoning was just perfect!

3) Braised 8-Treasures Vegetable. A light dish with nothing to rave about. The vegetable was well-braised. Other ingredients included canned button mushrooms, dried mushrooms, beancurd skin and fa-cai. I thought there should be eight ingredients?

4) Claypot Chicken with Yam. It was more than enough to feed six adults. I think they used a whole spring chicken. The chicken was nicely braised and quite tender. Same goes for the yam, which was finished up real soon.

5) Deep-fried Prawn Balls. It was different from the tze-char stalls. They do not come wrapped in fried bean curd skin. Just normal prawn balls, nothing great.

6) Fried Cai-por Kway Teow. Our all-time favourite. The dish was fragrant with the slightly burnt kway teow and garlic mince. Cai-por added a homely feel and gave a boost to the overall flavour.

7) Yam Paste with Pumpkin & Ginko Nuts. It's a tad too sweet for my palatte, but I must admit that it has a rich yam flavour. The consistency was not very smooth due to bits of yam in it. This is usually lacking in ou-nee from many restaurants, whereby the yam flavour is covered by coconut gravy, and the paste is blended too fine and smooth.

We'll be back!

I wouldn't know Swa Garden Restaurant if not for the God of Fortune. He had blessed one of my aunties and of course she got a little windfall. While she got the money luck, we got the 'makan' luck. We were all invited to Swa Garden Restaurant to share her spoils. Swa Garden restaurant is a traditional Teochew restaurant that is located along Macpherson Road, opposite Harvey Road. I didn't have much expectations of the food at first but it turned out quite delicious. We had a 10 course dinner for 24 people and the total bill was about S$580. The 2 big steamed pomfrets that we ate was S$150. This made the cost on the rest of the food relatively economical.

鱼鳔上汤 Fish Maw Soup

The fish maw soup is a typical Teochew dish. Swa Garden's version is not too starchy and taste really good with the black vinegar. It didn't have the fishy smell that was due to the fish maw when it was not prepared well.

潮洲卤鹅 Teochew Braised Goose

One of Swa's signature dish is the Teochew Braised Goose. The goose was thinly sliced and braised till a good tenderness. Don't be fooled by what looks like a pile of sliced braise goose. Underneath the pile were the braised tofu. The slices of goose were still sufficient enough to go around.

川椒虾婆球 Fried Spiced Crayfish Ball

This crayfish dish didn't look as good as it taste but was polished up in double quick time. The crayfish was still tender and sweet inside while the spice gave it a good 'kick' to the taste.

Deep Fried Chicken and Duck in 'Money" Bags.

This super crunchy deep fried "money bags" wrapped with chicken and duck must be the joy of all the kids at the table. Be careful, this is very oily stuff. The base of the money bags seemed to be soaked with oil but it was delicious nevertheless.

五香 虾枣 Deep Fried liver roll and prawn ballsThis dish seems to be the must have dish whenever there's a family dinner in Teochew or Hokkien restaurant. The Deep Fried Liver Roll was something quite different from the minced pork roll that may look similar on the outside. The prawn balls wasn't as impressive though. It just taste slightly better than the frozen prawn balls sold in the supermarket.

八宝素菜 Stewed Eight Variety Vegetables

With so many fried dishes, this appetizing vegetable dish was most welcome. The eight ingredients in this Teochew vegetable dish are fresh mushrooms, dried mushrooms, cabbage, bamboo shoots, sea weed, chestnuts, lotus seeds, dried bean skin.

鲳鱼 Teochew Style Steamed Pomfret

Our fresh pomfret was steamed Teochew style, with tomato and plum. This Teochew style of steaming fish resulted in a pool of soup rather than sauce which is light enough that can be drunk straight up with a spoon. The pomfret was very big and it ended up half cooked. We had to get it sent back into the steamer. Apart from this glitch, there's nothing I can complain about this Teochew style fresh steam fish which absolutely indulged me.

Freshly Made Siew Mai 烧卖

The freshly made siew mai was some how ordered as my aunty though that there wasn't enough food to go around. Absolutely wrong! Nevertheless, these siew mai still all got gobbled up by the 'bottomless pit' formed by our 24 men strong appetites. It still taste good even though all of us should have already reached the edge of diminishing marginal returns for any food that's to be dished out.

汕园果条 Swa Garden Fried Kway Teow

At the 9th course, it's the Swa Garden Signature Fried Kway Teow add some carbos to the proteins that we've eaten. The kway teow was fried with bits of preserved vegetables (chai bo).

金瓜芋泥 Sweet Yam with Pumpkin

Another typical Teochew dish, our last dish and dessert, is the yam paste with pumpkin. The yam paste wasn't as smooth as some that eaten, like the one at New Taiwan Porridge at Amoy street.

I noticed that the cold crab was also their popular dish as this dish was seen on most tables. Apart from that, there's no corkage if you bring your own wine to go with your meal.

May the God of Fortune knock at our doors again.

For more details and photos, see -http://4-the-love-of-food-merlion-budget.blogspot.com/2010/08/swa-garden-restaurant-enjoyable-family.html

Went there for the first time, recommended by relative. At first glance the place was run down with the deco being those of the old 80s. So wasn't expecting much . Basically, my relative made the order as he patronised the restaurant many times.

1st was the cold crab, which reservation is needed. It was fantastic, natural freshness and sweetness of the crab that could be savioured without any distraction from the usual chilli, butter etc.

The promfret was steamed, authentically teochew style, timing just right and fish was fresh.

The oyster fried with egg though was not so nice. Oyster were big and juicy just that they were too raw.

Duck meat was soft and tender.

Yam paste was delicious, best Yam paste so far.

Overall, nice food, but the restaurant's service could do with some improvement as the staff were uncourteous.

5 of us went there for dinner

We had:

1. Potato leaves

2. Cray fish balls with blackpepper

3. Braised Goose

4. Steamed promfet

5. Fried Kway Tiao

6. Yam Paste with gingko nuts and pumpkin

Other than the fish which was a disappointment due to its unfreshness, the rest were great. They were kind enough to let us reject the fish.

Highly recommended is the Yam Paste!

I love the setting! the old world charm - I almost feel transported to Singapore in the 70s. To me this is comfort food - nothing fancy just good comfort teochew food - the chai poh omelete, braised goose, prawn ball, ngoh hiang, steamed promfret & Orh Nee were all good, nothing surprising or outstanding just good old comfort.

I had taken my grandfather there after reading reviews here a year ago. My grandfather liked it so much, he asked for his birthday celebration to be held there this year. We had 5 tables, each taking the $400 set menu. The food turned out to be of excellent quality and consistency, so everyone was pleased with it.

The Shark's Fin broth that came with our dinner, was of pure shark's fin and nothing else. Every mouthful was shark's fin, and we felt like it was really worth the money. The garoupa was very fresh. Even though I'm not a fish lover, I actually thought that the fish was delicious. You know when fish is fresh, the meat is bouncy and holds together well. Finally, the yam paste was yummilicious. My toddler who usually has little appetite ate one bowl of yam paste and also all the delicacies from the dinner.

Service was prompt and our plates were changed after every few dishes.

Though none of the service staff can speak real Teochew, which is quite disappointing cos the authentic Teochew feel is diminished, the food makes up for it.

We decided to try out this restaurant after some friend's recommendation. Our first look of the restaurant was quite shocking as we did not expect the entrance to look so plain and unattractive. In fact, it just reminded us of some ulu restaurant in some kampong. Nevertheless, we brave ourselves to continue with our food mission in this new place. Below is a list of our orders for the night:

1) Kiam Chye Duck Soup - So-so as that we find the soup is not strong enough, preferred this soup at some other nonya restaurant

2) Chye Poh Kuay Teow - The white kuay teow fried with chye poh is simply magnificient! This is very unique and I think should be one of their signature dish.

3) Braised Sea Cucumber+Fish Maw+Mushroom+Broad Beans- Quite tasty and well braised.

4) Chicken with Chestnut+Mushroom- Good combination and simply tasty.

5) Crayfish Ball- Another yummy and imaginative dish as I've never thought of eating crayfish in this way

6) Ngoh Hiang+Prawn Ball- So-so cos I think the same dish tasted better in some other Hokkien restaurant

7) Big Teochew Vegetable with Scallop- Good as the vegetable has been well braised and tender with a generous portion of scallop.

8) Black Olive Fried Rice with minced pork- Good as the fried rice is quite fragrant and tasty.

9) Yam Paste with Pumpkin- Average but we find the dessert too sweet

Overall, we're happy and satisfied with the food and think that it is definitely worth a visit for all Teochew food lovers!

It was my first visit but my colleague has highly recommended this place for authentic teochew food.

I went with my family of four and ordered the following dishes:-

1. Combination Cold Dish which includes century eggs with sliced preserved ginger, fried prawn balls, jelly fish with shredded radish, braised goose with beancurd. The goose meat and beancurd were nicely braised and tasted good. But would just order goose meat the next time cos think it's not worth it to pay $30 for century eggs.

2. Steamed white promfret - the fish is extremely fresh and no fishy smell at all.

3. Stewed Duck with sea cumcumber - the duck meat is very tender and nicely braised.

4. Stir fried asparagus with scallops - good with generous portion of scallops.

5. Swa Garden Kway Teow - this is one of their speciality. Kway teow fried with chye poh. Not too oily and not too salty. Very unique taste.

6. Orh Nee with pumpkin - The pumpkin is braised in sugar, so the color is almost brown but it's not too sweet. Superb combination. I'll definitely come back for more.

Note: please make reservations cos this place is really popular!