Swee Choon Dim Sum Cafe

Dim sum - http://phuachiuyen.blogspot.com/2012/05/hotel-royal-queens-swee-choon-wimbly-lu.html

I reached at 545pm. Many people like me, reached around 550pm and started hanging outside Swee Choon. It opens at 6pm and everybody just rushed in and sat down. The place was just suddenly filled up within minutes! That's fast. So good meh?

We placed our orders and the food came pretty fast. It was a pity that some of the dishes weren't too hot.

It felt like I had a very homely cooked meal. The xiao long bao was very shiok. MUST TRY. I like to take a small bite, suck all the juice out and then munch my xiao long bao. SHIOK!

http://thechosenglutton.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/swee-choon-dim-sum-restaurant/

When speaking about Dim Sum, I’ve heard of Swee Choon more often than not. With my usual Dim Sum diners, we arrived at this, not that accessible restaurant. Just be warned, it’s about a 15 minutes walk away from Lavender MRT (of which includes a couple of dark alleys – okay, not really dark dark, but, dark). When I got there, I was rather taken aback, because I wasn’t expecting it to be a shophouse concept, quite run-down, narrow. Some seats in the air-conditioned area, some outdoors, in the back alley.

Having been starved, we quickly ordered whatever looks good. It was amazing how fast the dishes started flowing in (non-stop) – so much that all of us were at a lost which to dig in first, which is a good sign. Let’s start on some food, in order of merit.

Nai Huang Liu Sha Bao ($2.70+/3) :: It was unanimous that this was one of the winning dishes of the night. Being a Liu Sha Bao fan, I thought this was pretty good.

Shui Ji ($6+) :: Hell yeah. After trying some in Taiwan street market, I have been looking for this, water chicken in Singapore for the longest time. Even though it doesn’t quite match up to the ones in Taiwan, it managed to satisfy my craving. For first timers, it’s cold, spicy, salty, and pure brilliance.

Dou Miao ($6+) :: Another ordinary dish done extraordinarily. Eat it while it’s piping hot. And it’s a good getaway from all the dim sum dishes.

Huang Jin Dou Fu ($3+) :: It’s so delicate and fragile that it takes some specially trained skills to pick those up with a pair of chopsticks without crumbling it. It might look bland, but meh, don’t be deceived by the pale look of it. It’s one of the most flavorful beancurds I’ve had.

Mian Xian Gao (Mee Sua Kueh) ($2+) :: I’ve never seen this dish before, but apparently it’s one of the more popular dim sum dishes. It’s wrapped with Mee Sua as the name of the dish suggests – it seems like a weird combination but it actually tastes decent.

Banana & Prawn Fritters ($2.60+) :: Being a banana lover and prawn lover, this dish is a no-brainer to be loved.

Lian Rong Bao ($1.40+) :: Considering the popularity of this restaurant, $0.70 per pau is a steal. You know, there are many different kinds of Lian Rong Bao – this kind is the traditional one – the darker colored kind of lian rong, rich and thick and satisfying.

Egg Tart ($2.60+/2) :: It was forgettable. Maybe partly we have ourselves to blame – I left it out there for pretty long before consuming it.

Fried Fish Skin ($5+) :: A lot of raving reviews on this, but I think it’s rather overrated. It’s nice to nibble on when you want to take a break from the war you have with the I-have-already-lost-count-how-many-dishes-there-are dim sum. Good thing it’s not overly stenched with the smell of raw fish.

Hua Diao Jiu Zui Ji (Drunken Chicken) ($5.50+) :: This is one of the few disappointing dishes of the night. It’s cold (meant to be), but there was an overdose of hua diao jiu, in our opinion – too much for our liking.

And we had a couple other dishes. Yeah we were monsters that very night. Don’t be expecting any good service (well they don’t charge service charge anyways), or a good ambience for dim sum. I’m giving this a 3 stars for sheer good food.

—> Note #1: They only charge 7% GST.

—> Note #2: They don’t take reservations.

—> Note #3: They only accept cash and NETS

On the first visit, Makan Boy and I ordered their Har gao, Siew mai and Chicken Claws which tasted very disappointing. However we had good impression of their Mee Sua Kueh thus we ordered again on this visit.

The Mee Sua Kueh ($2) - Slightly saltish and probably the most special kueh I have had so far!

Drunken Chicken in Shao Xing Wine ($5.50) - Both of us were overwhelmed by the strong and extremely sharp taste of the wine. If they could reduce the amount of wine used, this cold dish would have tasted perfect.

Beancurd Prawn Roll ($2.80) - The beancurd prawn roll is a pretty good item to order. Tasty and prawns used were nice too!

Fried Custard Pumpkin ($1.80) - I feel that custard is best eaten soft and flowy. The pumpkin skin was also too thick and chewy. I had one bite and left it aside..

Steamed Salted Egg Yolk Custard Bun ($2.40) - How delighted I was to see that they have buns similar to Victor's Kitchen! It didn't taste too bad but still Victor's Kitchen Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun win hands down!

Shang Hai Xiao Long Bao ($3.50) - Their Xiao Long Bao tasted pretty decent except that their meat fillings is abit too oily for me.

Yam Paste with Pumpkin & Ginkgo Nut ($3.80) - We ended off the supper with the Yam Paste and it was sinfully sweet and very fragrant! Really yummy!

Overall, they have their hits and misses but if you know what to order, this place is great for dining and catching up in a lively environment. =)

For the full review, please click here.

Baby and I went for a short jog near his house area yesterday evening. Afterwhich we headed to Jalan Besar for Swee Choon Dimsum. Apparently they have new items on their menu!! *SUPER EXCITED* when I saw custard bun on the menu(new item). DIE DIE HAVE TO ORDER ONE.

Pictures @ my blog

You can eat alot at affordable, reasonable prices. There are a few to recommend, like carrot cake, xiao long bao, egg tarts, mee sua kueh and more to choose from! Can try the udon noodles. They have la mian as well. Overall not bad. It feels like a hong kong cafe, casual dining.

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow.

At nite, Mao Mao homesick and hunkry coz off hart construction workzi. So Mao Mao go to famous dian xin shop. Wise Guy sez dat last time standard gooder, coz his ex stays here and he used to eatzi here often. Mao Mao ordered gui ling gao, mango sago, 2 char siew bao, har gow (prawn dumpling), xiao long bao (steamed dumpling) and siew mai(pork dumplings), which costed $15. Very gui for dirty back alley at sleazy ‘hood!

The foot is no goot! Char siew bao‘s skin beli thick. Har gow prawn not fresh, skin beli thick too. Siew Mai is got pork stench. Only the xiao long bao is ok, quite soupy.

Overall, Mao Mao free dat the dim sum here isn’t fantasic butt got colorful characters and the restorerent opens at late hours for supper or for clients after they hey-shio hey-shio nearby!

We came by here under the recommendation of a friend.

We had the usual dimsum such as siew mai, har gao, egg tarts, char siew bun etc.

We each had a bowl of la mian as well.

The La mian was exceptionally tasty. It was very "Q" and it was absolutely delicious.

Would be back when I need a dimsum fix!

For photos and more, visit us at http://foodphd.wordpress.com!

The Portuguese Egg Tarts were pretty average. The crust was flaky; there was a generous amount of egg fillings which weren’t too sweet. But still, there was nothing too fantastic to rave about. The Fried Custard Pumpkins were rather unique, we rarely see it around in Singapore. However, it was seriously overly oily. The entire pumpkin snack was practically glazed and glittering with oil. The skin was very thick and starchy as well. The custard fillings tasted more towards lotus bean paste, rather than custard. The Mee-Suan Kueh tasted very similar to Carrot Cake. On the outside, the deep fried mee-suan added crispiness and aroma to the Mee-Suan Kueh. On the inside, the mee-suan was soft and had a texture similar to that of carrot cake.

went to this place for some late dinner.

had the har gow, xiao long bao, beijing dumpling, mee sua cake, char siew soh, zha jiang la mian.

all was good except for the har gow, i felt the prawn was not as fresh. i especially liked the la mian, char siew soh and xiao long bao. 

the soya bean milk was light and refreshing too. 

An establishment that has been around for some time. This is one of the places that can be considered when thinking of where to eat dim sum for dinner or supper.

We arrived at about 8+ and went to sit at the backlane under the trees. Beware of the falling leaves though. Ordered cold soya bean drink, har gao, siew mai, lor mai gai, carrot cake, pork ribs, chicken claw, beancurd skin roll and banana fritters.

Soya bean drink was adequately sweetened (one friend said it was a bit too sweet) but diluted. Nevertheless, good enough to quench our thirst and to cool the tongue after a bout of hot chili sauce.

Was disappointed with the chicken claw. Much prefer if the skin falls off easily from the bones. Lor mai gai was quite nice with the rice being soft and cooked and the chicken pieces tender and succulent. But the star of the night belonged to the deep fried beancurd skin with prawns and banana fritters. Worth re-ordering.

Service was friendly and fast. Once you're seated, someone will attend to you almost immediately.

For more pics, you may wish to visit here.