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2013-10-17
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Swung by Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant (finally!) during HSS Dinner Dash and discovered that this place is really huge! Each table seats a maximum of ten. There is a huge selection of dimsum - fried, steamed, baked, roasted - and there is also another section for Hong Kong desserts and La Mian. It's almost impossible to finish everything at one go... but I will, one day. Challenge accepted.We were here on a Wednesday night (approx. 9pm) and there was no queue - with surprisingly a few empty tabl
Swung by Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant (finally!) during HSS Dinner Dash and discovered that this place is really huge! Each table seats a maximum of ten. There is a huge selection of dimsum - fried, steamed, baked, roasted - and there is also another section for Hong Kong desserts and La Mian. It's almost impossible to finish everything at one go... but I will, one day. Challenge accepted.We were here on a Wednesday night (approx. 9pm) and there was no queue - with surprisingly a few empty tables. So to escape from queuing for Swee Choon, you know when to visit it! From a few diehard Swee Choon fans, they warned that it was normal to sit along the road outside Swee Choon to wait for a table. But we were unexpectedly lucky.
Here is the Swee Choon menu and what we ordered!
AppetizerThese are not soggy fries - well, internal joke at the table, hahaha - if I'm not wrong it was preserved sour radish which nobody touched because the only person who did curled up in aversion almost immediately.
Okay here comes the main dishes. There are a lot more dimsum that we ordered but are not featured here because my stomach space was unfortunately limited... these are the few which I tried. I will definitely follow up with another trip soon to try their La Mian as well!
Siew Mai ($1.80 for 2)Not impressed with the siew mai here, possibly because we had a longer-than-usual pre-meal photography session, the siew mai skin enveloping the pork and prawn fillings were quite sticky. But the saving grace was the delicious blend of pork, prawn, and the slight hint of ginger in the siew mai fillings. Obligatory order at any dim sum restaurant - go ahead and order it, but eat it upon arrival at the table.
Swee Choon Mee Suah Kueh ($2 for 2)Again, I need to remind that I am not a fan of fried food, but this is a signature dish at Swee Choon that cannot be missed out. This is really quite an interesting dish, with a crispy and fragrant exterior of fried vermicelli and soft rice cake on the inside. You are recommended to try this.
Beancurd Prawn Roll ($3 for 2)You've got to try this one. You can tell that Swee Choon doesn't really reuse their oil too much (I'm sensitive to reused oil) and that they don't scrimp on their ingredients at all. I really liked it because the prawns are very fresh and the skin is not overly-fried. A happy dimsum pop-in-the-mouth that I would have gone for seconds if only my stomach can contain more. A unique piece which I think most of the other dimsum restaurants lack.
Prawn & Banana Fritters ($2.80 for 2)Not as enjoyable as their Beancurd Prawn Roll, these oily fritters felt creative but strange. An acquired taste required for this - I'm still used to the mango-and-prawn kind of combination. This reminds me a little of goreng pisang. With prawns.
Steamed Salted Egg Yolk Custard Bun ($3.60 for 3)My number one love in dim sum restaurants and a whole lot of fun trying to perfectly squeeze out the custard with my left hand and taking a photo of it with my right. I swear, photographing a custard bun in action is an art in itself! Swee Choon's custard buns are surprisingly lighter on the palate. The custard fillings are less savoury and more sweet, but in general lighter (I'm comparing to Victor's Kitchen famed custard buns). The fluffiness of the bun is acceptable, though there is room for improvement. Again, I attribute it to the long photography session.
I prefer: Victor's Kitchen
Shanghai Xiao Long Bao ($4 for 4)Their XLB was average for me: accomplishing all that it should be - thin but unbroken skin, savoury and tasty soup, chewy fillings and perfect size for one mouthful. However, I find that it could have been juicier (ie. more XLB soup) packed in that little bun. It is also slightly smaller than Din Tai Fung's xiao long bao.
I prefer: Din Tai Fung
Didn't managed to try the Carrot Cake ($2) and Char Siew Bun ($1.80 for 2) because I was too full. A whole table of dimsum goodness... to sum up the Swee Choon experience, I think that it is wonderful for those people who stay nearby or those who want to enjoy variety at a one-stop-shop but not worth it to travel all the way there out of curiosity. Most of the dimsum served is of sincerely good quality.
The atmosphere is quite nostalgic, complete with cars whizzing past the Jalan Besar busy streets, bustling conversations and laughter around round tables. Perfect for large group gatherings where you can order a lot and try a bit of everything.
For more food adventures, follow me at http://spherepiece.blogspot.sg/
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