Swee Choon

Swee Choon is always the first on my to-go list for late night supper. After all, it opens till 6am. The Jalan Besar location isn't friendly if you don't own four wheels. We took a bus and still had to walk along dark corridors of shophouses before we reached Swee Choon. I don't like dark places because they are haunted. But still, we will bravely flock to it for its cheap and good shanghainese style dim sum. 

A visit at 11pm - we had to wait if we wanted to sit in the restaurant but they had tables available immediately if we sit at their back alley. No surprises for what an impatient person like me had done - take the back alley. Makeshift tables occupied the unglamorous back alley and we were seated at a table against a grey concrete wall that looked like it had been there since I was born. Can't help but I kept imagining that a toilet was behind it.

The regulars would know that Swee Choon is famous for its signature yellow egg yolk custard buns. I was dining with a friend who doesn't take the yellow gooey stuff so we skipped it. But I had tried it on another occasion and loved it. So would highly recommend it. 4.5/5

Another signature dish would be the Mee Sua Kueh ($2 for 2). Or translated into English, deep fried vermicelli rice cake. Writing about this now makes me want to go back and eat it again. An innovative dish which achieved a balance between crispness and softness (crispy at the top and softness towards the bottom). 4.5/5

The Xiao Long Bao (or pork minced meat dumpling with hot soup broth) ($4 for 4) is pretty decent. But sorry I have given my heart to Din Tai Fung's best Xiao Long Bao in the world. Compared to Din Tai Fung, Swee choon's has thicker skin which is less than perfect. Swee Choon's minced pork is also less tasty than Din Tai Fung's. But both have similar savory scalding soup broth. 3.5/5

We found the Char Siew baked pastry ($2.20 for 2) surprisingly delicious - the sweetness of Char Siew filling was just nice and matched the crumbly golden baked crust well. 4/5

We also ordered some Siew Mai ($1.80 for 2) which in my opinion, was so-so and nothing to shout about. 3/5

One thing I like the place about was the service speed. Before we could get our seats warmed, the food was streaming in non-stop. They also have a takeaway shop next to the restaurant which is very popular. 

Address: 185 Jalan Besar