Hidden Find: Swee Choon Back Alley Dim Sum at 185 Jalan Besar, Singapore

This must be the definition of a open secret. I first heard about this place from Steph, but I thought it was a restaurant. Turned out I was half right, when my friends mentioned that we are going for a dim sum dinner at a back alley in Jalan Besar. The moment I described that to someone else, the person was like, "oh.. Swee Choon!" So.. this must be quite famous, but only if you know where it is.


However, because it is located in a back alley near Desker Road, I shall still call it a hidden find. Also because they start service at 6pm instead of in the mornings like most respectable dim sum places. Haha.

There was a healthy crowd on a Friday night at 7.30pm. We had to sit under the trees, which gave us leaves, a spider, a worm.. but onwards to dim sum regardless of nature!

They have HK dim sums, but on the other page of this, there is Shanghai foods as well. Yum!



Note the opening hours. 

Man did we over order. Since we were all famished, that tends to happen. Apparently the mee sua kueh is a famous item there. Its also something I've never tried before. I really liked it, but Tim says its like fried starch for him. More for me then!


Another dish that I never really tried much is the Fried eggplant with floss. Its really good! Much like chinese style popcorn...


Some of the spread. Their char siew soh is good too, and the xiao long baos comparable to Crystal Jade or Din Tai Fung! The lor mai kai is also delicious. The only thing not that great were the zhu chang fen, as well as the beancurd skin wrapped prawns.



Not pictured here, but we also had the salted egg yolk custard bun (SO GOOD) and red bean pancake. Wow, we totally killed ourselves with the food. It worked out to be around $18 per pax, which is still super worth it considering we over ordered. However, after leaving the place, my mouth felt rather dry and I was really thirsty. Sign of too much MSG!

Despite the MSG, i would still go back to the place for dim sum because it is not every day that I get to whack so much of it. The ambience of late night dim sum at a back alley near a red light districts also adds another layer of "flavor" to the food. Enjoyment level 100%!



Swee Choon Dim Sum Cafe
187/191 Jalan Besar, Singapore
+65 6294 5292
Mon–Sat: 6pm – 10am, Sun & PH: 6pm – 12pm (Closed on Tue)
www.sweechoon.com

**Edit: This is also part of the ALT tour by Alexis, Linda and Tim.


4 comments
  1. hello! any other recommendations for dim sum? :) i tried to find backdated posts for dim sum but to no avail. maybe u can add a search function in your blog.

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    1. Hi ame!

      Thanks for the comment. There's a search bar right above my blog, it searches the entire blog, but yes I've been thinking of going into more detailed tagging!

      I've also not really done any more recommendations for dim sum, though off the bat I would recommend Tak Po at Chinatown, and the famous 126 at Geylang! I used to go to Turf City Ah Yat seafood for 40% dim sum on Sundays and they were great, but too bad Turf City has closed down...

      Let me know if you have any places you feel I should check out too!

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  2. oh thanks for the search tip, i thought the search function searches the whole blogger community. I have been to 126 @ geylang too, its really value for money. I brought my family to taste paradise for dim sum in the end. Their custard bun and char siew sou were really good. Looking forward to your posts! Keep them coming. :)

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  3. totally love swee choon coz it's very near my place.. been eating at this place for years..this place is always packed..even at 3am :P

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