My brother was lamenting of how we have been eating all cuisines but Chinese. So, I suggested heading off to Swa Tow Restaurant. I had their dim sum last year and still can’t quite get over their liu sha bao (流沙包). So I felt it was a good place to bring my family to.

We reached at 11.30am on a Saturday afternoon to a busy restaurant. But we were promptly led to our table and were lucky to be given a table located at the side / perimeter as it meant we had easy and direct access to the push carts. For customers sitting in the centre, the staff would go up to them and say what they have in their push carts instead of being able to show the dishes.

There was no menu for the dim sum. Thus, we relied very much on the staff whom we noted were mostly aunties and uncles. Friendly aunties and uncles. =) One of the push cart aunties would unload the different types of dim sum for us to look and choose while others would say what they have.

And from the push carts, we ordered:-

1) Pork dumpling (siew mai) with fish roe, $4.50 (above) – One of the items I will always order for dim sum, and these were so good. An entire prawn was packed within the siew mai. Such a delight to bite into it!

2) Mini pork dumpling (小笼包), $4 (above) – These were average. Would have been better if there was soup within the dumpling.

3) Pumpkin dumpling, $4 (above) – A vegetarian dish, I did not really like this. I would think one needs to have an acquired taste.

4) Szechuan wanton, $4.50 (above) – Surprisingly, this was pretty good. Skin was thin and smooth. But it was the spicy-sour sauce that brought out the flavour of the meat within.

5) Chicken feet, $3.80 (above)

6) Pan-fried carrot cake, $3.50 (above)

7) Malay cake, $2 (above) – I was quite surprised when the staff presented the dish and introduced it as “Malay cake” when it looked like our fa gao (发糕). But this was light in texture and slightly sweet. Not as dense and sticky as compared to our Chinese steamed cake.

8) Molten salted egg yolk bun (金碧流沙包), $3 (above) – This was the bomb! The filling of custard and egg yolk just burst as we sunk our teeth into the bun or tore it apart. So good. My brother is now a convert! Keke.

9) Paper-wrapped chicken (纸包鸡), $4.50 (above) – Meat was tender and flavourful. The only drawback was that the dish was really oily. My brother did not like that the paper stuck to the chicken skin.

10) Porridge (fish), $4.50 (above)

11) Rice noodle roll (chee cheong fun) with pork, $3.50 (above) – Skin was thick while they could have been more generous with portion of char siew. I remembered this was better on my previous visit.

12) Deep fried pig trotter (脆皮元蹄), $28 (above) – We had wanted roast meat but were informed that they did not have that. Instead, the manager recommended their signature dish. And it was indeed not too bad. Skin was thin and crispy while meat was fork tender.

13) Man tou (馒头), $2 (above) – With a minimum order of 4 pieces, we ordered these plain Chinese steamed buns to go with the pig trotter dish. And I am glad my Mom suggested getting these because the buns were surprisingly good!

14) Herbal jelly (龟苓膏), $3.50 (above, left)

15) Mango pudding (芒果布丁) with milk, $3.50 (above, right)

16) Almond jelly with lychee, $3,50, (above)

17) Chinese tea, $1.50 per person – We were given a pot which we could ask for refill of hot water.

We were happy with our dim sum experience. Food was good and affordable. Although one may want to go for their dim sum buffet that’s available from 3pm to 5pm daily, priced at $19.80 per person on weekdays and $22.80 on weekends.

Because there’s no menu to specifically mention what’s offered for dim sum, one may want to refer to their website too. It’s mentioned some of their other signatures which we did not manage to try include gold fish dumpling, crispy durian and shrimp roll, crystal dumpling in Teochew style. But service was good. When we asked for a particular dish, the staff wouldn’t mind leaving their push cart to go to the correct push cart and take the dish which we requested.

Parking wise, there’s a big gantry carpark (behind Toa Payoh Public Library) where one can get a parking lot. And as the restaurant is located on 2nd level, one will need to climb up and down a long flight of stairs. I forgot about it and had to go slow in my high heels. Ha. But there’s a (small) lift for handicap and elderly although one will need to call the restaurant to operate the lift.

That aside, Swa Tow Restaurant also has a Teochew opera performances by actor Nick Shen and his team on Friday from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.