We Went to Swee Choon! Again!

Dim sum has- in recent months- become one of our favorite meals when it comes to the weekends. 

I don't really know how it started. 

I think it just happened. 

Like one day we decided we'd do a dim sum for lunch (or dinner), fell completely in love with it, and kept it that way. 

One thing we like about dim sum is just how varied one's choices can be. 

It's possible to have the whole table filled with plates. 

It's also possible to have just two plates or three, and have the rest takeaway. 

Dim sum generally does not judge. 

Atmosphere and camaraderie amongst the staff of the place is very important to me, though. 

I like places where staff (more or less) work well with each other, and I will avoid those where they tell off each other (not in jest) in front of you the paying (and eating) customer. 

For this reason you won't find me spending moolah at some reputed dim sum franchises- never mind how popular they might be.

In case you're wondering, it's not Swee Choon. 

Swee Choon has been (thankfully) one of the places that I oft love to go to whenever I get the opportunity. 

Sure, they're a casual sort of place where the walls are bright, the lights are white and the table is just normal table, but the homely feel is strong.

It can be felt in the way you're guided to a table (letter-number style). 

And it can most certainly be felt in the way your dishes are brought to your table. 

At Swee Choon there's no aunty or uncle who will not stop- even though they're laden with tray and all- if you so happen to wave at them for an extra bit of chili sauce or to ask about your order. 

They'll actually stop and listen to you. 

Sometimes they'll tell you to wait and then they'll come back. 

Or they tell some other person to come to you. 

Their service is friendly, and remarkably efficient. 

We normally don't have to wait very long for our food. 

Which is a good thing. 

Because we're already usually quite hungry by the time we get there. 

One of our favorite dishes to have when we're here is the xiao long baos. 

It's done in the traditional way- steamed up in a bamboo basket with five them cute little baos sitting snugly inside. 

How you get to savor the xiao long bao depends on how you decide to eat it. 

If you're someone who prefers having it in a single bite, you'll likely get a mouthful of meat, soup and skin wrapped in one.

But if you eat it separately (which I do) you'll get first a small bite of skin, a spoonful of soup (slurped from within) and finally, the mouthful of delish, warm, soft meat. 

There's something about xiao long baos that I find very heartwarming on the stomach, and on the soul. 

I haven't figured out the reason why. 

You gotta eat these baos as soon as they come to your table, by the way.

Otherwise they stick to the paper, tear when you pick them up, and half the soup from the little bao you rugi. 

I decided not to take individual pictures of my food this time, so, well, here we go. 

Yep, we got the usual fare of deep fried yam puffs, cheong fun with char siew, and most importantly, mee sua kueh- the signature dish of Swee Choon. 

Their yam puffs here have a bit of soft, liquid filling inside which, admittedly, I dont bother to find out what it is- I just eat- but it's very warm on the tongue and balances the slightly chewy crisp skin of the puff very well. 

It's always a quandary whether I should eat the yam puffs first or the mee sua kueh first whenever they arrive at my table at the same time. 

My companion likes to go for the mee sua kueh first. 

Tastes better when hot, I'm told. 

I, however, prefer to take one square of mee sua kueh, eat it, cross over to the puff, finish it up, then go back to the kueh where I eat up the remaining two. 

Sometimes I do the kid-like thing and eat off the skin of the kueh first. 

Sometimes I eat it as adults are supposed to do. 

The cheong funs here are a charm. 

Again, they're not the easiest to describe, but can we just say that they're springy and slightly chewy but then they're so smooth they slide down your throat pretty easily?

Today we included in our order a plate of fried tofu with pork floss, a pork chop and a plate of salted egg lava custard buns.

The latter surprised me.  

Because they aren't the first priority for my companion, and I'm not someone who likes to eat a dim sum dish alone.

But it was a weekend and it felt like a very good thing to have.

So we got it- and (eventually decided) to packet it back for takeaway.