It's been a couple of years since I last came to Swatow Restaurant here at Toa Payoh for their dim sum buffet.
Why it's taken so long, I don't know, I guess we went elsewhere, but today, this afternoon we came back here for their afternoon dim sum, and can I say how glad I am sometimes that there're things in life which actually do remain the same?
It's not just the sense of being familiar.
It's the understanding that one's life might go through ups and downs and that you might experience stuff which you dont want to put into memory, but step into a place like Swatow Seafood, and you're reminded once again just why things like habits and tradition are important.
The reception area of Swatow hasn't changed.
The chairs, and the wall decor- great for family portraits- are still there, as are the tables and chairs in the dining space.
What's slightly different, however, is the seasonal decoration that they now have.
I was delighted, and quietly impressed, by the sight of cozy Christmas table decor right in the middle of their self-service tables. It added a whole lot of charm to their regular style of chinoiserie decor.
One of the very first plates to arrive at our table this afternoon was the complimentary abalone.
Good or not, I'm not sure- inexperienced me doesn't know how to tell- but the sauce was nice, the abalone had that distinctive chew, and it made for a great appetizer before the dim sum uncle came rolling with the cart.
There were a lot of offerings from the steamed side.
Besides the cheong fun with selections of prawn or char siew, there were char siew baos, siew mais, crystal baos, har gows, xiao long baos, and the like.
It was quite fun to hear the staff rattling off whatever they had in their trolley whilst taking each basket up and showing its contents to you.
So well did they do the introductions that they made it impossible to reject them, and you felt literally guilty if you had to do so.
But because one cannot possibly have everything, we took one plate of cheong fun, one basket of salted egg lava buns (the buns themselves were green in color, don't ask me why), two baskets of xiao long baos, one basket of siew mais, one basket of har gows, and one basket of lotus leaf rice.
I liked the xiao long baos.
They might not be the same texture as some that I've eaten elsewhere, but the skin was thick and chewy the way I liked it, the little blob of broth was warm and rich when it burst inside my mouth, and the meat- tender and soft- gave me a cozy, melty sort of chew.
The lava buns were just as good.
Better yet if eaten warm.
Then there were the siew mais and har gows, both of which have always been favorites of mine when it comes to dim sum.
I tend to go for siew mais more than har gows but the gentleman was recommending it so enthusiastically I got a basket, and so, besides the warm, comforting bite of the siew mais, there were three prawns nestling inside the pouch of the har gows too.
Whilst working through our basket of lotus leaf rice- there were two pieces, if I'm not wrong- back came the trolley, and this time we took a serving of char siew baos, and another two baskets of xiao long baos.
Having glutinous rice and char siew baos might seem like an odd combination to have, but to my surprise both went together very well.
I liked peeling the lotus leaf off away from the steamed rice.
I also liked how the rice- with its piece of mushroom and lap cheong and a bit of meat- didn't sit heavily on the stomach, and so didn't take away the joy of fluffy, warm char siew bao.
I ate two baos, finished up my basket of three xiao long baos, then went to the middle of the restaurant where some of the other offerings were.
They've changed a little how they serve the food here.
Where at one time they might have brought the fried stuff over to your table, now they pile it all together in a serving tray buffet style and you go pick out whatever you want.
It's quite a good idea, actually.
Because now you don't have to finish three egg tarts (of one plate serving) if you don't want to. You can have one, or four, up to you. Neither will you be wasting the entire plate if you try something new and realize it's not your taste.
What's more, it isn't just the fried stuff they have there.
On one side there was braised meat (if I'm not wrong), then there was chili crab sauce and fried mantous. On the other side there was porridge of pork and century egg, then a pot of soup. Further on still there was a tray of whatever fried stuff the staff had brought out from the kitchen, and then opposite that, the egg tarts, the char siew sous, the radish cakes, the puddings, and the jellies.
Then there was a chiller with ice cream.
I ladled my friend and I a bowl of porridge each (scooping out as much century egg and pork as it were possible), and can I say that whilst I liked the egg and the century egg and the pork very much, the Cantonese in me loved the thick, near-gooey texture of the porridge even more?
If there's anything, this porridge will be what I'll go for the next time I come here again.
I'll go for the egg tarts too.
And if these cute little spring-roll sweet potato bites are brought out, I'll be helping myself to them the same way I helped myself to them this time round.
Because, yes, I fell in love with the contrasting flavors of sweet and salty, I fell in love with the natural sweetness of the root vegetable, and I got into the light crunch taste of the crispy batter.
