Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant

Not the best dim sum in Singapore. The one that is still open when you want it.

Swee Choon is the answer to a specific question: where can a group get dim sum at 2am without anyone having to dress up? The Jalan Besar original opens at 7am and runs until 2am from Sunday to Thursday, and until 4am on Fridays, Saturdays and the eve of public holidays. Come for the hour, the clatter and a handful of fried things nobody else does. If you want hushed, polished hotel dim sum, you have the wrong shophouse (six of them, in fact).

Why it works

It began in 1962 as a single shophouse unit run by Ting Ah Swee and his wife, and over five decades it absorbed its neighbours; by 2020 it ran across six connected shophouses seating 420. Enterprise Singapore lists it as a Heritage Business. The founders’ eldest son, Tony Ting, joined in 1976 and became managing director; his nephew Ernest Ting arrived as the third generation in 2020 and moved ordering on to QR codes, which nine in ten diners were already using that year. The kitchen added Shanghai-style dim sum in 2007 and zi char in 2012, so the menu now runs to Hong Kong dim sum, Shanghai dim sum, hand-pulled noodles and zi char. The family said in 2020 that the dim sum was still made by hand.

The other thing that matters is range of hours. Breakfast with your parents and a 3am round after a gig can happen at the same table on the same day, and nobody will blink either time. Before the pandemic it ran until 6am; 4am is the compromise, and most of us were not using the last two hours well anyway.

What to order

Start with the fried signatures, because they are the reason it is this one and not another. The mee suah kueh is a cake of deep-fried vermicelli with prawn and Chinese sausage; the lychee prawn cheese ball and the sweet potato salted egg custard ball are the kind of thing you order for the photo and then again because the plate went round the table once. Fill in with the classics and a plate of hand-pulled noodles. Treat the har gow and siew mai as filler rather than the main event; this is a supper house, and it is honest about it.

How to do it well

The official site doesn’t mention reservations, so plan on queueing at peak supper hours and send one person ahead to put the group’s name down. Last orders are 30 minutes before closing. Jalan Besar MRT is the nearest station, Farrer Park the alternative. It is not halal-certified.

The brand has spread to an express kiosk at Century Square, a 24-hour outlet at Changi Airport Terminal 2, Anchorvale Village in Sengkang and food-court counters, including one at ION Orchard since 28 September. Use those if you are already there. Otherwise go to Jalan Besar: the shophouse sprawl and the late hour are the point, and a food-court counter has neither.

Good to know Main branch at 183–193 Jalan Besar, near Jalan Besar and Farrer Park MRT. Hours are in the facts box; last orders are 30 minutes before closing. The official site doesn’t mention reservations, so expect to queue at peak supper hours. Not halal-certified. Prices weren’t checked against a current menu.

Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant | 183/185/187/189/191/193 Jalan Besar, Singapore 208882 | Nearest MRT: Jalan Besar, Farrer Park