Swatow Seafood Restaurant

Swatow Seafood Restaurant is a Teochew Chinese restaurant on the second floor of Block 181 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh. Expect handmade dim sum during the day and Teochew seafood dishes in the evening. There are set menus for groups as well as a full à la carte menu.

Mr Jimi Tan, who comes from a Teochew family background, opened the restaurant on 6 August 2010. The name comes from Swatow, the old name for Shantou, a port city in southern China known for its Teochew food. He brought in chefs from around the Asia-Pacific region to cook it.

What to order

Teochew cooking is known for light seasoning that lets fresh seafood speak for itself. The restaurant's signature list shows this well. Look for Teochew Cold Crab, a classic dish of steamed crab served chilled, and Steamed Pomfret in Teochew Style.

Other signatures include Swatow Signature Chicken, cooked with fermented bean paste, plus Swatow Braised Duck and the Teochew Crispy Oyster Omelette. The Teochew Deluxe Combination is a set of four small Teochew dishes, a good way to try several at once. You will also find Teochew Prawn Roll and Swatow Signature Crayfish on the menu.

Dim sum

The dim sum is made by hand in the Hong Kong style. Choices include steamed prawn dumplings, siew mai topped with fish roe, char siew rice rolls and fried beancurd skin rolls with shrimp. There are also barbecue pork buns, pork ribs in black bean sauce, goldfish-shaped dumplings and mini egg tarts.

The Toa Payoh branch also runs an afternoon high-tea buffet. Dim sum comes round on a trolley, an older way of serving it. A buffet corner adds seafood, hot dishes and desserts, and the selection changes every week.

Good to know before you go

• Book ahead: you can reserve a table online through the restaurant's website or by phone. Seats for the high-tea buffet are limited, so booking is wise.
• Set menus: both the set menus and the à la carte menu are on the website, so you can plan a group meal in advance.
• Drinks: there is a wine list as well as herbal tea and soft drinks.
• Delivery and catering: the restaurant takes online orders for delivery and also caters for events.
• Second outlet: its sister restaurant, Swatow City, is at HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok in the west.

Nearby

Toa Payoh is one of Singapore's older public housing towns, and a meal here is a good look at everyday heartland life. Read our guide to staying in the Singapore heartlands if you want to base yourself in an area like this.

Other places to eat in the area include Loy Kee Best Chicken Rice, Chef Kang's Noodle House and Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon. For a quiet visit after your meal, the Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery is also in Toa Payoh. For more ideas, see all restaurants in Balestier and Toa Payoh, more Chinese and dim sum restaurants and our dim sum and Cantonese guides.