24 Hr Dim Sum and Authentic Teochew Dishes in Toa Payoh: 212 潮州菜馆 Teochew-Cuisine Restaurant Review

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Here is another place that sells dim sum for supper, apart from the well-known Swee Choon or 24 hours-open Tim Ho Wan at Aperia Mall (review here), This hidden gem located in the heartlands of Toa Payoh hawks handmade dim sum 24 hours too. It is so secretly tucked away, that little has been heard since its opening 9 months back in November 2014. It was only thanks to a television advert that we happen to know of it. When we visited on a public holiday, well past the lunch hour, there were still quite a few tables occupied. 


To our slight dismay, the place is entirely non air-conditioned. Luckily, a huge fan made up for it and kept us cool during the meal and it was actually still alright. You get traditional Teochew Operas playing on the television too, which can get pretty loud, but I guess the elderly folks will love it.

The restaurant's specialty lies primarily in Teochew cuisine, with the chefs themselves hailing from China. The focus here is slightly lesser on dim sum, but nevertheless, the variety offered was sufficient. However, there were quite a number of items that were sold out for the day. The waitress explained that the dim sum is handmade in fixed quantities to ensure freshness, hence some items may be unavailable till the next round of dim sum making. You will stand a higher chance of avoiding items being OOS in the morning of course.
Dim Sum Menu - 1

 Seafood Porridge
Dim Sum Menu -2

Seafood Porridge ($6)
The seafood porridge was served Teochew-style, where you see the whole rice grain still intact and soaked in broth. This is unlike the thick, broken grains we are used to in Cantonese congee. Despite its different style, it was absolutely delicious. The broth was flavourful and the seafood fresh. They were also very generous with the ingredients - large chunks of fish slices and octopus. And it costs only $6 for a small portion - which was one soup bowl-full of porridge for each of us. This will be a repeat item on our future visits.

 Daikon"Cai Pu" Fried Kway Teow
'Cai Pu' Fried Kway Teow ($10)
The fried kway teow was aromatic, but it needed more of the 'cai pu' (daikon) to flavour it.
Steamed Pork Ribs
Steamed Pork Ribs ($3.60)
This was a favourite. The pork ribs were steamed just right but the savoury sauce that accompanied it was superb.

 Salted Egg Yolk Lava Bun 
Salted Egg Yolk Lava Bun/Liu Sha Bao (3 for $3.60)
As with any dim sum meal, I had to order the Liu Sha Bao (Salted Egg Yolk Lava Buns). Their version here has slightly too much egg yolk, resulting in a too thick custard. On the scale of all the liu sha baos we have tried, this scraped passable.

 Xiao Long Bao/Steamed Chicken Wings in Rice Wine 

Xiao Long Bao ($4.50)and Leek and Crystal Dumplings ($3.60)

Steamed Rice Wine Chicken Wings ($3.60)
The other items like the xiao long bao (steamed pork soup dumplings) and the spinach dumplings fared decently. The pork filling in the xiao long bao was marinated to sufficient flavour. The steamed chicken dish in rice wine wasn't impressionable though. 

 Lor Mai Kai / Chee Cheong Fun
Lor Mai Kai/Steamed Glutinous Rice with Chicken ($2.20)

Chee Cheong Fun($3)

At first look, the glutinous rice didn't appeal because the rice-meat ratio was too unbalanced. Too little meat, but we couldn't stop eating the aromatic rice that was unbroken in every grain, which contributed to its chewy texture. However, the chee cheong fun (steamed rice rolls) could have done better. The rice sheets were too thick and the filling was little.

 We also had the fried beancurd skin roll ($3.60), which came piping hot and crisp with fresh prawns. This is another order we will repeat.

 At just $50 for 4 people, Teochew Cuisine provides value-for-money dim sum and there are items which impress. Just come at usual timings (and not our off-peak times) to minimise the chances of items unavailable. You may also want to come here to try their specialty in Teochew cuisine.

212 Teochew Cuisine 212 潮州菜馆 (not to be confused with Teochew Cuisine in Bukit Batok)
212 Lorong 8 Toa Payoh
Singapore 310212
Tel: 6259-0080
Open 24 hours 

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1 comments

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