We recently shared about Swee Choon's new line of frozen dim sum, which Swee Choon claims that it is "as good as savouring the dim sum in person at the restaurant".
Is this true? We tried it out and here's how it went.
We got the Party Bundle on Qoo10, which feeds 5-6 pax ($49.90, U.P. $80.70). The bundle includes Mee-Suah Kueh, Siew Mai, Har Kow, Chive Pork Dumpling, Carrot Cake, Shanghai Xiao Long Bao, and Hae Bee Hiam Chilli.
We also ordered the Beancurd Prawn Roll ($8.10, U.P. $9.90), which is stuffed with minced pork and shrimp, and wrapped with a bean curd sheet.
Lastly we got the Black Truffle Xiao Long Bao ($17.90, U.P. $25.50), made with black charcoal pastry, chicken broth and minced pork infused with truffle.
Orders above $30 qualify for free delivery with a selected date and time slot. We opted for our order to be delivered on 28 January, and we sat at home waiting for it, but the time slot came and went without any sight of our dim sum. A quick check on Qoo10 showed that our delivery was changed to the next day. It would've been great if they were able to notify us about the change! I guess they must be facing a pretty high amount of orders.
Nonetheless, here's our spread!
The directions are clearly printed onto each package, and they seem pretty straightforward. As per the instructions, we left the steamed items out at room temperature to defrost for 30 minutes.
The fried items do not need to defrost. We popped the Mee-Suah Kueh, Carrot Cake and Beancurd Prawn Roll into the air fryer at 200°C. Overall, we felt that the fried items turned out the best. The Mee-Suah Kueh was our favourite!
The directions for the Chive Pork Dumplings said to boil them for 5 minutes, but we decided to pan fry them after boiling for an extra oomph. It turned out really well and it was also one of our favourite dishes of the night. We highly recommend taking an extra step and pan frying them!
Steaming the Siew Mai was pretty straightforward. Unfortunately we can't say that for the rest of the items…
Sadly, some of our Black Truffle Xiao Long Bao burst in the steamer. But it was a nice touch that they provided us with parchment papers so they don't stick to our plates!
Likewise, our Shanghai Xiao Long Bao burst too. We're not sure where we went wrong and briefly wondered if having a bamboo steamer would've worked better.
Our Har Kow which was actually undercooked, and we did not realize it until later...
The main downside of the frozen dim sum is that by the time the last dishes were done, the first few dishes out were already cold. We can't imagine anyone having a big enough steamer at home to prep all the dishes at once! So perhaps this is something to keep in mind.
With that said, let's dig in!
Our XLBs that burst in the steamer. What seems to be pork fat and broth leaked out. The colour was pretty unappetizing and it looked worse when it cooled. Visually, it just doesn't look like the XLBs in Swee Choon, and there was a floury taste in our mouths which we did not like.
And as mentioned earlier on, our Har Kow was undercooked even though we steamed it for five minutes as per the instructions. We should've known, seeing how the skin was still pretty opaque and cooked Har Kows are translucent. We found out the hard way by biting into it and then realizing that the shrimp was half-cooked. It was fine after we put it back in the steamer for another five minutes!
The highlight of our dinner was surprisingly, the Hae Bee Hiam Chilli. Everyone loved it and it paired perfectly with all of the dishes.
Taste wise, all of the dim sum were relatively close to what Swee Choon serves in their restaurant, with the exception of the Shanghai Xiao Long Bao and the fact that most of them were already cold. So is it really as good as savouring it in person? Unfortunately, we would have to say no. Cold dim sum just doesn't really hit the right spot. We unanimously agreed that it would be much better going to Swee Choon in person and having piping hot dim sum served to you!
However, it's nice to have some dim sum stashed in the refrigerator for those midnight cravings that you get at 2 am. If you're just cooking for yourself, it would be easy to fit everything into one or two plates so you get to indulge in hot dim sum. For a family dinner or friend's gathering where you have to cook in batches? Then we'd say probably not.