Singapore takes dim sum seriously. You can order har gow at 3am at a 24-hour Hokkien spot near Boon Keng, queue an hour for xiao long bao at a Taiwanese counter in Orchard, or sit down with a bamboo tower of siu mai and a pot of pu-er in old Chinatown. Here are the stops worth planning an MRT day around — from the cheap and timeless to the polished and famous.
Quick glossary
- Dim sum — small bite-sized dishes served from steamer baskets or push-carts; Cantonese tradition.
- Yum cha — literally "drink tea"; the social meal of dim sum + Chinese tea, usually weekend mornings.
- Xiao long bao — soup dumplings of Shanghai / Taiwanese origin. Technically not Cantonese dim sum, but lives on the same trail in Singapore.
- Har gow / siu mai — shrimp dumpling / pork-and-shrimp dumpling, the two icons of the bamboo steamer.
Stop 1 · Swee Choon Tim Sum — 24-hour Boon Keng classic
Swee Choon Tim Sum on Jalan Besar has been doing 24-hour dim sum since the 1960s and is the closest thing Singapore has to a temple for late-night har gow. The menu is huge — mee suah kuay, salted egg lava buns, custard buns, prawn cheung fun — and it's cheap. The 2am queue on a Friday is part of the experience.
NE9 — about 6 minutes' walk via Hoe Chiang Road and Kitchener Road. Jalan Besar MRT · DT22 is the other side, similar distance.
Order: har gow, salted egg custard buns, mee suah kuay (Hokkien-style steamed noodles), and a pot of jasmine tea.
Stop 2 · Din Tai Fung — xiao long bao at Orchard
Din Tai Fung is the Taiwanese xiao long bao chain that earned a Michelin star in Hong Kong and was one of the first global Asian restaurant exports to land big in Singapore. The Singapore branches keep the same uniform: clear-glass kitchens, plated 18-fold soup dumplings, and a service tempo that feels closer to a Japanese kaiseki than a noisy yum cha.
NS24 / NE6 / CC1 for the Plaza Singapura branch.Orchard MRT ·
NS22 / TE14 for the Wisma Atria and ION Orchard branches.Somerset MRT ·
NS23 for the Paragon branch.
Order: the original pork xiao long bao (handle with care — the soup is hot), shrimp and pork wonton soup, truffle xiao long bao if you're feeling indulgent, and the red bean dessert dumplings.
Stop 3 · Old-school Cantonese — Chinatown's trolley days
The push-cart trolley experience is harder to find in Singapore than it used to be, but a few Cantonese restaurants in Chinatown still run a weekend yum cha that captures the spirit. Look for Yum Cha Restaurant on Trengganu Street (Trengganu / Smith Street area) for sit-down weekend yum cha in a converted heritage shophouse, and Red Star Restaurant on Chin Swee Road for old-school push-carts on weekend mornings.
NE4 / DT19 — both restaurants are 5–10 minutes from Exit A.
Order: har gow, siu mai, char siu sou (BBQ pork pastries), egg tarts, and a steaming pot of tea — the menu is enormous, ask the trolley aunty what she's bringing out next.
Stop 4 · Late-night dim sum at Geylang & East Coast
If Swee Choon's queue is too long, the east of Singapore has its own scene:
- 126 Eating House in Geylang (along Sims Avenue) — 24-hour dim sum, cash-friendly, a favourite of taxi drivers.
- One.Noodle.House near Bedok and the Marine Parade dim sum chains for a more sit-down weekend version.
EW9 for the Geylang Sims Avenue stretch.Marine Parade MRT ·
TE26 for the East Coast yum cha spots.
Yum cha etiquette in two minutes
- Tap the table with two fingers when someone pours you tea — the Cantonese silent thank-you.
- Choose your tea: pu-er for fatty dishes, jasmine for delicate, chrysanthemum if you want lighter.
- Order in waves: don't overload the table; steamers arrive hot and need to be eaten immediately.
- Bills are by stamp: a card on your table gets stamped when each dish arrives; pay at the counter on the way out.
A dim sum day by MRT
- 10am — Yum cha at Red Star or Yum Cha Restaurant near Chinatown MRT.
- 1pm — Train across to Boon Keng / Jalan Besar for a Swee Choon sit-down (or a Singapore-style HDB coffee).
- 4pm — Train to Dhoby Ghaut or Orchard, queue for Din Tai Fung early-evening for the slow xiao long bao moment.
- 11pm — If you're not yet defeated, taxi out to Geylang for a late-night Cantonese-style supper.
Why GoBus SG helps here
Dim sum trips happen at weird hours — 10am brunch, 3pm afternoon-tea, midnight. Live arrivals matter at 11pm when bus frequencies drop. Pin Chinatown MRT and your nearest Orchard exit, and the home-screen widget will keep your next ride one glance away from the steamer.
Open these stops in GoBus SG
Search any MRT station above for live arrivals across bus, MRT and LRT — with home-screen widgets and multi-modal trip planning.
