Tak Po

Decent al fresco street food dining in the heart of Chinatown for dim sum standards — jook, don tots, siu mai, etc. But beware of surly get-​you-​in and get-​you-​out heavy handed villagey service from the ugly old ladies. Like they could ruin a nice mornings walk in the park.

The restaurant was bright and clean and the service was attentive and friendly. Unfortunately, my mum and I both suffered from diarrhea after eating there on Friday night so I don’t think we are going back there again. It’s one of the following food items: pork rib rice or prawn cheong fun.

I had late night dim sum. Big chicken bun, yam cakes and pork congee. Washed down with cold sweet barley water. $ 12.60
Relatively good prices. $ 1.5 for the bun. Congee about $ 5. The drinks $ 1.6 and yam was $ 1.5
Too bad they closed the clay pot rice section. Service was a bit patchy as the kind ladies forgot some orders and may have lost some orders. Nice Chinatown bustle and atmosphere.

This is really cheap dim sum. Really. But unfortunately the food matches the price. I guess I have been spoiled by TimHoWan. Pros? It’s cheap. It’s in Chinatown near a tourist area. So easy to bring in your out of town guests. I suppose tourist might leave Singapore with the wrong idea of food by going to these places and hawker centers. Con– food not so good. Comes out fast and tastes pre prepared and old. Service annoying. They leave the peanuts on the table because they want to eat them so they can charge you for it. I kept covering and they keep coming back to uncover the lid (three times). I told them to take it away.
This place is labeled tourist trap IMO of course.

Top: when you order, look the menu CAREFULLY. Some of the items are per piece and not per plate… Very unscrupulous. Tourist beware. You have been warned.

Nice old school charm in China Town. has all the atmosphere of a morning breakfast place like in Beijing with the comfort of Singapore. The menu is nothing special with all the mainstay dim sum dishes available. But the taste and service is where the difference comes in. Firstly, just say NO to the peanuts and the wet towel as they are charged at sgd1.30 per person.
The simple porridge is as good as it gets. The crispy house puffs, crispy egg tart, char siew puff etc are all freshly baked at regular intervals so nothing has been cooked for more than 15 minutes before.
Prices are same to what you pay in a neighbourhood dim sum place so a good deal in a nostalgic setting.
Opens at 7am everyday. So a nice place for a breakfast before heading down for weekend grocery shopping.

If you don’t live in Singapore, then don’t review our restaurants. Tak Po is a full step and a half ahead of any chain dim sum here and is a good as most in Hong Kong. The chat siew buns are fresh and fluffy every time. The prawns are always cooked to perfection (the key for any dim sum restaurant to me) and the egg tarts/​custard buns are the best in Singapore for a restaurant.
Consistency is key for din sum Tak Po owns it.

Tak Po is definitely a great option for dim sum on Smith Street. It somehow managed to maintain it’s local charm and did not turn into one of those overpriced and overcrowded touristy places. They have a restaurant section with limited seating as well as a separate take out counter.
Prices are very reasonable, with $ 1.10 egg custard tarts. I ordered two custard buns and a cold lime juice at the take out counter, which cost $ 4.60. They even steamed the buns to order so they came out piping hot. Not as large as other places make them but you get more of that rich eggy custard in the center.
Highly recommended.

Let me say, I’m not a big fan of dim sum at all but I am always end up going for some reason. We sat in the inside (which thankfully had AC) although there is outside seating. I ate the shrimp and scallop dumplings which were probably the best tasting (bc that’s pretty much all I ate) and some porridge. I didn’t think this place was that great even though the service is fast.

This dim sum place is actually pretty decent in terms of the variety of items as well as the prices. Our large party of ten managed to get accommodated at around 6.30pm with relative ease, and the food came fast and furious. Most of the items were quite good — for instance, the har gau and the leaf-​wrapped chicken — and we didn’t find anything to complain about the service either. I’d return to this place in a heartbeat.

This is another one of those dim sum stalls in Chinatown that you wouldn’t even know its existence until some one recommends or points it out to you. Situated in the midst of Chinatown, its location is very apt for selling such traditional dim sum dishes. Its popularity is evident since the stall is always packed even on a weekday afternoon. Highly advisable to go earlier to secure a seat to avoid long waiting and queuing periods.
The usual fare of dim sums and buns are available, like hargaw (shrimp dumpling), siew mai, char siew bun, chicken bun and even egg tart. All of these tastes extremely fresh and the portion is reasonable. Its best seller is the fried yam dumpling that is always sold out. Even till this date, I’ve never had the chance to try it. One of the dishes I love is the Tian Ji Zhou (Frog Leg Porridge). For those who do not know frog leg tastes exactly like chicken, only more tender, but has the consistency of fish. The meat is succulent and juicy, retaining itd flavour even though it is stewed with porridge. The porridge itself is not bland but is fragrant and slightly sweet, just like all other porridge dishes stewed with seafood. Perfect to whet up your appetite.
Since the stall allows you to order by per piece instead of per basket, it has easier portion control and you won’t find yourself in that awkward position of deciding who will have the last piece when sharing 10 dumplings among 3 people.

We recently went to Tak Po for dimsum on a weekday morning and was surprised by the number of people there. Despite it being a Thursday morning, it was still rather packed with people, many of the older generation, and every table was overflowing with food. Ours was no different. While the har gow and siew mai were quite good, my favourite was the custardy-​smooth egg tart that was slightly runny and delicate. Also, the century egg and lean pork congee was fragrant and the chee cheong fun was so soft and delicious that it was cleared almost as quickly as it arrived. There was also the usual chicken glutinous rice and lotus wrapped rice which were quite good and had plenty of ingredients inside too. All of us ate till we were too full to move but had to agree that it was an excellent meal.

If you want reasonably priced authentic Hong Kong dim sum in Chinatown, look no further than Tak Po, located on the Food Street at Chinatown. It’s at the shophouses on the first storey so keep a look out for it. They are famous for their congees and they actually do have a separate section for that. It is almost as extensive as their dimsum menu. I love the century egg minced pork porridge which is smooth and flavorful. You can get the smaller dim sum bowl size before 3pm (if i’m not wrong). This size is perfect to go with the rest of your small dishes.
Their steamed products are very fresh. Love their big and juicy prawn har gaw. The Chee Cheong fun is alright.
Worthy of mention is also their egg tarts and char siew pastry. Very flaky pastry and smooth egg custard filling and homemade bbq honey pork.

Rather run-​of-​the-​mill Hong Kong dim sum place. The sights outside are more interesting than the food on the plate. The siew mai was not bad, but that’s true about everywhere. The prawn dumplings were too greasy with a coarse crust, the rice rolls with scallops (with what?) OK but where were the scallops? I guess there may have been one small one hiding in the 4 rolls. And the prawn rolls in tofu skins: rather OK.
The place advertises itself as ‘famous in Chinatown’ and certainly doesn’t deserve fame outside.