Red Star Restaurant at Chin Swee Road is a nostalgic dining spot that will transport you back to the 1970s and 1980s. The Cantonese restaurant is also well known for being one of the few remaining places in Singapore where you can get push cart dim sum, where the dim sum comes to you on trolleys.
We paid a visit to Red Star Restaurant for a dim sum meal.
Red Star Restaurant: Push Cart Dim Sum in Singapore
Red Star Restaurant is located on the 7th floor of the Block 54 Chin Swee Road. Even its location, within an housing block estate flat, made us reminisce about the past when such restaurants were more common and would be where the extended family would gather for large celebrations.
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Stepping inside, it feels like a throwback to the past with its large banqueting hall and the stage at the centre.
Be sure to look up at the ornate ceiling too!
As we sat down, the first order was for the type of tea that we would like not the type of dim sum.
The tea came in a pot along with a metal bowl filled with hot water to give the tea cups a rinse.
This is something rather old school and not something that you would not normally find in modern and contemporary restaurants today.
Of course, we had to give the traditional knocking of fingers on the table to say thank you for the tea too!
The dim sum came fast and furious.
Servers with the dim sum carts stand all around, ready to peddle their wares.
Steamed dim sum, fried dim sum, baked dim sum and even desserts get pushed around in trolley carts.
When the server came around, we could ask what they had and got a commentary about the dim sum dishes available at our table side. It is a good way to have a look at what is being offered in real life rather than simply looking at pictures in a menu.
Once we had selected the dim sum we wanted, the server would mark it off on the yellow cardboard chart that served as a record of the food we had selected for payment at the end of the meal.
Dim Sum We Ate at Red Star Restaurant
We started off with the siew mai, a classic dim sum dish. The siew mai at Red Star Restaurant comes in a basket of four. It is filled with meat and has some roe at the top. On the whole, we would give it a 4/5 based on its price point of $5.70.
Another dim sum classic is the har kou. It is best to eat this fresh and hot when it arrives at the table. We were a bit divided in our opinion over this dish. There was not as much prawn or were the prawns as succulent as some other dim sum places. We give this a 2.8/5.
Char Siew Bao is another dim sum staple. Personally, we quite enjoyed this. There was a nice ratio of bun to the roasted meat inside the bao. The bun portion also felt quite soft and springy which was very enjoyable. We would rate the char siew bao to be a 4/5.
Fried carrot cake is another classic dim sum dish. The version at Red Star Restaurant was a bit chewy. Even the fried exterior bits were a little chewy. We suspect that this is because it had been fried and then placed into the trolley to be brought about. This made it less crispy compared to other fried carrot cakes that are freshly prepared once ordered by the customer. We would place this as a 2.7/5.
Another dim sum dish that we ordered at Red Star Restaurant was the Beancurd Roll. The Red Star Restaurant version has quite a lot of meat inside but we would have actually preferred it to have a great beancurd to meat ratio so that there would be more of the chew from the beancurd. The gravy was also of the more watery variety. Our personal preference would be for a thicker gravy that coats the dim sum better. Overall, we would give this a 2.7/5.
For some variety, we ordered the large chilli stuffed with fish paste, part of the steamed collection.
Also, within the same cart, you can also choose from different rice rolls such as char siew and scallop rice rolls.
One other dish that we order was the chicken feet. Soft and gelatinous, this dim sum dish was delicious and we give it a 4.5/5.
Taste of Nostalgia at Red Star Restaurant
Overall, we had a wonderful time having dim sum at Red Star Restaurant.
The restaurant is unashamedly old school and it was a treat to be able to experience the nostalgic vibes of the establishment.
The dim sum is decent. It is probably done the way that it has been for years. Don’t expect contemporary takes or extremely refined dim sum here; but it the food we had was decent enough.
We have read some reviews saying that the service can be slow. However, this was not our experience on a weekday lunch. In fact, it was super efficient. Maybe there were not that many tables when we were there. We are not sure if the service would be slower when the restaurant is packed and the elderly servers have to push the trolleys around from table to table.
Many people who would head over to Red Star Restaurant would be there for a taste of nostalgia, a piece of old Singapore that is increasingly rare and hard to find, and that is something that the restaurant serves up in droves.
Red Star Restaurant
Where: Block 54 Chin Swee Road #07-23. Singapore 160054
Website: Red Star Restaurant Facebook Page
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