Mama Dim Sum – We’re Obsessed With the Spring Rolls & the Restaurant-Quality Dim Sum Here!

Dim sum might be a common breakfast offering in coffee shops at the drinks stall, but how often can you find a legit dim sum stall in a coffee shop with baos, spring rolls and siew mai all made by hand? Located in Jurong East, Mama Dim Sum offers a small selection of classic dim sum fare made by a former Spring Court head dim sum chef. 

The Hong Kong-born chef only just recently opened Mama Dim Sum and named it after his beloved grandmother. The menu is kept small so quality control can be assured as his dim sum items are made from scratch in his small stall. The one item that has been making waves among patrons lately is his char siew bao, which is made according to a family recipe that was handed down to him.

Seven items are available on the menu and the dim sum are all sold piece by piece so you can craft out your own curated dim sum meal. Unfortunately, they ran out of Siew Mai ($1.20) during our visit. Do note that they get rather long lines and seeing that items get sold out quickly, make sure you come by early enough! 

We started things off with the dish that has most of their customers enamoured with, the Char Siew Bun ($1.20) which had a fluffy exterior and was beautifully pillowy. Tear it apart to chow down on the savoury-sweet char siew filling that’s deliciously hearty. While the size of the bun in general was on the smaller side, this was one meaty char siew bun I would sink my teeth into anytime. 

The Fried Prawn Dumpling ($1.30) was so super-duper crispy that you can hear “ASMR crunches”as you bite into the dumpling. The prawn-and-pork filling within was springy and sweet, and once you dip this fried goodie into mayo, you have a perfect match made in heaven. As for the chunky pieces of Fried Carrot Cake ($1.20), the pan-fried radish cake was rather simple and minimally seasoned. I would have preferred it to have crispier edges but it was still a rather decent dish.

The true dark horse on the menu and our absolute favourite of the lot was the unassuming Spring Roll ($1.20). A dim sum item that usually gets overlooked, the thick spring roll had a shatteringly crisp outer layer and encapsulated a superb mix of four different kinds of vegetables. Aromatic and flavourful, the vegetables were also amazingly juicy, and I couldn’t resist going back for seconds! 

The Chicken Glutinous Rice ($2.20) featured sticky grains that were lightly seasoned and leaned towards a strong earthy flavour profile. The mound of glutinous rice had a mushroom, chicken chunks, and lup cheong (Chinese sausage) perched on top. The separate ingredients do each add their own flavour to the dish and while the portion was on the generous side, it only fared as okay in our books. 

Simplicity is key when it comes to their Century Egg Minced Meat Porridge ($1.80). The slightly thick congee-style grains had a good consistency and while it can be rather light on the palate at first, it got more delicious with every bite. The fragrance of the porridge mainly came from the spring onions, pepper, and a hint of what tasted like salted egg. The bits of century egg and minced meat seemed to blend in together with the porridge and it was hard to be able to properly savour them, which was a bit of a pity. Nevertheless, we can still see ourselves coming back for this dish if we’re craving something on the lighter side. 

In most cases, I would say places like Mama Dim Sum would be one I’d definitely stop by if I happened to be in the area (because Jurong East is a real journey for me). But after having their spring rolls, I can see myself making this long journey just to get my hands on a bulk buy because they were just too good!

MissTamChiak.com made an anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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