Popiah and Dim Sum at Oldest Chinese Restaurant in Singapore

The oldest Chinese restaurant in Singapore is said to be Spring Court (詠春園). This family-run Chinese restaurant along Upper Cross Street (across Chinatown Point) has a history that goes back to 1929.

Oldest Chinese Restaurant in Singapore - Spring Court

As Chinese New Year 2021 approaches, we thought we should have one more casual meal at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. We plan to avoid the area and Chinese restaurants in general during the next few weeks as they gear up for CNY Lo-Hei lunch and dinner menus.

The oldest Chinese restaurant in Singapore does not look that old as it had located at various places, starting in the old Great World Amusement Park where (Great World City now stands), before settling at the current location in the heart of Singapore Chinatown in the 90s. The ground floor and the stairs leading upstairs do have a seasoned, nostalgic look, but the dining spaces upstairs (picture below) have a contemporary Chinese restaurant decor. We prefer the upper floor space for its calm ambience, even though it has less character than the ground floor area. There is a lift available for patrons who prefer not to walk the stairs in the four-storey heritage shophouse.

The Menu at the Oldest Chinese Restaurant in Singapore

As you can expect at the oldest Chinese restaurant in Singapore, the menu is comprehensive. Here are some sample pages of the menu for an idea of what to expect when dining at Spring Court. For us the must eat item is the popiah and so we had a light lunch of popiah and some dim sum items.

Oldest Chinese Restaurant in Singapore - Spring Court Menu

Our Lunch at Spring Court 2021

We had an assortment of dim sum (picture below). Starting from top left – glutinous rice in lotus leaf ($4.50), vegetable and prawn dumpling ($4.80), popiah ($8.20), carrot cake in XO sauce ($5.80) and deep-fried beancurd skin ($4.80).

The popiah was the highlight of our meal. It has been described as the best popiah in Singapore and cost many times the usual price of a typical popiah in Singapore. The Spring Court popiah was certainly very good. It is larger than a typical popiah and certainly stuffed with many more ingredients to produce a flavourful and rich taste. We thought however that it was even more impressive at a previous visit a few years ago.

As for the rest of the dim sum items we thought they were very reasonably priced but quite average in terms of taste. The best item were the soft steamed peanuts that wew served as appetisers. The tea and appetisers charge was $3.30 per pax.