Swatow

The best time to go to Swatow is late on a Friday or Saturday night, when the room is packed with the after-drinks crowd, and servers effortlessly glide around large, circular tables refreshing waters, refilling teapots and laying heaping plates of fried rice and glistening General Tao chicken on plastic-covered tables. A good time to go is any time: for a late breakfast over steaming bowls of congee and fresh soy milk or a midday snack of salt and pepper shrimp, deep-fried to a crisp with a batter laced with Sichuan chili flakes or for a fortifying dinner, when the dizzying options of wok-fried noodles, rice and more truly open up, with each item a classic.