Monday, July 15, 2013

TIM HO WAN

Ever since TIM HO WAN, the Hong Kong Tim Sum restaurant opened its flagship store in Plaza Singapura in Singapore in April this year, to rave reviews and much fanfare, hype and publicity, my family and I have been thinking about dining in this world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant for quite some time. We are aware of the long snaking queues which could cause waiting time to average from one hour to two hours but we know that in order to dine in TIM HO WAN, the queuing and waiting is part of the equation (just as how Singaporeans queue for their McDonald’s Hello Kitties). In food-loving Singapore, many Singaporeans like me just want to taste how good the tim sums dished out by one of the Best Hong Kong’s Tim Sum restaurants of Michelin pedigree are. I, in particular just cannot get enough of Hong Kong’s food ever since my tour of Hong Kong some years ago. So it is with high anticipation that we visited TIM HO WAN.




Already when we reached TIM HO WAN, there was already a long queue forming up at the outlet. There is no complaint queuing and waiting when it comes to good food. But how good is TIM HO WAN tim sums and just how much better are they compared with Singapore version of tim sums served in our local restaurants? It is time to find out!
Tim Ho Wan, in Chinese means “Adds Good Luck”. I believe Tim Ho Wan is the Cantonese pronunciation of “Add Good Luck” in Chinese. Anyway, after a one-hour of queuing, we entered into Tim Ho Wan and was presented with the menu consisting of 34 food items, classified into six categories as follows. What caught my attention are the “Big 4 Heavenly Kings” food items of the menu:

A1: Steamed Egg Cake

A2: Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver

A3: Baked Bun with BBQ Pork

A4: Pan Fried Carrot Cake.

As first time visitors to Tim Ho Wan, we chose first the Big Four Heavenly Kings (with names like this, how to resist?), followed by steamed items, congee and many many vermicelli rolls.



My first recommendation goes to one of the four Heavenly Kings in Steamed Egg Cake. The Egg cake has a unique sugarly and aromatic taste and I quite like it.

The vermicellis are really very nice. However, I feel that the “Heavenly King” vermicelli does not taste as nice as the others, perhaps it has to do with the fact that I do not really like to eat pig’s livers in such a way.

There are also some other good food that I have eaten but have not put in this post else this post will become lengthy. If you are to ask me how good is Tim Ho Wan, I can say that the food are nice however being tim sums, I am not full despite eating many many plates of these lovely delicacies. Also, I believe I will not really come for a second dining experience again as though Tim Ho Wan is the world’s cheapest Michelin-restaurant, I do not have deep pockets to exchange my one month of office lunch expenditure with just a visit to Tim Ho Wan.

My recommendation for a simple visit to Tim Ho Wan will be to try the century egg porridge, steamed egg cake, vermicellis and the shrimp dumplings.

If you would like to visit Tim Ho Wan, do note that the Operating Hours of TIM HO WAN are Mondays to Fridays 10 am to 10 pm (with last order at 9.30 pm) and Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: 9 am to 10 pm (with last order at 9.30 pm). If you have eaten in Tim Ho Wan, do give me your comments here too as I would also want to hear from you.


Here is a video of TIM HO WAN for you:

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