Tim Ho Wan, Mong Kok
In common with many successful restaurants, Tim Ho Wan did not find success overnight. The man behind it, Chef Mak Kawi Pui, started as a dim sum apprentice when he was just fifteen. He then got promoted to take charge of the dim sum section of a restaurant by the age of twenty. After working his way through various well-known Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, he was given the title of head dim sum chef by Lung King Hin, which was awarded three Michelin stars while he was working there.
Chef Mak opened the first Tim Ho Wan restaurant in 2009. Moving from a fine dining restaurant to a local cafe hidden in the back streets of Mong Kok, this drastic change made by Chef Mak attracted considerable attention at the time of opening. It was awarded one Michelin star within one year, making it the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world.
Having a no take away, no reservation policy means that you must queue to sample the food. I am not talking about a fifteen minute to half an hour wait - it is TWO hours! We arrived at around half past ten in the morning, and there were already at least thirty people waiting. We got a ‘post-it’ ticket from a lady at the counter outside the restaurant, and we were told that the wait would be around one hour. We then wandered around Mong Kok (I was very tempted to get bubble tea and street food but I managed to restrain myself) for around forty minutes. It must have been my lucky day, as when we were walking back to the restaurant, the lady who gave us the ticket was shouting ‘Table for two? Anyone waiting for table for two?’. So there you go, we got our table within forty five minutes! WIN!
The restaurant is very small, it has less than thirty seats, with the back of your chair right against the person sitting behind you. It is not like having dim sum in a traditional Chinese restaurant on a Sunday with families and friends, you are expected to leave as soon as you finish the meal. There are twenty-six items on the menu (English menu available), including steamed and deep fried dim sum, rice, congee, cheung fun and desserts, all cooked to order.
Baked barbecue pork bun - The restaurant’s best seller, more than seven hundred are sold daily. The sweet bun was soft yet crispy on the outside, filled with a generous amount of roast pork and mouth-watering barbecue sauce.
From left to right - Har Gau (Steamed prawn dumplings), Siu Mai (Steamed pork and prawn dumplings)
Deep fried chive dumplings
Fun Gwoh (Steamed dumplings filled with peanut, chives, mushroom, prawns and pork)
Steamed pig’s liver cheung fun
Satay beef and enoki mushroom spring rolls
Some of the steamed items were not as neat as the ones you can get in larger restaurants, but you could tell they were handmade. I particularly enjoyed the Siu Mai, as they contained large succulent prawns, instead of being minced up like the mass-produced versions. The thickness of the cheung fun was just right, sort of semi transparent, so that you can just about to see the liver inside.
There is no doubt about the quality of the dim sum in Tim Ho Wan, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal, what more can you ask for when you are paying a tenner for seven delicious items? If you are worried about the wait, try the bigger branches in Sham Shui Po and IFC Central. The name ‘Tim Ho Wan’ literally means ‘Enhance Good Luck’, but I do not think they need any more luck, as Chef Mak is planning to open ten more branches in Hong Kong, as well as a new one in Beijing within the next five years.
添好運 Tim Ho Wan, 2-20 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok
In common with many successful restaurants, Tim Ho Wan did not find success overnight. The man behind it, Chef Mak Kawi Pui, started as a dim sum apprentice when he was just fifteen. He then got promoted to take charge of the dim sum section of a restaurant by the age of twenty. After working his way through various well-known Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, he was given the title of head dim sum chef by Lung King Hin, which was awarded three Michelin stars while he was working there.
Chef Mak opened the first Tim Ho Wan restaurant in 2009. Moving from a fine dining restaurant to a local cafe hidden in the back streets of Mong Kok, this drastic change made by Chef Mak attracted considerable attention at the time of opening. It was awarded one Michelin star within one year, making it the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world.
Having a no take away, no reservation policy means that you must queue to sample the food. I am not talking about a fifteen minute to half an hour wait - it is TWO hours! We arrived at around half past ten in the morning, and there were already at least thirty people waiting. We got a ‘post-it’ ticket from a lady at the counter outside the restaurant, and we were told that the wait would be around one hour. We then wandered around Mong Kok (I was very tempted to get bubble tea and street food but I managed to restrain myself) for around forty minutes. It must have been my lucky day, as when we were walking back to the restaurant, the lady who gave us the ticket was shouting ‘Table for two? Anyone waiting for table for two?’. So there you go, we got our table within forty five minutes! WIN!
The restaurant is very small, it has less than thirty seats, with the back of your chair right against the person sitting behind you. It is not like having dim sum in a traditional Chinese restaurant on a Sunday with families and friends, you are expected to leave as soon as you finish the meal. There are twenty-six items on the menu (English menu available), including steamed and deep fried dim sum, rice, congee, cheung fun and desserts, all cooked to order.
Baked barbecue pork bun - The restaurant’s best seller, more than seven hundred are sold daily. The sweet bun was soft yet crispy on the outside, filled with a generous amount of roast pork and mouth-watering barbecue sauce.
From left to right - Har Gau (Steamed prawn dumplings), Siu Mai (Steamed pork and prawn dumplings)
Deep fried chive dumplings
Fun Gwoh (Steamed dumplings filled with peanut, chives, mushroom, prawns and pork)
Steamed pig’s liver cheung fun
Satay beef and enoki mushroom spring rolls
Some of the steamed items were not as neat as the ones you can get in larger restaurants, but you could tell they were handmade. I particularly enjoyed the Siu Mai, as they contained large succulent prawns, instead of being minced up like the mass-produced versions. The thickness of the cheung fun was just right, sort of semi transparent, so that you can just about to see the liver inside.
There is no doubt about the quality of the dim sum in Tim Ho Wan, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal, what more can you ask for when you are paying a tenner for seven delicious items? If you are worried about the wait, try the bigger branches in Sham Shui Po and IFC Central. The name ‘Tim Ho Wan’ literally means ‘Enhance Good Luck’, but I do not think they need any more luck, as Chef Mak is planning to open ten more branches in Hong Kong, as well as a new one in Beijing within the next five years.
添好運 Tim Ho Wan, 2-20 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok
Hi, stumbled by your blog via Tamarind & Thyme's post on blogs around the world. Am enjoying the read up on HK as that's where my folks are from (New Territories). Haven't been back for 4yrs & Tim Ho Wan is a defo to visit!
ReplyDeleteWas surprised to see you order 7 dishes, my folks always tell me never to order 7 dim sum items, better make it 6 or 8. Perhaps that's them being old fashioned or superstitious?
Thanks for your kind words! Hong Kong has changed a lot (in my opinion too fast!) in the past few years, you need to go back!
DeleteHaha I only follow the the no-7-dish tradition when I dine with my parents/senior relatives :)