Twinkle Twinkle One Michelin Star - Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum Shop (添好運點心專門店) is "the most affordable Michelin-starred restaurant in the world", said Michelin Guide director Jean-Luc Naret.

Clockwise from top L-R-C: Ham Sui Gok (咸水角), Water Chestnut Sweep Soup (馬蹄露), Shu Mai (燒賣), Steamed Rice Noodle Roll with BBQ Pork (叉燒腸粉), Radish Cake (蘿蔔糕), Beef Ball (陳皮牛肉球), Prawn Dumpling (蝦餃), Chicken Feet (鳳爪) and Crispy Pork Bun (酥皮焗叉燒包) which cost us less than AUD20 in total.

(Beep Beep Beeeeep Beep Beep) This is the latest housekeeping announcement: foodwink, the milady behind this blog went somewhere far far away from Australia. Yay! That means, I, the Engineer (aka Mr foodwink when she blogs on an odd day) get full control of this blog, temporarily.

Back to dim sum. Tim Ho Wan is a small dim sum shop (utmost 20 seats) located at Mongkok district of Hong Kong. It is headed by Mak Pui Gor, who previously worked in Michelin three-starred chinese restaurant Lung King Heen @ Four Seasons Hotel.

We heard so many reviews about Tim Ho Wan, albeit praises on food quality and low price tag, one common negative feedback from patrons is the extremely long queue. After spending a few minutes on my laptop plotting curves and solving long equations, my pareto-optimal solution indicated that if we arrive by 9:30am on a Friday morning, we are within a 95% confidence interval of joining other 18 patrons as the "first 20".

Voila! We were No.17 and No.18. At 10am sharp, we shuffled into the shop. We quickly passed the order form to the lady boss. This is essential as all dim sum are made to order. Camera's ready.



The prawn dumplings are amazingly good. That translucent dumpling skin is thin, elastic and not-chewy at all. It keeps the juicy prawn filling well in shape when hold up with chopstick.

Given the chef's technique in making perfect prawn dumpling skin, we are not surprised that the silken soft rice noodle roll with bbq pork is as good as you can get.



Chicken feet is one of my favourite dim sum of all time. A good chicken feet needs to have two essential elements: puffy skin that can easily fall off the bone and balance in flavour. This one from Tim Ho Wan exceeds the benchmark of any chicken feet that we've tried thus far.

Beef balls rarely made to our favourite dim sum list. But we ordered one because we read many good reviews about it. The meat was succulent, juicy and tender. The few drops of the chef's special soy sauce with a hint of worcestershire sauce complement the meat impeccably well.



Crispy pork bun is their signature dish. There is a policy that each table cannot have more than four serves of crispy pork bun including takeaways. This policy ensures adequate supply for other patrons.

So what is a crispy pork bun? It is an excellent crossover of bbq pork bun and pineapple bun (菠蘿包). The verdict? Speechless. Too good to be described in words.



After such a wonderful breakfast, may we present the Bill and Queue.

Tim Ho Wan (添好運點心專門店)
Shop 8, Taui Yuen Mansion Phase 2
2-20 Kwong Wa Street
Mong Kok
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 10am-10pm