Happiness is a Tim Ho Wan barbecued pork bun.
Dearest Readers, I think I may have found the definition or at least the gateway to happiness. As I sat in at the table at Tim Ho Wan, the legendary dim sum specialist and the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world, I looked around me at my fellow diners who had just been given a warm barbecue pork bun. Mr NQN had devoured his in two bites flat, Luke was chewing his with a profound look of happiness and Miryana just said “wow.”
Tim Ho Wan, meaning “to add good luck” is so popular that queues are guaranteed. The first branch in Mong Kok seats only 19 people so the queues for this delicious and oh so reasonably priced yum cha are understandable. We are dining at the second branch where chef and owner Mak Kwai Pui (known as Pui or brother Pui) dishes out between 1,000-2,000 barbecued pork buns a day in a place that seats 150 people. 1,900 diners pass through its doors a day.
So with a second location this large surely that means less queues? Nope, there’s still the queue. But a little hint: you can book a VIP table upstairs if you have a minimum spend of $1000HKD ($123AU/$128USD) total for the whole table and 2 day’s notice is required.
One of the VIP rooms
The lines that stretch out onto the street are full of eager diners. There is a black Mercedes with an elderly grandmother and grandfather sitting in it. The family brings them cups of water and when their table is ready, they emerge from the car and make their way into the restaurant. Inside the restaurant, it is modest and not flashy at all. The VIP rooms upstairs are simple with large tables and lazy susans. A bucket to the side catches drips and the lighting is flourescent but this deters no-one.
Chef Pui
As Chef Pui sits down to eat with us, the dumplings come thick and fast. Everything is cooked to order, nothing is pre steamed or pre cooked. Ordering is done with a yellow form in English or a pink form in Chinese. And when you see the prices you may be as shocked as we were (and then we subsequently begged him to open in Sydney). Chef Pui doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Cantonese so it is up to our wonderful guide Rainbow Wong to translate for us.
He was the former dim sum chef at The Four Seasons and he has been making dumplings for 30 years now (he is 50 years old this year). He first started cooking at age 15 and says that he considered this idea as chefs talents and abilities can wane as they grow older so he wanted to be an owner of a business in order to prepare for an early retirement. He has two children, one eight and one fifteen and neither show a love of cooking and he tells us that even if they did he wouldn’t let them. He comes from a restaurant family with his father and uncle both working in the industry.
Our attention is diverted by the food. The etiquette is to use the black chopsticks on the table to serve yourself; you then use the chopsticks next to you to eat. We ask Chef Pui about sauces and he recommends using the thicker sauces for deep fried food and the chilli oil for steamed dumplings. The menu features 27 savoury items and 4 sweet choices.
Barbecued pork buns 3 for $15HKD/ $1.93AUD
We each take a bite of the barbecued pork bun and it is a revelation. Unlike any other pork bun the topping is sweet and lightly crunchy and sinking your teeth into the bun each time yields a light, airy bread pocket stuffed full of thick, rich char sui generous with the thick, almost jellied sauce. I stopped after two bites and took much smaller bites not wanting the bun to end. The topping is sweet like a pineapple bun topping and is made with eggs, sugar and butter, the fitting is replete with rich sauce and barbecued pork and the ratio of bread to filling is absolutely spot on which makes them utterly irresistible.
Steamed dumplings in chiu chow style 3 for $10HKD/$1.28AUD
We were curious to see what the chiu chow dumplings were like. We do have a similar version but I must admit I’m not a huge fan of dumplings with peanuts as the peanuts can get soggy but perhaps owing to the fact that these were made only a few hours ago they are crunchy with peanuts, water chestnuts, chives and pork.
Steamed pork dumpling with shrimp $22HKD/$2.83AUD
The siu mai is bouncy and fresh and packed full of juicy shrimp. I usually don’t order them but these are a definite cut above the rest.
Chicken’s feet with black bean sauce $14HKD/$1.80AUD
The chicken’s feet are soft and gelatinous and coated with a thick, sweet black bean sauce. I’m a huge chicken feet lover but Mr NQN has never tried them (he finds them quite resistable) but we figure now is the time to try one and he likes them! Chef Pui tells us that in another branch, they aren’t allowed to deep fry so he has come up with a way around this by using abalone sauce and cooking them for a long time to achieve the desired result.
Steamed spare rib with black bean sauce $14HKD/$1.80AUD
This is another dish I don’t often order but when I try a morsel of the pork spare ribs with black bean sauce what strikes me again and again is how fresh everything tastes. These practically bounce with juiciness, texture and flavour.
Steamed beef ball with bean curd skin $14HKD/$1.80AUD
The tender, juicy steamed beef balls were given a special touch by adding in lemongrass and orange rind to lift the flavour (I almost wrote “lift the balls” there! 
). Chef Pui tells us that it is important that they don’t over chop the meat as that can affect the texture.
Steamed fresh shrimp dumpling (ha jiao) $22HKD/$2.71AUD
Mr NQN and I are crazy over har gows prawn dumplings and these are perfection. The generously portioned shrimp are the perfect, fresh and springy texture and the skin is so thin yet there is not a bit of tearing at all.
Glutinous rice dumpling $23HKD/$2.83AUD
Chef Pui explains that the glutinous rice dumpling comes in such a large size and shaped (as opposed to the star shaped ones) because this can hold a larger amount of filling and sauce. Inside is Lup Cheong (Chinese sausage), chicken and shiitake mushrooms and true to what he says, the filling is so much better because there is more sauce which disperses into the sticky rice.
During the meal Chef Pui tops up our tea and serves us the dumplings. he occasionally ducks out for a phone call (his ring tone, set by his son, is that of bagpipes).
Deep fried spring roll with chicken and green chive $16HKD/$1.97HKD
The spring rolls have a chicken and green chive filling which we thought might be different but it doesn’t taste that different to other spring roll filling. These are fresh, crispy and crunchy.
Pan fried turnip cake $12HKD/$1.47AUD
Apparently some people are divided by turnip cake for some reason. I had no idea about this as I love the stuff. It’s not a sweet cake but a savoury one with lup cheong, turnip and rice flour. It has a gelatinous texture and is pan fried so that the tops and bottoms are crispy.
Steamed egg cake $14HKD/$1.80AUD
My mum makes a version of this cake using brown sugar but Chef Pui uses white sugar and caramelises it and makes a cake batter that is steamed. The resulting cake is a light spongey cake that has a lovely caramelised flavour to it.
Vermicelli roll stuffed with shrimp $19HKD/$2.43AUD
This is something that we always have to order at yum cha and it can either be fabulous or disappointing depending on the quality of the shrimp or prawns. This was pretty fabulous and the best version of this I’ve tried and you can see how silky the rice flour skin is. The sauce he tells us is a mix of soy sauce, sugar, ginger and green onion.
Tonic medlar and petal $10HKD
It is dessert time and we have a selection of all of the desserts. The wobbly cubes of jelly are hard to transport to the mouth but are worth it. They are cooling and sweet with little edible flower petals and goji berries inside.
Double boiled bird’s nest and egg white $48HKD/$5.91AUD
Bird’s nest is a delicacy because it is the saliva that birds use to make their nests and is said to be good for the skin as it contains collagen. Here it is double boiled so that it is translucent and soft and it sits atop an egg white pudding flavoured with ginger. The texture is softly voluptuous.
Sweet sago cream with taro $14HKD
The sago cream with taro was Mirayana’s favourite and has little pearls of sago in it. I usually like this a bit sweeter though.
Chef Pui tell us that freshness of ingredients and making the dumplings close to serving time are his secret and he is also unfailingly modest and humble. Every morning at 5am at each of the branches (there are now three, with a fourth to come at North Point in June) they make all of the dumplings on the premises as Chef Pui doesn’t believe in making them at a central point and then shipping them off as he believes that by the time that they got there, they would be not be fresh any more. To ensure that each branch retains the quality necessary he has two shareholders that visit each branch every day to monitor the quality of the items and every day Chef Pui tastes all of the items.
The first two branches each sport a Michelin star. And how did he feel when he heard of his first Michelin star? He is animated and moves his hands rapidly to show extreme surprise. He was aware of the Michelin guide but never considered that one of his restaurants would be part of the hallowed guide. As a result, he tells us more that there are more tourists that visit and many come in clutching the guide.
I ask him about the famous barbecued pork bun (which was so good that we had to have seconds of it) and he explains that unlike other baos which are steamed, these are baked and that he uses his knowledge as a chef to know how to modify things for taste easily. Every month he adds one or two items to the menu and there is also a special menu which incorporates items like roasted duck liver, escargot and bread pudding but these items must be ordered ahead of time.
Which dumplings does he prefer? He likes the deep fried ones and we then ask him which other cuisine he enjoys after his first love which is Cantonese. He answers Vietnamese and he also enjoys Cantonese hot pots.
And what of the future (yes I’m still not done trying to convince him to open up in Australia)? Surely the idea of franchising has crossed his mind as he has had offers to set up in Shanghai and Taiwan and that would be an easy way to retire early. He shakes his head firmly and smiles, “If I am not able to be there often, then the quality would suffer.”
Meanwhile, we’re all left to dream about the next time that we’ll try the barbecued pork bun.
So tell me Dear Reader, which is your favourite yum cha/dim sum item and where is the best yum cha in your opinion? And do you ever use the Michelin guide when you travel?
Chef Pui uses pliers to turn around a tray of barbecued pork buns in the oven
NQN and Mr NQN travelled to and explored Hong Kong as guests of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Virgin Atlantic and the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
Tim Ho Wan Sham Shui Po
G/F, 9-11 Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon
深水埗福榮街9-11號地下
Tel: +852 2788 1226 or 2788 1220
Open: 8am-10pm
Also branches at:
Tim Ho Wan Mong Kok
Flat 8, Ground Floor, Phase 2, Tsui Yuen Mansion, 2-20 Kwong Wa St, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
廣華街2-20號翠園大樓2期地下8號舖
Tel: +852 2332 2896
Open: 10am-10pm
Tim Ho Wan Hong Kong Station
Shop 12A, Hong Kong Station (Podium Level 1, IFC Mall) , Central, Hong Kong
中環香港站12A鋪(IFC地庫一層)
Tel: +852 2332 3078
Open: 9am-9pm
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60 Comments | Add your own
What an incredible restaurant, the food, photos and descriptions made my mouth water. I’ve never eaten at a Michelin restaurant, but will in time. My friend on a trip to Europe for her 40th bday went to one and when I asked what she had, she waved me aside and ‘ahhh, I can’t remember!’ she is obviously not a foodie!
Well, there’s certainly been no expense spared on the decor! But that pork bun looks amazing – so much less dough and more pork than the ones I’ve experienced. What a lovely humble man and the amount of food he turns out each day is incredible. And yes, he needs to pack up and set up here in Sydney (we could certainly do with some decent Chinese in my suburb!) xx
This is such a fantastic review! Oh wow! Great prices, great service, cool chef, perfect atmosphere and out of this world food? Can’t get any better!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Oh heaven. Absolutely. I desperately want yum cha for lunch now! And can’t believe the chef is 50, doesn’t he look fit!
Hi Lorraine, I am so hungry now… Beautiful and delicious is everything you showed here, but the shrimp dumpling are my favorite. And I would also have a dozen of vermicelli roll stuffed with shrimp, good stuff!
As of using the Michelin guide, no, I don’t, because the best pasta in Italy would be made by one of Mamma’s in a very little Trattoria or Osteria, the best french pastry, full of region’s flavor and made with pure love, would be done by a grandmother, working in the back of the kitchen somewhere in Provence, and the best piroshki would be made by another grandma, it a cafe in rural Russian village… I don’t mind Michelin starts, it is an art of culinary skills to be enjoyed on occasions. And when I travel, I want to experience that rustic and folklore touch in the food, unique to that area…
That has my mouth watering so bad….I have been to a genuine dim sum restaurant once before, and it was so good, that I remember the flavors even today – almost 7 years later. I want to go there now.
I’m just imagining that pork bun. It looks heavy on the filling and light on the bun – yum!
Yum cha is my guilty pleasure. I think we go once a month, it seems we get regular cravings and we just have to go.
I live near Chatswood so I am spoiled for choice with both yum-cha and shanghai dumplings, but I’ve got to say, some of the best yum cha I’ve had was when I lived on the south side of Sydney in South Hurstville. There was this little place on King Georges Rd that just had the best yum cha ever.
I now have a very strong hankering for dim sum. My favourite dim sum item is scallop and ginger dumplings, and my favourite place is Oriental Tea House. I have tried chicken feet and I like them too.
Hong Kong is just about the best place in the world for dim sum. We’re just home from there and now I want to go back!
Yay! I have been waiting for this post. Those buns are heaven, I wish we had ordered more. We ate at a lot of Michelin starred restaurants in HK.
He tastes every type of dumpling, every day? Oh where can I sign up for that job???
I love bbq pork rice paper rolls the most… I think, but there are soo many wonderful yummies with dim sum that it would be like deciding which child I love the most. A very cruel question Lorraine
I agree, he needs to set up shop in Sydney. Just in HK last week, we went to the Mongkok branch, waited for 1.5hr in the soaring heat, well worth it!! We polished off 15 plates of food, for 2 and 1 child, all for HK$210!!!! Yes, my little one loved the pork bun, she had 2!!!
Hmmm, looks like I should make the effort to visit next time I’m in HK…
oh!!!! tim ho wan is my favorite dim sim place!! wish i could be there right now xp….
Wow YUMMO!!! This one escaped us the last time I was traveling in HK with some friends last Nov!! There was only one 19-seat tiny restaurant at that time and we have 3 hungry and angry people and really couldn’t stay in the queue for more then an hour!!! That’s a shame but gives us a reason to be back!!!
I CANNOT believe I was in HK for 3 months last year and did not go to this place once! to be fair I only found out about it once I was back in Aus, but man those pork buns look yum! Looks like it’d be well worth the wait
Oh wow! I’m off to Hong Kong on the weekend and i’d heard about this place, yet never seen such an informative review. It’s definitely on the to-do list now! As a uni student i never thought i’d be able to afford Michelin Starred fare – you’ve made my day! Thanks!
We went to the Mongkok branch. Looks like there’s more choice at the one you went to. It was fantastic. My boys loved the baked BBQ pork bun too. My test is usually if they make a good hargow and it was very good. We also went to One Dimsum in Mongkok area which also boasts one Michelin star and yes, we travelled with a food guide. Only reason we ate at Michelin stated places in HK because it’s the most affordable place to try a Michelin starred restaurant.
Dim sims to die for!!!A definite must visit if you’re in HK! Its awesome that there are now 3 locations that you can eat from.
I am trying to work out how many of those delicious dumplings the three of you would have to have eaten to reserve a VIP table at those extremely resonable prices! YUM YUM YUM
Hi Matthew-there were six of us there including two very hungry boys!
i LOVE the bbq pork buns but i dont quite like the queuing though! can’t wait to get my bbq pork buns fix soon!
Those shrimp dumplings are so pretty the way they’ve shaped them like a shell and I see the microherbs/edible flowers have even spread from Australia!
Mr NQN.. two bites?! I bet you were jealous of NQN savouring hers.
Wow! Jealous! That’s amazing, it’s now on my bucket list, hehe.
YOU have now created another crave!
Chef Pui’s food speaks for itself and people continue to rave!
LOVE bork buns, dumplings, dim sims, TRUE!
YEARNING for some now and is only brekkie too!
Perhaps other chefs cna learn a lesson from Chef Pui NOT to overly expand, but continue to cook from for the family from the heart!
Find with lots of TLC, is always a good start!
That BBQ pork bun looks good. I make something very similar at home. I make a curry bun and use bread dough.
I look at Chef Pui, who looks ten years younger; I look at the prices which would be 2-3 x higher in Oz, and I feel just slightly peagreen
! Oh, I would SO like to be there at the moment! Love the look of the chicken legs [no, not my faves, but look super here!] and the ‘plain’ dumplings. The Michelin Guide: yes, of course, but only together with a number of other books/guides – the newest and best are oft not included 
!
OMG I’ve never gone to Tim Ho Wan due to the wait
but after seeing your photos and it really is the cheapest Michelin Star restaurant! Everythings so cheap! I mean yum cha is quite expensive in Melbourne and even some places in HK now!
My favourite dim sim would have the be the siu mai and the best yum cha i have had is in HK too
But i’ve forgotten the name.
This is some of most moreish-looking food I have seen. I can almost taste it. Even the chicken feet look delicious, as I am sure they were. Yum.
I don’t know the names of place I have eaten dim sum in HK, but I do know I was often the only foreigner and I could only order by pointing to what I saw others eating, never knowing what it was until I found a duck foot or something similar. Oh my, was it always fabulous.
Great post.
Steamed BBQ pork bun is my favouite, followed closely by ginger prawn dumplings. Given that it is lunch time and I have not yet eaten my stomach is growling at me! My favourite yum cha is at Plume in Doncaster, Melbourne. I have, however, heard a rumour of a place up the road called Golden Dragon Palace, but I think I’ll stick with what I know.
Ooh I just love the idea of separate serving chopsticks and eating chopsticks. So hygienic!
You know a place has to be good if it has a line like that out the front door. Never seen pork buns like that before with the little pin pricks all over the top. No wonder they’re so wonderfully crunchy.
Oh my gosh, that jelly is stunning! And I love your use of the term “resistable”.
Lucky you!
I’m in love with Chef Pui. His attitude about food quality and customer service puts him at the top of my list. Earning money is important but he won’t lower his standards to do it.
Love that pork bun!
I love dim sum! When I started to date with my husband, every Saturday was dim sum with different friends, and that time was the only time I hate to eat dim sum (LOL). Now back to loving mode as I don’t go so frequently… next time will be in 2 weeks at SF most popular dim sum place. Can’t wait!
Cuisine cuisine Hong Kong has the best yum cha IMO.
My favorite dim sum item? No favorites. Everything about dim sum is just good.
I had no idea they opened up on the HK island!!! I can’t wait till I go back to try it. I keep hearing such awesome reviews of this place.
I was reading through this, and now I suddenly feel like making a run for pork buns on the way home!
Thanks Lorraine for reminding me. We went twice in three days last year to the one in Mongkok. Waited 3+ hours both times. Chatting to the others people, comparing wait times (one family came from South America) helped passed the time away. But it was definitely well worth the wait. The pork buns are the best! The petal jelly was gorgeous. You tend to only spend 15 minutes eating – not because you feel sorry for the other poor people in the queue but because you want to eat everything quickly as it’s all so delicious.
Those baked pork buns are to die for. Queue for a week if you have to !!!
Since I am making dumplings for dinner, your post has inspired me completely. I think there is such a secret to great dumplings and most places make them poorly and get away with it because of the highly flavored sauce that masks the quality. This place seems to have it in spades. If not a franchise, how about a cookbook???
oh heaven!
I just love dim sum. I was so excited when I moved to DC and realized I finally lived near many delicious restaurants.
yum cha is one of my favourite things when im back in hk, its so yum and cheap! and most of all theres so much variety!
How I love Dim Sum!! Pan fried dumplings and pork buns are my fave. I’m enjoying your photography too!
I now desperately want yum cha!
Pork buns & shrimp dumplings are my faves
Yum! our family loves to do yum cha. My fav is the vermicelli stuffed with shrimp, but I always order the mango sago sweetened condensed milk dessert and a dan tart (egg custard tart).
OMG!!! I’d been to this place too before and that’s BBQ Pork are totally deadlicious… My mouth so watering now.
How could I not know about this place in Hong Kong? I was in all 3 areas too! Maybe if you went to HK before I did, I would’ve hunted these places down.
Definitely going on my TO GO TO list for when I go back, if I go back.
Not visiting Tim Ho Wan on our trip to Honkers last year is my biggest regret…..now I HAVE to get back there!
Thanks for the tip that he was opening in North Point in June!
We just had a week in HK, staying near North Point, and went twice to Tim Ho Wan…no waiting, beautiful food, and sooo cheap it was ridiculous!
The BBQ pork buns are ridiculously good!
Thank you for your recommendations for Tim Ho Wan. I am going to Hong Kong next week and asked the hotel that my family and I will be staying at to book a VIP table for us. However, the hotel called Tim Ho Wan and informed me that they the do not have VIP tables. Do you know how it works? I look so much forward to this visit
.
Hi Myhanh, let me ask the person that booked it and get back to you
Hi Myhanh! I spoke to the person that booked it and all you need to ask for is a private room but they only do it at the Sham Shio Po location (the one we went to). There is a minimum spend but it’s not too much (although the dumplings are so reasonably priced that it can be hard to reach it
). Have fun in Hong Kong!
I went to the original location 2 years ago and I have to say it is some of the best food I have ever eaten. The pork buns are incredible. It was the first time I’ve had chickens feet and turnip cake and I loved them both. We waited for about 45 mins to get in but it was worth it. Went back the next day too!
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