26 May 2010

Hong Kong Street Food Tour ~ Day 4 Tim Ho Wan - The World's Cheapest Michelin Star Rated Restaurant

Hong Kong Street Food Tour Day 4 .


One Michelin Star Restaurant. Five star scary lady.
It may not look flash but this is a Michelin Star rated restaurant. Tim Ho Wan is the cheapest Michelin Star rated restaurant in the world, so of course we have to go. We read about the place in the Sydney Morning Herald and turned up on a rainy Monday morning expecting to wait the usual two hours to get in.

Hong Kong Street Food Tour Day 4

To get yourself on the waiting list you need to wait outside for the head lady to come out and ask her for a number. This is easier said than done. You have to get in her face and make yourself known, otherwise she will ignore you, she is quite scary but be brave and stand proud, or ask one of the locals to help, as I did.

When you eventually get your number you are also given a menu and a pencil to make your selections. We made a boo-boo and didn't order enough. There's about three dumplings to a serve and the dishes are cheap so order up big. The locals were clued in: they ordered by the bucket and took away piles of takeway containers.

We were lucky and managed to get seated within about twenty minutes, being a pair we were much easier to squeeze in than the larger groups.

Hong Kong Street Food Tour Day 4

Inside it's your basic hole-in-the-wall restaurant with seating for about twenty punters. It's squishy but fun. The staff were very nice once we were inside, even the scary lady. We sat between two pairs of locals and we all had fun checking out each other's dishes and sharing the joy of it all. The locals were amazed that we had heard of this place.

Hong Kong Street Food Tour Day 4

We started of with the squid: pan fried and garlicy.

Hong Kong Street Food Tour Day 4

Shrimp dumplings (divine), ribs (ok), pan fried bbq pork buns (amazing texture, innards not too sweet, a coating like pineapple buns, with good squares of roast pork inside).

The total bill came to about $12 Aussie. Not bad for a Michelin Star rated restaurant eh? It was tasty and a ton of fun. The dishes didn't blow our minds however we probably could have ordered a lot better and a lot more. It's hard when it's 10.30 in the morning and you know you have a big day of eating ahead of you, and you're still full from the day before. We'll be back though. Tim Ho Wan is opening a second restaurant soon, but I would think nothing will beat the original cramped place.

Tim Ho Wan is at Shop 8, 2-20 Kwong Wa Street, (turn up Dundas St off Nathan Rd) Mong Kok, Kowloon.

3 comments:

  1. When I went to Hong Kong I tried looking for this place. I couldn't even find the street on the maps they have on some corners.

    I love going to Hong Kong. For so little money (Australian), you can buy so much food. My souvenirs for people back home usually involves food of some sort.

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  2. Ah what a shame, there's always next time.

    BTW I'm going to have to try and make those matcha pancakes on your blog - yumm!!!

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  3. I am in awe of you Mr Shawn! you've found so many places i havent even been to in HK and i go once a year or so =P. i'm going to try all the places you went to that you've got on your blog!

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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).