Tim Ho Wan (Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong)

by Raymund · Published October 5, 2017 · Updated September 19, 2017

This is one of our top itineraries during our last visit in Hong Kong, it’s a Michelin star restaurant that will not break your bank. The branch that we visited was the one in Sham Shui Po it was not the original one but it is the oldest one as the first branch in Mongkok already closed down long time ago.

This place, like the original one is far from being posh like the new branches being put up, it’s a down to earth establishment with a local neighbourhood feel, similar to the establishments on any China town, old and rustic. What is important though is that they had maintained the quality of food, in fact locals say the one in Sham Shui Po is the better tasting one compared to the new branches.

We came in here at around brunch time just before 11:00am to beat the madness. We used the Shek Kip Mei MTR station and walk towards the place but before going there we also passed by Saint Francis of Assisi’s Catholic Church which was just nearby.

The place is not quite hard to find you will see this place immediately first because it’s on the main street plus there are a lot of Michelin Star logo in the front window. Upon arrival, there were already people dining in but there were still some seats left.

We were seated immediately and given a piece of paper where you tick whatever you like from the menu, it also indicates the price.

A menu is also available so you can see what they look like. Anyways it all has English translations you will not be guessing what’s on it.

We then started to tick stuff, and we grabbed the following: Baked Bun with BBQ Pork (HK$20.00), Pan Fried Turnip Cake (HK$15.00), Glutinous Rice Dumpling (HK$28.00), Steamed Dumplings in Chui Chow (HK$14.00), Steamed Pork Dumplings with Shrimp (HK$28.00) and Steamed Fresh Shrimp Dumplings (HK$28.00)

The service was quite fast and all of them was served in our table in less than 15 minutes. With the dim sum, they also served tea to wash down all of that food. Was it good? Hell yeah! the best dim sums I ever tried, well most of them but not all.

What stood out was the Baked Bun with BBQ Pork this was really good, imagine hearing me telling that with a passion. It was really a piece of heaven here on earth. The buns are not the usual ones you have on Baked Barbecue buns, it’s more like a sweet Mexico coffee bun, the texture was very similar. The filling was equally amazing, sweet, savoury and melt in your mouth. It was really amazing we ordered this twice. Steamed dumplings were amazing as well, all of it but I expected more with the Steamed Pork Dumplings with Shrimp simply because I tried better ones. Not that it was not good, in fact if you make me rate it from 1 to 10, this one was 9.5 or near 10 but the better ones I tried was like 10++.

The Glutinous Rice Dumpling was also amazing, it was packed with flavour and definitely filling, I recommend you get one of this to save you money, because if now you will devour those dumplings non-stop.

We really enjoyed this place, the food was really a Michelin star quality but in a very affordable price. Imagine where you can get an exceptional meal worth HK$159.00 (US$ 20.00) for three people? While it’s not as fancy as most of the Michelin star restaurants, what’s important is the food quality is impeccable.