![]() ![]() Formed into bite-sized pieces, they are perfectly delicious and enjoyable even though they are astoundingly greasy. Still, I’ve managed to taste everything thing on the menu, the best of which is easily the deep-fried shrimp toast. Every time I’ve dined here (three), the kitchen has been sold out of at least five items. ![]() The kitchen makes only 29 items, which is far fewer than most local dim sum restaurants and exponentially less than their Hong Kong branches. You should know, however, that the menu in Irvine is but a CliffsNotes version of the original menu. Questionable service hygiene aside, the food can be good. Would you mind if a waiter placed this dish on your table while you were eating? (Photo by Brad A. He then proceeds to grab my dirty dishes and stack them onto that other customer’s dirty plate. He places it on my table, directly under my nose while I’m eating. A waiter arrives with a dirty plate, soiled with soy sauce and chili paste, that he’s just cleared from someone else’s table. The tables are small and the plates and steamer baskets are piling up. The original Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong has similarly earned a single Michelin star, which perhaps should never have happened but Michelin’s inspectors in Hong Kong have always been notably schizophrenic with their one-star designations.Ī quick note about that last point: While dining at Tim Ho Wan in Irvine, like everyone else around me I’ve ordered quite a lot of food. Those two restaurants - Hana re and Taco Maria ( ranked #1 and #4 on my annual list of best places to eat) - each earned a single star, the same achievement as Orsa & Winston in Los Angeles and Michael Mina in San Francisco. When the Michelin Guide launched its first statewide guide to California last month, only two restaurants in Orange County earned any stars at all. Unlike the four-star system that I use, earning just a single star from Michelin is a massive honor. Three stars = Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey. Two stars = Excellent cooking, worth a detour. One star = high quality cooking, worth a stop. And if the Michelin inspectors in California have any credibility whatsoever, they won’t consider it for even a Bib Gourmand, the guide’s designation for really good restaurants that don’t quite rise to the level of their stars.Ī little background: The Michelin Guide (first published in France in 1889) rewards three levels of stars. The Irvine branch of Tim Ho Wan does not have a Michelin star. location.Tim Ho Wan opened not long ago at Irvine’s Diamond Jamboree, and people keep calling this Hong Kong-based chain a Michelin-starred restaurant. Tim Ho Wan has locations around the world, including Melbourne, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Taipei, but this will be the first U.S. No word yet about which of these dishes will be on the New York menu, but the chain is on the hunt for a noted New York dim sum chef who knows the local market well. Other trademark dishes include their cheung fen (rice noodle/vermicelli roll) filled with your choice of meat, glutinous rice in a lotus leaf, steamed egg cake, pan-fried turnip cake, har gow, and egg roll with shrimp and egg white. Most people want to eat three each-to start. (Expect the same in NYC, especially in the weeks after the new outpost opens.)Ĭhef-owner Mak Kwai Pui is renowned for making one of the best baked char siu bao (barbecue pork bun) in town, with a flavorful caramelized roasted pork filling encased in a pillowy, golden bun with a sweet, crumbly topping. That's also why there are typically two- to three-hour waits outside for a table, with many visitors to Hong Kong putting this place at the top of their hit list. It’s a far cry from the typical Michelin-starred restaurant (no vintage French wine or Frette napkins here), but the quality of the made-to-order dim sum is what Tim Ho Wan is known for. Plus, the prices are incredibly affordable considering the work and quality that go into each exquisite bite we’re talking less than $5 for many of the dumplings and dishes. The restaurant staff-outfitted in lime green polo shirts-hustle around the restaurant, feeding the hungry masses. ![]() ![]() Tim Ho Wan's Sham Shui Po outpost is a humble place, packed with diners using a tiny golf pencil to select dumplings and other delicacies from a paper menu. Set your (hopeful) opening watch for September. And now the Village Voice reports that the beloved dim sum house is opening a location in New York-in the former East Village Spice location at Fourth Avenue and 10th St, to be exact. Anyone who has ventured to Hong Kong should be more than familiar with the crave-inducing dim sum at Tim Ho Wan, which has five locations. ![]()
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