Tim Ho Wan | Michelin-Star. Great Value. Worth the Wait

Yes, this is another post about food.  Yes, it’s dimsum, which I’ve written about before (here and here).  But trust me, this is dimsum not like any I’ve tasted before.  Dimsum at Tim Ho Wan.  Where my friend and I waited for close to an hour just to get a table.  Tim Ho Wan, the world’s cheapest Michelin-star restaurant.  It’s owned and operated by a former chef who used to work at a three-star restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel.  He apparently decided to branch out and open his own dimsum place offering his mouth-watering creations at bargain prices.

I can’t remember from where I’d first heard about the place, but I was determined to find it and try it out.  Which meant quite a trek for me, all the way over to the Kowloon side.  But anything for great dimsum.  My friend and I were there at a little before 10:30am and already there were plenty of people milling outside waiting for a table.  We quickly went over and put our names down, was handed an order slip with #23 written on it, and was told that the wait would be approximately 45 minutes before we could get seated.



After browsing through some of the enlarged news write-ups they had posted on the window, we decided to go around the block to a Starbucks to sit and wait there instead of just standing outside on the street, waiting for our number to be called.


We made our way back and waited outside the place for about 10 minutes and then our table was ready.  We handed over the order slip where we had already ticked what we wanted (they have bilingual order slips, so no need to worry if you don’t read Chinese). 

It is a tiny place and you pretty much have to share tables with other patrons.  We sat down, was poured some tea, and we waited.  But not for long.  Our food, hot and steaming, straight from the kitchen arrived one after another.  Between the two of us, we’d ordered five items:

Hargow (Shrimp dumplings)

Fried turnip cake

Radish dumplings with celery

Steamed beef balls

…and the rice noodles with bbq pork in the first photo above.  Five dishes that were delicious, hot, and fresh.  Normally after eating dimsum, I would feel thirsty (from all the MSG), but the dimsum at Tim Ho Wan did not leave me thirsty at all.

Guess how much our total bill was? 

Around US$9.00 --so that’s less than US$5 per person, for a most yummy dimsum in a Michelin (1-star) restaurant!  With food and prices that are incredibly great, it’s definitely worth the one hour (up to three hours sometimes!) just to get a table.  I will definitely be going back to try some of their other dishes.  But next time, maybe I’ll try to arrive by 10am!

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TIM HO WAN Address:  Flat 8, G/F, Phase 2 – Tsui Yuen Mansion, 2-20 Kwong Wah Street, Mongkok, Kowloon (MTR:  Yau Ma Tei station, Exit A2) Hours:  10am – 10pm

Note:  I did not receive any form of compensation for this write-up about Tim Ho Wan.

On Lee Noodle Shop…. Since 1966

 

We decided to try somewhere new, somewhere more local tonight. Chris took me to a small noodle shop where a friend had taken him before. It was on Shau Kei Wan Main Street East, the same street as the Tin Hau Temple. Although you will not find this noodle shop mentioned in any of the tourist booklets, it is apparently well-known for its fish ball noodles and is quite popular amongst the locals.

 

They even have boards up on their walls where “famous” people sign their names and write their comments.

 

The noodle shop is set up like a “cha chan teng” (tea house). You can see the “kitchen” as you go in the restaurant: The big soup container, the stacks of bowls, the different ingredients, etc.

 

You go in, sit down at any available table or if there are no free tables, you share a table with other people already seated, if there are free seats next to them at their table. Condiments are shared. You get your own pair of chopsticks from a chopsticks container on the table. As with most local dining places here, you bring your own paper napkins.

 

On Lee has on lee only a few items on its main menu: Different types of noodles (flat, white, fine, etc.) + wonton, fish balls, fish cakes, beef brisket, beef balls. That’s all they serve, apart from the usual afternoon tea fare of buttered toast and milk tea.

Chris ordered this: Flat noodles with sliced beef and fish cakes. With soup on the side. Apparently, this was what he and his friend would order when they would go there.

 

This was what I ordered: Noodles in soup, with wonton, beef slices, fish cake, fish balls, and beef balls. What? I wanted to try everything, okay?

 

Mine was pretty good. The beef was so tender, but I have to say, though, I liked Chris’ noodles better. Next time, if we go there again, I would order what he had ordered tonight.

Lee On is open daily from 7am – 7pm. It’s on a short street lined with similar noodle shops –at least three that I’d noticed, -- and dessert places. People usually park in the street, go in for a quick meal, and leave. I reckon it’s not too far to walk if one would take the MTR or the tram to get there, either.

 

The food is cheap and cheerful. For two noodle dishes and a glass of milk tea,

 

our final bill came to HK$71 (less than US$10!).

Dimsum Delight | New Star Seafood Restaurant

 

I love dimsum… and I am lucky that I live here in Hong Kong where one gets the best dimsum in the world. Nothing beats Hong Kong dimsum.

After church on Christmas morning and after all the presents have been unwrapped, we decided to go have dimsum at the restaurant that my parents had tried out in their previous visits here – the New Star Seafood Restaurant in Causeway Bay.

It was a most satisfying dimsum, because unlike dimsum with only just Chris, me and the children, with my parents and my aunt around, we could order a whole lot more variety. Here is a sampling of what we had:

Har Gow (Steamed shrimp dumplings) – A staple dimsum fare.

Siu Mai (燒賣)- Another type of dumpling. This one made with pork and shrimps, with crab roe on top. Both Josh and Zoë love these.

 

Fried turnip cake (蘿蔔糕). I love these with hoisin sauce.

Cheong Fun (腸粉)- Rice noodle rolls with barbecued pork stuffing. We also love the one with the prawn stuffing.

 

Taro puffs (芋角) – Stuffed with mashed taro, some bits of mushrooms, shrimps and pork --deep-fried in crispy batter. I love these!

 

“Salt-Water” Stuffed Dumpling (鹹水角) – Sweet and sticky on the outside and a bit salty on the inside. Stuffed with pork and chopped vegetables. I’m not a fan of these, but Chris loves them.

 

Crispy pork with mustard on the side. One plate of these is not enough. Sinful, sinful, but my parents love these, so do both Josh and Zoë, and so do I!

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (Char Siu Bau - 叉燒包). Another dimsum staple.

Steamed meatballs (牛肉球). Really tender and juicy.

 

Fish congee with century egg. Congee (粥)= Chinese comfort food.

 

Lap Mei Fun (臘味饭). Artery-clogging, sinful, but oozing with flavor, absolutely yummy. Made with cured meat (pork sausages, liver sausages and duck – meat that has been ‘wind-dried’ and preserved).

 

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Yes, I indulged. Much. Too much.

Wonton, Two Ton, Three Ton!

 

We usually have dinner somewhere in Central after church, but because we had some errands to run in Causeway Bay, we decided to have dinner there instead. Chris wanted dumplings; I wanted wonton. This place serves both:

Chee Kai is listed in the Michelin Guide (Hong Kong) and is famous for its wonton noodles. The restaurant is small and noisy, so if you are looking for ambience and fine dining, look somewhere else. It is almost always packed. More often than not, you’d have to share a table with strangers.

As soon as you are seated, you are served with the ubiquitous cup of tea, as you would in most ‘local’ dining places, but at least here, the tea is served in a clean teacup and not in a plastic drinking glass.

 

They have set meals for HK$40+ (roughly US$5), which includes your choice of main dish (usually noodles) plus a side dish (veggies, mushrooms) or dessert. For an additional HK$2 (US$0.25), you can get a glass of soy milk with the set meal.

This is what I had –a bowl of wonton (minus the noodles).

Wonton are a kind of dumpling, typically with some minced pork and shrimps (with chives and ginger) as fillings. As opposed to regular dumplings (jiaozi), the wonton wrapper is thinner and softer. Also, as far as I know, regular dumplings have more meat and are generally larger in size. See the difference here.

A side dish of mushrooms. There were about six mushrooms, I think. I’d already had a few before I remembered to take a photo.

 

Chee Kai used to be right across from Times Square, but has now moved a little bit down the road. It is now along Percival Street, still less than three minutes’ walk from Times Square, counting the time you’d be waiting for the light to change to cross the street! They’re open from 11:00am to 11:30pm. Really good value for money, if you ask me. The staff is quite friendly and helpful. Service is fast and efficient. Do drop by if ever you find yourself visiting Hong Kong and shopping in the Causeway Bay area.

ChimeLong Hotel

Bob had a conference in Guangzhou last weekend and E and I tagged along for the ride. Literally. To get there we took the bus to the MTR to the train to another bus to the hotel. It was practically a 5 hour process from where we live in Hong Kong. Ethan loved it of course since he likes riding buses and trains. As soon as we got to our room in the hotel he was asking for another bus ride. =P As a perk for being there on business (well Bob was anyways) we got to stay at the Chimelong hotel - a 5 star resort central to several nearby attractions.

Ethan always tests out our bed first thing. He gives it two thumbs up!

There were white tigers lounging around outside our breakfast area.

And also flamingos and these orange birds.

The Chimelong Hotel was really nice. There were a lot of restaurant choices, a kids club, outdoor swimming pool and just a lot of space to run around in. They also provide a free shuttle ride (5-10 minutes away) to the Paradise Amusement Park, Xiangjiang Safari Park, Chimelong Circus and Water Park. The standard rate should come with free breakfast buffet, and there is quite a bit of variety from traditional Chinese breakfast (congee, noodles, dim sum) to Western breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, yogurt, pastries). The food was quite delicious!

Quick Facts:
Address: Yingbin Road, Panyu District, Guangzhou.
Telephone: (86 20) 8478 6838
Hours: Check in at 2 PM, Check out at 12 PM.
How to get there: The hotel is located 70 km from the New Baiyun Airport and about 50 minutes from the Guangzhou East Railway Station (the hotel provides free shuttle to the railway station).

Xiangjiang Safari Park

While we were in Guangzhou we took the afternoon to see the Safari Park. This zoo contains over 460 species of animals including giant pandas, koalas, polar bears and white tigers. We were able to see all the exhibits of the zoo in 3 hours (we did not really linger at any exhibit), but there is also a section of the zoo where you can ride a train through the open plains.

Goofing off with the park's white tiger mascot!

Some animals we saw:

Mommy and baby elephant. We didn't, but you could buy some bananas to toss to the elephants to eat.

These gorilla statues were actually trash cans.

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Highlight of the park! Bob and I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park a few years ago and I was hesitant to pay to feed the giraffes there (a whooping $3). Lame I know, but we were fresh out of college with debt to pay! So I was excited when we went back to San Diego. Only it turns out when we went last month they had stopped letting the public feed the giraffes the year before. Oops. Well we finally got our chance at this zoo! The diet was a bit different from what I remembered. In San Diego they at giant singular leaves versus these small tree branches here (bark and all).

Completely out of focus, but the giraffes curl their tongues around the branches to lift them to their mouths.

Other highlights from the Safari Park:

Quick Facts:
Address: Dashi Town, Panyu District, Guangzhou.
How to get there: The park is located 30 minutes driving from the heart of Guangzhou.
Hours: Open from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM.
Cost: 110 RMB per person, half price tickets for children between 1.1-1.4 m tall and people older than 65 years old. Children under 1.1 m tall are free.