Tim Ho Wan - the world's cheapest 1 Michelin Star restaurant from Hong Kong has finally arrived in Singapore after much anticipation!
Even though it has been 2 months after opening, the long snaking queue lines at THW are still going strong everyday! Makan Boy and I went down yesterday night (Monday) at about 7.40pm and queued for nearly 30mins before we were allocated a table. As like any other popular restaurants, bigger groups got to wait way longer. Do take note that you won't be given a table even if it's your turn, unless all your guests are present.
The menu is very straightforward and in no way fancy.
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| No photos, no short descriptions, but who cares about whether the menu is glossy anyway! |
Let's ORDER AND DIG IN~!!
Arguably the most coveted bun right now in Singapore, each customer can only order 3pcs of these!
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| Baked Bun with BBQ Pork - 3pcs ($4.50) |
The famed Baked Bun with BBQ Pork is one of their 'Big 4 Heavenly Kings' in the eatery and it's a MUST to order this. Aterall, this is very much the bun that brought THW from an eatery to a Michelin restaurant so if you visit THW and not try it... oh well.
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| Happiness ooozing out =D |
The bun has a crumbly texture on the surface and very tender, smooth interior just right beneath. As pictured above, the layer of the bun is pretty thin! This makes everything inside oooze out (almost like liu sha bao). The BBQ pork has a right balance between sweet and saltish flavour and the meat was easy to bite. We left it for a while to eat the other dishes and felt it tasted best when piping hot!
IMHO, this is the kind of bun that brings delight to customers and make them fall in love at 'first bite' hahhaha.
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| Vermicelli Roll with Pig's Liver ($5.50) |
Another one of their 'Big 4 Heavenly Kings' is the Vermicelli Roll with Pig's Liver.
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| Vermicelli roll dissected |
Vermicelli roll is also known as Chee Cheong Fun in Singapore and this is the first time I've heard and eaten one with pig's liver in it. I am not a fan of this dish because the combination is just weird to me.. but the sauce and the roll is still of pretty good standard.
They have BBQ pork, shrimp, beef and vegetarian options as well but it would definitely got to have more than 3 rolls on the plate in order for me to feel justified about the price. I'm not an expert in eating vermicelli roll but this dish is definitely not one which I would have chosed to be under the Big 4 in THW.
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| Steamed Egg Cake ($3.80) |
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| Super light and fluffy sponge cake. |
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| Alot of air in it. |
I have mixed feelings towards their steamed egg cake. First, I must applaud them for making the cake super super super super fluffy. It's by far the most fluffy steamed cake I've ever tried. You press the whole cake down and it bounces up to the same height. BUT. It's also super super super light in taste. Good for the elderly I guess, but I felt it was very "uhhh.." after a few mouthfuls of it. No taste how to make any further impression leh? And the more you look at it.. the more it looks like our Fa Gao/Fa Kueh/Huat Kueh/Prosperity cake. Again.. I don't understand how this makes it to be in the Big 4 of THW.
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| Rice with Chicken, Sausage & Mushroom ($6) |
Looks can be so deceiving. Indeed. What looks most ordinary out of all that we had ordered, turns out to be my favourite. Lol.
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| Moist rice with generous amount of chicken chunks! |
When I first ate a mouthful of the rice, I was thinking "hmm.. okay.". But the more I eat, the more I like it! The rice was soaked in a slightly saltish gravy and there were so many chunks of chicken meat not just on top of the rice but also in between and down under! The chicken meat was the best part of this dish. It was super tender and smooooth. I can easily tear the meat apart with my chopsticks and the meat was very tasty.
Sometimes simplicity beats it all. I felt so happy just enjoying this fragrant rice dish. =D
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| Pork Dumpling with Shrimp ($5) |
When you visit any dim sum restaurant for the first time, you cannot afford to skip their classics.
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| Freshhhh out of sea? |
I really enjoyed their Siew Mai! They have an additional touch of a wolfberry on the dumplings which helps in bringing out the sweetness of the meat. The pork filling was sweet and juicy. The whole prawn on top was fresh and crunchy. The skin didn't taste too much like flour paste and wasn't too thick. Very well done!
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| Prawn Dumpling ($5.50) |
Another good ol' classic is the prawn dumpling/har gao. The prawns were fresh, crunchy and the skin of the dumpling wasn't too thick. As much as I enjoy prawn dumpling, I probably am happy enough to have tried THW's once cause I rather use this money to get another serving of their Siew Mai hehehe..
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| Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce ($4) |
Chicken Feet is probably not as popular a classic dim sum dish as the other 2 before, but I am a huge fan of it! If I'm in any dim sum restaurant, I must order it or at least try it once. THW's Chicken Feet wasn't extraordinary but it was not bad. At least the skin was tender and the sauce wasn't too bland/salty/spicy.
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| Spring Roll with Egg White 3pcs ($4.20) |
Saw in reviews that the spring roll with egg white is a pretty special dish THW offer so I thought we should try it. The spring roll wasn't too oily and was fried to golden perfection but I honestly think there's nothing special about it taste-wise. It's just spring rolls with the addition of chopped egg whites in it lor.
Their chilli sauce has got some soy sauce beans mixed in which made it too salty for my liking. Furthermore, there's no need to dip any of their items in chilli sauce cause they all tasted decent on its own! =D
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| Q-ing for 3 hours just to savour the good food in life is a sign of strong will and determination in any foodie's eyes. |
Totally worth bragging about. But hor. From far the IQ3 not very flattering leh hahaha.
Tim Ho Wan
Plaza Singapura
68 Orchard Road
#01-29A
Singapore 238839
Daily: 10am - 10pm (last order at 9.30pm)
http://www.timhowan.com
