Tim Ho Wan

[khiemtran]

Last week in KL, we got to try Tim Ho Wan, the Hong Kong based dim sum chain, for the first time. Tim Ho Wan is famous as the "world's cheapest Michelin star dining", after their original restaurant in Hong Kong won a star in the Michelin guide. Although, of course, Michelin don't give stars to global companies, only to individual restaurants.



We got there quite early, but there was already a small crowd waiting outside the door, although, strangely, the queuing lane was empty. We thought we would have to wait, but there was a twist. It turned out that they had a strict policy of only allocating tables once the entire party has arrived and all those waiting had turned up without their full parties. Since there was just the three of us, we pretty walked in and got a table straight away.



The menu has a relatively short list of dim sum, including the "Big 4 Heavenly Kings" at the top. But it's quality not quantity that matters here.



First up, we had the loh bak goh (called "carrot cake" on the menu but actually made of turnip). This was absolutely amazing. It probably helped that it was made only seconds before, but the texture was soft and jelly-like, the crust was crispy and savoury and it was seasoned perfectly.



Another of the Big 4 Heavenly Kings - the cheung fan with pork liver. This was also a cut above. I hadn't tried cheung fan with liver before, but the richness of the liver went well with the clean, light taste of the rice noodle.



On to the other dim sum. These were all good, but not as remarkable as the two famous ones.



The dumpling skins appear to be thinner than you usually find and extra soft. Again, probably because they've just been made seconds before.



They're opening a branch in Sydney apparently, so we'll have to go back at try the rest of the Heavenly Kings. Although we might have to wait until after the queues die down.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I realize it's entirely different, but the loh bak goh looks like glutinous rice fried in soy sauce and sugar, which is delicious.

The translucent wrappers on the dumplings at the bottom give a stained-glass look--but more tasty than stained glass!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've had the fried glutinous rice too. I like the sweet-salty flavour combination. Actually, come to think of it, we had something similar in Cambodia too, at one of the Khmer buffets.