Day 2: Tim Ho Wan (添好运点心专卖店)

Having read that this eatery is the 'cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant in the world', and it's in Yau Ma Tei (!), I definitely have to try it out.

The second day morning, I went to find this restaurant on my own. It wasn't hard to find at all, as it was just about two streets away from our hotel. I reached there at 8.50am and found 4 Taiwanese girls in the queue outside the restaurant.

This was taken at 9.30am. A queue was slowly forming, on a Monday morning.

While I was waiting, I saw these articles on the wall of the restaurant. They are recommendations of the must-tries. One of the articles wrote about how the customers got frustrated queueing and started fighting among themselves. Another wrote 'If you want to eat, you need to have the patience to wait!'

These are notices on the glass door stating that it's a requirement for all the guests to be around before you're allowed to be seated inside, due to the many patrons who might be waiting.

The interior of the small and humble restaurant

Menu
The utensils

The cashier and the waitress pouring tea for the customers. We were just a table away from the cashier. That's how small the restaurant was.

The bill for 13 items

Chicken claws (鼓汁蒸凤爪）

crispy char siew bun (酥皮焗叉烧包)

The warm, succulent inside

chee cheong fun with pig intestines (黄沙猪润肠)

shrimp dumpling/har gao (晶莹鲜虾饺)

the prawnfulness of it all

glutinuous rice with chicken (古法糯米鸡)

stir-fry peas and vegetable dumpling (榄菜肉崧四季荳饺)

siew mai (鲜虾烧卖皇)

steamed chicken (花雕杞子蒸滑鸡)

beef balls (陈皮牛肉球)

spare ribs (鼓汁蒸排骨)

milk pudding with black truffle (黑松露奶冻)

osmanthus cake with wolf berries (杞子桂花糕) - don't they look oh-so-pretty?

dessert drink (清补凉糖水)

When we left at 11am, a crowd was gathering at the entrance, waiting to go in

I must say we were all impressed by the deliciousness of the dim sum at this tiny restaurant. We left feeling satisfied and happy at the cheap deal. And we couldn't get enough of the char siew bun. We ta-pao another three for takeaway.

Sigh! Just the thought of it makes me want to go back to Hong Kong. Really. The food was just so good. And of course, for the cheapo of me - so cheap! The papers have lied to Singaporeans about being a food paradise. Hong Kong beats Singapore hands down anytime!

Getting to Tim Ho Wan (Yau Ma Tei):

1) Yau Ma Tei MTR Station Exit A2