Dim Sum in Hong Kong is as ubiquitous as burgers in North American. One difference would be the breadth in quality and calibre of restaurants, there are hole-in-walls serving some of the best traditional dim sum in the city, to 5 star hotel restaurants exploring the definition a shrimp dumpling. Tim Ho wan falls closer to the former and is often lauded as the cheapest Michelin star restaurant in the world. Dishes range in price from $2.75 CAD to $4.50 (less than some dim sum places in Toronto!).

The original Mongkok location opened in 2009 and earned their one Michelin star the year after. With only 20-30 seats, locals and tourists alike would line up outside in the Hong Kong heat for hours. Today, there are multiple branches of Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong (including one indoors at IFC Mall, which makes lining up more comfortable) and they are expanding throughout Asia.

I visited the Sham Shui Po location this summer with The Hubby and his family while we were in Hong Kong. Since the original Mongkok location closed, this is now “the” Tim Ho Wan to visit. We arrived 15 minutes before the restaurant opened on a Wednesday morning and lucky enough to get a table in the first seating.

Compared to my experiences at other one Michelin star restaurants, I found Tim Ho Wan underwhelming in terms of service and atmosphere. The small, unassuming shop was efficient and tidy but didn’t have any aspects that stood out from other dim sum shops or restaurants. Servers hustled around the shop and lone diners were directed to shared tables. The acclaim and draw must be for the food?

We handed in our order sheet, which included dim sum classics like shrimp dumplings (har gow), shrimp rice roll, sticky rice, turnip cake, siew mai and the famous baked bbq buns. Dishes began to arrive quickly and our table was soon filled with plates and steamers. As I bit into juicy dumplings and spooned up sticky rice, I was enjoying the meal but confused. Each dish was consistently good and excellently crafted but nothing was wow-ing, that was until the plate of baked cha siu buns arrived.

Each order came with 3 buns and I would highly recommend ordering enough for each person to enjoy their own. After the five of us split one plate, we quickly ordered a second. These buns were pretty spectacular. Each bun was filled with saucey bbq pork and topped with a mixture of butter, flour, egg and sugar before being baked. This resulted in a crumbly topping, similar to a pineapple bun. Each bite was sweet and savoury.

While Tim Ho Wan may not warrant a 2 hour wait, 30 minutes would be worthwhile. The price was affordable for even the most budget-conscious traveller and the dim sum, while no frills, was authentic and tasty. If stopping by the Sham Shui Po location, I would recommend going early, otherwise, if it’s summer, the IFC Mall location in Central would be the most comfortable to queue up for. Menus and order sheets were available in Chinese and English.

1. Yu Garden

Rating/Price: 4.0 / $
Why? Amazing xiao long baos, thin, chewy texture, plenty of soup
Must Order: Shrimp and minced pork xiao long bao
Good For? Families, lunch, quick meals

 

2. Shanghai Dim Sum

Rating/Price: 4.5 / $$
Why? Thin wrappers, juicy filling and perfectly steamed
Must Order: Xiao Long Bao original filling and with crab
Good For? Families, lunch, quick meals, big groups

 

3. Ding Tai Fung

Rating/Price: 3.5 / $
Why? Central Markham location, fresh made baos, great filling
Must Order: Xiao Long Bao, Egg white with seafood
Good For? Families, dinner, dim sum

 

4. Xiao Long Bao

Rating/Price: 4.0 / $$
Why? New restaurant, less busy than Ding Tai Fung with great XLB
Must Order: Xiao long bao with crab, Beef brisket noodle
Good For? Dim sum, families, quick meals, large groups

 

Honorable Mentions:

• N/A

Still TBE (To be Eaten):

• Mother’s Dumplings
• Chinese Traditional Buns
• Asian Legend
• A La Kitchen
• 369 Shanghai Dim Sum
• Dumpling House
• Lee Chen

Did I miss your favourite restaurant? Let me know in the comments.

Last Updated: 01/06/2016

Recently opened in Scarborough, Xiao Long Bao is a Shanghai dim sum restaurant from the same owners as Ding Tai Fung in Markham.

Atmosphere: Compared to Ding Tai Fung, the restaurant is much bigger with plentiful seating and spaced out tables. The interior felt modern with an exposed ceiling, light wood flooring and lots of natural light from the full glass store front. There is a window into the kitchen where chefs prepare fresh baos but it’s situated at the back of the restaurant and only a few tables can actually see the action.

Service: We booked a table for an early lunch and there were plenty of options to choose from when we arrived. The restaurant was about 80% full as we were leaving. Our table was right next to the service counter so it was really easy to flag someone down when we needed to. The majority of the dishes arrived very quickly from the kitchen, not at all staggered and then we had to wait on the rice cakes. Generally, I would say the service was standard to just above par for an Asian family restaurant.

Food: A lot of the dishes were very similar to their counterparts at Ding Tai Fung. From our order, I really liked the xiao long baos, the key of the meal, and didn’t love a few of the stir fries, not as important. We ordered one tray each of the three xiao long bao flavours, normal pork ($5.99), crab ($7.99) and scallop ($7.99). Each tray had 6 baos. The skins were thin and chewy. The filling was savoury and soupy. You could really taste the crab but not so much the scallops. I would be happy to eat just these for a meal.

For the rest of our meal, we ordered fresh snow pea tips, Kung Pao chicken, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, wrapped Chinese meat pancake, scrambled egg whites with fish and stir fried rice cakes. Half of the dishes were great, the other half mediocre. The snow pea tips were fresh, tender, a good portion size but a touch oily. The noodles in the beef soup were handmade and had a great texture while the soup was pretty standard. My favourite dish would be the scrambled egg whites that were fluffy, light, not too salty and had great natural flavours.

As for the three remaining dishes, again, they were fine but not amazing. Personally, I don’t love Kung Pao chicken so my opinion on the dish is biased to begin with. The wrapped meat pancake was bland and the stir fried rice cakes were just okay. This was the last dish to arrive and everyone was already full, so the bulk of the dish was packed away.

While overall I had a good meal, I’m eager to see how the restaurant matures. I find with most Chinese restaurants, it takes a few visits to find the gems amongst a typically vast menu and Xiao Long Bao is no different. Hands down though, I’ll be back for their namesake.