The chicken's feet are soft and gelatinous and coated with a thick, sweet black bean sauce. I usually don't order them but these are a definite cut above the rest.Ĭhicken's feet with black bean sauce $14HKD/$1.80AUD The siu mai is bouncy and fresh and packed full of juicy shrimp. Steamed pork dumpling with shrimp $22HKD/$2.83AUD We do have a similar version but I must admit I'm not a huge fan of dumplings with peanuts as the peanuts can get soggy but perhaps owing to the fact that these were made only a few hours ago they are crunchy with peanuts, water chestnuts, chives and pork. We were curious to see what the chiu chow dumplings were like. Steamed dumplings in chiu chow style 3 for $10HKD/$1.28AUD With rich sauce and barbecued pork and the ratio of bread to filling is absolutely spot on which makes them utterly irresistible. The topping is sweet like a pineapple bun topping and is made with eggs, sugar and butter, the fitting is replete I stopped after two bites and took much smaller bites not wanting the bun to end. Unlike any other pork bun the topping is sweet and lightly crunchy and sinking your teeth into the bun each time yields a light, airy bread pocket stuffed full of thick, rich char sui generous with the thick, almost jellied sauce. We each take a bite of the barbecued pork bun and it is a revelation. The menu features 27 savoury items and 4 sweet choices.īarbecued pork buns 3 for $15HKD/ $1.93AUD We ask Chef Pui about sauces and he recommends using the thicker sauces for deep fried food and the chilli oil for steamed dumplings. The etiquette is to use the black chopsticks on the table to serve yourself you then use the chopsticks next to you to eat. HeĬomes from a restaurant family with his father and uncle both working in the industry. He has two children, one eight and one fifteen and neither show a love of cooking and he tells us that even if they did he wouldn't let them. He first started cooking at age 15 and says that he considered this idea as chefs talents and abilities can wane as they grow older so he wanted to be an owner of a business in order to prepare for an early retirement. He was the former dim sum chef at The Four Seasons and he has been making dumplings for 30 years now (he is 50 years old this year). Chef Pui doesn't speak English and I don't speak Cantonese so it is up to our wonderful guide Rainbow Wong to translate for us. And when you see the prices you may be as shocked as we were (and then we subsequently begged him to open in Sydney). Ordering is done with a yellow form in English or a pink form in Chinese. Everything is cooked to order, nothing is pre steamed or pre cooked. A bucket to the side catches drips and the lighting is flourescent but this detersĪs Chef Pui sits down to eat with us, the dumplings come thick and fast. The VIP rooms upstairs are simple with large tables and lazy susans. Inside the restaurant, it is modest and not flashy at all. The family brings them cups of water and when their table is ready, they emerge from the car and make their way into the restaurant. There is a black Mercedes with an elderly grandmother and grandfather sitting in it. The lines that stretch out onto the street are full of eager diners. But a little hint: you can book a VIP table upstairs if you have a minimum spend of $1000HKD ($123AU/$128USD) total for the whole table and 2 day's notice is required. So with a second location this large surely that means less queues? Nope, there's still the queue. 1,900 diners pass through its doors a day. We are dining at the second branch where chef and owner Mak Kwai Pui (known as Pui or brother Pui) dishes out between 1,000-2,000 barbecued pork buns a day in a place that seats 150 people. The first branch in Mong Kok seats only 19 people so the queues for this delicious and oh so reasonably priced yum cha are understandable. Tim Ho Wan, meaning "to add good luck" is so popular that queues are guaranteed. Mr NQN had devoured his in two bites flat, Luke was chewing his with a profound look of happiness and Miryana just said "wow." As I sat in at the table at Tim Ho Wan, the legendary dim sum specialist and the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world, I looked around me at my fellow diners who had just been given a warm barbecue pork bun. Happiness is a Tim Ho Wan barbecued pork bun.ĭearest Readers, I think I may have found the definition or at least the gateway to happiness.
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