Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan is acclaimed as the cheapest place in the world where one can get a Michelin One Star meal, of which dim-sum is their speciality. We tested the claim by rushing down to be at the front of the queue at about 9.30am. Come early, because the queue gets mind bogglingly long near opening time at 11am, think about 3 shops length. The shop is a tight squeeze, and will sit around 30 persons max. Our party alone nearly took up half the space, to the dismay of many poor queuers outside. My fellow revelers got bored and decided to explore the menu, which comes in both English and Chinese.


They appeared to have a steady buffer of food prepared. And it was not long before food appeared at the table. Starting with this fried char-siew bun.


There was also the obligatory prawn cheong fun and har-gaos. Prawns were fresh but not the big juicy kind this eatvestigator has tried at other classier restaurants. To be honest, this eatvestigator would stop here to say that most of the food was pretty decent, and decently priced it was too. But it simply was not as spectacular as the books and other reviewers made it out to be. There are other eateries with affordable dim sum of similar quality as this place, but not at such range and wide fame. One just has to look harder. A place to try once but not more than that.

2-8 Kwong Wa Street
Kowloon, Hong Kong

Joy Hing Roasted Meat

If you are looking for authentic fat dripping char-siew on Hong Kong Island, this nicely glazed char-siew is the one. This family run business apparently dates all the way back to the late Qing dynastry, surviving through the WW2 Japanese occupation and into post-1997 Hong Kong. That’s a heck lot of history and loyal customers. I hear you crying, omg fat fat drip drip slurp slurp. Yes but you gotta eat it once, else you will go home with that thought of regret at the back of your head. Your brain is composed of fats anyway, surely a little more will do it some good!

One bite and you know you are vindicated as the juices oozes into your mouth. The meat was nicely glazed with chewy charred texture, something you can never find in Singapore. But the next thing you know, they also do a crispy roasted pork. Golly, look at that meat.


The meats/fat go very well with white rice. Next thing we know, they were all tucked into our tummies. Damage was HKD126 (~SGD21) for 3 persons. Crowded little place with not much room to move. But after eating all that, you definitely want to move your legs as much as possible! Satisfying!

265 Hennessy Road
Wanchai, Hong Kong