Tim Ho Wan – Has the Standard Dropped?

3 years have passed since Tim Ho Wan 1st landed on our shores. Now, the Michelin-starred dim sum restaurant has expanded its presence to 8 locations across the island – 112 Katong, Aperia Mall (Lavender), Atrium@Orchard (Plaza Singapura), CityLink Mall, ERA Centre (Toa Payoh), Pacific Plaza, Tai Seng and Westgate. Last weekend, I visited its newest branch at Pacific Plaza and ordered my favourites. The Steamed Egg Cake was as airy-light, soft and fluffy as the 1st time I tried it though the caramelised taste was more muted than the ones in Hong Kong. Skin of the Steamed Prawn Dumplings was not as springy and translucent-thin as I remembered, and a tad mushy but did not stick to the paper on the bamboo steamer basket. I preferred the succulent and well-marinated prawns in Singapore to Hong Kong's. While Spring Roll with Egg White seemed oilier, the skin was still crackling-crispy thin and went well with the egg white, prawns and chopped carrots. By the way, breakfast sets are also available at CityLink Mall's takeaway counter.

Tim Ho Wan

Now, the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant has four branches in Singapore – Atrium@Orchard, ERA Centre, Bedok Mall and Westgate. Almost a year since it started offering authentic made-to-order (not pre-steamed and reheated) Hong Kong style dim sum on our sunny shores, the initial hype has died down so queues were no longer as long. We visited this hole-in-the-wall eatery in the west, and queued about half an hour for lunch despite Sunday being perfect for yum cha. How could we miss the legendary Baked Buns with BBQ Pork? My dining companions, who have eaten at Westgate's Tim Ho Wan before, declared that the standard had dropped though it was still delicious albeit smaller. Steamed Egg Cake was a tad moist, not as airy-light and fluffy as the first time I tried it and no longer addictive. Deep-Fried Spring Roll with Egg White and Steamed Pork Rib with Black Bean Sauce tasted largely the same as my previous visits, except maybe the former was a tad oilier.

Tim Ho Wan Revisited

Have you heard the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant has expanded its presence in Singapore? Tim Ho Wan by Chef Mak Kwai Pui opened a 2nd branch on Thursday at ERA Centre, formerly known as Toa Payoh Entertainment Centre. But until its official launch sometime next month instead of July as initially planned, it is available only to staff of Hersing Corporation and ERA agents who can bring along their family and friends. So my dining companions and I visited the one at Atrium@Orchard, next to Plaza Singapura. More than 4 months have passed since the hole-in-the-wall eatery, offering authentic made-to-order (not pre-steamed and reheated) Hong Kong style dim sum, arrived on our shores. I reached 15 minutes before it was opened for business yesterday and estimated from my position in the queue we would be within the 1st batch of seating. While waiting, order chits were distributed as staff asked for the number of people in each group.

BeansTalk and BlackBall

As I read The Sunday Times review on BeansTalk, I thought $2 for Taiwanese beancurd with 6 toppings was a good deal. No harm trying if I happened to be in Toa Payoh and have stomach space for it but alas, months have since passed me by. So when I saw another branch at Jurong East Temporary Interchange, decided to try it. Known as BeansTalk Signature, it was topped with grass jelly, pinto beans, red and green beans, roasted peanuts and taro balls. Silky beancurd was mediocre and left a strange taste on my tongue. Atop was grass jelly, beans and nuts I could neither rave about nor fault. Preferred BlackBall's grass jelly made with Mesona grass from Guan Xi, Taiwan – smooth and slippery enough to glide down my throat, not too sweet though some might find it a tad bitter. BeansTalk's colourful taro balls were chewy, just like that from BlackBall which also came with sweet potato balls. Though they were good, better ones could be found at Malaysia's Snowflakes.

Update: BeansTalk has been rebranded as Nine Fresh Desserts Taiwan.

New Kid on the Block – Tim Ho Wan

The world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant has landed on our shores. Tim Ho Wan by Chef Mak Kwai Pui, who hopes to offer authentic made-to-order (not pre-steamed and reheated) Hong Kong style dim sum to Singapore, opened at Atrium@Orchard yesterday. Next to Plaza Singapura, this is the hole-in-the-wall eatery's 1st overseas branch with the 2nd one in Toa Payoh opening in July and another four by year end. Recalled seeing a long queue at the original Mong Kok branch, which was awarded one Michelin star within a year of business and continued to earn the accolade every year since. With its recent move to Olympian City, the only branch with the hard-earned one star now is Sham Shui Po's though Tim Ho Wan also has presence in North Point and IFC Mall. No different from Hong Kong, seating here is on a 1st-come 1st-serve basis but customers can get a queue number and go shopping until they received a notification via SMS that their table is ready.