Wanderlust Wendy

Tim Ho Wan: Cheapest Michelin-starred Restaurant in the World

I don’t think I’ve yet been to a Michelin-starred restaurant, so when my friend recommended the cheapest one in the world in Hong Kong, it was a no brainer to give it a go. The IFC (super fancy) mall location of the hot spot, Tim Ho Wan (添好運) is rather misleading. I trekked all the way there on foot.

Google Map said it was only a 20-minute walk, but it didn’t tell me of all the footbridges and all the stairs involved. I also have a bad habit of liking to wander aimlessly and not pay close attention to the map. So, even with a GPS and blue dot telling me where to go, I still managed to get lost.

To my defense, the IFC mall is huge, and after asking two separate people, it turns out it’s actually underneath the IFC mall, in the subway station. Subway station?! I mean, I get it’s cheap, but really? Subway station? Like where you go to grab a quick bite wen you are waiting for a train, and usually don’t think much of the food quality? Yes.

It was clear that this wasn’t just any subway station restaurant though. There were tons of people waiting. I put my name down. Party of one. I was surprised at how quickly I got a table. Well, a table is a bit of an overstatement. I got a corner. So there I was, squeezed in a corner, eating my dim sum. The food was pretty delicious. Dim sum is one of those things that discriminates against party of one. If I want a bit of variety, I inevitably need to stuff my face. So, I did. I did get my butt to the gym at 6:30am this morning in preparation for this feat though!

The food was good, but I have to be honest, all the bustling and hustling around me took away the deliciousness. And after the long trek, I was expecting to sit leisurely at an IFC-mall restaurant, sipping tea, and eating dim sum alone. What I got was quite the exact opposite. You see the problem with expectation? Too much, and even a Micheline-starred restaurant would disappoint.

Low expectation, high satisfaction. I must not forget this motto from my time in the Peace Corps!

3 thoughts on “Tim Ho Wan: Cheapest Michelin-starred Restaurant in the World”

  1. Thats awesome, I ate there a couple weeks ago! The pork and shrimp dumplings or the bbq bake bread. Yummy! It is okay I was a party of one and stuffed my face too.

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