I FINALLY TRIED TIM HO WAN! Every time I walked past Plaza Singapura, I would always complain about the horrible queue outside Singapore’s first Tim Ho Wan outlet. And I refused to spent 2 hours or more queuing for it when I don’t even need to queue that long when I was in Hong Kong.

In fact, I have been struggling if I should even try the local Tim Ho Wan since I have eaten at the Hong Kong outlet and I am sure nothing beats the original stall. But recently, the queue has been getting better and since Aunty was on leave yesterday, we visited the new Toa Payoh outlet yesterday.

It was past lunch time and we only have to queue for about 30mins. If you haven’t been to Tim Ho Wan, be sure to try the Big 4 Heavenly Kings. their Steamed Egg Cake, Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver, Baked Bun with BBQ pork and Pan Fried Carrot Cake are the reasons why scores of gourmands have flocked to the Hong Kong branches. And now you get to try it in Singapore!

Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver ($5.50) has the liver that is cooked just right and pairs well with the vermicelli rolls and soy sauce. It glides down the throat easily and remember to eat it while its warm as it doesn’t taste as good when cold.

Steamed Egg Cake ($3.50) is the best dish we had in Tim Ho Wan yesterday. It was soooooo soft and light and the caramel note lingers After finishing it, aunty said:”LET’S TRY DOING THIS AT HOME!” Faint lah, she is always looking for ideas!

Pan Fried Carrot Cake ($4.50/3 pcs) was okay okay lah. It was pan fried to golden brown on the exterior but slightly too oily and we could not finish it.

I had my first taste of Tim Ho Wan’s Baked Bun with BBQ Pork in the Hong Kong outlet in 2011. But I can still vividly remember how it tastes like. It has a perfect combination of sweet, savory, crispy, crumbly. And it is so good that we ordered 3 sets to share among 4 of us. And after leaving the restaurant, we had a char siew bao hangover!

Back to the Singapore outlet, their Baked Bun with BBQ Pork ($4.50/3 pcs) unfortunately was not better than the ones in Hong Kong. Yes you can still get some crackle from the brittle casing but the char siew chunks were not as tasty.

I also ordered siew mai when I was in Hong Kong outlet and I still remembered the prawn meat was succulent and overflowing. But the Pork Dumpling with Shrimp ($5/4 pcs) was just mediocre.

Prawn Dumpling ($5.50/4 pcs) come four in a serve with a pleasing bite to the whole prawns in the centre.

We finished our meal with Tonic Medlar & Osmanthus Cake ($3.50/3 pcs) which is mildly sweet cubes of Osmanthus flowers and wolfberries like segments of stained glass. One thing that I regret not ordering is their beef balls which was very good when I had it in Hong Kong. Perhaps I will be back to try it.

The name “Tim Ho Wan” already made Singaporeans go crazy because it is the cheapest Michelin Star restaurant in the world. We don’t have to hop on a plane to Hong Kong and then queue for hours to try it. But of course, don’t expect the quality here to be on par or better than the ones in Hong Kong. In fact, a Hong Kong friend of mine has been complaining that even the HK branches are no up to the orginal and now defunct Mongkok branch quality.

Having said that, we don’t have a lot of dim sum outlets in Singapore that sells dim sum for the whole day. So I don’t mind coming back here for a dim sum fix IF the queue is not that long.

Tim Ho Wan

Venue: ERA Centre, 450 Toa Payoh Lorong 6 #02-02
They don’t accept phone reservation, so happy queuing!
Website: http://www.timhowan.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timhowan/

Here are the other Tim Ho Wan Singapore branches’ address:
1) Plaza Singapora, 68 Orchard Rd, 01-29A/52, S238839
2) Aperia Mall, 12 Kallang Avenue, #01-01/02/03, S339511
3) Bedok Mall, 311 New Upper Changi Road #B1-51/52, S467360
4) Westgate, Jurong East, 3 Gateway Drive #01-13/14, S608532
5) One Raffles Link, #B1-63/63A, Citylink Mall, S039393
6) I12 Katong, 112 East Coast Road,#01-04, S428802