![]() So maybe steer clear of the fried stuff and concentrate on the steamed portion of the program - a happily large chapter of the menu. The deep-fried spring rolls were unfortunately oily. The steamed egg cake that paired so well with repeating pots of the house pu-erh in Hong Kong suffered from coarse crumb syndrome. The baked barbecue pork buns that are the chain’s emblematic dish, textured pillows of pastry enveloping a pocket of char siu, are a notch too sweet, whereas the famous originals, in an admirable bit of restraint, halt just short of pork-pie-as-dessert. That said, Irvine’s version is not the dim sum grail that you might expect, given the Michelin hype. It’s a few thousand miles closer than Hong Kong, and the only political protests you’re likely to navigate are either on television or in your head. To be fair, the Tim Ho Wan in the IFC Mall in Hong Kong’s Central station, where my daughter and her boyfriend and his family took me for my first lunch in Hong Kong a few months ago, was similarly styled.Īnd if the conceit - whether operating principle or tire company Platonic ideal - is dim sum in a well-trafficked pedestrian zone, with fast service, a cheap check and well-executed food, then Tim Ho Wan’s Irvine branch is an excellent pit stop. The ambiance at our Tim Ho Wan is more Cinnabon than banquet hall: pale wood, red cushions at the counter bar, a pristine wall of tea urns, a golden dragon or two on the wall. The “world’s most inexpensive Michelin-starred restaurant” tagline is all over the chain’s site and menus. (Hell’s Kitchen! Waikiki!) The original Hong Kong Tim Ho Wan opened in 2009 in Mong Kok, Kowloon, and a year later earned the Michelin star that it still holds. ![]() It’s the first Southern California location of the Hong Kong chain, now clocking in at almost 50 outposts around the world. This is not the kind of dim sum that you will find at Tim Ho Wan, which arrived in May amid much anticipation in Irvine’s Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center. The best dim sum meal I ever had lasted from breakfast to lunch, through the arrival of more friends and more than one cart service. The orchestra noise is mostly of conversation, as dim sum is at its heart about the conviviality of snacking as much as it is the snacks themselves. In the old-school places, carts slalom around the tables, making a game of morning tea and adding the din of the call-and-response. The buzz of the dining room is a tell-tale sign of a good dim sum restaurant: It hums like a raucous turn-of-the-century cocktail party, where the revelers are families crowded around tables the size of small carousels piled high with stacks of plates and steam baskets and teapots.
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