Summary
A friend was in town, and I saw that Tim Ho was near their hotel. This place was always on my list to try given that it had received Michelin recognition at its Hong Kong location. Given I’ve eaten at numerous dim sum places already, they tout themselves as the dim sum specialists, so I already have high expectations.
I don’t remember the drink on the left, but the right was some type of mango cococnut slush. It was pretty good as it wasn’t too sweet.
The steamed shrimp dumplings as expected were pretty good. I felt these were actually smaller in size than other dim sum places I’ve been to, but the flavor is comparable and on point.
The chicken feet weren’t as good as other places. Usually other dim sum places have some sort of red sauce with black bean in it. This one came braised in abalone and peanut sauce. It was nice that the skin fell off the bone, but it wasn’t as chewy as I would have liked.
The BBQ pork rice roll was comparable to other places. To be honest, there wasn’t anything special about this one. However, it was good as the rice roll held its form when picked up and did not easily break.
The steamed pork spare ribs with black bean sauce were also pretty good. Again, nothing particularly special with this compared to other restaurants.
The steamed pork dumplings with shrimp (siu mai) were pretty good. Again, the size of these like the shrimp dumplings seem to be smaller than other dim sum places. The taste though was pretty good.
The steamed beef ball with bean curd skin was pretty good though I had better. I felt this one did not have enough bean curd skin, but again, there was nothing special about this compared to other places.
The steamed bean curd with shrimp, meat, and vegetable was also smaller. The texture of the curd was slightly oversoaked, so its texture was too watery. The meat inside though tasted good.
The sticky rice with lotus leaf had some pork and mushrooms in it. The inside did have an abundance of meat, and it was covered in sauce too. I did wish there was more of that sauce and less mushrooms of course.
The BBQ pork buns are supposedly what this place is known for. I felt they were pretty good, though I don’t quite understand why people love this one more than others. I guess maybe the bun itself is actually a little sweet. It’s similar to those buns you would find at the Chinese bread bakeries.
The sweet red bean soup for dessert was just OK. It wasn’t super hot, and there weren’t really enough beans in it. It was on the border too much water.
The lava custard sesame ball was actually very good. I love sesame balls especially with red bean, but this one was equally as good too. I would definitely recommend ordering this.
The french toast with custard is also another popular item here. I felt it was OK. It was similar to the lava custard sesame ball except it’s between 2 small toast slices.
All in all, I felt that Tim Ho Wan was just an alright dim sum place. I don’t understand how this place receives that much more accolades compared to others. However, thankfully since the swarm of people kind of faded, this place is still a pretty good place to eat for dim sum in general. Everything is pretty much the same as other dim sum places with a small variance.
Final Verdict
I wouldn’t call them dim sum specialists, but I think Tim Ho Wan is a decent place to visit for dim sum if you really crave it.
Yelp Jabs
While the dim sum here is above average, I certainly don’t think it’s worth the price or the hype.
I actually don’t think the dim sum here is above average. It’s pretty average. Dim Sum Palace could in some way be more tasty than here.
This restaurant definitely felt so different from many of the more authentic/traditional dim sum places I’ve been to in NYC. Firstly, I noticed that most of the people eating were very young.
It definitely is a very hyped place with a more modern restaurant aesthetic. Not sure what the comment of “very young” really means when this Elitist is pretty young.