FOODIE FRIDAY : Tim Ho Wan

TIM HO WAN literally means "add good luck" but if you are anything like me and my cousin Ken: equally curious to experience how it is like to eat at presumably the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant, you probably need to "add patience" too, because we had to wait for exactly 2 hours and 19 minutes to be seated and served. 

Tim Ho Wan opened its first branch in the Philippines at the newest wing ( I think it is named Fashion Hall) of SM Megamall. Operations starts at 12:00 noon. Last Sunday, me, Ken and Jem decided to try it before watching a volleyball game.  When we arrived at 10:27 am, there was already a group of people lining up. I was secretly hoping that the long queue would somewhat be a cause for concern for the mall management and that would eventually pressure Tim Ho Wan to accept customers earlier than their posted schedule. I was wrong. 

We were ushered to our table at around 12:46 pm. Too bad we were seated outside, I wanted to check on their interiors. From the outside, I saw that their lighting fixtures were decorated with wooden steamers. Since we already have a copy of their liners that also serves as their menu, ordering came easy. Besides, they only have a few items on their menu to choose from. 

Ordering is pretty straightforward, just write down the quantity next to the item that you would like to have. After submitting your order sheet, a summary of the items ordered will be placed on your table which will later serve as a reference for them to check if they have already served the items you have ordered. As the food items arrive, they will cross it out from the list. 

Service was really fast, considering that there were plenty of people to serve. There was a staff standing by our table named Jen was very pleasing and readily acknowledged our requests. Empty plates and steamers were immediately cleared.  

Top on our list is their Big four heavenly Kings:

1. Baked Buns with BBQ Pork - PHP 145.00 for 3 pieces 

I am not surprised that this is the very first thing listed on their menu. I LOVED IT! This was definitely worth the 2-hour wait. Seriously. I have never tasted anything quite like it before. Buns were soft, I don't know but to me it felt like it melted in my mouth. was it crunchy? No, it felt more like it was crusty with just the right sweetness. The pork inside didn't taste anything like savory BBQ, I think it was more asado-ish. 

2. Pan Fried Carrot Cake - PHP 145.00 for 3 pieces

For me cake = dessert. Much like the raddish cake that I am familiar with, this carrot cake was not in any way a "cake". It tasted like vermicelli with bits of meat which to me seemed like chorizo ( which at first I thought was carrots).  It tasted good though, after I dipped it in soy sauce. I wonder now if this is the proper way of eating it. 

3. Steamed egg cake - PHP 85.00

I honestly thought it is just puto (our local rice cake), but it was different. It was softer and fluffier. It tasted like a reduced-sweetness Kopiroti bun. I liked it too, but not half as much as I liked the baked buns.

4. Vermicelli roll with Pig's liver - PHP 150.00 for 3 pieces

When Ken told me that we were going to order everything categorized as Heavenly King, I wanted to object. Because I did not want to spend on something I know I will not be eating with much gusto, after all I am not really very fond of pig's liver. But I gave in and ended up swallowing huge chunks of this pig's liver roll, followed by a huge gulp of jasmine tea. And Ken did not eat it either. 

We stood for more than 2 hours so we needed more sustenance. Good marketing strategy Tim Ho Wan, you successfully made us order more than what we intentionally wanted to try. We also ordered prawn dumpling, spinach dumpling with shrimp , Glutinous rice with lotus leaf ( i think this is what we call ma tsang), vermicelli roll with beef and rice with beef and fried egg.  Nothing spectacular really. After all it is dim sum. A dash of soy sauce, a dollop of chili oil and everything should be fine.  It took us less than an hour to finish everything.  Add 2 glasses of iced tea and a pot of jasmine tea,we paid a total of PHP 1,786.00.

 

Maybe my tastebuds have not yet fully upgraded, maybe I am not yet ready for Michelin-star standard restaurant food. Because honestly, the only silver lining from the "2-hour-OMG-this-is-the-most-poorly-managed-queue-I-have-ever-endured" was the yummy pork bun. That and nothing else.