Tim Ho Wan @ Plaza Singapura {Foodee}

I can’t believe it’s taken me ages to blog about our trip to the famous Tim Ho Wan, the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant which opened its doors in Singapore on April of this year. By the time we made our way there last June, the hype had already died down a little, so the two-hour queues were down to about 45 minutes. Gelle told me she heard that when the restaurant first opened, customers were given t-shirts saying “I queued for 2 hours!”

Tim Ho Wan and the queue area outside

Still, they had a strict rule about not releasing a table until everyone in the group is physically present, so even though we had reached the start of the queue, we had to wait until Punch and Chi arrived before we were ushered in. We used the time in the queue to fill out the order form.

We could also take a peek through a cute bamboo fence into the restaurant while in the queue.

We made sure to order all the Big 4 Heavenly Kings, their bestsellers. Here they are.

Steamed Egg Cake (S$3.80)

This looks very plain so I had no expectations about it, but it was surprisingly very yummy! It was very light and fluffy with a delicious sweet egg taste that’s not too overpowering. I could easily polish off more than one piece at a time, given the chance.

Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver (S$5.50)

I am a huge fan of liver, so I really loved this one, even though I wasn’t too fond of some of the herbs it came with.

Baked Bun with BBQ Pork (3 for S$4.50)

This is the best bestseller of the lot, to the point that they have a written rule saying: “Max order one plate of 3 buns per pax.” When we saw that, we got intrigued and instead of just getting 2 or 3 plates as originally planned, we decided to get the maximum order and got a plate for each one in our group. Did it live up to the hype? Oh God, yes! The bread was crispy when you bit into it, but melted in your mouth once you started chewing. And the barbeque pork filling was so succulent. HEAVENLY indeed!

Pan Fried Carrot Cake (3 for S$4.50)

I’m not really a fan of pan fried carrot cake, so I wasn’t too blown away by this, though I noticed that it tasted finer than those I have tried before. But then again I’ve only ever had it from a hawker stall, so maybe that’s not comparable? And yes, I initially thought it was very weird that something named carrot cake would look like this and is not like a cake at all.

Some other stuff we ordered:

Rice with Chicken, Sausage & Mushroom (S$6)

Filipino boys can’t survive without rice, so we had to order at least one. I loved the soft texture of the rice, and it was very tasty too.

Pork Rib with Black Bean Sauce (S$4.20)

This was okay, but nothing extraordinary, in my book. It tasted just like the ones you can buy from hawker stalls.

Beancurd Skinroll with Shrimp (3 for S$5.50)

I’m usually not a fan of fried dimsum, but this one was very good! The skin was just the right touch of flaky, with the consistency kind of like duck confit?

Tonic Medlar & Osmanthus Cake (3 for S$3.50)

I love gelatinous desserts, but this is the exception. I wasn’t too fond of the medicinal taste. But I think this is supposed to be good for your health.

There were a few other dishes I wasn’t able to take a picture of, a couple of dumplings that were pretty average. Our bill came to around S$20 per head, which isn’t bad considering the number of dishes we ordered! In fact we didn’t even get to finish everything and had to ask for takeaway containers to bring some of them home.

Takeaway time!

68 Orchard Road #01-29A
Plaza Singapura
Singapore 238839

Opening Hours:
10.00am – 10.00pm
09.00am – 10.00pm (Weekend and PH)

First-come-first-serve basis; no reservations.