Hong Kongs Cheapest Michelin-Starred Restaurant

Michelin-starred restaurants often conjure thoughts of food at five-star prices. However, this is not always the case in Hong Kong, where one such restaurant offers its most famous dish for less than $3 USD.

Hong Kong’s Tim Ho Wan is reportedly the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant in the world. Specialising in dim sum – an assortment of bite-sized Chinese delicacies usually eaten at lunch or breakfast – their most famous dish, baked BBQ pork buns, is less than $3 USD.

The original restaurant opened a decade ago in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po area and was the brainchild of former Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong chefs Mak Gui Pui and Leung Fai Keung. The hole-in-the-wall eatery earned a Michelin star in 2010, and its inexpensive dishes soon garnered fame as delicious Michelin-worthy eats for cheap.

Always popular – Tim Ho Wan restaurant front in Sham Shui Po

A meal for two at the restaurant is likely to cost only about $33 USD. Standout dishes include their best-selling BBQ pork buns (delicious sweet and sticky pork encased in a fluffy bun), a Cantonese speciality known as cha siu bao that is a hallmark of any dim sum dining experience. Be sure to also try the pan-fried turnip cake and other dim sum standards, such as shrimp dumplings (har gow) pork and shrimp dumplings (siu mai) and the pork spare ribs (pai kuat). Additionally, the steamed dumplings in chiu chow style are a vegetarian favourite. In total, there are 25 dim sum dishes to choose from, so no doubt you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Tim Ho Wan are renowned for their best-selling baked BBQ pork buns

In 2013, Tim Ho Wan began expanding and now has more than 50 locations worldwide. Of course, with popularity and media exposure comes high demand. Expect long waits at peak times, 12-2pm, with queues around the block. In this sense, the largest cost of dining here is the time spent waiting to be seated. However, good things are worth waiting for, especially dim sum this delicious.

landscape with balloons floating in the air

KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?

Connect with like-minded people on our premium trips curated by local insiders and with care for the world

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.