Thursday, April 14, 2016

Report: 1st U.S. outpost of Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan opening on 10th Street and 4th Avenue


[EVG photo from December 2014]

Hong Kong-based chef Mak Kwai Pui is opening his first U.S. location of Tim Ho Wan, his Michelin-starred dim sum parlor, on East 10th Street and Fourth Avenue, the Voice reported yesterday.

The restaurant is expected to open this fall. Here are more details via the Voice:

Prompted by the Michelin stars, there are often hours-long lines of out-of-towners at Tim Ho Wan's Hong Kong locations — where Mak originally intended to feed locals at bargain prices. Mak tells the Voice that his designs on the U.S. involve appealing to the culinary tourists who seek his food abroad.

And!

Steamer baskets of plump prawn dumplings, Mak's signature trio of baked buns stuffed with barbecue pork, and Chinese-sausage-stuffed glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf all remain under $5. Even now, the tissues within the boxes placed atop each table serve as napkins.

The address here in Midtown South previously housed Spice, which closed in December 2014.

H/T Steven!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope it's the southeast corner of 10th and 4th. That spot has been a dump for years now. If it's the northeast corner, he may lose a star in the Michelin guide, for ugly view.

Gojira said...

Yes, please.

Anonymous said...

Northeast corner. Spice was located in 85 4th Ave, between 10th and 11th streets. I lived in that building for a couple of years.

I wonder if 4th ave will become an Asian foodie row, with Ippudo and now this place. B&T crowd can start the night on 4th ave and make their way eastward.

Anonymous said...

Remember Uncle Dai's, which was in that location before Spice? They had a great version of dan dan noodles.

Anonymous said...

Ippudo was a place I love to go to however when it became a 2 hour wait for a table, I decided never to bother with it again. So many good places to eat here and most of them require you to stake out a place in a line with tourists which can dedicate half of their day to get in, take some pictures of the food for their snapchat or other mindless social media nonsense. This is what saddens me the most about NYC today, nothing is being built, opened with residents in mind but just a way to profit from the ever expanding number of tourists. When's the last time anyone reading this intentionally walked on the high line, saw a show a MOMA, visited Times Square, ate at Momofuku, could get in and out of Russ and Daughters in less than an hours, etc... I now know how people living in cities like Venice, London and Paris have been dealing with for years. I want the city to prosper but tourism and food tourism is no longer corralled to tourists traps it has invaded every residential neighborhood now.

Anonymous said...

Further <a href="http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2008/03/beatrice-vongerichtified.html> Vongerichtrification</a> of the EV -- “A neighborhood that is ‘Vongerichtified’ would be one whose restaurants have shifted their cuisine, their ambience, and their prices in [a] high-end direction. Sociologically this is quite interesting, characterizing a neighborhood in terms of its restaurants. Usually, a neighborhood restaurant carries a kind of ‘gemeinschaftlich’ (communal) sense. A restaurant in a ‘Vongerichtified’ neighborhood does not appear to carry such a sense.”

Unknown said...

po po la la !!

negative nellies ??

Im gonna try it.

SOUNDS GREAT ..

Anonymous said...

If you don't take time to go to MOMA every once in awhile (or Museum of National History, my favorite) you are missing out.

Anonymous said...

So, we should not have nice things because a lot of people may be interested? Seems an odd way to go about things.

Negative Nelly said...

Of coyr6se you're gonna try it, maybe once or twice during your 1-2 years tenure here. But is that really for the community or more dor the transients who want toto feel exclusive and special.

Anonymous said...

@3:37
"If you don't take time to go to MOMA every once in awhile (or Museum of National History, my favorite) you are missing out."

One thing I found was by avoiding the big mainstream museums I focused on the small specially museums more often and visitors which actually want to be there for the exhibit and not for the selfie backgrounds. So one could say if you only go to MOMA level museums you are missing out.

@Tom Sir,
Eat where you please I could care less, having a different point of view from yours doesn't make me a "negative nellie" just an informed nellie.

Anonymous said...

Nice things for Bloomberg's godsend billionaires.

Anonymous said...

Wow anon 10:16!! Are you proposing that there should be monitors at the entrance to popular restaurants who check ID's for age (if there is a liquor licence) and also now for a residence requirement. If you don't live where? What are the boundaries? Then you shouldn't be permitted to eat in a restaurant that has a large line. Or do you mean to say that because you, are a resident of a mythical area you determine to establish, you should have first priority. The continued knee jerk reaction on this blog--anything I don't like is the fault of transients (people who aren't going to be in the neighborhood for a long long time--as I have been). How do you learn this information by asking people? By testing their eye patterns? Yes, indeed, a portion of the EV has become a neighborhood of various Japanese restaurants. Wonderful. Lots of variety in terms of quality of food and prices. You can always go to the lovely Macdonald's on Third Avenue just north of St. Marks Place.

Unknown said...

dear know it all nelli

I have lived on EAST 9th street Between Avenue B & C

Since 1986 and I happen to be an optimistic person.

Self entitled I been here forever know it alls are really

loud whinney and boring.

Anonymous said...

Without the nice things, you're the one whining.

Anonymous said...

@7:15 PM
You sound like a politician. Try reading what I said about our best restaurants and 2 hours lines again. I never mention that these places should be for locals only, never said that and you know it. If you can't understand what has happened to this city in the past 10 years then you must have just arrived in the past 5 years. My point once again is, local places are now impossible to patronize because tourist and foodies have stake claim to them. These people are on vacation and will stand outside a restaurant for hours just so they can blog and brag about going there. If you live here and work for a living you are less likely to ever go to places like Momofuku again because eating dinner should not take a 4 hour investment of your time. If you want to stand in line for a restaurant that you once could be seated after a 5 minute a few years ago please do so.

Unknown said...

Make a reservation,?

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:17
I've lived in only two apartments in the EV since 1964. The fact that you resort to the idea that no one who meets your criteria (and for you it is proving how long you have lived in the EV or LES)helps to prove my point. You do make your point loud and clear--the tourists are messing everything up for the locals (meaning you). Yes, I, too, am surprised at the number of people who take photos of what they are eating. I don't understand it, but that is the culture we are living in: self-righteous--self-reflection. Look at the words you use: these people are on vacation--how do you know? And so what! "If you live here and work for a living"--there you've said it. Live here. That's your criteria. And what knowledge do you have that the people standing on lines don't work for a living. You're indignation rings hollow.

Giovanni said...

New Rule: if you are going to take pictures of your food before it goes in, then you have to take pictures of the food after it comes out.

Anonymous said...

" The fact that you resort to the idea that no one who meets your criteria" never said it, never used the word meeting criteria, are you reading my comments in a mirror?
I know what a tourist looks like, they look lost, act giddy, hold maps, get on and off of the tourists bus on 1st avenue, look employed yet are wandering the EV on a Tuesday at 10:30. They also stand in long lines outside of foodie restaurants, I have spoken to them about it and yes they are from out of town and most often from another country. I have family from Europe and I know what they have on their list of must see's, Italy, Brooklyn Bridge, 911-land, a hotel rooftop bar, High Line, Momofuku and similar foodie restaurants. As soon as something gets written up on a travel blogg it's over for locals. You must never attempt to eat out a a trendy local place or you would know exactly what I am saying, I can't think of any other reason this baffles you.

As for the comment from Tom Sir: most foodie places do not accept reservations, that's part adds to the hype and dedication you must have to eat at one of them. The long lines get people asking "what is this place I must eat here too". Only high end old school restaurants still take reservations.

Anonymous said...

Sadly Anon 6:49 your patronizing attitude to everyone--people who come to the EV, people who challenge you on your obsession, and yes it is an obsession with the idea of locals comes through loud and clear. Earlier someone posted the idea that you might want to have ID's checked. I think you really would like to see that initiated. It's wonderful that the East Village (and the Lower East Side) have such an active restaurant life--the restaurants provide jobs. I can't believe that you are blocked from all the restaurants you would like to eat in because of the dreadful tourists. You seem to want to be able to walk up to a restaurant and be seated because you are a local. Tourists, whether you like it or not, contribute to the economy of the East Village. You really seem to have a crush on Momofuku. I think it is wonderful that East Village restaurants are becoming destination places (for NYC residents and tourists--or don't NYC residents meet your criteria of locals?) One of the things I often do is clip the articles in the Sunday New York Times Travel Section if I think I am likely to visit a city ( did it when I went to Munich recently). I was a tourist for 10 days and I found it helpful. Please don't attack me for reading the NYT. In two weeks I have some visitors coming from the Limoges area of France. They've emailed me asking about a good steak house. This is what tourists do when they are coming to a city they don't know. They read blogs, books, and they ask questions. Sorry if this doesn't fit in with your "restrictive" notion of who should or should not be allowed to eat in restaurants in "your East Village."

Unknown said...

If you only want to go to HIP HYPED FOODIE NICE PLACES.

With long waiting lines of TOURISTS and UNDESIRABLES .

that DONT TAKE RESERVATIONS,Then Im afraid I must

agree .You do have a SERIOUS problem.