Tim Ho Wan to debut its dim sum in Houston area
In 2019, Houstonians first caught wind that Tim Ho Wan — which became famous for being the cheapest restaurant to receive a coveted Michelin star — was opening in Katy.
Three years later, the Hong Kong import is finally set to open its first location in Texas this fall, representatives for the international chain and real estate developers confirmed Monday.
Located in the Katy Grand development at 23330 Grand Circle Blvd., the casual dim sum restaurant’s menu will feature popular dishes such as barbecue pork buns, egg tarts, rice rolls and steamed shrimp dumplings.
“We wanted to bring dim sum to Katy, but we wanted the best dim sum for Katy,” said Heather Nguyen, a development partner at NewQuest Properties, the real estate company behind the project.
There are two inspections scheduled for this week, and if the restaurant passes those steps, the opening is slated for the last week of October or early November, a representative for Tim Ho Wan said.
Chef Mak Kwai Pui, who opened the first Tim Ho Wan in 2009 in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong, has been in Houston training chefs for the opening — something he couldn’t do with China’s strict COVID precautions the past few years.
The Katy restaurant spans nearly 5,000 square feet and is much larger than the original location. Like other Tim Ho Wan outlets, the dim sum menu is focused more on quality than quantity.
Diners shouldn’t expect roving dim sum carts, which are popular at spots such as Ocean Palace in Houston’s Asiatown.
Instead, dumplings are hand-folded and steamed to order. Turnip cakes are fried until they’re golden on the outside. Thin egg noodles coated in sweet soy sauce are tossed in a wok until they’re just crisp on the ends.
Tim Ho Wan joins a roster of high-profile Asian restaurants and shops that have opened in Katy in recent years.
Before the pandemic shutdown, the popular Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya opened in late 2019. Then came HaiDiLao, a high-end hot pot chain from China, in 2021 and later the Japanese ramen chain Kizuki.
The Tim Ho Wan chain now operates 60 restaurants in 13 countries. The other U.S. restaurants are located in New York City, Las Vegas, Honolulu and Irvine, Calif.
The Katy location is the first Tim Ho Wan to open in the U.S. since the pandemic began.