Looking for Dim Sum in Vegas – Tim Ho Wan

Outside of Hong Kong, Vancouver is widely regarded as having some of the best Dim Sum. At some places, I think its even better. Having recently relocated to Las Vegas, I want to find the good dim sum spots. After asking a few locals where to find good dim sum in Vegas, including a few from Hong Kong originally, one name kept coming up – Tim Ho Wan. This is an HK-based dim sum restaurant with many locations around the world. I have been to a few. The original location in HK gained a Michelin star and was popularly known as the “cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world”.

I made a reservation at the Vegas location online, and was seated promptly on arrival. It was full, but there was no line. The restaurant is located inside the Palms Casino and is bright and modern. I liked not having to ask for sauces and they were just brought to the table. For the sauce that I wanted, that were not part of the original delivery, our server brought them promptly upon request. We started with shrimp spring rolls which I would rate as ok.

Then came the baked BBQ buns, BBQ pork noodles and green beans with XO.

The noodles and green beans were also just ok. They can be improved with more “wok hay”. However, the BBQ pork buns were phenomenal. The texture was light and spongy, and the BBQ pork was well balanced with each bite giving a bit of sweet and savory notes. Each bite had me cursing and sending my head spinning. You should definitely get these.

Next came some dim sum staples – XLB, har gow, and siu mai. The siu mai was just ok.

The XLB were filled with soup, was savory, and then only strike against them was a slightly thick skin.

The har gow was OUTSTANIDNG. The skin was thin and had the perfect texture. The filling was delicious, with savory and sweet shrimp flavors coming through.

Overall, service was good. This was a refreshing change from a lot of Dim Sum places in Vancouver where the service can sometimes be laughable. Dishes ranged from OK to mind blowing. It was an enjoyable lunch and I would return and recommend. I would want to try some of the other things on the menu and see if there are other mind blowing items hiding.