Retail-restaurant roundup: Tim Ho Wan dumplings coming to Diamond Jamboree in Irvine

Tim Ho Wan, a Cantonese-style dim sum house from Hong Kong, is expanding to Irvine at Diamond Jamboree. The dumpling house is expected sometime this winter. (Photo courtesy of Ted June)

By SAMANTHA GOWEN and ANNE VALDESPINO

Reposted from the Orange County Register

PUBLISHED: August 3, 2018 at 8:30 am | UPDATED: August 3, 2018 at 8:31 am

The dim sum mystery has been solved at Diamond Jamboree.

Just three months after Capital Seafood made its exit, a new dumpling maker has swooped in to stake its claim at one of Orange County’s trendiest Asian food meccas.

Tim Ho Wan, a Cantonese-style dim sum house from Hong Kong, is expanding its U.S. presence. This week the chain announced new restaurants are bound for Irvine, Las Vegas and Hawaii. Its first and only restaurant in the U.S. so far is in New York City.

Fans often wait hours to snare a spot at the Tim Ho Wan’s table, which touts an affordable menu. Nothing on the paper mat menu is priced over $6. The restaurant eschews the traditional dim sum cart for made-to-order dumplings to ensure their freshness.

“It’s not immediately apparent why fans were willing to stand on Fourth Avenue in the cold for hours last December simply to put their names and phone numbers on a list for the privilege of being called a few hours after that, when a table was finally free,” wrote New York Times’ food writer Pete Wells last summer.

Wells wrote that while Tim Ho Wan’s dim sum are good, “very few are throw-half-the-day-away good, and some have a rote quality that tends to creep into all but the most vigilant chains.”

We have calls in with Tim Wan Ho for more details, but for now all we know is the eatery is due to open sometime this winter.

Stay tuned.

Original article: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/08/03/retail-restaurant-roundup-tim-ho-wan-dumplings-coming-to-diamond-jamboree/