Tim's Kitchen     桃花源小廚  

Having heard so many positive things about Tim's Kitchen, Mr. C and I finally went to try it over the weekend. Located in Sheung Wan, the front of the restaurant is subtle, yet well-presented and once inside the warm tan and cream tones gives it a distinctly homely feeling.

Their selections for dim sum is not huge, but we do find some favourites and a couple of items that are more traditional and not commonly seen in other restaurants like their sesame paste buns and steamed pork dumplings with liver.

Along with the dim sum we also ordered an appetiser of Chiu Chow soya bean curd. This was served wonderfully hot, and just visually seeing its smooth texture with its gentle wobble as it was set on the table we could tell it was going to be good. We were not disappointed as the silkiness of the tofu just melted in the mouth and the soy sauce was perfect in terms of its saltiness, adding flavour yet not overpowering the delicate soy bean taste.For dim sum we had:

Pan-fried XO rice rolls. Nicely browned with a significant wok-hei flavour, the rice rolls were slightly chewy and if you needed it there was a sauce dish of sweet hoisin sauce for your dipping pleasure.Steamed layered bean curd. Multiple layers of dried bean curd steamed till soft and interspersed with layers of minced prawn, I really enjoyed this. Biting into the bean curd it was springy and it released a wonderful aroma of soy beans on the palate. Something different Prawn dumplings. When this was served, Mr. C already commented that he could tell it was going to be really good. By the translucence of the glutinous skin and the colour of the prawn I did not doubt him. The skin of the dumpling was beautifully chewy and each contained a large whole prawn where it was meaty with a sweetness that can only come from fresh prawns.Crabmeat dumpling in superior soup. This was marvelous. The clear soup was piping hot and the flavour of the 'gum wa' ham was intense. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the dumpling with it's generous filling of sweet crabmeat and diced mushrooms, while the skin retained its chewiness despite the high temperature of the soup.Steamed dumplings with liver. This came out looking like two irregular balls of minced prawn and pork with two slices of pork liver draped in the middle. I was not too partial to the liver, but despite the appearance of the dumpling they tasted really good, with a slight bouncy texture when you bite into it. (Unfortunately no photo)

Steamed sesame paste buns. These came out quite early on, but since they were part of our dessert items, we ate them later which was slightly unfortunate as they had cooled down by then. Despite their lukewarmness, the buns still retained their fluffiness and the sesame paste was heady with a hint of sweetness.Mango pudding. Mr. C's favourite~ Made in a heart shape mold, it was a sizeable portion with a drizzling of evaporated milk.The pudding was quite firm emphasizing the amount of gelatin used and I detected a citrusy sour note among the sweetness of the mango which could have come from pomelo or yuzu. (No photo =.=)

Very good~ Definitely want to return to try out their a la carte dishes during dinner

Tim's Kitchen is a decent sized fancy Chinese restaurant in Sheung Wan. The decor is very modern for a Chinese restaurant, and I noticed that a lot of foreigners came here to dine. I especially liked all the modern wooden decor on the window sills as this added a traditional element to the atmosphere. There are two levels to the restaurant and the top floor is much more spacious than the bottom floor. I came here to celebrate my dad's birthday and his sister's birthday. We all wanted to try something new, and we settled on giving this place a whirl. We were greeted by very friendly staff who showed us to our table on the upper level. We were immediately asked what tea we would like and left to peruse the menu. I also brought two cakes, and the waiter offered nicely to store them for me. Once everyone was here, we proceeded to order from the large, yet carefully planned menu.
I think that this style of egg requires an acquired taste. The colour at first may be a bit off putting, but I find it very intriguing. These eggs were prepared beautifully. To get the best experience from this appetizer, you should eat it together with the ginger that is provided. I must commend this egg further, for it was superb. Normally, when you eat this egg, there is a very strong aftertaste or smell of ammonia, however this egg did not have this aroma. Furthermore, the liquified egg yolk was made exquisitely and tasted very sweet, but was not overwhelming. All the flavours melted harmoniously in your mouth. My dad also commented that this was a very high quality egg, one of the best he had ever had.
This looked really good when it arrived. I love to add fried garlic, or just garlic in general to anything. The egg plant was succulent, however I believe that the thousand island dressing was excessive and covered the delicate flavour of the egg plant. Less sauce would have been ideal.
Lately, I have been eating a lot of tofu. This tofu dish was served piping hot and was presented beautifully. It was very smooth and large. The soya sauce was just right to balance this dish perfectly. A definite must try.
The char siu was not fatty at all, which is always appreciated. The sauce was great, however I believed the portion could have been larger for the price that they charged. It was overall a very high quality barbecued pork that went really well with the rice. I also really enjoy the fried nuts that were embedded into this dish.
I think snake is also an acquired taste. I tried a spoonful of my dads and found the snake skin to be very rough. The ingredients in the soup were plentiful and there was definitely a very full flavour to the soup. The others who had this dish commented that it was very tasty and not too salty.
I always use this dish as a benchmark dish to compare with other Chinese restaurants. Personally, I found their to be too few pineapples. Moreover, the pork itself was very fat. However, that being said, the sauce was just the right thickness, and the peppers were cooked beautifully. The sauce was not the extremely red, which made it look better in a photo. This is my dads favourite food, and he commented that it was good, but he has definitely had better.
The dish was beautifully presented. This photo shows how I plated the dish on my own plate. At first I thought it was just a taro puff, which was cooked and fried beautifully, although it was a little bit salty. However, when I took my second bite, I noticed a very thin layer of crispy duck skin on the bottom of the puff. The combination was good, but the duck was very fatty. Despite that, I found the flavours complemented each other well and tasted great.
I am very picky about this dish. However, it gets a perfect five smileys. Their were many ingredients, including sufficient lap sausage, which was not too fatty. The dish was served piping hot, and the rice was nice and soft. Although after one spin around the lazy susan the dish had cooled down and the rice on the bottom became hard. That being said, the dish itself was not too oily, which is the real determining factor for me. A definite must try, although I believe you have to pre-order this dish in advance.

I had a great time with my family celebrating the birthday of two important people in my life. The food was good, atmosphere was good, and service was excellent. Even though its a bit out of the centre of the city, I will be coming back to try more of this restaurant's fine Chinese cuisine.

My wife and I wanted to try a new tasting restaurant nearby where we both work and we decided on Tim's kitchen.

I called the restaurant for reservation but the lady told me to walk in, so I went to the restaurant at 1210pm and was immediately shown to a table.

As a foreigner ( Singaporean), I had trouble speaking the correct Cantonese but the male staff was NOT helpful. He left me to mark the tim sum pamphlet myself which took a while. He walked away and did not make any recommendation and left us alone all the time. When we were ready he was no where to be found and we paid service charge..sigh..

We ordered har kow + pan fried turnip cake + fried rice with diced beef and dessert + sweet n sour pork + red dates cake.

The food took ages - 15-20 minutes ( when restaurant was half filled ).

Har kow - good, skin did not fall off, prawns were fresh
Trunip cake - rather tasteless, blend, too rigid texture, dry.
Sweet n sour pork - nice blend of sweet n sour, sauce just enough but my wife hated star anise flavouring which was inside the dish.
Beef fried rice - super oily, can see oil on plate, no presentation at all - like a dough of oily rice dumped on a white blend plate.
Red dates cake - this is the best dish amongst all I ordered. Beautifully done and steamed. But be prepared for the sticky and chewy feel.

We asked for some sauce and no attendants could be seen - restaurant was half filled.

Overall, the ambience was good but the staff was too bland to blend with the ambience...

Price wise - expensive for the standard Tim sum fare - average - HKD$28-35 for a portion of Tim sum. Dishes varies from HKD$85 onwards. Fried rice was HKD$108. We paid HKD$357 with no drinks except chinese tea chargeable at HKD$10 per head.

I would not feel that the price jusify the service and the taste of food. We were disappointed.

Thus for us - it would be an overall of 6 out of 10 experience.

桃花源 is located in臥虎藏龍’s Sheung Wan. This inconspicuous Bonham strand restaurant was once a two Michelin stars restaurant, however a chef with that kind of credential, I am sure they will reclaim it sooner rather than later.

Cuisine: Chinese
Food rating: 6/10*
Service: 6/10
Ambiance: 7/10
Price: HK$170 pax

* Food Rating: 6/10 is equivalent to 1 Michelin star, 8/10 to two Michelin stars, and 9/10 or above to three Michelin stars

Pan-fried turnip pudding (6/10)
The turnip cake was not just smooth, and it was crispy the outside, more importantly, but of the fresh turnip taste!Pan-fried cheung fun in XO sauce (6/10)
The cheung fun was not as good as previously, it wasn’t dry and crispy on the outside. But the cheung fun was still as smooth as ever. The XO sauce has brought the dish to another level. Steamed custard layer cake (5/10)
It wasn’t too sweet, but the main issue was not spongy enough. It was little bit too hard. Steamed chicken with mushroom (6/10)
The chicken was fairly tender, with lovely seasoning. Prefect.Chilled Marinated Goose Meat Roll (6/10)
The goose was marinated properly, and the meat was fairly tender.Fried Rice with Minced Beef, Onions and Shallots (8/10)
This was the best dish of the meal. The fried was full of flavour, moist yet spongy, the beef was marinated very well. The shallots gave some freshness to the dish. In general, it is a restaurant likes its name a food paradise. I am sure it would only get better, can’t wait till my next visit.

Give me a thumbs up if you like it!

We had a department dinner here and reserved a large room for 2 tables of 24 people. There was a private, nicely decorated and spacious toilet, and a water feature on the balcony outside our room, I suppose it's more for smokers than the view, but it was a nice touch. The place is cleverly divided so that it creates a sense of coziness without feeling boxed in, and the tables were adequately spaced apart so that the noise pollution level was under control. We had 2 dedicated staff for our room and the tea pots were replenished regularly, dishes cleared away when needed, and they were generally attentive and accommodating, such as turning off one of the a/c when the temperature got a bit too chilly.

The dishes were simple yet elegant, the thousand year old egg with pickled ginger was a cleansing dish, with a very gooey yolk in the black eggs. The duck roll in bean curd looked nice, but I found the duck too fatty and the fat had congealed into whitish lard, and there were bits of gristle, cartilage and skin all rolled into one. Maybe using leaner duck breast meat and serving it warm would have been better. The roast pork was delicately cut into small bite-size pieces, and it was tasty but the skin wasn't crispy enough.

Then we had a ginormous king prawn that was served with a slice of honeyed ham, the presentation was a little too simple, as the white prawn meat sat forlornly on the white dish with a piece of red ham that happened to be next to it. Nonetheless the shrimp meat was firm without being chewy, and it was a very gently seasoned dish that was not too heavy.

The "water duck" soup was rich, flavoursome, but not oily at all, and the meat from the duck fell off effortlessly and was accompanied by a chili soy sauce for dipping. The roast chicken was succulent and again, seasoned perfectly, and did not leave a salty aftertaste. The citrus vinegar dipping sauce on the side also helped to freshen it up.

The fish fillet with celery was well executed, and I really appreciated that it did not have clumps of flour or lumpy sauce from the flour used in preparing the fish that sometimes appears in other places. Then there was a big pot of curry beef with cheung fun that was quite popular with the crowd, probably because it wasn't served with the usual carb such as vermicelli, ho fun, or rice.

The shrimp roe pomelo skin dish had 3 large piece of pomelo skin and was covered in a thick but not gooey sauce, and I like that the shrimp roe was not overpowering the delicate flavour of the pomelo, which had soaked up all the goodness of the broth. The fried kale was verdant green, with a firm and crispy texture. Lastly the almond sweet soup was mildly sweetened but very tasty.

All in all, good for a nice Chinese meal, and a very good option for taking friends from out of town to.

It's a little bit hard to find, but the small restaurant was a nice, modern Chinese restaurant with Cantonese style food.

We pre-ordered a roasted goose which was worth the wait. It was full of flavour and the skin crispy. With 3 people and other dishes, I ended up taking home some leftovers. We also got a spicy eggplant, which was super yummy. The frogs legs were okay. It was deep fried in some batter, and really no different tasting than some chicken, sorry to say. I think you can skip this. We were to give the table back at 8:15 and we weren't sure if they were going to enforce this. We stayed as long as we could, until they finally asked us to leave.
I would recommend making a reservation here before coming.

I have dined at Tim's Kitchen twice in the past month with my office, and both meals were delightful. As one of the few Michelin Star rated restaurants in Sheung Wan, Tim's Kitchen certainly lived up to expectations, providing an upscale yet unpretentious atmosphere and top-notch Cantonese fare.

For our first lunch, four of us ordered the lai tong (house soup), cold meat platter with roast pork and goose, shrimp with scrambled eggs, eggplant with minced pork, and beef chow fun. The table's favorite was definitely the cold platter, which was served with a slightly sweet sauce on the side. The meats were cooked to perfection--crackly and caramelized skin, with a thin layer of fat between the skin and the meat that melted in your mouth. All of the other dishes were delicious as well; not too oily and very flavorful.

For our second lunch, four of us ordered the lai tong, cold meat platter (again!), crab meat with scrambled eggs, braised tofu with shitake mushrooms and chinese broccoli, and stir fried udon noodles with pork. The braised tofu was served with a brown gravy that was simple and comforting. The stir fried udon was slightly spicy and the noodles were chewy and delicious. I am also not sure how they prepare the lai tong, but the broth is soulful and satisfying, with a strong meat flavor.

Both times, the bill came out to about $415 total. Considering the caliber of the food and the upscale setting (which is hard to find in Sheung Wan), I certainly think it is worth the pricetag, especially if you are going on a business lunch or out for a special occasion in the area.

(Apologies for the lack of photos; did not want to embarrass my co-workers!)

Chilled Tossed Cucumber- this was really nice, quite refreshing
Marinated Goose Web & Wing in Loh-Sui Sauce -- I did not have any but it was finished so I assumed good
Crab claw with wintermelon - MUST EAT, not sure if I love it more for its huge meaty claw or if it has been deshelled and you can be ladylike and eat with fork and knife
Pomelo Skin with shrimp roes - MUST EAT!!
Sweet and Sour Pork - just ok
Fried chicken - the chicken was fried perfectly, skin crispy and not oily, I think pricey but could order 1/2 size
Satay beef rice flour noodles - quite nice, the noodles seem very fresh
Sesame Roll - really rich seasme flavor, not very sweet
Almond Tea - really good, smooth

Had these another time:
Honey-glazed Barbecue Pork - surprisingly good
Poached Chicken in Dark Soya Sauce - good too, but I like fried chicken more
Oven-baked Pigeon with Preserved Vegetables wrapped in Lotus Leaf - they told us the preserved veggies were only available to them, I didnt think anything special but the pigeon was tender

We didn't have to wait in between dishes as mentioned in other review and I don't think food has been compromised since turning into a larger restaurant. Perhaps they did lose the niche of a small private kitchen. This place is pricey and the air conditioning similates Artic conditions but I think overall the food is nice and service is good so I would definately come back.