Tim Ho Wan Is Finally Opening in Melbourne

Dumpling diehards, your potential for satisfactory feasting is seriously expanding. Tim Ho Wan, the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant on the planet, is coming to Melbourne.

This time last year the eatery launched its first ever venture outside Southeast Asia in Sydney. Now, it's expanding its Australian presence, with the establishment of three new chapters — and one's in Melbourne.

Set to open at 206 Bourke Street on Wednesday, March 16, Tim Ho Wan is one of the year's most anticipated restaurant openings. The original Tim Ho Wan eatery in Hong Kong, led by ex-Four Seasons Hong Kong dim sum chef Mak Kwai Pui, has been attracting hordes of local and international visitors ever since it opened in 2009. A star rating by arguably the world's most prestigious food guide the year after raised the dim sum stakes and a chain of Tim Ho Wan restaurants in the region quickly followed. Now, it's Melbourne's turn to break open a piping hot pork bun and see what all the fuss is about.

So what's in store for the menu? If we're taking cues from the Sydney menu alongside THW's international chapters, the 'Big Four Heavenly Kings' will be making an appearance: think pan-fried carrot cake, baked pork buns, handmade vermicelli rolls stuffed with pig's liver and steamed egg cakes. Including these four signature dishes, we're expecting plenty of innovative dumplings, pork rib with black bean sauce, and mango pomelo sago desserts.

And how cheap is the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant? Sydney's Tim Ho Wan sees BBQ pork buns at $6.80 each, prawn dumplings at $7.80 a serve and desserts around $5-6, so similarly bang-for-your-buck prices can be expected when the chain comes to Melbourne.

Tim Ho Wan will open from 10am on Wednesday, March 16 at 206 Bourke Street, Melbourne.

Updated: March 15, 2016. By Katie Davern, Erina Starkey and Jasmine Crittenden.