Tim Ho Wan, Hong Kong, China

This is the dining room of a Michelin-starred restaurant. Evidence below:

Tim Ho Wan is one of the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurants in the world and can be found in Kowloon,  Hong Kong. I have always thought that Michelin stars rewarded surroundings and service quality as much as food, but once I arrived at Tim Ho Wan I knew I was wrong. Even from outside I could tell that there was no fabric tablecloth and the barking lady at the entrance was no Maitre d'. And indeed, after some research I found out that Michelin stars are supposed to judge only food, the five criteria being: the quality of ingredients, the skill in their preparation and the combination of flavours, the level of creativity, the value for money, the consistency of culinary standards.

Tim Ho Wan has a limited number of seats and closes at 10pm and there is no arguing with the Cantonese Cerberus. We arrived at 9.30pm and there were more than twenty people waiting outside with their yellow papers. As the lady at the entrance was shouting "No more! Last order!" I was struck by panic I was envisioning myself leaving Hong Kong (it was my last day there) without trying the starred dim sum. Fortunately for us, one family not understanding what was going on (tourists) thought the restaurant was closing and left. I jumped on their yellow paper and after some begging, managed to get us in.

As Tim Ho Wan has no time to waste, guests are required to grab a yellow paper while queuing and tick the dishes they want to order. To avoid any regrets, just order everything, which we almost did as we had literally thirty seconds to chose.

Beef and shrimp rice noodle rolls

Steamed lettuce (Yes!)

Steamed glutinous rice in Chiu Chow style

Steamed shrimp dumplings

Pan-fried pork dumpling

Mushroom and beef spring rolls

Pork dumpling

Baked bun with BBQ pork

Flower jelly

I have been told that the house dish is the baked bun with BBQ pork. I had never seen this kind of bun before, and that is true that the combination of melting pork with the crispy and tender bun is to kill for. We had also tomato and beef dumplings, which were quite original. All dim sums were very nice, but I would not say that my meal at Tim Ho Wan was a life-changing experience or that I found these dim sum ten times better than average. However Tim Ho Wan certainly qualify for Michelin's value for money criteria, as the bill came at HKD 240 for three (£19).