The World's Cheapest Michelin-Rated Restaurant Is Coming To New York City

Usually we think of dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants as culinary splurges for a special occasion, at least that's what we thought before Tim Ho Wan got a star. At the time that Tim Ho Wan was awarded the "world's cheapest" Michelin star, it was serving traditional dim sum eats in Hong Kong for around $5 apiece, a previously unheard of price point for the prestigious Michelin guide. Now chef Mak Kwai Pui will be opening an outpost in New York this September, according to The Village Voice.

Chef Mak has already opened restaurants in Australia and Thailand, but this will be his first U.S. outpost, after plans fell through to open a restaurant in Hawaii.

"We're headhunting now for a dim sum chef. It should be a local Chinese face," says Mak. "[That chef] doesn't know New York, but in Hawaii he knows everything."

In the six years following his Michelin star, some dishes at Tim Ho Wan locations are still $5 and under, including his signature trio of barbecue pork-stuffed bao buns, and Chinese-sausage-stuffed glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf.

The menu at the New York location will contain classic dim sum dishes with an American focus (aka there will be plenty of beef and pork for Western appetites).