Way before Tim Ho Wan opened its doors at SM Mega Fashion Hall, Filipinos already knew about the world’s most affordable Michelin-star restaurant, especially its pork buns. Filipino visitors to Hong Kong would bring home boxes of those buns as “pasalubong’’ to family members and friends.

Global Dimsum Food Corp. president and chief operating officer Rikki Dee (fourth from left) with Robert Chua of Tim Ho Wan Singapore, Chef Mak (third from left), Brian Chua,Tim Ho Wan’s Singapore franchise head and head director (extreme right) and Tim Ho Wan chefs from Hong Kong.

The pork buns, which are undoubtedly the bestsellers, have a crumbly, fluffy pastry filled with sweet and savory barbecued pork. The Baked Bun with BBQ Pork is one of Tim Ho Wan’s Big 4 Heavenly Kings, which includes The Steamed Egg Cake, velvety custard topped with a caramelized crunch; the Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver, vermicelli-wrapped liver; and the Pan Fried Carrot Cake.

For now, there is no takeaway and only one order of three pieces is allowed per customer. But trust ingenious Pinoys to get past that rule. They simply bring more people to join them so every person can have one order. Then, they take home what’s left.

The famous Baked Bun with BBQ Pork

The long lines at SM Mega Fashion Hall are actually nothing compared with the hours-long wait in Hong Kong, where people would stand for five hours just to taste those buns. I once read an online account of a woman’s visit to Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong—she was there an hour before opening and she was already 118th in line!

So is the worth the wait? I wouldn’t wait for five hours but the combination of sweet, savory, crispy and crumbly in one bun is irresistible.

“It’s not intentional but more because we cannot catch up with the demand. We’ve had instances where people will get 10 orders and more, so the next customers who wait in line get cut off since we’ve run out of the buns already. We don’t want to have that experience again,” explained Rikki Dee, president and chief operating officer of Global Dimsum Food Corp., the local franchise holder of Tim Ho Wan. “

Pork Dumpling with Shrimp, another dimsum specialty of Tim Ho Wan

Dee said everything is “made from scratch’’ and the ingredients are imported so, for now, we will have to make do with one order per customer.

Tim Ho Wan was opened in 2009 by Mak Pui Gor, who was a chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.

Tim Ho Wan started in 2009 as a modest hole-in-the-wall dim sum place in Mong Kok, which is better known as Hong Kong’s bargain shopping haven. It soon gained a strong following, with its signature Baked Bun with BBQ Pork as its main attraction.

“The dim sum at Tim Ho Wan are made using only fresh and premium quality ingredients. The dim sum are also delectably fresh as they are not pre-steamed and then reheated but made-to-order so as to retain the dim sum’s flavor and texture,’’ said Tim Ho Wan in its Web site

Other menu favorites are the Glutinous Rice with Lotus Leaf or machang, which has generous morsels of shiitake mushroom and Chinese sausage embedded in the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves; Prawn Dumpling or hakaw and Pork Dumpling with Shrimp.