What does the restaurant name Tim Ho Wan mean in English?
Answer
to add good luck
The restaurant name Tim Ho Wan means “to add good luck” in English.
Tim Ho Wan is written 添好運 in Chinese: 添 means “to add,” while 好運 means “good luck” or “good fortune.” The phrase gives the Hong Kong dim sum restaurant a deliberately auspicious name, rather than describing one particular dish on its menu.
The restaurant was founded in Hong Kong in March 2009 by chef Mak Kwai-pui and his business partner Leung Fai-keung. Its first location was a small 20-seat restaurant in Mong Kok. Mak had previously worked as a dim sum chef at the three-Michelin-star Lung King Heen, and he aimed to offer high-quality Cantonese dim sum at accessible prices.
Within its first year, the original restaurant received a Michelin star, helping make Tim Ho Wan internationally famous. A common mix-up is to treat “Tim Ho Wan” as a literal food name; it is the Cantonese romanization of the Chinese brand name, whose meaning is a blessing of added good fortune.