Just a few more reports to go from our trip to Seoul in July. We made a few returns on this trip: to Gwangjang Market, to Gwanghwamun Gukbap, and to Oreno Ramen (the first visit for me, the second time for the missus and the boys). This report is of a lunch that was also a return of a kind. One of our very last meals in the city in March 2024 had been an excellent dim sum lunch at the Samseong location of Tim Ho Wan, the famous Hong Kong-based dim sum chain. Now, it’s not like eating Chinese food would normally be a high priority in Seoul but when you live in a dim sum desert like Minnesota, you have to take every opportunity to eat high quality dim sum that you get. As it happens, we thought that lunch was even better than at the better dim sum places in the San Gabriel Valley outside Los Angeles. And so it was a given that we would return on this trip as well. And we did—but not to the location we’d eaten at in 2024.

I’m not actually sure if that Samseong location in Gangnam-gu is in fact still open. Google shows it as “temporarily closed” and lists a different location in Gangnam-gu. But Tim Ho Wan’s own site still lists it along with the Myeondong location which Google does not show (but it was definitely on the go in March 2024). None of this confusion really mattered to us, however, as we were headed to the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu and the Yongsan-gu location of Tim Ho Wan in the iPark mall is only a short bus ride from it. It was a bit of a hassle to find it in the mall—it turns out it’s actually on the outside of the mall—but we were seated immediately on arrival and then things got better very quickly.

This branch has a large, bright dining room. Half of it was fairly empty when we arrived but it filled up steadily over the course of our meal. Ordering here—as at the other location—is done via a tablet at the table. You can place your order all at once or a bit at a time and pay at the end. The menu seemed unchanged from our 2024 visit—there were some dishes we knew we were going to eat again, and we also got a few we hadn’t tried on the previous occasion.

Among the repeats were their outstanding baked Barbeque Pork Buns (2x as they come three to an order), the steamed yu choy (on the menu as Steamed Seasonal Vegetable), the Pan-Fried Radish Cake, the Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf, and, of course, their textbook Hargow (2x) and Shiumai (2x). Other orders on this occasion included the Xialongbao (2x), the Rice Rolls with shrimp (we’d gotten them with bbq pork last time), Beancurd Skin with Pork and Shrimp, and the Hong Kong-style Egg Tart. In other words, another order of dim sum classics (Tim Ho Wan is not where you go for mod or baroque dim sum). I am happy to say that everything was once again of a very high standard.

For a closer look at the restaurant and everything we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

Service was efficient and prompt. Price? For the 14 items we ordered we paid a total of 105,000 won or just over $73. I will here remind you that earlier this year we paid $140 at Jade Dynasty in Minneapolis for fewer orders of far, far inferior dim sum. Look, I get it: it’s not a surprise that Seoul has a Tim Ho Wan and the Twin Cities metro doesn’t, and it’s not a surprise that the quality at any Tim Ho Wan anywhere is going to be much higher than at any dim sum restaurant in the Twin Cities. What hurts is having to pay twice as much in the Twin Cities for something that’s not even half as good. Ah, well.

Alright, only two more Seoul reports remain. I will knock both out by the end of this week. Before that, however, I will have another Twin Cities report tomorrow—this will be of a very good casual Mexican meal we ate on Sunday. Stay tuned.