Is Tim Ho Wan losing its lustre?

The Sydney suburb of Burwood may be locally remembered for breaking the golden global roll-out of Hong Kong's Tim Ho Wan – reported to be the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant. The pint-sized original attracted big queues for its diminutive dumplings long before the Michelin inspectors turned up, and in recent years it has spawned a global empire of Tim Ho Wan eateries from Melbourne to Manhattan.

With staff at its other Sydney outlets – in Chatswood and the CBD – confirming the Burwood closure, Tim Ho Wan's glistening roll-out has lost a little lustre.

Malaysian media reported this month that two Tim Ho Wan outlets had also shuttered locally. Transplanting the successful formula of the original was never going to be easy, and while reviews of its Australian start-ups have been mixed, Tim Ho Wan is confident Australia is the right market for its product. Indeed, Australia was chosen before Europe because our palates were judged to be more tuned to Asian food. "Plus, the Aussies were the first foreigners to flood to Tim Ho Wan," a spokesperson told Good Food before its Sydney launch.