A truly amazing dumpling experience if you are up to wait 40+ minutes: Restaurant Din Tai Fung @ Taipei 101 (28. May 2017)
According to my guide book, the Restaurant Din Tai Fung is one of the most famous dumpling places in Taiwan. So, obviously, I had to give it a try. Now, if you want to try it, be patient. When we arrived somewhen in the middle of the afternoon (around 3pm), the waiting time to get seated was a solid 40 minutes (!!!). But, don’t worry, it gets worse in the evening – we randomly passed by later that day again and the waiting time had increased to 70 minutes!!!
As the menu is quite extensive, at least you have enough time to pick what you want to order before actually being seated. We started with “Spicy Pickled Cucumber” (70 NTD) …
… and continued with “5 Pork Xiao Long Bao” (105 NTD) which were even served with a …
… detailed guide on how you have to eat the Xiao Long Bao! A very interesting experience indeed – and a tasty one! Now, the “issue” with this concept is that the food just keeps coming and at some point you don’t remember anymore how much is still coming or if you’ve almost reached the end. Now, when you order I would personally recommend you to rather order small and then order more when you’re not done yet – as it is a looooot if you do not really coordinate!
Next in line were “5 steamed vegetable and ground pork dumplings” (100 NTD) which were lovely – and quite spicy …
… but only after you’ve mixed them with the sauce.
The “5 steamed shrimp and pork dumplings” (130 NTD) on the other hand were not really my favourites – but then again I’m not such a big fan of shrimp if it is not fully cooked (i.e. I don’t like it steamed that much).
Then, the “5 steamed sticky rice and ground pork Shao Mai” (130 NTD) were definitely good but the dough was a bit overwhelming for the stuffing they had.
The interesting thing about these dumplings is that you actually do not know what you’re eating until you’ve taken a bit – the “two pork buns” (80 NTD) were, frankly, not really to my liking as the filling was really one big piece of grounded pork meat pressed together and it wasn’t really cooked – so it didn’t have any grill flavours – but it was steamed.
At this point in time I felt like I’ve been eating enough – and I guess overall, we were eating for about three hours in total. The “two sesame buns” (70 NTD) didn’t really look like something I wanted to try but I kind of ‘had to’ – and I definitely didn’t regret it. That was so tasty!!! Absolutely loved it!
Luckily, they so nice to mark the buns with one or two dots depending on the filling. The “two mini bean buns” (40 NTD) and the “two mini taro buns” (50 NTD) were good – and as I have never tasted taro before, I was super positively surprised. But now here comes the ‘coordination’ aspect in. We just had had two large sesame buns and there were another, luckily small, two sesame buns. Well, if one would align, that wouldn’t happen!
I guess for our consciousness, we had ordered some “stir-fried Komatsu greens with white beech mushrooms” (220 NTD) which were definitely healthy but also rather boring in terms of taste as they were pretty much not seasoned.
What I loved though were the “noodles with minced pork sauce” (130 NTD). Not an ideal dish to share but it was super tasty!
I was looking forward to the “pork chop white fried rice with egg” (230 NTD) when I placed the order and I must say that I was happy with it but it did not entirely meet my expectations.
Truly interesting were the “five house special spicy vegetable and ground pork wontons” (150 NTD). I can’t quite describe the flavour but it was definitely a pleasant one.
Again, steamed shrimp and pork – not my cup of tea. The “five shrimp and pork wontons with house soy sauce” (170 NTD) were rather boring to me.
As we had started our extended lunch with Xiao Long Bao, we knew how to eat the “five taro Xiao Long Bao” (85 NTD) – until we figured the taro is sweet and does not entirely work with the soy sauce. Well, one never fails to learn new things!
With the order they serve tea and it is ‘endless refill’ if you are into tea. However, if you want something cold to drink you have to order something like a ‘Sprite’ (35 NTD). The waitresses are incredibly attentive and friendly – truly impressive. Looking at their age – and I’m admittedly bad at guessing – they all looked like students having a job on the side but they were super dedicated to make it a pleasant experience to you!
As mentioned, if you want to eat at the Din Tai Fung – which I would recommend you to – you have to bring patience … but it is definitely worth the waiting time!
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Contact Details:
Restaurant Din Tai Fung @ Taipei 101
B1, No. 45 Shifu Road
Taipei 101 Mall
Xinyi District
110 Taipei City (TW)
Tel.: +88 62 81 01 77 99
Fax: +88 62 81 01 78 00
Homepage: http://www.dintaifung.com.tw
About the Author: Sven
I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org.
Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City. 
