Lunch at the original Din Tai Fung branch in Taipei

Can you believe we ate at Din Tai Fung only a few hours after eating at World Soybean Magnate? We were trying to cram as many things we could try in a day. My cousin Angie brought us to the original branch of Din Tai Fung located on XinYi road at the corner of Yong Kang St. I’ve already written about their Singapore branch and I’ve eaten at their Hong Kong branch. They were both good but the xiao long bao I ate at both branches were not the best I’ve tried. There were other restaurants in Hong Kong with better offerings like Wu Kong among others.

The restaurant occupied a small space on a busy street. The ground floor was divided into the cashier area and the kitchen.

The kitchen had a large glass window where you can see all the ‘busy bees’ making dumplings non-stop.

The restaurant was full even at 2:00 pm. Miraculously we were able to get a table right away.

That’s our long table by the window.

By the window was this curious device.

It turned out to be an escape sling. I guess they didn’t have room for a fire escape. In case of fire, get into the sling and lower yourself to safety. Gosh I wonder if anyone will have the presence of mind to read the directions and use this thing. I hope no one will have to use it.

cousin Angie, Rochelle and me

chicken xiao long bau NT$200 or US$6.30 for 10 pcs

fresh ginger strip and vinegar dip for the xiao long bao

cold appetizers we didn’t order

What we ordered were these pickled cucumbers and cabbage which I didn’t try. I was saving stomach space for the xiao long bao.

pickled cucumber

pickled cabbage

Nope I didn’t try the soup either. The others said it was good and spicy.

hot and sour soup

Not even the noodles tempted me.

noodles mixed in broad-bean sauce

I did try some pork chop. I LOVED the fried pork chop we had at Din Tai Fung in Singapore so I was looking forward to this. But this was a disappointment and a far cry from what we had in Singapore. This was bland and oily.

fried pork chop w/ fried rice

Ok here comes the main event. A parade of baskets arrive all at once. I became confused and disoriented. I didn’t know where to start.

I knew I didn’t want to start with the veggie dumplings. Give me meat!

vegetable dumplings

I love mushrooms but I’ll get to that soon. Still looking for the meat!

mushroom dumplings

There you are my babies. I carefully took a piece and laid it gently on my soup spoon. I took a small nibble and sipped the super flavorful meat juices that seep out. Mmmm…. I then took a bite of my dumpling. It was perfection! The skin was thin but still with enough bite. The pork wasn’t too fine and still have texture. This was the best xiao long bao I’ve ever eaten! 

pork xiao long bao or soupy dumplings

At this point no one was talking anymore. Except for my shutter clicks the entire table was silent. All you could here was “slurp, slurp”.  All the dumplings were good but my favorite was still the original pork xiao long bao.

This is what 6 adults and 2 kids consumed. 5 baskets or 50 assorted dumplings. Did we really eat it all? Amazing!

The restaurant had a hi-tech bathroom. I don’t know why they needed this water flow sound sensor. Do they get flooding in the bathroom?

This was the control for the bidet. The words which my cousin in law, Chee translated for me read “Stop, Buttock, Lower Body, Dry,  and the phrase at the bottom: Automatic washer on / off switch”

We were lucky to get a table right away. This was the scene outside the restaurant when we came out at 3:00 pm.

On the way to the car we saw this store doing brisk business selling all sorts of cooked food.

If I weren’t so full I would have bought a roasted sweet potato from this vendor.

our entire group with Angie, Robert and Daniel from Taipei

We had to walk a distance through Daan Park where Robert parked the van. We didn’t mind the walk through the pretty park to walk off our full tummies.

fast friends

the happy family (I was the outsider in the group)

It’s always nice to have an oasis like this in the middle of a busy, bustling city.

The skate park was full of kids of all ages trying to skate. The beginners practiced their skills on the grass.

This was the entrance to the car park beneath the park. Great city planning!

Thanks again Angie for bringing us to Din Tai Fung. I will never forget that stupendous meal.