[Travel] Visit to the Din Tai Fung flagship resturant in Taipei

I was in Taipei a couple of weeks ago and I took that opportunity to visit the Din Tai Fung flagship restaurant in Taipei. I have visited the Din Tai Fung in Arcadia several times but was never quite impressed with their Steamed Pork Dumplings. The flagship restaurant is where it all started so I was hoping to get the true taste of their world famous dumplings. This location is four stories but it's massively popular with tourists so we went there right when they opened to avoid the lines.

We got the Steamed Crab Meat and Pork Dumpling. It's a deluxe version of the Steamed Pork Dumplings that tests the chefs' skill of balancing crab flavor with pork.

The waitress actually helped us mix the soy sauce and vinegar for use with the dumplings. The dumplings are juicy, exploding juicy. The crab meat flavor is there but quite weak, so it can't really compete with those from a good Shanghainese restaurant. I would describe it as a good entry-level dumpling that's not too shocking to foreigners. One thing that's really impressive is that the dumplings tasted almost exactly the same between the flagship restaurant, another branch in Taipei and the branch in Arcadia. Supposedly their dumpling chefs have to train for two years to achieve the required skill level to make these dumplings. It really shows how seriously they try to protect their brand.

Next comes the good stuff, Shrimp Pan Fried Dumplings.

It's six dumplings fried together with a paper thin crispy skin holding them together.

The crispy skin is awesome. There is a whole shrimp in there with good flavor that works well with the pork.

If you've been to any Din Tai Fung, you know that they have a system and execute all orders with precision like a well-oiled machine. The service level is absolutely unparalleled in any Chinese restaurants. But it happened...they mistakenly delivered our fried rice to the next table. The other table didn't even order shrimp in their fried rice...we had to wait 10 more minutes to get our fried rice. Bummer!

Luckily, the Fried Rice with Egg and Shrimp was great and became the unexpected highlight of the meal. The rice is cooked to perfection. It tastes slightly bland at first but as I ate more, the sweetness of the Taiwanese rice comes out and balances wonderfully with the also lightly seasoned egg and shrimp. It is one of the most refined fried rice I have ever eaten.

The dessert was a new item on the menu, Wine Blew with Sesame Rice Balls. This is normally one of my favorite dessert but they executed very poorly here. The soup is very forgettable.

And the sesame rice balls are no better than the Laurel brand frozen rice balls. Definitely go with their regular desserts instead.

I actually enjoyed my experience at the Ding Tai Fung flagship restaurant quite a bit. The waitresses are very attentive. Their service sets a great example that I hope all Chinese restaurants will emulate. As for the food, I'll be contrarian here and suggest you to not get any variations of their savory Steamed Pork Dumplings but try out their other items (unless you've never had it before). I don't know if I would've liked it as much if I had to wait for an hour to get a table. Go early before the tourists arrive.

Ding Tai Fung
No. 194, Section 2, Xinyi Rd,
Daan District,
Taipei City,
Taiwan