Din Tai Fung
I couldn’t wait for my trip to Sydney to try out Din Tai Fung the world famous Taiwanese dumpling chain with shops in China, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the USA and Australia. Located on the second floor of World Square shopping centre, it is located in a very unassuming corner. The location didn’t seem to be a problem to anyone judging by the long queue outside the shop. Two girls with headsets took down our names and gave us queue tickets. The dumpling house itself didn’t look like a typical Chinese restaurant. It was tastefully done with modern wooden tables and chairs. The large paper lamps from the ceiling also added a nice feel to the place.
Dumpling Making
The dumpling shop itself looked impressive. There was a whole team of clinically outfitted dumpling ‘techinicians’ making the dumplings and examining each piece closely. There was even a QA guy making sure all the dumplings coming out looked perfect.
Xiao Long Bao
The drunken chicken was out of stock which gave us a reason to order more dumplings.
The Xiao long bao pork dumpling ( Aud$8.80 ) were served first. The dumplings were sitting temptingly in the bamboo steamers. I could see how the soup inside made the dumplings wobbly through the translucent skin. The skin didn’t break when I transferred the xiao long bao from the steamer to my spoon. I didn’t put vinegar or chili on my first dumpling to gauge the full flavor. I bit on a small section of the dumpling skin to get access to the soup inside and gingerly sipped on the soup. The soup was sweet and plentiful for such a small dumpling. I popped in the rest of the dumpling into my mouth and savoured every bit. The dumplings are the best I’ve had so far. It’s even better than the famous Shanghai Yu Yuan garden xiao long bao.
Xiao Long Bao steamed crab meat and roe with pork dumpling
The Xiao Long Bao steamed crab meat and roe with pork dumpling $13.80 had the very subtle flavour fo crab roe mixed with the soup. I found it quite expensive and had better crab roe xiao long bao’s flavour wise. But Din Tai Fung’s dumpling skin is still clearly a winner. The skin is just so delicate and thin enough.
Shrimp and Pork Shao Mai
The Shrimp and Pork Shao Mai AUD$8.80 is very interesting as it also had soup inside. Interesting shao mai’s but I would still go for the classic xiao long bao’s.
Zha Jian Mian ( Spicy Pork Mince Noodle )
Zha Jiang Mian (Spicy Pork Mince Noodle ) is a classic Taiwanese dish and was done well. It was a good complement for the multitude of dumplings we were having.
Rating : Love It
Food : Xiao Long Bao
Summary : Din Tai Fung is extremely addicting. I’ve been there twice in one week. You can’t help but have thoughts of perfect little dumplings in sweet broth on your head while going through the day. Be very careful in visiting the place as it will spoil you and set your standards high on how dumplings should taste like elsewhere.
Din Tai Fung
Shop 11. 04 Level 1
World Square Shopping Centre
644 George St, Sydney NSW 2000
Tel : +61 (02) 9264 6010
Open 7 days
11:00am-2.30pm
17:00pm-22:00pm (last order 9.15pm)
Whiff and a Sip 
June 4, 2009 at 12:10 am
ey tagal na ng last update. gheez super sikat pala ni din tai fung and it’s taiwanese? well i have yet to try out the place. nasa must try list ko sya =) before i saw it here.
July 20, 2009 at 11:25 am
“In my recent trip to Clark Freeport, I chanced upon an amazing restaurant inside Mimosa. It’s just past the Holiday Inn. It was better than the high-end restaurants in 5-star hotels in Manila! I think the name is YATS Restaurant. It is not that expensive but the food is great and they have an incredible wine cellar too.”
“I have to share this with you – the lamb rack at YATS Restaurant is out of this world. Aside from the fact the lamb is cooked to perfection, the sidings are even more exciting. This is real fine-dining stuff, best I have seen in this country, and second to none that I have seen in other cities including Singapore and Tokyo.”