Din Tai Fung

I find it incredibly rude that they impose a 1.5 hour limit and ask customers to leave 15 minutes before the time is up.
Dumplings are good. Noodles are too soft.

BEST DIM SUM. I’ve tried a good number of Dim Sum places, and I have to say this is my favorite. It’s also such a great deal for a Michelin star restaurant. Once they seat you, you only have an hour and a half to eat, which is actually plenty of time.
My favorite dish was the Spicy Shrimp Wonton. The sauce for it was AMAZING. I loved the Spring Rolls too. And you have to try the Xiao Long Bao, since that’s one of their most popular dishes. The noodles were alright, but I’d skip over it for some of the other dishes.
All in all, go go go!

We loved this place when we were here in March, and it’s just as good now we’re back in October. We arrived before 7 pm on a week night — no waiting for a table. (When we left at 7:30, there were crowds of people waiting.) We had the steamed pork dumplings — fantastic. Don’t forget to look at the instructions in the card on the table. Also spinach with garlic — amazing. Then noodles with sesame and peanut sauce, which wasn’t quite as good as we remembered, and 3 little buns with black sesame filling — wonderful. We had green tea but no alcohol, which keeps the price down. The price was $ 37 for both of us – very reasonable.

Best dumplings in the world!
Do you like Dim Sum? Search no more. Just go to this place and try the crab and pork dumplings. Just tasty juicy awesomeness!
The fried rice is excellent too and they offer many other things that taste great, like the pork chops and the veggies.
I’ve been going to their multiple branches across south east Asia and the U.S. for years, and I’ve never been disappointed. However, you can expect to wait a long time to get a table because it’s normally packed.
Culinary excellence from Taiwan.

This Din Tai Fung pales next to the one in Taipei. Overall, the food was good, but not great. The «soup» inside the steamed pork dumplings was a bit on the bland side. The vegetarian dumplings were just OK, but felt like they were missing something.
The noodle soup dishes were much better. The braised beef noodle soup had nice al dente noodles in a satisfying beef broth. The shrimp and pork wonton soup was even better. I think the wontons were actually worthy of the Din Tai Fung name.
For dessert, we had some red-​bean steamed buns. The bread was a bit too al dente and probably could’ve used another 5 minutes in the steamer.
If this were any other restaurant, we would’ve given it a 3.5 to 4 stars. Given the fame of the franchise, this particular place didn’t meet expectations and accordingly, we give them a 3.

I was highly disappointed in this place. People who have ranked this particular Din Tai Fung above 3 stars cannot have been to the restaurants in Taiwan.
I have been to the ‘real’ Din Tai Fung in Taiwan many times and every visit is a unique one since every bowl and plate is made to perfection, but they don’t seem to strive for the same goal here. My dumplings were dry, the noodles did not quit live up the same standards.

I heard about this place is a must try, currently in many parts of Asia and the West coast of the United States.
They are famous for their soup dumplings, which is made fresh, you can see them making it in the front of the store.
I heard this place was packed so we came around 2ish on a weekday and we didn’t have to wait.
We had:
Steamed Angled Loofah and shrimp dumplings — pescatarian friendly, the skin is just the right amount of thickness, not too thick, this tasted very good, and you rarely see shrimp and angled loofah combination at other restaurants.
Hot and sour soup — not hot or sour, I didn’t really like this particular dish
Tossed sliced cucumber with chili and garlic — tasted very good and refreshing
Braised gluten (bean curd puff) with black fungus — this dish is okay, just like the other restaurants.
Noodle with spicy sesame and peanut sauce — one of their signature dishes, the noodles and sauce was flavorful and it is one of the best noodles I ever had.
Service is good and the restaurant is very modern.
Prices are a little on the high end. Very pescatarian and vegetarian friendly.
There is a lot of hype about this chain restaurant, it didn’t give me a «wow» feeling, but the food tasted good.
Looking for one to open on the East Coast of United States, any investors? I’m sure the license fee is a steep one…

You definitely need to try their soup dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) here!

Din Tai Fung was never something I was keen on– for me it felt a bit snobbish and not quite genuine to the real thing. Shanghainese restaurants, to me, were always slightly grotty and not quite the fine places you find today. This reluctance to try it meant that I was in the dark over the new wave of Shanghai cuisine offerings. This is further entrenched when you are Shanghainese yourself and you feel that you could have the same stuff at home anyways.
I came here for lunch some time back and it was not by choice either– as with everything in Shatin, all the other places were full and I just saw Din Tai Fung right at the end of the alleyway (its tucked into a corner). Not wanting to waste time I decided that I should give it a go and I’m glad that I did.
A surprising thing for me was that this place is actually quite a «common» place; not the upscale restaurant I was expecting. The fact that I was handed a piece of paper which you simply tick to order your food was telling me this is not some super posh location.
Sticking to the safe stuff, I had the «dam dam noodle» and pork dumplings that everyone has talked about here. I’m happy to report that they were actually quite nice and though the place was quite small, I was happy to be seated down for lunch so quickly. I would still say that I prefer Crystal Jade at this point but this is an alternative that is certainly comparable in every aspect.

Recently, I’ve been eating out at Din Tai Fung a lot more often because they opened up a new branch in New Town Plaza, which is not too far from where I live. I never get sick of food at Din Tai Fung even though I pretty much order exactly the same things every time I go, and I stand by my opinion that they make the best xiao long (pork dumplings) baos in HK! The ones at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao are too ‘meaty’ for my liking, while I feel the ones at Din Tai Fung have just the right balance. Each order of their signature pork dumplings comes with either six or ten pieces, and honestly I could finish a whole order of ten!
Besides the signature pork dumplings, the steamed angled loofah and shrimp dumplings are not bad as well. I wouldn’t recommend the steamed crab roe and pork dumplings though — they’re pricier than the signature pork dumplings and are about half as good. The crab roe kind of overpowers the pork and changes the taste of the soup. I ordered it once out of curiosity, regretted it, and never ordered it since. Another must-​try at Din Tai Fung is the deep fried pork chop with soup noodles. The pork is tender and juicy, and is just the right amount of crispy. The soup noodles is very clear and isn’t overwhelmingly salty, which complements the comparatively stronger-​flavored pork chop well.
It’s important to know that Din Tai Fung does NOT accept reservations — you have to go there, take a number and wait until it is called. This means that if you go at around 12 — 1pm, or 7 — 9pm, be prepared to wait for at least twenty minutes! I usually go for late lunches or dinners at Din Tai Fung to avoid having to wait and I suggest that you do too!