Situated on Level 1 at World Sqaure, the long awaited Din Tai Fung finally opens its doors in Australia. This restaurant is veyr popular in Taiwan and known for the queues outside to get a taste of their Xiao Long Baos.
We arrived on a Sunday night at 8pm and almost instantly got a table without waiting (my Aussie attempt at broken Mandarin included). The staff are trained to be almost too enthusiatic, and each one bows and says “ni hao” to every customer entering the restaurant, possibly imitating the Japanese ritual. The kitchen is in full visible view from both the outside and the inside of the restuarant, dumpings and buns piled high in their bamboo steamers on some sort of sophisticated industrial steamer.
You order by writing the quantity of your dishs onto an order form. And no joke, within 60 seconds of our order put through, the drinks arrived. By the 2nd minute, our first food plate arrived. In such a high turn-over restaurant I was blown away by the lead time.
First the drunken chicken arrived (unpictured) which was very fragrant, the Chinese wine flavours perfectly soaked into smooth, tender chicken flesh.
I then ordered the Tofu with Pork Floss and Thousand year old egg – which I loved!
Their specialty – Xiao Long Baos (I ordered the one with the crab meat and pork) was consistently nice, although not nearly as good as the one I had in Hong Kong, still a very high standard for Australia. Nice and soupy on the inside, though the dumpling skin could be a tad thinner.
Shrimp and pork wonton noodle soup
Other dishes ordered that were unpictured: the Snakebeans with mince (四季豆) which was just slightly undercooked – with great flavours, the garlic Spinach was nicely made though it’s hard to get that wrong; the fried rice was fluffy and tactile which contrasted with the pork chop beautifully; and another order of wontons that were in a spicy sauce, which adds another layer of appeal to the usual soup wontons.
Great place for a quick meal – although I can’t help but feel extremely rushed. That’s Fast Food at its best, I suppose! You’ll walk out with a food coma and 15 people smiling with “Xie xie“.
ive never heard it referred to as pork floss. i like rou sung but thinking about it as floss and minty is weird.
WoW! I go to the one in L.A. (Arcadia, CA) pretty regularly and I keep going back for more! I’m glad you approve! =D
Pork Floss? that’s what it’s called? I refer to it as carpet pork.
I go to the original Din Tai Fung in Taipei pretty often… love their xiao long bao, steamed dumplings and chicken soup.
Does the Din Tai Fung in Australia have a different menu? Why does the food in the Australian store look different (and perhaps even more appealing than what I’ve had in Taipei? lol)
The first dish look interesting. I have never seen it before hehe. I love duck eggs mMm especially with porridge! Also the Xiao Long Baos look great ^^ happy eating.
omg..YUM!! i’m sooo jealous! =(
@vixstar - @CaKaLusa - Pork Floss is exactly the words they use on the menu! Funny huh!
@Amuse_Bouche - pfft! they want literal words? Call it loose pork!
i go nuts every time i go to dintaifung in hong kong. mmm xiao long bao is so good. still trying to find some decent chinese restaurants in tokyo… they need to open one up here!
@petitetokyo - I can make your wish come true, beautiful girl, just click here
there are several in Japan!
@Amuse_Bouche - <3 and now to see if google translate is willing to give me a decent translation.
i must say, i am now hungry after reading this.
you know theres one dintaifung opened in TST few months ago and it always takes me more than an hour to get a table!!!
lol loose pork.
i love DTF!! the best we have here is joe shanghais.
I can;t wait to get Chinese food in Chicago
@CaKaLusa - Let’s make loose a “noun”, pork loose! There!
finally they opened one in syd…im proud :) but i am so sick of it in taiwan and its really not that nice compared to some other local restaurants here… when u do come over i’ll take u nicer restaurants!! hehe
i’m haunted by dreams of xiao long bao
omgosh o_o lucky ducky! I miss dintaifung heaps! hopefully they come to adelaide soon.
xiao long bao mmmmm!!!!! man i wish i had a buddy like u in va to eat that knws how to eat nd eat some good stuff… *drooL* everything u post up look ssooo tasty mmmmmm why u gotta be in the land down under and not in the VA but then again probably would miss out on all that food you got access too….
Sounds good, will try out!
australia what? looks good though!
lol. i tried that place like the 2nd day it opened… 2 comments: rip off.. and not that great!
lol. u can buy xiao long bao from some crappy shanghainese rest that tastes heaps better and way cheaper.. lol…
Thanks for the review — im actually working in taiwan atm, all of my colleagues have been to dingtaifeng, but i never got around to it. There’s 1 in HK but i hear there is always a huge line, don’t even dream of getting a table within 40 mins. Then again, Chinese ppl line up for anything — they see ppl lining up and they’ll think “that must be nice” and join the line, even if they didn’t feel like xiaolongbao in the first place!
I’ll definitely try the 1 in taipei soon!