The power of Din Tai Fung

Taipei, 2001. My first experience at Din Tai Fung. Hectic lines outside, people mixed with parked scooters - managed chaos. Hungry eyes look into the clear shop front where a team of workers deftly folded dumplings round a table. Thirteen years on, I can't remember the work projects that led me to Taipei, nor the conversations with my work colleagues and I barely remember who was there at the table. But I can never forget the food -  hot soupy dumplings, black chicken and ginseng soup. Dish after dish of the best food I have ever tasted.

Little did I know that a place my Taiwanese colleagues insisted for lunch that day was the start of a long-distanced love. Long-distance as to this day, I still have not found a place in the US that can rival Din Tai Fung's succulent soup dumplings (Xiao lung bao). Delicious porky goodness, flavorful soup wrapped in a thin yet strong wrapper. Hong Kong now has two branches which are hard to get into. Crystal Jade in Hong Kong is a sure and steady runner-up but there is something about the mystique I have built up about Din Tai Fung that is hard to rival.

Perhaps no surprise then that my one culinary objective in Singapore was to visit one of the many Din Tai Fung branches that Singapore are so blessed to have! How much will have changed over the years? Can it beat the rosy memories of a lunch that is solidified as the "best ever" in my mind? With my Aunt Alice as menu guide, we ordered the following:

The dumpling makersIncredible appetizer - the Oriental salad - tangy and savory tofu, vermicelli, seaweed, Chinese vinegar dressing

Hot and sour soup - serviceable version

Gorgeous spicy rendition of wontons in black vinegar and chili oil

 Some greens to balance the meal - stir-fried dou miao with garlic. Note these are baby dou miao which were extra tender

Noodles in a sesame dressing - solid choice but did not stand out compared to the oriental salad, soup dumplings and the chili wontons

 The one and only - pork Xiao long bao. The thinnest, silkiest wrapper I have ever tasted - yet strong so the soup doesn't leak. Perfect soup dumplings.

 

 

 

 

The incredible truffle Xiao long bao - should have ordered more as one was not enough!

All in all, it was an incredibly satisfying meal and the stand-outs were the soup dumplings along with the oriental salad and chili wontons. If I lived in Singapore, I'm sure I would be here every week! Although there is something about visiting the original Din Tai Fung in Taipei and it being the very first time I bit into the dumpling that will glow in my mind forever.