At Din Tai Fung, Soup Dumplings with a Side of Spectacle

Culture, Media, General Food Media and News
1

I’ve yet to eat their XLB anywhere.

1 Like
2

We have a few around Seattle. Haven’t been in a while but I do enjoy the dumplings.

1 Like
3

We have very good Sichuan and serviceable Taiwanese in our podunk town, but proper XLB are hard to find. We briefly had John’s Shanghai, opened by a PSU graduate (?) related to Joe’s in NYC, but unfortunately it did not last long.

4

I’ve had their dumplings in Taiwan (twice), Hong Kong (one of multiple locations), Japan, and never in the US. Quality definitely varies from store to store, but worst case scenario (so far) is that it’s still a solid soup dumpling. If you are lucky enough to have good soup dumpling options elsewhere, you may find them to be overhyped. I think when done well, they are really good.

3 Likes
5

It’s interesting. We had a team dinner at the Century City (LA) branch last year and ordered most everything on the menu and found the dumplings to be about our least favorite part of the meal. But it sure was fun. We’d happily go back.

1 Like
6

I went to the one in San Jose years ago, right after they opened for the day (on a weekday). I recall that the food was good, but I don’t remember anything standing out.

7

In case you didnt see the NY thread so far

8

We were recently in their flagship store, down the street from their OG (now p/u and deliver only) store on Xinyi.

We flagged one of the ever present servers to request something. We were somewhat surprised that she did Not speak Chinese?!?! Whatzzup with that?

A very pleasant Filipina, she explained she is from the Dubai store, here for training. I LOVE that!

Infuse the culture that made the chain a world wide succes in the first place. Not foolish enough to believe the standards will be consistently adhered to in every location. However, bringing key staff from outlying operations into Taiwan, instead of merely sending out an Opening A Team for new outlet openings for a few weeks, then withdrawing to the next new place. Commendable.

1 Like
9

Not to far from the office. As I rarely go out for lunch, will need to check it out after work soon. A buddy of mine who is from Taiwan has already gone. Got good feedback.

10

I had.