Taiwan Eat & Play - Din Tai Fung 台灣食旅- 鼎泰豐

 In Taiwan there is a world wide well know restaurant, its name is "Din Tai Fung". Almost all the tourists will want to go this restaurant to eat its Xiao Long Bao! 
The very first shop is opened at Yong Kang Streer in Taipei, and because of the business is doing too well, Din Tia Fung opened few more franchise shops. However, the view of long queuing line is still happening everyday! From this you can know how popular and how delicious this restaurant is! Now you can also find Din Tai Fung in Chian, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, America and Australia, but I heard that the serving way is different from Taiwan. Maybe that's the reason most of the people when they come to Taiwan, they still want to try the real, the most original Xiao Long Bao in Din Tai Fung!     

說到享譽國際的台灣餐廳應該就是 鼎泰豐 了吧! 所有的遊客到台灣來幾乎都會指定要吃鼎泰豐的小籠包! 最原始的鼎泰豐是開在永康街, 但因為生意太好了, 開了幾家分店. 但是家家排隊爆滿的情形一樣天天在上演!現在甚至大陸, 香港, 日本, 韓國, 印尼, 馬來西亞, 美國, 澳洲 都開了分店. 但聽說販賣的方式與台灣仍是有些不同. 所以, 有機會的話還是來台灣吃一下正統的鼎泰豐小籠包吧!


Din Tai Fung has 3 franchise shops in Taipei and I already went to the original shop and the Zong Xiao shop before. This time my friend coincidentally agreed to go to the newest Fu Xing shop. I was so happy that I have this chance to try all three shops! 
The Fu Xing shop will not accept the same day reservation; so if you didn't reserve it few days in advance, you can only be on the waiting list of that day and the average waiting time is about 45 mins~ But the thoughtful Taiwanese is using a smart and nicer way to let people queuing. A lot of popular shop will take your contact number, give you a number card and tell you about how long you should wait, so you don't need to really standing in the line to queue. Plus this shop is opened in a department store building, so you can go to do some shopping or walk around while you are waiting!
The time when we got in the restaurant was already 20:30. Check how many groups were before us--264 groups!!!     
鼎泰豐在台北有3家分店, 我本店, 忠孝店都吃過了, 這次剛好朋友約了新開的復興店, 真是開心我有幸把3家都吃過! 不過復興點不接受當天預約, 所有的人都要現場排隊, 一排至少都要45分鐘以上~ 幸好貼心的台灣人是用領號碼牌的方式, 所以等待的時間可以到樓上的百貨公司逛逛喔!
我們進場的時間已經是8點半了, 看看領牌小姐頭上的號碼已經是第264組客人囉!

One of the special view of the original Din Tai Fung shop is their kitchen is at ground floor and all the customers need to go upstairs to enjoy the food. They make sure the other two franchise shops which opened later are also keep this special view, and they make it even cleaner and brighter! It is very fun to see so many shi-fu are making tasty Xiao Long Bao with incredible speed!  

 本店的特色就是一樓是開放的廚房, 用餐在樓上. 後來在台北開的幾家店也都儘量保持這個特色! 而且更乾淨明亮, 可以看到廚房的師父們瘋狂包小龍包的情景也是鼎泰豐的特色之一喔!!

Fu Xing shop has a big counter! There were 6 pretty and friendly girls doing the bill checking and food takeaway job. My friend told me that those girls who stand in the front are all special selected! How thoughtful of Taiwan catering industry! :)
復興店的櫃檯超大的!光裡面就站了6位打包,結帳小姐!他們都長的很漂亮也很親切~ 朋友說..這都是特別挑選過喔~~ 台灣的餐飲服務業就是這麼細心! :)

The most popular dish-- Xiao Long Bao!!! The skinned is so thing and the the broth inside is so much and tasty!! Can't really describe all the tasty detail, you need to eat it yourself!! 

必吃的鼎泰豐小龍包來嘍!! 皮超薄, 湯超爆就他們的特色啦!

 Shrimp and pork Shao Mai !看得到一整隻蝦的蝦仁蒸餃喔!

 My first try of their Steamed vegetable and fish dumpling. 第一次吃的鮮魚蒸餃

The way how to eat Din Tai Fung's dumpling is very different from other places! They even put a card of "Guide to enjoy the Xiao Long Bao" on the table to make sure all the customers can enjoy the best taste! Sweet~
鼎泰豐小龍包的吃法和一般店家的隨意吃法不一樣喔!他們還特別附上了'小籠包食用指引' 讓第一次來的客人知道如何品嘗最佳滋味的方法! 真貼心~

Not sure can everyone read it form this picture, here is the way to eat it:

Step1. Please put some soy sauce and vinegar in the ginger dish. *Suggested ratio: 1(soy sauce) : 3(vinegar).

Step2. Take Xiao Long Bao and dip in the sauce. * Suggested trying the original flavor Xiao Long Bao first without any sauce.

Step3. Place Xiao Long Bao in the spoon and poke a small hole to release the broth.

Step4. Enjoy Xiao Long Bao with some ginger and the broth.* Be careful. It is Hot!

The other non-dumpling dishes that we ordered:  我們點的非包子類菜色:
 Hot- and- Sour Soup.酸辣湯

Sauteed water spinach. 炒空心菜

This is my first time to try their Shrimp Wonton with spicy sauce (Hong you chao shou). But I guess Sichuang cuisine is not their strengths. It tastes not bad, but I did eat better one in other restaurant.
第一次吃他們的 紅油抄手,可能川菜不是他們的特長吧, 雖然還不錯, 但我倒是有吃過更好吃的.

Noodles mixed in sesame and Pepper sauce (Dan dan mian). The feeling I got is the same above. I checked more information on line, a lot of people also recommend their "Fried rice with eggs and fried pork chop" and "Steamed chicken soup"! 

擔擔麵~ 心得同上, 後來在網路上查了一下, 很多人也很推薦他們的 排骨蛋炒飯 和 元盅雞湯 喔!

This dinner is because we are all girls so we can't really eat much, plus the time we started eating is pretty late. The time that we finished is already 22:30 and we were the last table. (The department store closed at 10 already :P) Therefore, we didn't have time and stomach to eat dessert... But if you have time, you can try their " Steamed mashed red bean buns" and "Eight treasure glutinous rice"! If you are like us, no time and no space in stomach, you can also takeaway!! They have really nice takeaway or gift packages!!   
這次因為大部份都是女生, 胃實在不大, 外加我們進場的時間算晚的, 我們吃完時已經是10點3半,是最後一桌了!連樓上的百貨公司都已經打佯了說~ 所以沒時間也沒胃再吃甜點了..但他們的八寶飯 (有小的)和豆沙包小籠包很好吃喔!! 如果大家跟我們一樣沒胃吃, 也可以考慮外帶喔!!精美的外帶送禮包裝很美的!!

 Image doll is very popular these years in Taiwan, any kind of shops or businesses might all have it. This is Din Tai Fung's image dolls!!
台灣這幾年實在很流行公仔, 這麼店都可以出! 這就是鼎泰豐的功夫蒸籠公仔啦!

They also release a lot of Din Tai Fung souvenirs! If the time you come here might be the only time in your life, maybe buy some is not a bad idea!!   :p
他們還有出很多相關的紀念品讓觀光客可以帶回家! 如果你可能這輩子只會去這麼一次的話, 可以考慮看看喔!!

Din Tai Fung's history and the awards they got are too many to tell in here. Here are Wikipedia and their International official website to let you know more about them!
鼎泰豐的故事和得過的頭銜實在太精采, 無法一一道來, 所以特別附上維基大師的解說和鼎泰豐的國際官網!