Din Tai Fung. Those three syllables are music to foodies’
ears and eyes when they found out that this famous chain is finally opening its
doors in Manila, thanks to Moment
Group of Restaurants. I couldn’t really join or understand the hype as I
have never been to one but I was told that it was very similar to Tim Ho Wan
which I was not really crazy about. But then I had the opportunity to try this
well-loved Chinese
restaurant when I visited Hong
Kong a few weeks back.
Hello, Din Tai Fung.
We visited the Din Tai Fung Miramar
Mall branch since it was the one nearest
our hotel. And it sure was a good call as when we arrived, there was no
line at all. The mall, which was renovated in 2008, was pretty empty except for
this restaurant with a massive floor area.
The first thing I noticed was that there’s a time limit for
dining. I forgot to take note though up to how long we could stay. But the French
way of dining is definitely out.
We settled with the following dishes: Steamed Pork
Dumplings/Xiao
Long Bao (HK$58), Braised
Beef Noodle Soup (HK$82) and Steamed
Taro Paste Dumplings
(HK$43) for dessert.
While waiting, we enjoyed our warm house tea
(which apparently not the house tea we are used to as we had to pay HK$9 per
person for this and water is more expensive).
First served was our xiao long bao which were pretty good.
It was juicy and flavorful and dipping it in the black vinegar sauce made it
even more delectable. It was also served piping hot so we had to wait a bit to
let it cool. However, Lugang Café’s xiao
long bao wasn’t far from Din Tai Fung’s. I could settle for Lugang anytime.
The braised
beef noodle
soup was something else though. It was probably one of the best noodle soups I’ve
tasted. The noodles
were cooked just right, not too hard nor too soft and the broth had this lovely
sweet yet salty flavor. It wasn’t oily too. And the braised
beef…
it was so soft and flavorful too. (Waaah! I am drooling now.)
As for dessert… it looked just like our first dish. Don’t be
tricked though as this time, it was stuffed with taro paste.
It was indeed worthy to be called paste as it was sticky.
But the slight sweetness
of the taro
made it a nice
dish to end our meal. (It was too heavy though as dessert
so don’t order a lot if you plan to get this too.)
Upon getting our bill, I realized that Din Tai Fung is far
more expensive than Tim
Ho Wan. But it seems that it also serves better dishes and wider food
selection.
See you in Manila, Din Tai Fung.
Din Tai Fung is located at 4th Floor, Miramar
Shopping Center, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
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