Din Tai Fung

I usually don’t go out on many special occasion dinners here in China. Even if I did, I wouldn't know where to go. Luckily, I have people here who can help me out. Recently, one of my American friends was celebrating his birthday, so we decided to go out to eat. We had heard about this wonderful Chinese restaurant called Din Tai Fung, so we decided to stop by. Turns out, this place is recognized worldwide as a very good restaurant, earning it a Michelin star. This means we were in for a treat.

We began the meal with some sautéed spinach; very classically prepared and perfectly seasoned. The high heat of the wok cooked this green to perfection which allows it retains some texture without giving the taste of raw leaf. Next came the sautéed cabbage and bacon. This dish was incredible to me, because even though it was simple, it caught me by surprise. I was expecting the cabbage to taste like cabbage and the bacon to taste like bacon, but the bacon flavor was prominent throughout as if I were just eating a plate of bacon. The funny thing was that there was actually very little bacon in the actual dish.

Next came the fried rice and some of the most tender pork I have ever tasted. It was simple, yet perfect.

After these appetizers, the stars of the restaurant began to come out. This restaurant is mostly known for its dumplings, especially the xialongbao. Xialongbao is a type of dumpling that when being prepared, is filled with a type of coagulated soup, so it is turned to liquid through the process of steaming the dumpling. This explains why people commonly refer to them as soup dumplings. So when a person is eating the dumpling, they bite, and it literally explodes and gushes soup into your mouth. We got three different types: chicken, pork, and foie gras. They were all incredible, but the foie gras one was one of the best bites of food I've ever had in my life. 

Last came out the shrimp shumai, which was just as incredible as the other dumplings.

I definitely see myself returning to this restaurant, especially for those foie gras xialongbao. Just when I thought I couldn't love Chinese food more, I am proven wrong.