2013
People have raved about the amazing xiaolongbao, custard buns (or their ‘golden lava’ buns), and mango pancakes at Din Tai Fung. Today, N and I happened to be around the area before lunch hour, so avoided the absolutely crazy lunch hour queues. We were actually walking around trying to find a place with pretty cakes, but failing. We settled on Din Tai Fung for morning tea/breakfast as a break from our quest. We both had high expectations.
The golden lava buns were different from the custard buns that I’m used to – soft bun, gooey innards – so I was quite surprised by a stiff bun and runny custard.
Are they something to rave about? Probably not. I probably wouldn’t buy them again, but I wouldn’t say no every time I’m offered one.
Then there were the drinks! Peach sunrise (left) was an intensely (but pleasantly) peachy blended ice. Lychee and mint (right) was probably the most unpalatable drink I have ever had: it tasted potently green, which overwhelmed any hint of lychee. N loved it though. What’s more interesting is that the picture on the top of the cups resembles a lady when viewed right side up, and a baby when viewed up side down. I wonder if that was intentional?
Din Tai Fung is located at Westfield Sydney, Level 5 Shop 504/5, 188 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000.
2014
Din Tai Fung is famous for its dumplings. People rave about it all the time. I’d visited before as a mid-morning snack, which didn’t live up to all the hype, but I’d never had a proper meal there before. We tried once, but the queue at World Square (previously the only branch in Sydney) was far too long and we were hungry.
So, when a branch opened up at Central Park and certain people I know had spent upwards of $500.00 within the first month of it opening, N and I popped in for lunch. With the cover of its menu boasting to have ‘the world’s tastiest dumpling’, we had to try it for ourselves. For the high price demanded for each dish, we had quite high expectations.
We ordered the xiaolongbao, which are pockets of mince with soup. These held up quite well – the dumpling didn’t pop and spill all its soupy juices everywhere when you picked it up with chop sticks. The soup wasn’t boiling hot so it didn’t burn your mouth when you bit into them. As for the mince, however, I’d have preferred it to be less salty.
We also ordered these vegetable and chicken dumplings because N likes her greens, and when is ordering pure vegetable dumplings a good deal anyway? These were quite disappointing. The vegetable:chicken ratio seemed to be 9:1 – I could barely see, let alone taste, the chicken.
And then because 7 dumplings each didn’t seem like it’d fill us up (it didn’t), we ordered a noodle soup dish with fried chicken. The fried chicken was very juicy and tender, but the crumbed batter left an unpleasant floury aftertaste. The noodles in the chicken broth however, were quite tasty – the noodles had bite and had absorbed much of the chicken flavour into it. So, overall, I wasn’t that impressed with Din Tai Fung. I’d spent far less at sushi trains and left completely full and nursing a food coma for the afternoon. But this didn’t even leave me feeling full. There is, however, one silver lining –
The drinks! Which, honestly, shouldn’t be the highlight in terms of taste or price. But it was, alas. The left is the lychee and mint frappe, which I’d tried before and decided it was too minty. N ordered it again this time and the mint no longer overpowered the lychee, which made it quite a refreshing drink. And the right is the Italian green apple soda. I love apple flavoured things, and this was no exception – I’v never tasted a green apple soft drink quite like it – it is sweet with a crisp apple flavour to it.
2015
Since returning from Japan, I’ve been craving the same creamy shaved ice we’d enjoyed in Yokohama. I’m rather weary of shaved ice items on menus in Australia because they invariably seem to be crushed ice, rather than shaved ice. And crushed ice is crunchy not creamy.
I was at Din Tai Fung recently (we all know Din Tai Fung specialises in dumplings) and dessert seemed like a nice way to round off the meal. They have typical Chinese desserts like mango pudding and black sesame ice cream, but the mango shaved ice caught my attention. I wasn’t convinced it was shaved, rather than crushed, ice despite the description, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt – Din Tai Fung is a somewhat pricey restaurant so it’s not impossible.
What greeted me was an impressively huge serving – the diameter of the bowl in the photo is about 10 cm. The bowl is filled with mango syrup, sliced mango, with a central tower of shaved ice drizzled in more mango syrup and liquid condensed milk, topped with a scoop of mango gelato. It’s about twice as tall as it is wide.
The mango gelato was delicious as expected (mango is one of those failsafe gelato flavours) and the sliced mango tasted fresh (although I’ve never had canned mango, so I’m not sure if there’s a difference). But the shaved ice itself? That was major disappointment – not only was it crushed ice, it was pre-crushed and then placed back in the freezer, so the entire tower became a solid block of ice. It was impossible to eat, and hacking at it with a spoon wasn’t much help. Having spent a good twenty minutes trying to eat this, I eventually gave up. It was only possible to enjoy the gelato and the mango slices without making a mess.
2016
With xiaolongbao, various other dumplings and handmade noodles and deep fried chicken/pork to share, I took the chance to try some new items that weren’t on the menu during my last visits.
I am delighted by all things yuzu, and so it was for this yuzu peach freeze ($8.80). It is every bit as delicious as it sounds with the taste of fresh peaches carried by the uplifting citrus kick of yuzu. There’s none of that overly sweet peach flavour you find in syrups. Yum!
Another obsession is black sesame manjū in Kurashiki, Okayama that are baked to reveal a surprising crunchy black skin, super fluffy black dough and smooth black sesame paste inside. The ones here are black sesame buns ($2.20 each) and more like the steamed ones you’d expect in a Chinese restaurant.
Dotted with three black sesames, these have black sesame paste inside a dense white dough. Served piping hot, the black sesame paste here was very gritty, and together with the not-at-all-fluffy dough, it left a rather unpleasant mouthfeel that you couldn’t wait to wash down.
A new addition to the menu is a twist on their famous Golden Lava Buns. Here, they’ve Golden Lava Mochi Balls ($4.80 for 2 pieces), essentially jian diu with their signature salted egg yolk filling.
This is the standouts of the desserts I’ve had at Din Tai Fung. It came out piping hot with the crispy toasted sesame coating hiding a chewy layer of dough that encased a brilliantly golden yellow salted egg yolk filling. Everything about these mochi balls is balanced – the dough is the right thickness, the filling is neither too salty nor too sweet, too thick nor too runny. There’s crunch and chew and gooey innards – definitely a step up from the Golden Lava Buns.
Din Tai Fung is located at Central Park, Level 2, R201, 28 Broadway, Chippendale NSW 2008.