Din Tai Fung 鼎泰丰(环球金融中心店)

浦东新区世纪大道100号环球金融中心3楼
Shanghai, China

Occasion: Dinner after the World Financial Center tour. We were hungry and it was conveniently downstairs. Din Tai Fung location number 4! December 2011 

Coconut Milk for him

 

Warm soy milk for me

A very popular choice of drink for the northern Chinese

Snow pea shoots (dou miao)

One our favorite veggies.  It was sauteed with garlic and absolutely flavorful with a good crunch to it.

Fried rice

Actually quite delicious and filling. Rice was soft, moist and a little sticky just the way I like it.  It wasn't too greasy and flavorful.  Henry needed some carbs to fill up.

Xiao Long Bao

They do a good job here.  Thin skin filled with yummy goodness.

Egg rolls filled with seafood and mushroom

It was okay, nothing special to me.  I think we have better things in the states, or maybe I'm just not big on egg rolls. 

Almond pudding

Free with a coupon from the WFC.  It was decent, but it was free.

Din Tai Fung- 鼎泰丰(新天地店)

黄浦区方浜中路168号豫城时尚内(近三牌楼路) Shanghai, China

Occasion: After walking around at the Bazaar where we had two meals at Nan Xiang, we stumbled upon Din Tai Fung at the Mall across the street. We just had to go and have another meal. We've already hit up Din Tai Fung in 2 other cities, so why not try it at a third. Since we've already eaten, we weren't that hungry. We tried to order something light. December 2011

Peanut Sauce Noodles

Delicious. I love the chewy bouncy texture of the noodles.  Toss it around the peanut sauce and it's perfect. Portion size is perfect, absolutely tasty with the delicious noodles. I love noodles!

Steamed pork with shark's fin and hairy crab meat Xiao Long Bao

Shanghai is known for their hairy crab meat and Henry loves shark fin, so of course that was a must for us to get.  I honestly didn't enjoy it as much as I did their usual pork meat XLBs.  The meat was more grounded and the texture of the shark fin was just not that enjoyable.  Not to say that it wasn't good, just not the way I like it.  Authentic XLB> frou-frou XLB.

Sesame filled rice ball in a ginger sauce

This is one of my favorite Chinese desserts! I love the soft chewy consistency of the rice ball.  The sesame filling is perfect as it's not too sweet and it's neither too watery or too thick.  Best I've ever had! I'm still dreaming about them. Best eaten during the cold weather, but I'll take it hot or cold.

Din Tai Fung- 西单店

西城区西单北大街133号君太百货B1楼(近西单大悦城)

Occasion: Dinner our first night in Beijing! On a quest to eat as many Xiao Long Baos as possible. First XLBs in Beijing! A ride that would normally take 10 minutes took nearly 40 minutes with the Beijing traffic.  By the time we found the place and got seated, we were pretty hungry. 12.08.11 

Din Tai Fung: Location # 2 on our vacay.  First one was in Arcadia, California.

Shredded beancurd with seaweed and bean sprouts

We saw a lot of people who ordered this appetizer back in Arcadia, but because we were on a food adventure that day with really no time to rest and digest our food, we passed and promised to order it when we got to Asia. And so here you have it, the appetizer we've been waiting to try.  It was definitely very refreshing and quite flavorful.  The textures were incredible with the crunchy/ cartilidge-y seaweed and the crunchy bean sprouts.  I thought it was a great play in not only texture, but also flavors.  Excellent way to start our meal.

Black Truffle with pork dumplings

We definitely did not notice this on the menu in Arcadia.  Perhaps we missed it.  Once we saw it, we both knew we wanted to try it.

Black truffle dumpling (up close)

The black truffle taste was pretty mild.  What I love about their XLBs is that they're soupy and never disappoints me.  I've had dry XLBs before and that's not the same.  I'm pretty simple and I think I would have enjoyed the regular pork better, but I'm glad I got to try this.

Sauteed snow pea shoot with minced garlic

We felt that we needed to eat something healthier to better digest our food.  Of course, we'd choose our favorite veggies.  Delicious!

 Braised beef noodle soup

It was not spicy at all and resembled somewhat of the beef noodle soup I've had previously.  I love the chewy texture of the noodles and the warmth of the soup definitely helped with the cold weather.  Beef was braised very tenderly and although it wasn't the best tasting

Spicy wonton

They were so delicious. I can't exactly pinpoint the flavor, but it's mildly spicy and wonderfully flavored.  The spice is not familiar to my taste buds, but it had a smokey taste to it.  It was addicting a super tasty.

Din Tai Fung

108 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007

Occasion: On the quest to find the best Xiaolong bao. We came here almost right after brunch so that Henry could try their XLB's. Our second meal of the day. 12. 07.11

 Green Tea Tapioca

Best I've ever had.  Chewy tapioca balls that tasted super fresh and green tea that was made to the perfect amount of sweetness. I think I'm in love.

Noodle with minced pork sauce

The fresh chewy and springy noodles mixed with the minced pork sauce was just perfect.  It wasn't overly done and the portion was a decent size considering the fact that we'd already had a pretty big breakfast.  I was full, but I couldn't stop eating it.  It was just so delicious!

 Pork Xiao Long Baos

I've had the crab one here before and was not a big fan of it, so we decided to order the pork.  I think they make really good XLBs with the perfect skin that's not too thick.  The XLBs are filled with flavorful pork meat that's filled with it's juicy soup.  Henry became a fan!

Taste of Formosa

2428 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94121

Occasion: Friday night dinner with Henry, Henry's sister and her bf.  I love eating with more people, that way we can order more dishes and try a little bit of everything. 11.18.11

House made Soy Milk (Cold)

This is a traditional drink Taiwanese people drink.  According to my Taiwanese friends, it's best served hot and is often complemented with any meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner), but most commonly drank with breakfast.  It was a cold chilly night and I actually hoped for him to order the hot kind.  It was really refreshing and not too sweet.  It's not as rich and creamy as whole milk and is actually more watered down  I had a taste and thought it was very tasty, but Henry loved it so much he ordered two.

Mustard green with shredded pork fried rice cake

I love the chewy consistency of rice cake, so this was something I did somewhat enjoy.  It was just a little to salty for my liking.  Perhaps it was the chinese relish in the dish  (suan cai).  Even with all the dishes that came out, I always found myself picking at this dish!

Oyster Crepe/ Omelet

I love love loved the texture of the omelet.  It was warm, gooey, slimy and delicious.  It's definitely nothing I've ever tried before.  I fell in love with it. There was also some special sweet sauce drizzled over it. I'm not usually a fan of cooked oyster because 1)it tastes really fishy and 2) I do not like the texture of it.  The combination of the taste and the texture does not please my taste buds, but not in this case.  It was manageable.

Salted sticky rice roll

I was really looking forward to this, but it was quite disappointing.  There was too much rice and not enough filing.  I had this for the first time when I was in Hacienda Heights, CA and it was so good.  The rice was fluffy, moist and sticky and filled with a lot of shredded pork and minced up goodies.  It's lacking in filling and flavor here at Taste of Formosa.

Beef with green onion

With everything we ordered, the boys felt the need for some protein to fill them up.  Though there was a slight kick to this dish, it was really good! It was flavorful and the meat was not too rubbery.

Scallion Pancake

I love scallion pancakes.  It's simple, but it's so tasty.  The pancake was flaky and buttery and was absolutely flavorful.  It's a great snack to have!

Wonton with hot sauce

Everyone else loved it and it was Henry's favorite dish, but it was a little bit too spicy for me.  This was a different kind of spice, not one that I've ever had before.  It had a  roasted/ burnt taste to it and in my opinion it tasted like some kind of Indian spice.   

 Beef Noodle Soup

YUM! Broth was very hearty and not too salty.  We shared this amongst four people, so it didn't seem like too much.  Noodles were good and the beef chunks were pretty tender.  Overall, I thought it was pretty delicious and perfect for a cold autumn night!

Red bean paste cake

The dough is the same as that of the scallion pancake; flaky and buttery goodness. It was filled with a red bean paste and was served hot.  The read bean paste was smooth and creamy and was not overly sweet.  I love these types of flaky dough, so I enjoyed it a lot. Yum!

Din Tai Fung

1108 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007

Occasion: Lunch after a rough partying night and before we hit up disneyland!

Braised Beef Noodle Soup
After a night of partying this is just what we needed! I've never had taiwanese Beef noodle soup and in my opinion, since I have nothing to compare to I think it's pretty good. I love home made noodles because it has a bounce to it when you bite into it. The meat was very tender. Overall a satisfying dish.

Noodles with minced meat sauce and ground pork

It was pretty simple and reminded me of something I've had before. The noodles went well with the sauce. I love noodles so I was definitely a fan of this noodle dish.

Shanghai Rice Cakes

I love rice cakes and though the portion was kind of small compared to other places where I've had it, it was still pretty good. Another dish I enjoyed.
Pork Soup Dumplings
It's good, but it still doesn't compare to New York's: Joe's Shanghai. Maybe I was just expecting a lot because I've heard a lot of good stuff about their dumplings. It's definitely way better than their crab soup dumplings. I guess because it was in such high demand, only 1 out of our 3 trays came out. By the time our last trays came out we were so full we had to cancel one. I like how there is a good amount of soup in it. I wish the skin was just a little thinner. As for the taste it was pretty good but not as good as I had expected it to be.

Shrimp and pork xiao mai

I've never seen or had anything that looked like this. When I bit into it, it actually found that it resembled the xiao mai's that chinese restaurants serve at dim sum. What I didn't like about it was the skin. It was too thick and too dry.

Crab soup dumplings
They were able to decipher between the pork and the crab with a little carrot in the middle. This was not good to me at all. I would have so much rather gotten three more trays of the pork than to have these crabs. I was expecting it to have a similar taste, texture and ingredients as Joe's Shanghai in New York. It did not taste anything like joe's shanghai. I was really disappointed after my first bite. The crab meat itself as well as the flavor...did not do it for me.


Pork and glutinous rice xiao mai
It reminded me of sticky rice you can get at dimsum, but less flavorful. I don't like the skin at all because it's too thick. It was kind of bland. We did not like it at all.