Dan Tai Fung Redux

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: ...what can't be shoved into a soup dumpling?

Like usual, all my trips back to Taiwan involves a trip to Din Tai Fung. I am going to get some hisses for it being a "chain" but I do not care. It ain't no Crapplebees. Check my previous posts for my usual orderings at Din Tai Fung but the amount of times I have been here, there are still many dishes I have yet to try.

Mini soup dumplings kind of like pelmeni

One of this is mini soup dumplings which are a weekend and I want to say Saturday only offering. These mini dumplings are like their regular soup dumplings but miniaturized, like Honey I Shrunk the Kids kind of deal. The positives of getting this is:
 
1. you can down a whole soup dumpling down in one bite without destroying the roof of your mouth.
2. Miniature things are awesome and somehow taste better
3. You get a side of chicken soup

Of course any Asian knows that no meal is not complete without some kind of hot liquid. It is just a light flavorful chicken broth.

The other soup dumpling that you will not be getting anywhere else is one filled with shrimp and winter melon. The melon gives a emerald glow to the it. I attempted to take a picture of the innards but it looks like a hot mess. However, this is a special soup dumpling where the "soup" part is all from the melon. Chinese winter melon releases a lot of liquid and creates it own broth and makes for a unique soup dumpling. More after the jump!

The Taiwan Dispatch: Din Tai Fung: Soup Dumplings Nirvana

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Soup Dumplings is a perfect cure for Jet lag, or at least make your forget how tired you are.

Din Tai Fung Menu


I am going away next Friday and to get in the travel mood and spirit, I am going to start posting up stuff from my last travel excursion to Taiwan. I went to Taiwan back in November 2010 during Thanksgiving, which would generally make me angry because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I love celebrating the survival of a  bunch of uptight white folks. Oh yes, I also like cooking and eating Thanksgiving food, I am the loser that starts planning Thanksgiving when November comes around, I do not joke about Thanksgiving. So missing Thanksgiving and being in Taiwan would generally end with Hulk-like anger but after the initial shock and a 15 second moment of grief, I came to terms with it and knew this was just as good, if not better and 70 degree weather helped as well. Besides, I can smoke a turkey when I get home. 

I have a love and hate relationship with this country; I hated it when I was younger because I could not stand the whole day flight and then dealing with family members. They could not speak English and I had elementary Chinese skills at best and they could never pronounce my name. The name is Joseph or Joe, not “Johnson” or “Jetson”. However, like my culinary knowledge, as I grew up and learned more about Taiwan and food, it just took some time to become aware and embrace all that Taiwan has to offer and realized that this was a haven and a must destination for a serious eater. 

So to start off on what I call the Taiwan Dispatch (calling it a “dispatch” makes it sound 10x more exotic and exciting) I am going to start of with the beginning of the trip and the first thing I ate. Well, not really the first thing I ate but the first meal I had in Taiwan after not going back in about 6 years. Well, the first thing I had was a coffee and a stroopwafel at a Starbucks, which by the way, their “venti” is smaller than the American “venti” so we are either they are getting ripped off or we are making out I don’t know. Anybody that wants to fund this research and send me back to Taiwan for uhh research and study feel free to contact me.

This guy is like 10x cooler than Ronald McDonald

If the first meal in any place defines a trip, then I was going to eating like a king…like King Henry VIII who ate like everything. Even before we checked into our hotel room, we went to Sogo, a Japanese mall to the eat at the ever popular Din Tai Fung. First thing to note is that this mall food court is nothing compared to your local mall. If you think having a Cinnabon and a Sabarros was the pinnacle of mall cuisine, then you are out of luck here. It is like the food hall at Harrods in London and probably based off of that. There are bakeries pumping out fresh and tasty bread, specialty cakes and cookies, Korean barbeques, noodles everywhere and you can even get a steak dinner here. So it comes no surprise that there is a Din Tai Fung here. 

Food galore after the jump