Din Tai Fong

Din Tai Fong is Taiwan's award winning dumplings house that has two LA locations, but none in SF.  Actually, only one location if you count that the store fronts are located right behind each other.  Supposedly the lines can get ridiculously long, but an hour after opening on a Saturday, I didn't see any lines.

There's a lot of things on the menu, but everyone comes here for the soup dumplings or as they are known on the menu here - juicy pork dumplings.  These plump dumplings are made fresh in the restaurant and then steamed to create a tiny package of steamy, soupy goodness.  Not sure if it was because I came on a Saturday around opening and the dumplings were possibly made in batches the night before to tide over the lunch rush, but these dumplings were so dry.  The skin was paper thin and held well when plucked from the steamers, but even looking closely at the wrapper, you could see its dryness.  The dry skin was just the first issue of this disappointing dish.  There was no heavy sagging of the soup in the dumpling when picked up, which only foreshadowed what was to come.  The first bite confirmed a dry center.  Possibly one of the most disappointing dumplings I've had in a long time.       

Unlike most places that give you a dish of prepoured vinegar and ginger, Din Tai Fong has a self serve bottle on the side of the table.  It makes me think that people eat alot of dumplings here!

The Chinese green beans stir fried in garlic were flavorful, but deemed way too greasy to finish.

Similar shape and size to the juicy pork dumplings, but these crab and pork dumplings were juicier.  Too much crab flavor, as if that is possible, but it didn't taste or smell fresh. 

     

Address:                   Din Tai Fong
                                  1108 S. Baldwin Ave.
                                  Arcadia, CA 
 

Type:                        Chinese/Taiwanese

Popular chomps:       xiao long bao/juicy pork dumping

Chomp worthy:          nothing