Din Tai Fung

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

If you can get a table without having to queue it makes the whole experience so much nicer. I have been here quite a few times for a quick weekday lunch. The dumplings are great and there are a host of other options including delicious sesame noodles and water spinach with garlic. There are also interesting fruit juices (think lychee and mint) and nice dessert dumplings.

The service is always quick and once when my husband spilled black vinegar on his shirt they brought him a special cleaning cloth and helped him clean it up, nice touch.

May 18, 2010 

2 Not Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

We drove a long way with the family to enjoy Mother's Day Lunch at Din Tai Fung Rest. It was highly recommended by a Food programme show we had seen recently. We called on the way to just barely understand the location of the premises. We also arrived at 10 am to be greeted and told that the restaurant will be open at 11 am and no need for bookings as it should be alright and not too busy.

A hungry family arrived 11 am on time to be told to wait outside, waiting time will be at least 30 minutes! We felt so disappointed and mostly no one understood us! Good luck to them. Food may be terrific but on the other hand, the service and lack of communication was very poor indeed. We left and ate elsewhere. A waste of time for our family and on our special Mother's Day. We have no plans to come back again.

May 10, 2010 

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  5     

Forget that you have to queue, that there are weirdo items on the menu and that it can be a bit exxy. There are a few stand out dishes including their dumplings and pickled cucumbers, most of their offerings are little works of art beautifully executed but they also have some strange little dishes like a type of spaghetti noodle-y thing in peanut butter tasting sauce. I wouldn't go there for a special night out, but if you just itch for a slippery opaque dumpling that's beautifully turned out, it's worth it.

May 03, 2010 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

This joint is on the pricey side for dumplings and noodles and the portions aren't large but its so fresh, tasty and the dumplings are delectable. The skins are so soft and thin, the soup is very tasty and the meat/seafood dumpling actually taste like meat and seafood. Not like some yum cha joints that disguise poor quality meat/produce with strong flavours.

We really enjoyed the dumplings, beans with blackbean and pork mince. The fried rice was a little bland but the flavours of the other dishes compensate so that the meal is not too salty. I also like having soy sauce, vinegar and chilli oil on the table. We also had desserts, grean tea ice-cream with red beans, rich and creamy but not too sweet and the taro ice cream and fried rolls, much sweeter with the lovely flavour of taro, not to my partner's taste but I've grown up eating all things Asian, definitely going back!

May 02, 2010 

3.5 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  1     

After reading all the hype, had to try this place, was only after a take away had 8 dumplings for $17.80, I had already had something beforehand to eat so I wasn't really looking for huge servings. The wait for a table was 30 minutes but you were told that right up and you did feel like cattle class that way. Didn't really see the value for money or what the hype was all about, certainly wouldn't return at that price.

Apr 09, 2010 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

The xiao long bao is unsurpassed (except for its Hong Kong branch!). A little pricey, but the quality is worth it. Enjoyed my visit to Din Tai Fung.

Apr 05, 2010 

7 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  5      Value  6     

Its pricey but I guess the dumplings are really made to perfection, like artwork. Until this place, I have never eaten taiwanese style dumplings in Australia with such thin smooth skin before and juicy but all intact (no rupture) when served.
We had to share tables though.

Mar 14, 2010 

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

We came here for lunch. The service was bad at the start when we were at the door (waiting in line), however, it changes quickly once you are seated. The waiter brought a stand for me to put my handbag and covered it with a red cloth so that I could sit comfortably. We ordered the pork "siu long pau" and the crab roe ones as well. No doubt as other reviewers said, the pork siu long pau was a stand out! I should not have borthered with the rest.

We ordered the vegetable dumplings, it was quite dry to my liking. In addition, we ordered 2 noodles dish, one with deep fried chicken and the other one comes with a bowl of chicken broth and chicken accompanied by their noodles. I love their noodles but their broth was not as tasty as I like it to be, pretty bland and unflavourful. We ordered the cucumber salad, which was good and has a cute presentation. I ordered the pork bun, it was not like the yum char pork bun! It is not with brown sauce pork filling. I like the texture of the bun, it felt like a homemade pork bun.

I think they do use high quality meat and ingredients. The porks is not as "porky" as other yum char places. I am not a pork eater but I did enjoy the siu long pau.
We also ordered the mango shaved ice dessert, it was yummy and refreshing as it was a hot day. I'd think that the shave ice, should be finer but these ones are quite coarse.

But overall a nice "health" dessert. The strawberry ice-cream was okay, nothing to shout about. The tea (some sort of flower chinese tea) was nice as mentioned by some of the reviewers below. I'd visit again but this time I won't bother with anything else but the siu long pau! Oh..and the sesame bun was a winner!

Feb 22, 2010 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

Great dumplings! I recently got back from Bangkok so the hustle and bustle of this place was great-yeah its busy but then we were served quickly and we were able to back to work pretty much on time with a smile of contentment! Certainly worth giving it a go.

Feb 15, 2010 

7 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  3     

Have tried this Taiwan restaurant while it's just opened in world square Sydney, the steam pork bum is super juicy, it almost looks like an art piece, the skin is transparent, the meat is flesh and firm accompany with ginger black vinegar which is a truly enjoyment. After a couple of months of grand opening, I found the tastes are not as good as previous so I didn't go again.

Later on heard from a friend said it was because the main chefs from Taiwan went back already. Overall, it is a good place to dine with western friends to introduce decent asian food. For genuine chinese, you could find somewhere else for better food with much lower price.

Feb 12, 2010