Din Tai Fung, Sydney

Din Tai Fung is the place to go for world-famous xiao long baos.

I was so excited when I heard one had opened up in Sydney, and it immediately made it on the top of my list of places to eat while in Sydney. There are restaurants in North America that have borrowed Din Tai Fung's name, but do not be fooled my friends. Outside of Asia there are only two original Din Tai Fung branches: one in Los Angeles California, and one in Sydney Australia.

Din Tai Fung is figuratively synonymous with the Chinese xiao long bao. Xiao Long Bao is a Chinese steamed dumpling that is made in the shape of a mini bun. The traditional filling is pork but vegetarian or seafood filling is sometimes used.

BUT, it gets better. These dumplings are filled with a solid gelatin, which melts into a flavorful broth when steam-cooked. This results in a dumpling filled with soup broth. The more broth within the dumpling, the better.

Bamboo Basket Wall Mural at Din Tai Fung

CK and I had an amazing lunch at Din Tai Fung, and I'm already dreaming of my next visit...whenever that may be!

We started out with the vegetarian delight. This was a cold salad of seaweed, bean curd, and beansprouts. The salad was tossed in a chilli and sesame oil dressing. It was light and yummy.

Vegetarian Delight

Next came the famous xiao long bao. I ordered the steamed pork, crab and roe xiao long bao. This was a limited time menu item, so I took the opportunity and ordered it. The regular pork xiao long baos are available all the time. These were dipped in a vinegar sauce with shredded ginger pieces.
If you look closely, you can see that the broth fills more than half the dumpling.

Pork, Crab, and Roe Xiao Long Baos

To get our veggie intake, we ordered a serving of the vegetable dumplings.

Vegetable Dumplings

Look at the wonderfully chopped veggies.

Vegetable Dumpling

Something new to the menu is the pork + vegetable won tons in spicy sauce dish. The spicy sauce was divine, and had the perfect balance of spicy, sweet, and sour. Surprisingly, this was my favorite of all the dishes we ordered.

Pork and Vegetable Won Tons in Spicy Sauce

*Drool, Slurp*, can't get enough of them.

Pork and Vegetable Won Tons in Spicy Sauce

Last was the dan dan noodles served in a spicy peanut and sesame sauce. I had never tried dan dan noodles before, and I'm glad I did. It is a peanuty dish that is slightly on the sweeter side.

Dan Dan Noodles

To finish, we ordered the deep fried red bean paste bread. I love any type of red bean dessert so no complaints from me.

Deep Fried Red Bean Paste Bread

One other thing to mention is their excellent service. The staff here are very professional and extremely attentive to their customers. The wonderful service really made the experience that much better.

I highly highly recommend you try this place. While the xiao long baos are great, the spicy won tons are a must-try.

Din Tai Fung
World Square Shopping Centre, Level 1
644 George Street
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Telephone: 02 9264 6010