Din Tain Fung – Beijing, China: Din Tai Fung is a popular Taiwanese restaurant, which was voted as one of the world’s best restaurants by the New York Times over 20 years ago and still continues to ride high on the popularity wave with its famous dumplings, personalized service and contemporary yet informal ambiance.

We went to their restaurant in Shanghai and loved it so much that we found one of their restaurants in Beijing as well. The restaurant operates from four locations in Beijing, we went to the one housed on the 6th floor of Shin Kong Place. Comparatively, the food at the Shanghai outlet was slightly better but it was still delicious and authentic here.

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It’s very rare for us to visit the same restaurant twice or to make a trip to a second restaurant belonging to the same chain and even more uncommon that we order the same dishes again, but the dumplings at Din Tai Fung in Shanghai were so good, we had to order them. In Din Tai Fung’s case we kind of broke several patterns that we normally follow while visiting other restaurants.

We had steamed mini pork dumplings with soup. They were light, delicious, perfectly flavored and came with an array of authentic sauces that complemented them brilliantly. The dumpling skins were tender yet sturdy and the generous fillings were absolutely worth every Yuan spent on them. Their sea food dumplings are also very popular (locals swear by the hairy crab roe served with baby cabbage dish and a delicious soup).

My dining partner and I had our own braised beef soup with noodles. Again it was full of flavor and delicately spiced-this felt like genuine Oriental broth with all the ingredients and the aroma intact, unlike other more commercialized and watered down versions served in self-proclaimed “authentic” Asian restaurants.

We also had a lovely Chinese beer, Zhujiang. It was cold and a perfect complement to the scrumptious dumplings.

The atmosphere was a nice mix of casual and elegant, with wooden flooring and comfortable wooden chairs. There were chic, ethnic lanterns over a few tables and the windows were covered with wooden blinds to keep the harsh sunlight at bay in summers. The setting sported a neat, relaxed, nonchalant and pleasant look, where the focus was clearly on enjoying an appetizing meal in a laid-back ambiance.

Service was attentive and the prices more than reasonable.

Din Tai Fung in Beijing easily gets our bombastic rating!

What I liked: The dumplings were easily the best I’ve ever had.

What I didn’t like: Nothing really

Rating: Bombastic
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