Din Tai Fung (again...)
Nov. 17th, 2012 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranDin Tai Fung is now one of our favourite places in the city.
The white characters in the photo read "Din Tai Fung", incidentally. You'll see them a lot in the next few shots.
The only catch is that you'll have to get there early, or you could be in for a long wait.
Fortunately, there are also lots of chairs outside, so you can sit down while you wait for a table.
You can also watch the staff making their famous dumplings, while you wait.
Once you've got your table, it's time to enjoy...
They are most famous for their xiao long bao, little soup-filled dumplings. Lots of other places do them, but no-one makes the stock quite as good as they do.
The Din Tai Fung "way" of eating xiao long bao. Normally, I prefer to just pick the dumplings up with chopsticks, make a small bite in the top, and then drink the soup out as though holding a little cup (if that cup happened to be made of dough and filled with pork and also was held up with a pair of chopsticks).
Here's a dumpling about to be eaten in the official style: placed on a spoon with red vinegar and ginger and pierced with a chopstick to let out the soup.
Better hurry, or there won't be any left!
The fried rice and chicken is also very good.
Two boys playing "together" circa 2012...
The white characters in the photo read "Din Tai Fung", incidentally. You'll see them a lot in the next few shots.
The only catch is that you'll have to get there early, or you could be in for a long wait.
Fortunately, there are also lots of chairs outside, so you can sit down while you wait for a table.
You can also watch the staff making their famous dumplings, while you wait.
Once you've got your table, it's time to enjoy...
They are most famous for their xiao long bao, little soup-filled dumplings. Lots of other places do them, but no-one makes the stock quite as good as they do.
The Din Tai Fung "way" of eating xiao long bao. Normally, I prefer to just pick the dumplings up with chopsticks, make a small bite in the top, and then drink the soup out as though holding a little cup (if that cup happened to be made of dough and filled with pork and also was held up with a pair of chopsticks).
Here's a dumpling about to be eaten in the official style: placed on a spoon with red vinegar and ginger and pierced with a chopstick to let out the soup.
Better hurry, or there won't be any left!
The fried rice and chicken is also very good.
Two boys playing "together" circa 2012...
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no subject
Date: 2012-11-17 06:05 pm (UTC)ROTFL!
PS: What's "Din Tai Fung" mean?
no subject
Date: 2012-11-17 07:52 pm (UTC)That's also interesting question (to me anyway)! The first character, 鼎, means a type of ancient cauldron, often with three legs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Tripod_Cauldrons) It's actually pronounced dǐng in Mandarin, so I don't know whether the correct pronunciation of the restaurant name uses "din" or "ding".
The second character, 泰, can mean peaceful or abundant. It's also, incidentally, the same character that is used to spell the Thai in Thailand in Chinese. It is pronounced tài.
The third character, 豐, means abundant, and is pronounced fēng.
Put together, we have something like "Abundant Peaceful Cauldron", but the story goes that this was actually the name of the restaurant's precursor, a cooking oil store! When business faltered, they started selling dumplings on the side, and eventually founded an international empire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Din_Tai_Fung)
no subject
Date: 2012-11-18 10:19 pm (UTC)(the dumplings look beautiful. My mouth is watering!)
no subject
Date: 2012-11-19 07:34 pm (UTC)