Din Tai Fung at Taipei 101: How to Eat Taiwanese Soup Dumplings!

One of the most famous restaurant in all of Taipei is Din Tai Fun, a restaurant that’s become famous and even synonymous for serving soup dumplings known as xiao long bao. The original location of Din Tai Fung, located on Xinyi street is only one of the many locations now around Taipei and even around the world. But since we were already visiting the Taipei 101, we decided to skip the original location and eat at the Din Tai Fung Taipei 101 branch for lunch one day.

One of the best things about the restaurant is the service and the branding - it almost runs like a fast food restaurant - the system works so well, yet of course they serve much higher quality food. We arrived to the restaurant at about 11 am and luckily that was early enough to beat the main Taipei lunch rush. We got situated down, and made our order. The dumplings are all handmade inside the restaurant, and as soon as you enter you’ll notice a small army of white dressed dumpling makers who look like they work at a hospital, but in fact they are making world class dumplings - all by hand.

The Din Tai Fung menu includes quite a few different things, but really the only reason everyone goes there is mainly to eat soup dumplings, the xiao long bao - everything else on the menu is sort of secondary, though it’s nice to have a variety of different foods on the table. But let’s start with the xiao long bao soup dumplings. What I really enjoyed about the xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung at Taipei 101 is that they were very delicate. The wrapper wasn’t too thick, but it was just nice and thin and the pork mixture inside was delicate and flavorful, but not overly salty like it can sometimes be. In order to eat xiao long bao, there was a handy instructions card on the table at the restaurant. The first step was to add some soy sauce and vinegar to your dipping bowl, then dip a dumpling into the sauce and top with ginger, then put your dumpling in your spoon and poke a hole in the wrapper to release all the soup juice, and then eat it all in one bite. The instructions worked well and I successfully enjoy all the xiao long bao.

Along with the soup dumplings another dish I tried was the minced pork topped noodles which came with a pile of hand-made noodles on the bottom with a minced pork and Chinese sausage mixture on the top. It was a little on the plain side, but it was pretty good. We also ordered a few other side dishes like pickled cucumber and the Din Tai Fung salad, all of which were good, but nothing compared to the xiao long bao.

Again, there are a number of location of Din Tai Fung around Taipei, and the Taipei 101 branch is a really nice restaurant. It’s clean, the service is really good, and it’s all about those soup dumplings.

The music in this video is from Audio Network

SNAPCHAT: migrationology

[itachixamaterasu]

I love his facial expression after one bite ...😂😂...looks so relaxing..like he is enjoying every bite of it

[MTran]

Man I love these things but sometimes you gotta be careful when eating them, cause the inside is like molten lava.

[queenhylia]

your face...your face when eating. such passion...I've never experienced this before. you make it seem like you're eating heaven and i-i want it

[LLthereistome]

You eat for me in food passions I have always wanted to taste those wonderful tastes, so thank you give me simple joy in watching you and ting travel and sample wonderful foods from every where

[katiescarlett]

Had a great meal at Din Tai Fung in Costa Mesa CA. We had cucumber salad, chicken fried noodles, fish dumpling and many other dishes. All the food was delicious and fresh, hot and left me wanting to go back again soon.

[JohnVC]

2:34 When she lifts the bamboo lid off...I would have passed out from excitement, hit my head on the table and caused a scene...That's why you're better at this than me Mark! Awesome meal.

[toshannongbet]

You deserve a show on Travel and Living! Ide never miss an episode.

[jeffreypham]

Taiwan looks like they have really delicious food! Can't wait to travel after I graduate!!

[TheGOODvsDEVIL]

Soup dumplings are made using a gelatinous soup broth it isnt the oils and what not. I make these at a dim sum cafe and we use the same technique thats been used since their creation.

[ForrestJ]

I love your videos. Please keep them coming. And your face when you eat something really good always makes me smile as well (and a little jealous).

[jaya]

THE FACE HE MAKES WHEN EATING THAT DUMPLING IS AMAZING....

[karlmarquez]

I just went to Din Tai Fung in Glendale, CA yesterday for the first time, and I thought the Xiao Long Bao was amazing! I also had the pork and shrimp shao mai, and that filled me up. Both were amazing!

[gloptum]

Thank you again Mark.
The wrappers looked so delicate and delicious! like you, I am a ginger fan and fresh like that is the best, though I do enjoy it in a sauce, or fried crispy too.

[corazonazultw]

+Mark Wiens Thanks again! Your videos make people love and understand Taiwan more. Did Taiwan Tourism Bureau sponsor you? If not, they should have. You are such an Ambassador of Asian Food.

[wattbentleigh]

We went  last Saturday  to Din Tai Fung in Melbourne Australia and had the same things you had . just beautiful

[petersonlala]

me and my friends watch this video before every time we get din tai fung. does not disappoint.

[frankmac]

first time seeing lots of staff making dumplings in a restaurant, so busy yet so neat and very organized.

[fairyav]

i had this for the first time in Bellevue when i visited family in Seattle..it was so good! such a unique texture in the mouth..best dumplings i had! thanks for sharing Mark! Beings back memories!

[masterjoey]

I love it when you do that face after the bite. such an indulgence.

[tyrabeckman]

Hey Mark!!!! Next time you have to try the green beans they are one of my favorites. I love the face you make when you eat something good.