Friday 8 April 2016

Brunch@Din Tai Fung


A few weekends ago, my brother and I took our auntie to Din Tai Fung at 1-Utama for brunch. We were craving for dim sum and our last dim sum outing was at Tim Ho Wan last year.

We had been talking about more dim sum experience and somehow we targeted Din Tai Fung because it is easily accessible to us. I like dining nearby because I dislike dealing with the traffic. 


We got there around 11:00am and there were plenty of seats. That's the way I like it. Peaceful. I would never go into a crowded restaurant no matter how good the food is. If there is a long queue, forget it.

After scrutinizing the menu, I realised that Din Tai Fung serves more than just dim sum. That's how blur I am. I thought it was a dim sum place.

There's lots of other stuff like fried rice, noodles and dishes to go with rice. Yup, it serves Taiwanese food and you must be thinking, oh..oh... not to PH's taste.  But it's fine, I'm game to try more Taiwanese food.

It took us quite a while to decide as there were many items to choose. Then my auntie pointed out something that looked like chee cheong fan. But the description said Pork with Crushed Garlic. OK, let's get that.


It turned out that it was thinly sliced pork rolled up and served with a very tasty sauce. These were very small rolls, about the length of my little finger.

I wanted to try the Lao Sar Bao because I never had one before. I was curious how the salted egg custard would taste like.


The buns come in threes which is perfect, one each, no fighting hah...hah...


I'm afraid, I did not like it. It was very sweet, slightly salty with the taste of salted duck egg. I love salted duck egg yolks, but not like this. OK, curiosity satisfied. I won't have this again.

Next up was the Xiao Long Bao. I've had this before a couple of times at Dragon-i. So I was careful not to drip the soup all over myself.


It was alright. My auntie commented that the one at Dragon-i has more soup. I think she is right because that was how I remembered it.

Then we had the Pork Buns. We could not find any Char Siew Pao, so this was the next best thing.


The filling is made of minced meat and tastewise it was alright. I did not take any pics of the filling because it was just a lump of minced pork.

I ordered the Shaoshing Chicken because I love poached chicken. 


It was very aromatic with the Shaoshing wine and had a slightly bitter taste which I think either comes from the wine or some other ingredients (herbs?). 


My brother liked it so much that he drank the liquids after we finished the chicken.

This was my brother's pick, the Spring Roll. It was crispy and I can't remember what is the filling, probably pork and vegetables.


Then we had the Spicy Shrimp Wanton.


It was quite nice and I enjoyed this one a lot.

The last item we had were these cute looking shrimp dumplings. I also enjoyed these dumplings.


All together we ordered 8 dim sum items and 3 mugs of hot tea. Total damage was RM125.20.

Our tummies were full and we were very satisfied. But honestly, I missed having char siew pao, chee cheong fun and some deep fried stuff. I guess I will have to get those at other restaurants that specialize in dim sum.

I will come back to Din Tai Fung to check out the other items on the menu and see if it is any good. 

36 comments:

  1. I think it's from the wine. Yummy

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  2. I've always thought that this place serves one of the best xiao long bao around (try the truffle one next time). I've not tried the shaoshing chicken before but had something similar in Dragon-i (but that was served chilled and the wine flavour was too intense for me). The bitter taste, could it be from ginseng? I think I'd like to try this dish since the kampong chicken looks so smooth and tender. Perhaps, you can try the house special steamed chicken soup (that I love so much) on your next visit.

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    1. I will be going back there again, so yeah, I will try what you recommended :)

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  3. OMG!! I loved everything you guys ordered to feast. Auntie must be happy! I also often eat not too far from home due to traffic issues and time & petrol wastes, so Uptown & One-U are just nice.

    I ate many times in China's restaurants but often had doubts on their hygiene issues. So I really salute this Tim Ho Wan and Din Dai Fung as their food always tasted fresh and very delicious to my personal liking. Yums!

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    1. I was happy with the food (except the lao sar bao) and I intend to go back there and try more items.

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  4. Tell you something, you might laugh at me, when Tim Ho Wan first open it door in Singapore, there was long long Q, but i never go eat till last year....

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    1. No, I don't laugh lah. I also like that. Only tried Tim Ho Wan after some time when there is no more crowd.

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  5. I always like the Xiao Long Bao at Din Tai Fung...

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  6. Hi Phong Hong,
    Din Tai Fung here don't really serve vast variety of dim sum like Cantonese restaurants. More of dumplings and noodles and dishes. But we like the xiao long bao, it's a must to order especially for my girl. Her fav.

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    1. Hi Karen! Generally I like all sort of dumplings and I enjoyed the ones I tried at DTF. I want to try more of their dishes soon.

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  7. all look yummy..I would want to try all the dim sum..

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  8. Din Tai Fung is a famous restaurant from Taiwan so best to only order Taiwan food here and not Cantonese dim sum like lao sar bao. For a good lao sar bao maybe you could try the one in Canton-i. the lao sar bao in DTF is not up to par so please don't let it put you off lao sar bao.

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    1. OK, will take your advice. I will give lao sar bao another chance :)

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  9. Ummmm...your brother. Is he on Facebook? Hehehehehe!!!! I bet he picked up the tab, right or not? So lucky your Aunty! You think he will take me here if I go over to KL? LOL!!!

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    1. hee..hee..why? You want to become my relative? muahahaha! It was my turn to pick up the tab that day. That's how we work, we take turns to pay. Sure, we will take you to DTF if you come over to KL. No problem.

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    2. Yipeeee!!!!!

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  10. At least you have quenched your curiosity! Perhaps you will go to Tim Ho Wan for more dim sum satisfaction... :) I have yet to try the latter, read so much about it but no chance to try the dim sum there yet...

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    1. Yup, curiosity satisfied. This is not the place for dim sum.

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  11. I love dim sum and I haven't tried the Taiwanese dim sum before. I am one who would want to try every new items and the shrimp dumplings look very cute.

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    1. Nancy, stick to the Cantonese one hah..hah...

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  12. Hi Phong Hong, seems that Dim Sum is all about meat and prawns. Occasionally we think that long time no Dim Sum but once we had some, the satisfaction in not enough. Feel happy with some and not happy with others. Varied expectations, I supposed.

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    1. Hi Kimmy! I suppose need to go to the right place for dim sum. This one was just OK only.

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  13. Actually I've never had dim sum at Din Tai Fung before because as far as I know, dim sum is only a small part of their offerings, and also dim sum is not Taiwanese forte so better not risk it. I think your photos validated what I thought...

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    1. You are right. I was rather naive and thought that DTF is a dim sum place hah..hah...

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  14. I also feel that the siew long bao from Dragon i is nicer, hehe..

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    1. Yes, next time wanna eat siew long bao, must go to Dragon i.

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  15. I have been to Din Tai Fung 2 to 3 times. The food there is indeed not bad.

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    1. I plan to go back again to try their dishes and fried rice.

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  16. I've heard of this DTF many many times, but never been there.. My sister always go there, she says good.. If she says good, means it's good, coz she's very yimchim one.. To me, it's a high-class place for dimsum..

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    1. It's not bad lah. Quite pricey. I will go back again to eat some other things like fried rice or noodles and their meat/vege dishes.

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