Din Tai Fung: Textbook Xiao Long Bao

Ol’ Reliable.

Everyone should go to Din Tai Fung at least once to have a textbook xiao long bao, or soup dumplings.  Once you’ve been to one Din Tai Fung, you know what to expect at any DTF branch around the world.

Perfection.

The xiao long bao are the stars of the show for sure, and they are made with precision.  It’s fun to watch the chefs in the window weighing each piece of dough and then folding the dumplings so quickly & perfectly every time!  Makes you wonder how many thousands they have made.

Weighing the dough for each wrapper.

There are a few different varieties of bao here, but I tend to stick with the classic pork. The skin is perfectly thin, nice unctuous soup. They also have more luxurious dumplings, like the truffle xlb or the ones with crab roe. Last time I tried the mushroom stuffed bao and they were quite nice. The sweet dumpling with red bean & chestnut is a great choice for dessert.

Pork xiao long bao. Classic.

All the food here is well-made and good quality, so you really can’t go wrong.  Veggies are always fresh and the shrimp fried rice is also a crowd pleaser.

Shrimp fried rice

The atmosphere is nice & clean and the service is good. Some people scoff and say that it’s not a “real” or “authentic” experience.  Does a restaurant have to be dirty with crappy service to be good?!  No, quite the opposite!  In my opinion, a place that has good food and that serves it pleasantly and efficiently is always worthwhile.

Prices might be slightly high, but what you are paying for is actually priceless – CONSISTENCY.

More deliciousness from DTF –

Din Tai Fung has a whopping 9 locations around Shanghai, as well as outlets all over the world. I’ve listed a few of the convenient Shanghai locations here.

Nanjing Xi Lu: Shanghai Centre, 1376 Nanjing Xi Lu, 1/F, Room A104, near Xikang Lu
南京西路1376号上海商城1楼A104室, 近西康路

Xintiandi: Lane 123, Xingye Lu, Bldg 6, 2/F, Room 11A, near Madang Lu
兴业路123弄新天地6号楼2楼11A室, 近马当路

IAPM: 999 Huaihai Zhong Lu, IAPM Mall, 3/F, Room 318-319, near Shaanxi Nan Lu
淮海中路999号环贸IAPM广场3楼318-319室, 近陕西南路

 

Yolota: Summery Sesame Noodles

Came here for lunch at 12:30 on a weekday and it was packed!  Service was very good and efficient and we only had to wait for a few minutes for a table.  Granted, we had to share a table with 2 other ladies.  But this means you can scope out what they’re eating and ask them if it’s good! 😉

After reading reviews and looking at photos, I already knew I wanted the cold sesame chicken noodles.  A nice sized portion for a great price – about 25RMB.  Noodles had a perfectly chewy texture, sauce had great flavor and only a tiny bit spicy.  Chicken might have been a tad dry, but once you’ve mixed everything all together, that doesn’t matter so much.

I’m not the biggest soup noodle fan, but my friend’s beef and tomato noodles smelled SO GOOD!  It’s a huge bowl too, glad that my order was not so giant!  I had a small bite and they were fine.  Nothing amazing.  (Mine were better!)

We also had some greens, which were pretty average.  Also noticed some of the leaves were a little brown on the edges, so maybe not so fresh.

People talk about this place like it’s noodle heaven.  I wouldn’t go that far, but my noodles were yummy and a great price.  I’ll go back for the cold noodles again but I doubt I’ll have visions of sesame noodles dancing in my head when I go to sleep tonight.

Yolota is a Taiwanese chain, and has at least 6 locations in Shanghai.

Yolota – Zhongshan Park: Lane 1310, Dingxi Lu, No 2, near Xuanhua Lu
定西路1310弄2号, 近宣化路