A Broad Reference

boomp3.com
194 XinYi Lu, Section 2 (Cross street YongKang Jie)
Taipei
02- 23218927

This landmark restaurant Ding Tai Feng (DTF) is considered (by some) the canonical xiao long bao (xlb) in Taiwan. While this statement provokes rolled eyes and heated controversial debates among the foodies, it's a question that I (ever in search of definitive food) consider my duty to investigate further.

It's controversial for multiple reasons: These dumplings originate from Shanghai (where it is clearly stated that the Taiwanese know nothing about making the real thing); Everyone (including street vendors) in Taiwan can make xlb just as good as DTF, so what's the big deal? The only reason DTF is famous is their effective overseas advertising campaign. Finally, who in their right mind would willingly pay 4-6x higher prices for the same thing?

The original branch is near my hood, about 10 minutes walk north east of Guting MRT. To sufficiently sample the xlb's, the team was three in size- Taiwanese expert in eating xlb, Shanghai xlb benchmarked expert, naive non-xlb sampler. We arrived after a decent tour of the back streets of XinYi Jie/Jinshan Lu (hardly lost but walked on streets without names?!) and finally wrapping around on LiShui Jie via JinHua Jie.

There was a hefty mass of people crammed into the small space (currently limited by scaffolding due to perennial Taipei construction) in front of the restaurant. With an electronic number board and loudspeakers mounted outside the entrance, they obviously experience this kind of crowding on a regular basis. We grabbed a number from the girl in the headset, and headed off to wait in a less intensely packed space.

After about 30 minutes of waiting at Ice Monster (more on that later), we headed back to find an even larger press of people in the same small space. Luckily the XLB Gods were with us and we basically strolled up to the front, filled out our pre-order form and were seated by the efficient gaggle of girls in headsets. You walk thru the corridor with the open kitchen gleaming clean behind glass, and view the expert team constructing the very xlb you'll be eating in just a few minutes.

While not a frenetic activity, the team produces a steady stream of dumplings to satisfy the demand.
One person rolls an exacting weight of 5 gm of dough into thin rounds, and then flips them off towards the person responsible for stuffing 16 gm of pork, pork & crab (with crab roe), or taro filling onto the skin; These are then grabbed by one of 3 folders whose job is to make the 18 (count them!) folds in a twisted top knot. These then nestle in the bamboo steamers to await the demands of the now ravenous hordes. Many xlb are steamed on cabbage leaaves, but DTF uses a sturdy cotton fabric to protect the dumplings from sticking. (Dumplings that fail for whatever reason are immediately trashed.)

We had to trek up several flights of narrow stairs (you've got to have legs of steel to work here!) At each landing the towering stacks of bamboo steamers lay monument to the popularity of Ding Tai Feng. We were seated in an out of the way corner on the 4th floor and immediately got tea, place settings (including small dishes of shredded preserved ginger) and pickled cabbage (yan bai cai 醃白菜), and cold noodle & tofu salad (didn't catch chinese name). Followed by hot and sour soup (酸辣湯 suān là tāng garnish with vinegar and chili sauce to taste), garlic stir fried pea shoots (豆苗 dòu miáo), xian rou zongzi (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves with pork 鮮肉粽子). Our server checked up on us periodically and filled our cups frequently so we did not feel neglected, even tho we were prolly the furthest lastest table in the whole building. Space is somewhat spartan and not immediately consistent with the high prices they charge.

Then the xlb arrived, wow the skins were shiny and translucent (a mark of distinction and quality) you could see the soup swimming inside. You prepare a nest of ginger, soy, vinegar & chili, and gently transfer a quivering delicate dumpling into your spoon, taking care not to (tragically) poke a hole. Pause to admire the precise 18 folds.

Then you bite a small hole in the side and suck out the steaming hot juices, till you can maneuver the whole construction into your mouth without it exploding catastrophically. Repeat till out of xlb. The skins were tender, somehow elastic but chewy, the soup rich and porky with a subtle crab flavor. If you were able to look inside you could see the filling was studded with orange crab roe. Then we had the sweet taro filled dumplings for dessert. Which were good, but not as good as the xlb.

The somewhat reluctant consensus was that Ding Tai Feng does have a superior product. The xiao long bao were better texture and flavored than those sampled in Shanghai's YiYuan Garden (thicker, chewy skins & gummy meat-altho broth was good-which perhaps not representative of the best but equally popular with the tourists). Additionally the skins @DTF were admittedly more tender & supple and the broth somehow juicier than other local options. But with the fiendish wait and the higher prices, it becomes more of a trade off between performance vs price i.e. if you're hungry and can't wait, or on a budget- there are many nearby options that serve very decent xlb and other tasty baked pastries for significantly less.
No reservations. English/Japanese menus available. Staff used to dealing with tourists, coz let's face it, that's who mostly frequent the place.