Din Tai Fung, The Gardens - Midvalley City

(Non-Halal)

Precious Pea and I headed off to The Gardens as we had some serious shopping to do but our hunger pangs needed to be taken care off. Stopping by the cool touch screen floor directory where we still couldn't really decide what to eat, we headed towards the Lower Ground Floor where most of the restaurants were located. After scouring the entire food area, we decided to have our lunch at Din Tai Fung.

Din Tai Fung has its own wikipedia page; being an award winning restaurant serving Taiwanese specialties - the xiaolongbao (small steamed soup dumplings) being the most famous dish of all. It has restaurants worldwide and this location is their first setup in Malaysia. Read more about Din Tai Fung and its history HERE.

Din Tai Fung's simple, bright and clean interior

Of course, it has the open kitchen concept where customers can see the going ons in the kitchen which is separated by a glass panel. I think one of the chefs is probably giving a cooking lesson here.

We were told that only certain dishes were available (being their first day of operation, I guess that's understandable). and we settled for the dishes recommended by the supervisor. The supervisors and waiter/waitresses were efficient and courteous, especially the staff who serves our hot Jasmine tea. They would be bowing down each time they come to the table and also when they move away, I thought I was in Japan for a moment! Though we arrived at peak lunch hour and the restaurant was packed, waiting time was quite reasonable. It wasn't long before our orders were served.

The essential vinegar & ginger for the dumplings (I gave most of my ginger to Precious Pea's plate pictured above).

The xiaolongbao (RM11/USD3.20 for 5 pieces) tasted good and the skin texture was just right but we found that it did not contain enough soup in them. The minced meat was done nicely and was tender to bite.

Deep Fried Chilli Chicken (RM15/USD4.40) - this was very tasty, all spiced up with chilli and lots of itsy bitsy garlic. However when you bite into it, you can feel the oil but this could come from the chicken skin itself.

The Cha Jiang La Mien (RM12/USD3.50) - Noodles with minced pork and tofu bits with broad bean sauce. The texture of the noodles was good but tastewise, it was pretty normal.

Shrimp Pork Siew Mai (another variety of steamed dumplings - RM11/USD3.20 for 4 pieces). This tasted similar to the XiaoLongBao with the exception of the extra shrimp on top of it. The skin area surrounding the shrimp was thicker though as you can see.

We were told to come back in about a month's time when the full menu should be available. I guess I'll go back again then and have a second verdict on this place.

See Precious Pea's take on this outing HERE....

Din Tai Fung
Lot LG 207 Lower Ground
The Gardens, Midvalley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur

"I am emperor, and I want dumplings" - Emperor Ferdinand I