Din Tai Fung, Central Park
My best friend, Andrea, is a stubborn woman. Show a bad photo of her to other people – she’ll remind you of your betrayal a year later. Draw on her stuffed toys – four years later, she’ll make it sound like you set her childhood home on fire. Even as I was writing this, she sent me a snapchat captioned “remember that 5 cents you stole from me”. So it wasn't surprising that when I first told her about Din Tai Fung’s xiao long bao, she refused to believe the concept. I referred to them as “soup dumplings” to her, and no matter how many times I carefully explained to her that the soup was inside the dumpling, she thought I was delusional and actually meant the dumplings were merely in the broth. So you can imagine the satisfaction I felt when a basket of these dumplings were placed in front of us and all her preconceptions of all things dumplings was questioned. Since her first bite, she's been hooked and two years on, Din Tai Fung is still one of our favourite places to eat at.
I decided to take along my friend, Raz, to experience Din
Tai Fung’s xiao long bao and its glorious handmade noodles, as she hasn’t tried
this type of traditional Chinese food before. We decided to go to the Central
Park branch as it was the most convenient for us. Din Tai Fung is a world-renowned
restaurant chain, specifically for its xiao long bao. This is because they are
made to order and with the utmost precision.
We ordered our food and drinks, and service was quick and friendly. For drinks, I decided on a cold soy milk while Raz opted for water. The milk was delightfully cold, refreshing and lightened up the slightly heavy meal. It’s a popular drink choice amongst my friends who frequent Din Tai Fung often.
On this relatively warm day, I felt a craving for cold
silken tofu. This one is topped with pork floss and served with century eggs. The
creaminess of the rich yolk went really well with the soft and silky texture of
the cold tofu, with the slight sweetness of the sauce bringing it altogether.
Next was the Taiwanese-style crumbed chicken. The chicken inside was cooked so that it was perfectly moist and juicy. However, the coating did get a bit floury and bland, but that was quickly resolved by dunking it in the soy and vinegar mixture.
Now, what could be controversially considered the “world’s best dumplings” – the xiao long bao. There are a lot of ways to eat this delicacy. You can poke a hole in it and slurp the broth. You can nibble the top off and then put the rest in your mouth. But the way that has stuck with me, is to let the dumpling bathe in a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce, 3 parts vinegar to 1 part soy, and to then eat it whole. This was how Raz and I ate it today, and it created a deliriously delicious mouthful. The pork mixture inside was wonderfully soft and tender, and was well coated in that rich pork broth hidden within that had a delightfully subtle hint of ginger. Incredibly moreish.
The cha jiang is probably my second favourite dish at Din Tai Fung. It consisted of their handmade noodles, topped with pork mince and broad beans. The noodles tasted so fresh and the pork mixture coated the noodles well. However, what made me love this dish so much was the addition of their amazing chilli oil. It was so wonderfully dark and orange, and really gave a kick to anything you dipped it in. Raz saw me add chilli oil on top of my noodles and followed suit, saying that it made the dish “much better”, and she barely even eats chilli!
With our stomachs full and our cravings satisfied, we paid
for our bill and went off to explore the rest of Central Park. This place is a
great place to eat at, whether for a quick lunch break, a nice catch up or just
for a dumpling and noodle hit. Something not to be missed!
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