Din Tai Fung 鼎泰丰 [Food Reivew]

I don't get what is the hype about the recent opening of 1 star Michelin Hong Kong Dim Sum restaurant in Malaysia. The queue can beat a concert ticket purchase. I don't get it, there are other old time 1 Star Michelin franchise restaurant in Malaysia as well, have you tried it before? No? Then you need to jump out from the queue and come to Din Tai Fung.

我不明白为什么大家都那么追从最经在马来西亚新开的米其林一星香港点心连锁店？门前的队伍可以和演唱会门票的销售队伍媲美。我不理解，马来西亚还有其它米其林一星的连锁店，你尝过了吗？没有吗？那你应该马上跳出队伍到鼎泰丰来。

Din Tai Fung House Special 招牌小菜

In case you like it wan to duplicate, the ingredients are bean sprout, seaweed, grass jelly, fry tofu and chili. No mattter who good of a cook you are, you probably can't get it right. Usually, Chinese picked spicy turnip for the base. Substituting with seaweed gives it an extra texture.

Spicy Pickled Cucumber 辣味黄瓜

At first, by look I though it will be the chilled crunchy type of pickled. I was a bit disappointed when I pick it up with my chopstick. It was slightly soggy and soft. Maybe we took too long in snapping it, that it might be not as good as freshly prepared. It might not be a texture winner but the slightly spicy taste makes it very appetizing.

Fragrant  Pork with Crushed Garlic 蒜泥白肉

I never saw such light color in pork meat. I wouldn't care enough to discovery whether it was bleached or not coz the garlic sauce was sooooo yummy. Totally not what I was expecting. I rarely like garlic except I prepare it myself. Sometime there is a bad garlic smell that can linger in your mouth for hours if the garlic is burnt or if it was spoil.

ShaoShing Wine Marinated Chicken 绍兴醉鸡

I do n't particully like this because of it's bitterness. I have had ShaoShing chicken that is less bitter and more jello, this is more smooth and less oily. Probably a more healthy version but I am not so sure if anyone of younger age would like it.

Pork XiaoLongBao 小笼包

The highlight of Din Tai Feng is non other than thin skinned, juicy, awesome filling Xiao Long Bao. Is not hard to see the dumpling filling from the half see though skin, so thin yet sturdy to hold it's form when you picking it up by chopsticks. I have been to dim sum places that it's skin rupture upon pick up and the whole Xiao Long Bao burst open and the soup gone wasted. This is the best skin so far.  As for the fragrant savory soup that become so sweet from animal carcass, it's just slightly higher than average, not the best one. My only complain is that the meat in not as tender as I expect it to be, it fallen apart quickly when I take a bite.

Steamed Vegetable and Pork Dumpling 菜肉蒸饺

It's skin it slightly thicker than Xiao Long Bao's one. The leak (leaves part, not the white part) are pretty flavorful too, it's decent, but not awesome.

Steamed Vegetable and Pork Dumpling 虾仁烧卖

Also a comparably thicker skin than Xiao Long Bao. Not on my recommended list, it might look really pretty and luxurious with the shrimp (psst... shrimp is not totally fresh) on top, but the way they fold it makes you bite into a lot flour on the neck before going into a pocket of exact meat in Xiao Long Bao, minus the sweet sweet soup.

Shrimp Fried Rice 虾仁蛋炒饭

I don't understand the logic in this fried rice, It's almost so close to perfect, but failed on the shrimp (again). Howeverm the fried rice is really is really awesome, I am just guessing it, I might be wrong, I think it's not chicken egg, they use duck egg in frying the rice. Reason being, the egg aroma is far better than normal chicken eggs and the texture is quite smooth silky. Fry chicken egg usually have frothy texture even w/o beating. If they can improve on their shrimp, it will be a my first recommendation, on par with Xiao Long Bao.

Fragrant Spring Onion & Shredded Pork Noodle 葱油肉丝面

This is a common noodle. Not common as it you can find it any where, but common in taste aspect. Just usual ingredient, not overly salty, but for Malaysian tongue, it's almost not able to categorize as savory because it's so bland.

Noodle with Picked Mustard Greens and Shredded Pork 酸菜肉丝面

I am not sure I am easy to let down or I am picky. When I chuck down my first sip of soup hoping it o be some long hour over night boiled pork bone soup; only to let down again. 1 word: bland. It has some sourness in it due to the pickled radish, but the level of taste is almost comparable to the spring onion noodle above.

Stir-fried Pea Sprouts with Garlic 蒜炒豆苗

At this level, I am almost certain that Din Tai Fung almost don't use salt at all. This pea sprout is probably steamed by some anchovies stock and that's all. Although I was complaining in my heart at first, but when I have the next bite, it kindda touches me. I never know when was the last time I taste my vegetable's real flavour. Normally, vegetables are are unpopular, we have to add a lot of seasonings to increase it's attractively on the dining table. However, this is not the case here. I can clearly taste the earthyness and the green vegetable smell just like when it was freshly plug out. The crunchiness...oh man...so juicy >.<

Golden Yam Paste Rolls 芋泥酥

Red Bean Paste Polls 豆泥酥

Red Bean and Purple Glutinous Rice 紫米红豆

Mango Pudding 芒果布丁

As for dessert, I think it's just average, nothing to shout out.

After all these dishes, I can safely conclude that Din Tai Fung is not a place that attract diners by MSG and luxurious ingredient. They did not do much alteration to their dishes to cater local needs. It's the ideology to keep the most original flavors in the ingredient that bring them so far.