鼎泰豐 - Din Tai Fung

Allow me to start with a brief introduction to Din Tai Fung first before my review. Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 is quite a renowned and respected chinese cuisine/or more specifically, taiwanese/shanghainese cuisine all over the world. Famous for it's delicate steamed 'dumplings' or famously known as the shanghai 'xiao long bao' 小籠包 (in other words, small basket dumplings) and also other steamed dumplings 蒸餃.

In other words, Din Tai Fung promises good quality food. I remembered my first visit to Din Tai Fung was in April 2008 where I had the most delicious 'Dan-Dan Mian' 擔擔麵 which is Taiwanese style(Sze-Chuan style is more watery and has a tremenduous amount of chili oil in it) as well as various good dishes. I yearned for quite some time before I found out that there was a Din Tai Fung in the Gardens Mid-Valley.

I have visited Din Tai Fung in the Gardens for 3 times before this and each time i went, I was always disappointed by them. First visit, no Dan-dan mian擔擔麵, but food was acceptable, their 'xiao long bao'小籠包 was juicy and has a thin skin that fits perfectly to the requirements of a good 'xiao long bao'小籠包, their noodles 麵食 has a number of variety and is tasty although I always reckon that they have to improve on their noodles(Texture is okay, but it should be fine, and smooth to bite, and melts in your mouth - that is what you call the perfect la-mian拉麵).

Anyway, moving on, my 2nd visit to Din Tai Fung was evenmore disappointing and embarrassing. There was a fly presented in my noodles - I had 蝦仁餛飩麵(Prawn dumpling Noodle in clear soup/broth) which ended all of my hope of giving another chance to Din Tai Fung.

However, fond I was of their 'dan-dan mian' I gave it another try on Sunday just yesterday, and there it was, the 'dan-dan mian' that I have craved for more than a year since I last ate it. And yet, how disappointing it was as it entered my mouth. First a major flaw was the sauce had too much sesame oil taste which kill off the peanut flavor as well as other sauce flavorings to make the right combination for the 'dan-dan mian' sauce. 'Dan-dan mian's most important ingredient in the recipe is sauce - peanuty, slightly sweet and spicy and I have been let down by Din Tai Fung in Malaysia for the 3rd time. Then, shing ordered 鸡排蛋炒飯(chicken chop egg fried rice) and my verdict - the fried rice was nice and good but too oily and the chicken chop - just like Uncle Bob at those pasar malam stall; Oily and just plain oily. It's too disappointing for me to see this and it hurts to see how such kind of food is being served to people who patronise this restaurant for it's renowned good food and good name with a slightly higher price than normal shop just hurts me.

I've already given up on thinking of giving them another chance and shall relish my chance to go back to singapore's Din Tai Fung for that awesome meal I had which I still crave for until now...

The Fabled 'Xiao Long Bao'小籠包 which Din Tai Fung is famous for


The Oily Chicken Chop Egg Fried Rice @ RM 14.80


The Disappointing 'Dan-Dan Mian'擔擔麵 @ RM10.80

My Verdict: Ambience 7/10
Food 6/10 (Still credits to the xiao long bao and other dumplings which is a must
try there)
Service 6/10 (Took them so long to serve our chinese tea even after the food had
arrived 10minutes later)