Posts Tagged ‘xiao long bao’

Din Tai Fung meal review

laelene Posted in reviews,Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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While we were in Los Angeles, I wanted to take advantage of the many food options that I love out there. Panda and I agreed to go get dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, which up until just a few years ago only had two locations in the US, both of which were in Arcadia. Last time we’d discovered the brand new location in Glendale, so we decided to head there again. It was much more crowded this time around. I guess people have started to discover this newer location. We waited around 25 minutes for our table and ended up requesting to sit in a different one with a booth seat.

noodles topped with minced pork and cucumber at din tai fung

I was surprised to get this dish first. The minced pork made for a fine topping for the noodles. A really tasty dish, though smaller than I imagined.

vegetable and pork wontons in spicy sauce at din tai fung

This was a new dish for us. Good if you like spicy! It kind of overpowered any meat or veggie flavor though.

hot and sour soup in large bowl for six people at din tai fung

Every time we order this, the waiter informs us it’s meant for 6 people. No biggie, we drank it all.

juicy pork dumplings aka xiao long bao at din tai fung

Erm, we devoured all but one xiao long bao (juicy pork dumplings) before I remembered to get a picture. These are amazing – delicate skin, savory juice, and excellent taste all around.

cucumber appetizer with spicy oil vinagrette at din tai fung

These should have come first, but got forgotten. When I finally got them I could only eat about three pieces. One of my favorite appetizers is some nice cucumber in a tart sauce.

I forgot to get a picture of the pork fried rice that Panda ordered after much of the food arrived. I didn’t have any of it this time, so I don’t know how it tasted anyway.

Service was rather slow and our waitress was a bit absentminded. Not the best experience on that front, but boy is the food wonderful. One of my favorite things about this place is how delicate and fine the ingredients are, especially in the soup! I’ve never seen such thinly-sliced tofu, wood ear, and bamboo shoots. Just the way I love them. I took the leftovers home with me and my mom practically inhaled everything in 10 minutes. It was an awesome meal and I wish there was a DTF somewhere in the DC area so I could enjoy it more.

365great Day 67: xiao long bao

laelene Posted in 365great,Tags: , , , , , , ,
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Learn more about 365great here.

365great challenge day 67: xiao long baoXiao long bao – “little dragon dumplings” – an awesome name for an amazing dish. They’re also known as soup dumplings, because of the “soup” inside each dumpling that gushes out as you bite in. I absolutely love these bite-size morsels of goodness. It’s the perfect combination of thin skin, juicy soup, and fragrant meat. Oh, and I love eating them with the ginger and vinegar dip too. The eating experience of XLB is really a sort of adventure: first you carefully pluck it from off the paper in the steamer, then you dip it in the vinegar and ginger sauce (add some soy sauce or hot sauce too if you like), and then you delicately bite in as the steam and soup inside heat up your mouth and the salty, tart, sometimes spicy tastes spread across your mouth. Making good XLB is an art form in itself and it shows when you eat it. The skin has to be thin but strong, there has to be a nice pop of soup inside each dumpling, and the filling has to be seasoned well and not over or undercooked. Treat yourself to some one day and I think you’ll agree – it’s great!

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