Din Tai Fung #1

Christine and I, after our adventures in the country (which ended with me drinking a lot of moonshine, passing out and snoring loudly) made it back safely to Taipei straight to the open doors of Din Tai Fung #1. This is THE original shop which, due to a very busy November with lots of guests, Christine has been to FIVE times this month.

“This is the fifth time I’ve been here this month”
Because of the late lunch (or early dinner because of the quantity of food), we had supper as I tried to snap out of my moonshine induced blurness. We found out that we could order half servings which fit us perfectly.

Gotta have xiaolongbao! And I even remembered how to eat it correctly!
What else can I say? This is a Din Tai Fung, the soup inside was at just the right temperature, the skins were not too thick and had the prerequisite number of folds on them. In short, heaven!

Christine ordered dumplings with greens inside. Healthy…

These are itty bitty red bean dessert-type dumplings.
Unlike the Din Tai Fung branches I’ve run into in Singapore, which are more fancy and swish, Din Tai Fung #1 feels more like a modern yum cha place. Seems appropriate considering the cuisine served which is unpretentious and down to earth.

This is where the good xiaolongbaos are!
Of course, after eating various dumplings and downing at least a liter’s worth of tea, it was now time for dessert. Down the street from Din Tai Fung is a neat little place called Ice Monster.

This is the original shop…
They have a silly website (watch with the sound on) but the mango was very fresh and the desserts were hella refreshing. It was a perfect end to a busy day, sitting with dessert while watching the people walk/drive/ride scooters by. After this, it was time to head home. One of us had to work at 0800 the next day and the other had to leave for TPE for a long flight back to SFO via HKG. You figure out who had to do what the next day…

Mmmmm…dessert!
Din Tai Fung
194 Xinyi Road Sec. 2
Da-an District
Taipei City, Taiwan
(02) 2321-8928
Ice Monster
15 Yongkang Street
Da-an District
Taipei City, Taiwan
(02) 2394-8279