Nestled in the corner of La Jolla’s UTC Westfield Mall is San Diego’s Din Tai Fung, a franchise that is bringing Taiwanese cuisine across the globe.
Born in Shanghai, founder Yang Bingyi, opened a cooking oil shop in Taiwan in 1958. On the side he served his xiao long bao (xlb). Fortuitously, his oil business took a nosedive when stores began selling oil in cans. So in 1972, Yang made xlb the focus of Din Tai Fung. In 1993 the New York Times named it one of the top 10 restaurants in the world. About 15 years later, Hong Kong’s Din Tai Fung was awarded one Michelin star, the first Taiwanese restaurant to receive the honor.
The Vibe
As you approach, it will be clear that dining at Din Tai Fung is going to be an experience.
Located at the top of the stairs and behind the mall’s valet parking station, the restaurant forms a semi-circle with enormous windows.
After checking in with the hostess, diners enter a waiting lobby with a glassed-in prep culinary showroom of cooks assembling xlb. Here, cooks industriously cut, stuff, and crimp hundreds of dumplings, wontons, potstickers, and more. Guest huddle around to watch cooks dressed in white coats, hairnets, masks, and surgical gloves make dumplings.
The speed and precision executed is jaw dropping. At the first station the cooks stretch, pull, snip, and weigh on a digital scale. The cooks at the second and third stations grab the nub, flatten, fill, and pull the edges into 18 pleats.
The finished dumplings resemble an ornate meringue topping. They are then placed in a bamboo vessel and steamed at an exact temperature for an exact amount of time. This is how you do xlb when you have over 100s of locations worldwide.
The dining room at Din Tai Fung UTC is unassuming. It spans 10,000-square-feet and seats over 200 guests. This dining room was designed to move serious soup dumplings.
The Menu
Din Tai Fung provides both a menu with pictures of all the dishes and a two-sided order sheet menu. Pen is provided for you to mark the items you want to order. Before your order is placed, the server reads the order to confirm the items.
Cucumber Salad · The simplicity of this dish is what makes it perfect. The crisp Persian cucumbers are chilled, thickly sliced, tossed with sesame and Din Tai Fung chili oil, and purposefully stacked. Finally, the cucumbers are topped with mild fresno chili pepper and fresh garlic. The cucumbers were crunchy and nicely coated in their sauce.
Pork Soup Dumplings · These dumplings are definitely worth the hype. At your table, a server lifts the top of the bamboo vessel and steam rises to reveal ten piping-hot xlb. Using chopsticks, lift a dumpling from the basket and place it on a soup spoon.
Pierce the top of the dumpling with your chopsticks to release the steam and let the spoon catch the sacred soup broth that escapes. Slurp the broth then drizzle the dumpling with the classic xlb accompaniment, an aged vinegar made with charred rice and black vinegar.
The dumplings did not leak, the skins were thin and elastic, and the filling contained a good amount of soup.
Chicken Spicy Wontons · These are a crowd favorite because of their chili oil sauce secret recipe. Don’t let all the red chili oil sauce scare you, it has just enough spiciness to give it a bit of heat. It is mildly spicy and sweet. They are topped with garlic and green onion.
Shrimp Fried Rice · The rice was perfectly fluffed, not overly oiled, sprinkled with both white and yellow bits of egg, and green onions.
Noodles with Spicy Sauce ·They use their house-made signature chili oil in this dish.
String Beans with Garlic · Dry-fried Sichuan style vine-fresh beans are garnished with Taiwanese pickles, minced garlic, and sea salt. Our server recommended these but we opted for the bok choy.
Be sure to use their soy sauce with abandon—they brew their own, and it’s a revelation. There’s a blood orange martini with boba (large, black tapioca balls, famous from Taiwan-style tea), plus a lychee martini.
Din Tai Fung offers a full bar and boba drinks.
The Service
The attention to detail in the service is impressive. Our server was sure to show us how to prepare sauce for our xlb: three parts homemade vinegar to one part homemade soy sauce, a dash of ginger, and spicy chili oil.
Our server explained each dish in detail, how to eat them, and spaced out our food so that were able to enjoy one dish at a time. Our server checked on our progress often.
Operations
- Monday through Thursday · 11 AM to 9:30 PM
- Friday · 11 AM to 10 PM
- Saturday · 10 AM to 10 PM
- Sunday · 10 AM to 9:30 PM
- 4301 La Jolla Village Drive · #2000 · San Diego
- 858-375-5988
- website
Pro Tip · Make a reservation. If you do not have a reservation and the wait is long, try grabbing a seat at the bar.
Until next time…
· izzy
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