Din Tai Fung at SM Fashion Hall

Din Tai Fung Philippines (Mega Fashion hall) is the 120th branch with Philippines being its 14th country to hold and continue Warren Yang’s passion of serving traditional cuisine with a meticulous  attention to detail.

When you click on their website it would boasts of having awarded Michelin Stars five times.  It's for excellent service and the best Xiao Long Bao known the world over. The restaurant was hailed by The New York Times as one of the Top 10 restaurants in the world in 1993 and No. 1 on The Daily Meal’s “101 Best Restaurants in Asia” list in 2013. A Michelin star has been awarded to Din Tai Fung’s Hong Kong branch for five consecutive years since 2010.

Now Din Tai Fung had just opened their newest branch in BGC, and this write up should have been published last year, but you know it when procrastination gets into you.  Their first branch in Manila was at the Mega Fashion Hall in SM Mega Mall. 

When that opportune time came when we needed to buy something in Mega, we were able to try Din Tai Fung.  It does have that impression where you may get intimidated as the resto sure looks classy and with lady waitstaff adorned formally assists you to your table very courteously.

It's located at the corner so the whole resto is in L-shaped with the kitchen right in front of us and the cashier on the right side behind it.

Oh fret not as they are actually just a casual resto but the service is five-star.

Another thing worth giving praises is the bag seat.  When the lady noticed me with a bag she asked to leave for a moment and came back with  stool and a brown packaging on it.  It was supposed to be for my bag.  How clever, first you don't need to carry your bag on your lap or to squeeze it in behind your back leaving less room for your butt. Instead, your bag is protected with this brown covering and it doesn't have to end up sitting on the floor or somewhere else.  My husband said, they might be waiting for diners having Louis Vuitton bags.

So Xiao Long Bao it was.  We had to see for ourselves why they are so famous.  Upon ordering we were handed over this guide on how to properly handle and enjoy Xiao Long Bao.  Together with it is a dipping bowl with vinegar and shredded ginger.

There are different variations of the XLB, but we just ordered the Pork.  For a very reasonable price of  P 160 for five XLB, we could have ordered all five flavors.  

But I really couldn't see the difference in flavor in comparison to the ones I've tried, they all were comforting with the hot broth inside slightly burning your palate until you bite into the pork ball, then the burst of flavor happens.

Make sure to put a little ginger to it. I put the whole thing in my mouth, but you have the option of poking the XLB while it's on a spoon, you can either sip the broth or eat the meat first.  Whichever way. you will still get that rich pork taste with a hint of shallot.

We also had Machang Noodles with Sesame and Peanut Sauce.  The hefty serving come  with a tag of  P135. Not bad at all!

The noodles are firm but perfectly cooked and we were quiet amazed as the food were served fast. Slurping into the noodles with the sesame and peanut flavored sauce is fun.  Great to accompany this with a pot-sticker as we did.

This could be more filling with some addition of minced meat.

Looks like "turon" or banana wrapped in rice paper.

We definitely loved the Shrimp and Pork Pot Stickers.  They are six soft dimsum paced on a sheet of rice paper then fried.  It's a mix of textures, with the crunchy sheet and the velvety smooth dimsum which when broken open a mix of minced pork and shrimp with flour and egg.

We were tempted to order their stewed meat and rice offerings but we came for just snacks and yet it was still filling.  So we ended with the lovely Chocolate Lava XLB.  You have to eat this once served to fully experience the lava-like effect when you break open the dimsum skin.  But never the less, it was chocolatey and was a perfect ending for this wonderful Din Tai Fung experience.

As a last note, if you are into Xiao Long Bao, you can also check out other restos we were able to try with it:


SHILIN

MODERN SHANGHAI

SHANG PALACE

PARADISE DYNASTY







Din Tai Fung
 Address: G/F Mega Fashion Hall,
                SM Megamall, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
Contact Details: 02 9971935
                           02 9971936