Saturday, December 3, 2011

Din Tai Fung Dumpling house 鼎泰豐

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House is a well named restaurant in Taiwan. The flavorful food and quality service earn this restaurant many awards, including being selected as one of the top ten restaurants in the world by the "New York Times" and the top spot for every celebrity when they visit Taiwan, MICHELIN GUIDE 2009…etc. After years of success in Taiwan and Japan, they now have extended their location to China and North America.
沒想到小可的第一次鼎泰豐居然不是在台灣。上周末人在附近,決定去試試看。結果都兩點多了還是等了快一個小時,才等到位置。這樣的裝潢在台灣算是差不多,可是在國外,這樣可算是響叮噹的水準了。
Last weekend, I finally visited this super famous Taiwanese restaurant in here where they just opened a couple of months ago. The restaurant is located in a shopping mall, my friend and I arrived at 2.15pm and waited for almost an hour. Yes, it seems long time to wait for the food, however, It worth to wait, considering I haven't had a real Taiwanese food for a really long time, plus the smell of "Hot and Sour soup" in the air kept seducing me to be patient.

在門外等候時順便看師傅工作的情形。剛開始看到這些中南美洲捧油還真不習慣。不過你看他們也學到拍照要比YA。這工作間有三~四張桌子,每張桌子有五個老外學徒(一個分麵糰,兩個桿平,兩個打邊邊的皺褶)+一個台灣師父負責包和監督。每個麵糰都要秤重。有人打混被台灣師父一瞧就知道重量不對,要學徒把分好的麵糰全丟掉。(不是結成一團再重新分,是全丟掉喔)
The preparation room was in front of the restaurant. It's weird to see Western chefs making Chinese food; however, they knew well enough to pose with a "Peace" sign when I took a picture (It is an Asian thing). There were 5 Latin cooks (1 separating the dough, two flattening the dough, two making the edges thinner) and one Taiwanese chef who was overseeing the table and making the dumplings. (I saw there was a chef asking his table's cook to throw away all the dough because of the weight proportions weren't right from his eyes….Well done! Good quality control!

酸辣湯 / Hot & Sour Soup ★★★☆☆
等的時候,空氣中不斷飄盪著酸辣湯的美味,那可是正統的台灣味呀~ 害我一直流口水。可是到口後,有點失望。料多湯少勾芡濃,表面一層油亮亮但吃不出香油味,白胡椒也不夠,而且詭異的甜。整頓餐的唯一敗筆。
Finally my friend and I got a table. The first dish was definitely the "Hot and Sour soup". Great smell and so Taiwanese; however, the taste wasn't as good as the smell. It was way too thick and one couldn’t taste the white pepper, (well, this is my opinion, you have to respect they may do minor change to fit the local customer)

蝦肉蒸餃 / Shrimp & Pork Dumpling ★★★★☆
還不錯(以人在異鄉的角度看) Not Bad....

炒四季豆 / Sauteed String Been with Garlic ★★★★★
小可認識的老外很奇怪,到中菜館一定都要點這道四季豆。後來發現我四周的老外也都有這道菜耶。
個人不愛吃鹽味很直接的菜,不過這道真是好吃啊。可能國外的中國菜館做這道菜都混一堆很鹹的肉醬。鼎泰豐沒有加那些醬料跟絞肉,讓四季豆成為本來就應該的主角,好吃呀。
Different from the other Chinese restaurant ruining this dish by adding way too much of the ground pork with soy sauce, this dish was light and let the beans shine as they are suppose to be. One more thing, I don’t know why, but it seems western like to order this dish in Chinese restaurant.

蟹粉小籠包 / Juicy Pork & Crab Dumpling ★★★★☆
吃第一顆,好吃。吃到第三顆就膩了。有蟹味可是又好像沒吃到蟹肉,口感粉粉的。好像有豬肉味又好像沒有,很微妙的感覺。
It's nice, but the Pork flavor could be stronger.

加點的素炒飯 / Vegetarian Fried Rich with Egg ★★★★★
剛端上來時我還犯嘀咕"看起來過濕過黏,不夠粒粒分明",可是~這炒飯真是銷魂啊~鑊氣夠。就算在台灣,也很難找到這水準的炒飯。我還吩咐我朋友不要吃了我要打包(順便拿紙袋子回家ㄚ,紙袋跟台灣鼎泰豐一模一樣耶)
Amazing Fried Rice, For Chinese food, The WOK taste is very important, This fried rice was definitely exceeded. I actually think this fired rice was the best dish I have had for a really long time !!

也是加點之豬肉小籠包/ Juicy Pork Dumpling ★★★★★
想說和蟹粉小籠包比較一下。好吃多了。
Nice pork flavor and juicy. There is only one slight problem......I wish they could double the size. lol

赤豆鬆糕 / Red Bean Rice Cakes ★★★★★
剛開始看到Rice Cake時,我朋友很不想點(老外印象中的rice cake 就是日本的大福。老外很不愛吃這種軟糊糊沒口感的東西,我也只遇過一個老外愛吃),我還得努力的推銷,說這可是咱們第一個first lady的最愛,很費工,現在很多餐廳都不作了...etc。其實是自己沒吃過很想點。還不錯,這種甜點,我應該可以一口氣吃掉三籠ㄅ。另外還有一籠(兩個)甜芋泥包,芋頭味不明顯,可惜。
This rice cake was not soft texture as Japanese rice cake. The way to make this desert is squeezing the rice powder into the mold and steam. The texture is kind of hard but yet soft and fluffy, very interesting. Also, this is a very traditional sweet and takes lots of work to make, which there are not many of restaurants selling this desert nowadays even in Taiwan or China.

心得: 這是小可生平第一次去鼎泰豐,所以沒得跟台北的元祖店比較,下次回台灣真的要試試看。本來要點雞湯的,可是已經賣完了(心碎呀~下次早點來)。服務真是沒話說。不論是第一次點還是第N次點,全上完後,服務生才會過來問飽了嗎?確定後才會把一開始點的甜點送單。我們後來要結帳時,服務生還過來跟我們道歉兩次,因為他送單有點晚讓我們多等了一下。
Overall: My friend and I were pleased of the high quality of service. The waiter was very good and made sure we had everything we needed. After we finished the main dishes, the waiter asked us if we were ready for the desert. Also, came to apologize for filing the order a little late.

另外,我看他們只有禮拜六早10-11.30有賣湯包,台灣也是這樣嗎? 知道的出聲ㄅ?

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