Din Tai Fung

This is my first attempt at creating a digital visual memory of all the delicious food I eat in L.A. and beyond. Unfortunately I realize I am starting very late in the game. Oh well.
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Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese dumpling house chain that recently opened a location in Arcadia. While in Taipei, I did get to try a few items on the menu, but I was extremely sick and couldn't taste anything! I was so sad, but thankfully Arcadia's location is only 20 minutes from my house! No need to fly to Taiwan to get a taste of their soup dumplings!


I learned in Taipei to pour your vinegar into the small dish they fill with sliced ginger, dip your dumpling into the bowl, put it onto a spoon, add a touch of the ginger on top, and eat!


First up, shrimp + pork dumplings. The taste is so fresh, the skin just melts away.


The famous juicy pork dumplings lived up to their hype. It tasted very similar to Taipei's!


I guess I ordered the wrong beef soup, because what I think I actually wanted was the Spicy Beef Soup, but instead got the House Beef Soup which had a very light flavor to it. I added chili to give it an extra kick. The meat was very tender though.


Then the noodle with spicy sauce arrived. The spicy sauce wasn't spicy, but it was very flavorful. The noodles tasted homemade.


Unfortunately by 7pm they had run out of pork buns so we opted for the pork + veggie buns which were really good. I'm not sure that the buns are made in house like the dumplings, but regardless they were a bit chewy for my liking.


One of our favorites of the night, the Shanghai rice cake with shrimp and morning glory. The three of us devoured it within seconds.


We ended our meal with the wonton in spicy sauce, the highlight of the evening. Side note: their spicy sauce isn't very spicy, so add some of the chili they provide to bring out more of the flavor!

Overall, it was exactly how I thought it would be and I will definitely be back. The total cost of all of this, plus endless tea of course, was only $54 for the three of us. If I lived out here I'm sure it would be a weekly stop for me! Although the wait could get annoying after a while. Our wait was only about 30 minutes, but I guess it can go over an hour depending on the size of your group.