Monday, October 22, 2007

Din Tai Fung @ The Gardens, Mid Valley City.

Aiks, another Monday but am not feeling moody today :D The main project that I've been spending much time on was finally completed on last Friday...yippee...and I managed to catch up with retail therapy sessions at Isetan as well.


Back to food, during our first visit to The Gardens, me and my colleagues had lunch @ Sushi Zen which was located opposite this ever crowded Shanghainese Dim Sum restaurant--Din Tai Fung. The crowd lured us to drop by for lunch the other day to see what is the hype all about. Just a piece of advice, try to reach there latest at 12 noon to avoid the crazee lunch crowd, not sure if they accept reservations though.

I recalled that we actually waited for around 20 minutes to be seated, patience...patience...for the sake of food.

Duh...finally after the long wait, we were served with the piping hot stuff in bamboo steamers. The choice of dimsums offered are more or less the same like Crystal Jade and Dragon -i but Dragon-i fares better in terms of variety.

The must-have in Shanghainese Dim Sum restaurant--Xiu Long Bao (cutie pie like me) priced at RM11 for 5 pieces. Have to agree with precious pea that the soup encased in the dumplings was not flavourful enough. Personally I prefer Crystal Jade and Dragon-i's version though.


Four of us shared a bowl of Zha Jiang La Mien priced at RM12. This bowl of noodles definitely has our vote, it came with minced meat, beancurd and edamame that went very well with the spicy noodles.


The most economical Mushroom Vege Bun (RM4 for 2 big buns) which I don't really fancy.


Take a look at the fillings.


Mushroom Vege Dumplings (RM9 for 4 pieces). The fillings are exactly the same like those found in Mushroom Vege Buns.


A plate of Bok Choy stir fried with garlic (RM12).



For desserts, we had Taro Xiu Long Bao (RM6 for 4 pieces) which was very nicely done.



And Layer Cake which my colleague commented that 'It is just a piece of tasteless flour'...LoL...but it is good for cleansing your palate though.



All in all, we still didn't get what is the hype about. Sad to say that I would still stick to Dragon-i when it comes to dumplings and other Shanghainese Food.

Other reviews by:

WMW

Precious Pea

Nipple Joe

18 comments:

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

u never read my review meh..haha i complained abt the last dish..would have thought that be served as a warning b4 u order it haha...

i want to try that taro xlb ar..

Anonymous said...

I think they are prolly just having teething problems now.. give them a chance .. a few month later.. ;)

~Christine~Leng said...

I had a bad experience there too. Well... not so but quite. Was disappointed with the XLB there. I prefer dragon-i's. High 5! :P

Anonymous said...

So, I might just try the la mien and taro xlb if I'm going there for meal.

Big Boys Oven said...

Hmmm I have the same opinion as yours.....dragon-i!

wmw said...

Will give them another 2 weeks before I try them again. I however, find the food at Dragon I mediocre and overpriced.

Anonymous said...

Sweet blog ;)

Precious Pea said...

The Mushroom Pao doesn't look appetizing at all!!! The xlb also very small right? Too small for soup. I tried One Noodle's xlb recently. The size is doubled Din Tai Fung, very very soupy!

Xiu Long Bao said...

joe:
Haiyar, kena deceived by the look of the layer cake in the menu :I Yeah, i love love love the taro xlb man!

mama bok:
Have to agree with you, maybe a few months or more lar, then i'll go bck for their taro xlb again!

christine:
Really? I prefer dragon-i's soupy xlb too :D

jason:
yup! the minced meat lamien is recommended. The taro xlb is just too adorable n delicious!

BBO:
high 5!!!

wmw:
Yea, overpriced but i do love their extensive n colourful menu, so spoilt with choices :p

anon:
Thanks for dropping by dearie.

precious pea:
Yalor, the mushroom pao was a big disappointment but still very economical though when compared to other items. Waa...lure me with gigantic xlb from One Noodle!

Tummythoz said...

*Note to self - don't waste time q-ing. Try couple months later.*

MeiyeN said...

am thinking to try this place soon but your review sounds bad though.... :( maybe i should wait till next year to avoid disappointment? i remember that when i 1st tried dragon-i, da xlb were not that good but then later, i decided to give them a try after one year (2 weeks ago), da "la mien" and xlb were so much better....got improvement!!! :D

Anonymous said...

WaW... Really dat bad?
Well, for steaming xiu long bao (like urself), i think Crystal Jade serves som lip smacking, mouth watering ones. :P

Unknown said...

get it..will avoid this place at all cause

Xiu Long Bao said...

tummythoz:
haha...good idea!

meiyen:
Agree. I think it's better to try it maybe a month or two later to avoid disappointment. Probs with newly opened restaurants :I

csb:
Yea...the menu is restricted n the food...not to say bad but just not worth the waiting.I think dragon-i n crystal jade serves equally good xlb.

citygal:
Haha...maybe you can give it a try a few months later. The lamien is not bad though. Just avoid the dimsum items for the moment.

ekeng said...

i will try their xiu long bao and la mien soon,i wanna compare it with Dragon i. Haha :)

HairyBerry said...

Hi Xiu Long Bao, I totally agree with you on this overhyped chain.. i've reviewed the food at DTF in my blog, check it out if you have time...to me crystal jade is still the best :)

Jean said...

how come i din notice there's a restaurant like tat when i visited The Gardens last week?

i like xiu long bao too!!

TehJiao said...

I agree with u Xiao Long Bao, the food there is disappointing compare to Dragon-i and Tu Long. I preferred Tu Long (MidValley) xiaolong bao which i think it's even better than Dragon i. :)