.png)
Our family loves watching Masterchef Australia. In one of its
, the contestants were tasked to cook dumplings. To help them cook, a guest chef from Din Tai Fung was there to teach and demonstrate. That made us wanting to visit that famous restaurant again and have a good batch of their famous Xiao Long Bao.
Honestly, I’ve never heard of a “xiao long bao” up until recently. To me dumplings are dumplings. They are bite size small and good to eat. I wouldn’t be able distinguish how they are different from each other besides being fried or steamed. So when the Masterchef episode came out, the Din Tai Fung chef gave a lot of “enlightenment”.
First, Din Tai Fung and Xiao Long Bao
is a Taiwanese restaurant franchise in Taiwan, while xiao long bao are steamed dumplings, to which they are famous for. Their original store is at Xinyi Road Taiwan. I would be checking that out should I visit Taiwan again. They have numerous branches around the island, and around the world.
Now, as the guest chef explained, here’s “the proper way” to eat a xiao long bao:
1. Get a piece (just a piece, trust me, I’ve tried the perceived alternative)
2. Dip in the sauce. There's vinegar, soy, and chili. Mix (or not) them to taste to make the sauce.
3. Put the dumpling on to soup spoon.
4. Using the chopsticks, break it open to let the soup out. Yes, there’s soup inside the dumpling. I thought the watery substance is a residual condensation due to the steaming process.
5. Sip and enjoy the soup. See the reasoning on step 1!
6. Eat the rest of the dumpling. You can add some more sauce or add some shredded ginger. Ginger gives a slight tangy taste to the dumpling.
We’ve always enjoyed eating at Din Tai Fung with their Xiao Long Bao’s. It’s our “
” restaurant. Not only that their food is good, their price is actually reasonable.
So if you’re planning to visit them, call us, we’d love to get our hands for more dumplings.
Comments