Din Tai Fung in Seattle, Washington

In my recent quest to try new foods, I realized I never really tried Taiwanese food. Sure I’ve tried the ones you can get from the freezer section (PSA Trader Joe’s has pretty decent frozen soup dumplings) but never had true authentic Taiwanese cuisine. In my search for top dumplings in Seattle, Din Tai Fung kept coming up on my searches so I knew I needed to check that out.

It originated in Taiwan when Mr. Bin-Yi Yang moved to Taiwan and decided to open up his own Pork Soup Dumpling stand. He became so popular that he decided to expand and it became the full scale restaurant business that it is today. Their menu now offers a wide range of items for all different pallets/diets. It is now a world wide phenomenon and has even earned a Michelin star at their Hong Kong branch. But don’t let the Michelin star scare you in terms of cost, it’s an incredibly affordable place offering exquisite craftsmanship.

Din Tai Fung is a great place to bring a large group of people and do family style. On the menu you’re able to see how many pieces come for each dish which makes it incredibly helpful when ordering. My friend and I split their cucumber salad for an app (though their green beans looked equally delicious), vegan dumplings (came with 10 and was surprisingly pretty good even though I’m a big meat eater), Tofu Puff & Glass Noodle Soup (glass noodles are so unique to me), Shanghai Rice Cakes with Jidori Chicken (think drunken noodles in small patty form), and topped it all off with their Red Bean Buns (if you don’t get anything else from what I’ve said you need to try these. They were the first time I’ve ever tried Red Bean Buns and I am hooked). Needless to say we left with very full bellies and plenty of leftovers. We learned quickly why this place makes such a great family style restaurant. My rating: 10/10.