Basic 101 of eating Xiao Lun Bao at Din Tai Fung in Hong Kong

Din Tai Fung‘s Xiao Lun Bao is their signature dish, but do you know what is the proper way of eating it?

To make it clear, Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese brand, specialising Huaiyang cuisine (somewhere close to Shanghai), but it is popular among the world and the shops in Hong Kong are doing pretty well which is very close to the taste and standard of the ones in Taiwan.

The best thing of Xiao Lun Bao is it has some delicious soup inside. However many people especially foreigners (even many locals actually) always grab it with chopsticks in the wrong way so the dumplings would be broken before they were eaten so the soup would be leaked and wasted. Here is the basic way to eat that:

1. Grab the tip of the dumplings. It is thicker than other part of the dumpling so it should be able to support and not breaking easily.

2a. Pour vinegar and soya sauce on the small dish. The ratio should be 3:1 vinegar to soya sauce. 2B. Dip the dumpling with the sauce (not a must). 3. Put the dumpling on the spoon to cool down (usually it would be very hot). Then straight to the mouth and enjoy!

They have a wide range of food, from fried rice to Dandan noodles and steam food. Appetisers are very worth to try also.

There are totally 4 shops in Hong Kong. Two in Tsim Sha Tsui and one in Causeway Bay.

Address: Shop 306, 3/F, Silvercord, 30 Canton Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Business hours: Mon-Sun 11:30 - 22:00

Address: Shop G3-11, G/F, 68 Yee Wo St., Causeway Bay

Address: Shop 407,L4,FoodLoft, Mira Place One,132 Nathan Road,Tsim Sha Tsui,Kowloon