Restaurant: Ding Tai Fung
Ding Tai Fung is a well-known restaurant not only in the U.S. but also in many places of the world including Korea, China, and Taiwan. Its top-quality dumplings and noodles soup has attracted many fans like me who are willing to wait for hours just to dine there. Today, for the sake of the time, I woke up early and got to the restaurant in Bellevue downtown before it even opened. When I got there, I saw in the window glass that there were already chiefs squeezing the dumpling wrappers and putting different stuffings inside the wrappers. They looked focused and were not distracted by me or other customers who were busily observing what they were doing. I stood there idly, watching the dumplings cheifs and waiting for the restaurant to open.
11 o’clock. The restaurant finally opened. I, as well as other people, formed a line that went all the way outside of the restaurant, waiting to be seated. When it was our turn, the server led us to our table, which was at the far end of the restaurant where we could see the city’s view. The server’s professional attitude, the overall atmosphere, and the neat view outside of the windows created a wonderful scene for dining. We ordered Taiwanese beef noodle hot soup, shrimp and pork dumplings, Taiwanese cabbage, pork fried rice, and two appetizers including sweet and sour short ribs and cucumbers.
The one on the left is the cucumber salad and the one on the right is the sweet and sour short ribs. These two are a perfect match with other as appetizers, because the slight spiciness of the cucumber salad goes along with the sweetness of the short ribs very well and makes us eat more.
The next food that we got was steaming shrimp and port dumpling called shu mai. Shu mai is one of my favorite dumplings and you will be able to taste more of shrimp flavor than the pork. Once you tear the dumpling open, you will see the juice of the pork and you can choose to have the juice first or with the dumpling. I like to drink the juice first and then dip the dumpling to the soy sauce and eat the whole piece.
We also ordered shrimp and port wontons with spicy sauce. This dish comes with the wontons on top of spicy sauce and you have to mix them together on the table. I didn’t really like them first, not only because I don’t really like eating spicy food, but also because the unfamiliar taste of spicy sauce made me reluctant to eat. However, this spicy sauce is very addictive and makes me want to have more and more.
The Taiwanese cabbage is fried with ginger and garlic. Every piece of the cabbage, despite of being fried, remains crunchy and does not taste overcooked. The dish, like salad in the Western culture, was not as flavorful as other dishes. But, It is an essential part of the meal to prevent us from getting weary of the greasiness of other food.
The Taiwanese beef noodle hot soup is a variance of regular Taiwanese beef noodle. It has more taste than other noodle soup because of the spices. Some people say that the soup tastes like ancient Asian medicine, but I think it is a complex and blended taste of beef, tomato, and other unknown spices. When I took a sip of the soup, I felt my body warm up, and my stomach felt settled and eventually prepared to eat the noodles. The noodles are especially thin and easy to chew, which does not disturb the tranquility. However, the beef slices are not chopped small enough and therefore make it difficult to chew.
Lastly, the shredded pork fried rice is a dish that I always get when I go to Din Tai Fung. Even though I chose to have white rice, you can choose between the white and brown when you order. I like to order fried rice in Din Tai Fung, because it is the most basic food that would fit to everyone’s taste. The fried rice contains eggs, your pick of meat and rice, and green onions. There are also other types of fried rices such as, shrimp fried rice, chicken fried rice, vegetarian fried rice, and pork chop fried rice.
In the end, we couldn’t finish all the food and decided to take it home. Din Tai Fung has a great service with clean and fresh environment. Even though this place is not cheap as other restaurants, I think it is worth trying and spend great time with your family and friends.
Just for a reminder, Din Tai Fung generally has a lot of people waiting, therefore, if you have time to go earlier and put your name on the list, it will save your time!
Location: Bellevue Collection, 700 Bellevue Way NE #280, Bellevue, WA 98004
