"The chicken is so tough if you run up to it in an alley you better run the other way because that chicken will whop you" Alright Mike you have made a lot of cringey jokes but this one has to be at the top LOL
Chicken that actually ran in the yard... That's hart do come by if you live in the city and really rare these days. Same goes for the rest of the animals we eat. Huge respect for the Taiwanese restaurant for providing such quality.
I'm in LA and I find that all the mainland Chinese people here say Din Tai Fung is not good, and they prefer the Shanghai style restaurants like Long Xing Ji in San Gabriel. Taiwanese or Japanese people however, prefer Din Tai Fung. You also see a lot of non Asians at Din Tai Fung. I say they're both excellent, in different ways. Mike always complains the dumplings at Din Tai Fung are small compared to the NY ones but, I've eaten in Shanghai, the birthplace of soup dumplings, and they are the same size as the Din Tai Fung ones. Mike, have you been to Shanghai?
Sunahama Nagai because you don't really have many other restaurants for soup dumplings in japan or other Asian places, in china there are many shops, too many and their flavor is very different, rich and soupy. Dindaifung has good quality ingredient and you actually really taste the ingredient, but pretty dry... i mean, it's like a home cooked minced pork or crab dish, and putting some though on it, not that delicious. I was super hyped, but we don't have any in Europe , and then I tried it in shanghai, it was okay, but disappointing to see the price charged for it.
Or perhaps they just prefer it because they prefer it Carlotta. Preference for the way ingredients are treated or taste is an entirely subjective thing; for everyone.
it’s absolutely true, the cantonese buy them for the same reason. also gives higher potency when old hen is used for slow boiling ginseng. a newb loon fung assistant was sacked on the spot for telling cantonese customers he didn’t know if he had old hen because chickens don’t have birth certificates.
yeah old means the animal has had time to develop flavor compared to all the young hens that get eaten in the US where they have very little if no flavor at all.
Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese staple. And yes, I was very impressed with the services at the Taipei 101 branch. Excellent management and fully representative of the Taiwanese people's courtesy :)
Taiwanese doesn't go to Din Tai Fung much. The food there is a bit expensive and not that tasty. Soup dumpling is a street food, you don't go to a fancy restaurant to eat that. As a Taiwanese, I would recommend tourists to go Tainan City to get some soup dumplings. The price and taste are better but you have to get your own sauce and the restaurant owners are probably speaking mandarin only. :)
+bird kako Nope Nope that's not true, I go there pretty often. It's not like I eat much. Of course, the street food kind of soup dumplings taste good as well, but Ding Tai Fung is just so much better. Ding Tai Fung is pretty damn tasty, and it's much finer than street food. It's the quality that makes it stand out so much. The real problem that really stops me from going is because of the tourists. There are too many tourists, sometimes you need to wait for over an hour, now THAT'S not worth it.
Mike Georgius How can it possibly be awesome? You’re wasting precious time of your life watching someone else live their life in meticulously edited moments. You could be out there making your own experiences and memories. No one on their death bed ever thinks back to the time they watched some guy eat food on youtube. Use your head, man.
Been to Din Tai Fung, the wait is super long. It's honestly alright. I want to believe it's as good as people say it is. Next time you come to LA come to Mama Lu's Dumpling House! You will not be disappointed with the xiao long bao and make sure you order the beef roll., it's amazing.
Nice video! The server that was talking about the older chicken for soup is correct, my dad always uses older chickens to make his herbal and traditional Chinese soups for the richer chicken flavour! This video makes me hungry!
Jessica Hall right! but this guy didnt had too much on his dumplings 😂😂😂 Simon and Martina demonstrate all the dumplings they had. I mean how this will be less better than USA..this guy is funny... its like if I say tacos are better in US than in México. 😂😂😂
I could see someone saying that their favorite taco place is in the US if the place they go to is run by two people born and raised in Mexico and the family recipe hasn't changed.
Lily Grace American Pizza is better than Italian pizza and that’s a fact. I tried four different places that were praised for their pizza when I went to Italy and while good, I still prefer American pizza and crave it more.
Old birds are often called stewing fowl or soup fowl because they are tough and require a lot of cooking to tenderize, if they get tender at all. However, their age makes for a phenomenally rich and tasty stock.
I absolutely love xiao long baos too! I'm from Vancouver and I'm wondering, which one in Vancouver were you referring to? :) Ps. I'm convinced to go to New York to try Kung Fu xiao long bao!
All of those servings in Taiwan are smaller than at the Din Tai Fun's in LA. And for good or ill, the USA is amazing for absorbing cultures and cuisines. There is a Din Tai Fun in Arcadia CA. just a few blocks from where I grew up - and a quarter of the the wait staff are young white kids, and they are learning Chinese and committed to the cuisine and the culture. I think that is amazing. When I was young in the 1970s, those same white kids were working at the bowling alley.
My relative who has frequents DTF for over 30 years still swears by the 東門 East Gate, original shop location. She is a die hard who doesn't trust any other location. Of course, it is a tiny place. The wait is really long and you'd have to content with truck loads of tourists. But it is somewhat of a pilgrimage for many. BTW, Taiwan influenced dumpling tends to focus on the fresh veggie, because it produces it all year long. Veggies are much higher quality in Taiwan than the US. Veggies sometimes costs more than meat in Taiwan because it is always farm fresh.
In India we at dumplings called "momo" with different fillings like Vegetables, Chicken, Mutton, Pork and Fish and they served with Veg/Non-veg soup and two kind of Chutneys/Sauce one, a mint and green chili sauce and second, a red dry chili ginger garlic sauce. But its heaven for me, no doubt.
hey Mike, you do know that "soup dumpling" is more of a translation for English right? the real term in Chinese means it is "small steam bun". it is never meant to be "filled to the brim with soup", there is, however, a particular type of bun called “狗不理湯包” - translated "dog will not pay you attention soup bun", where the entire design or attraction of the food is its soupiness. Side note, it is actually a full sized bun too, think BBQ pork buns. anyways, I hope you're enjoying your time in Taiwan!! - your friend from Vancouver.
My first time in Shanghai, my professor handed us what we thought was a pork bun and had us all take a big bite at the same time. We took a bite and had burning hot soup run down our faces and shirts as he and other locals laughed at us! It was painful, but really funny.
I grew up on a poultry farm in PA. My grandparents ran it. We ate beef on Sundays when most people ate chicken (mid-20th century) because, of course, the eggs and the poultry sales were our business. We got to eat chicken only when the "layers" were too old to lay eggs any more and were too tough to sell in the market which featured our fowl. That's when my grandmother made wonderful soups and stews with those "old lady" birds. Chicken pot pie, chicken and dumplings, chicken noodle soup, chicken rice soup along with permutations from the rare turkey we slaughtered. Tough birds = flavorful stocks. Your friend is quite correct.
The Michelin star people randomly picked a dumpling place that is relatively clean and above average food in Taiwan. There are a handful of places in Taipei I liked more than Din Tai Fung but they are a bit more crammed, dirty, and not as foreign-friendly as Din Tai Fung. They are also significantly cheaper and dont charge mandatory gratuity /my 2 cents
Soup Chickens are old chickens. Chicken in the US is usually raised in confined spaces and is less than a year old, which means it's tender, but it hasn't developed as much cartilage or muscle. There are recipes that call for grown hens, capons (neutered roosters over a year old) and for roosters. Different texture of meat, allegedly different flavors, though honestly I'm not sure how one would tell the difference between a grown hen or a capon.
Yes, same reason the chicken here tastes like nothing. When you've had free range chicken with tougher meat, it'll open your eyes to what chicken really taste like.
The chicken is tough because it is free range and older. You want old chickens for soup because they are tough and need longer cooking time and more flavor is cooked out to the broth.
The trailer for the new movie “My Spy” came up before this video and now I can’t breathe. *I died of laughter and now I’m hungry because I’m watching Mikey eat my favourite food*
In the US, people who lived on farms and raised chickens would never use a young chicken for soup. Young chickens were for roasting or frying. Older hens who no longer laid eggs were called stewing hens and were what were used for soup or chicken and dumplings. The tough chicken would be simmered for hours and eventually become relatively tender. We think of chicken soup as being yellow because the fat on those old hens was yellow and turned the broth that color. Some people would cook the feet too, and that would turn the broth a deep golden color. You would never be able to get the flavor from a young chicken that you could from an old hen. You can't buy them in the store any more, so if you wanted one you'd have to contact a local farmer.
Thanks for these dim sum experiments :) They are my favorite food and I really appreciate your descriptions of taste and quality. about them! Too bad Marco Polo's trip only brought back ravioli to Italy, but that one was excellent, too ... hmmm ... I wonder what sauce the Italians used prior to the discovery of tomatoes in the "New World"?
Strictly Dumpling It seems that there are so many nations which have the equivalent of dim sum. It would seem to indicate that a great, traditional dim sum restaurant would benefit from serving the traditional noodle shapes containing fillings with or without soup, of those country's and best loved recipes. The menu could keep customers busy all night ... hmmm. chicken kiev, wait here's hasenpfeffer and down here under Texas there's beer brat barbeque... :)
Ding Tai Fung is def the BEST in taipei so have to come doesnt matter if you try it in another country I think you need to come to taipei again, i watched all ur vlogs on taiwan, gotta show what we r really made of
Mike, my son and I are traveling to Taiwan in a few short weeks, what are some MUST DO things to do in Taiwan. We'll be there a week, and we're traveling to Changhua, Kaohsiung, and Taipei. Thanks!
I actually ate there before, their food is delicious. They also have a wonderful jerky stand store right outside that restaurant! Hope you tried their jerky.
If you are in Taipei 101 and like pineapple cakes. The best I ever had, I bought in a store on the observation deck. I forgot the name, but there is only one there (on the deck, there are plenty downstairs) and the cakes were amazing.
+Strictly Dumpling Yep. There is ALOT, i mean ALOT, of dumpling restaurants. And maybe the din tai fung here is better. And there is indeed a great variety of food
Mike I don't know if you'll see this comment, but which place in Vancouver did you find was best for soup dumplings? My favourite is Dinesty, so that's going to be my benchmark when I go to Taipei next month for comparison!
I agree. Ding Tai Fung's dumplings are good but underwhelming given their fame. I think Ding Tai Fung is known really for their precision, consistency and service. But as far as taste, I was disappointed.
100% marketing. the problem with marketing and brand recognition is the fact that if your fame is too big, the customer's expectation is gonna be really high as well.
Hi Mike, great video! I have only been to Din Tai Fung in Australia and I felt it was a bit over hyped. I actually live and am from NYC and my favorite soup dumplings there are from Shanghai Deluxe Cafe on Mott St. in Chinatown. I'd love to compare that to your favorite place. I don't believe I have been to Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao, but I have to try it now!
re: "never seen chicken soup dumpling [in new York]"I live In Sunset Park Brooklyn, and there's a Shanghai mostly Soup Dumpling stall in the Fei Long food court there, and they have chicken and pork soup dumplings there. Maybe even exclusively chicken soup dumplings, but my memory ain't sharp at the moment.I've been living a life of minimal travel within New York the last few years, so I don't know too many Chinatown and Flushing joints at the moment, but the Shanghai stall in Fei Long is low profile but I think it's solid.
I miss taiwanese food so bad! Check out Mango Cha Cha ice desserts, Coco bubble tea, 台湾早餐，Penghu island cactus products, the egg tarts at this bakery on the main street in the Neihu District, Chili Hunter ice cream in Jiaoxi resort town on the east coast (the hot pot hangover is real)
that's true about using older chickens = better soup stock. You used to be able to buy "stewing hens" in the grocery stores where I live but you never see them anymore
@Strictly Dumpling Hi Mike I also did try out the Din Tai Fung in L.A 1st times and then 2nd times in San Jose location at Westfield Valley Fair, but the food were tease great and I love it.
I tried Din Tai Fung in Taiwan as well and I also thought they were just okay, but the truffle soup dumplings they had were amazing! It's 3 or 4 times the price of the regular xiao long bao but they were sooo good.
Cool. ate at the restaurant near Dongmen MRT station in Taipei a little over a week ago. Less than 2 blocks from where I was staying and was really great dumplings. Lot's of soup. The Truffle and pork was really worth it. Glad you got to Taipei.
The chocolate soup dumplings in New York where amazing! Lol when i went home and told my grandmother!! The look she gave me 😲😱. Didnt think shed ever let me leave again.
I actually had a taste of their little dumplings in Taipeh just to check out what's making them so popular with the local and tourists. After eating there, I still prefer the little dumplings from Shanghai River in Richmond BC. The skin wrapper is thinner, more soup and tastier.
Viewers should know that because its inside Taipei 101, its overpriced. Everything in that building is more expensive because its a tourist spot and landmark.
Wow, thanks for explaining why the chicken in the soup is so tough! I also noticed that when I ate at DTF in Taipei and it's nice to know why. I LOVE the chicken Xiao Long Bao at DTF!! I hate it that they don't have that item at their US locations.
I watched few famous video travel bloggers, mark, food ranger & strictly dumpling; mark doesn't tell much details about the meals just show u how he ate them, food ranger created a unique rating system for you to know how it tasted actually in a numerical scale, strictly dumpling describes in details how he feels about food politely
You (in America) seem to eat "soup dumpling" quite differently than most Asians, which probably accounts for the amount of soup in the dumpling. The way we eat it is to take the whole dumpling in our mouth (soup intact) then chew on it. The burst of soup in the mouth creates a different level of eating experience that's probably unique. If the dumpling had more soup than usual I think there's a danger of the soup bursting in all directions and one choking on it. Important though to let it cool a bit or have your tongue burned by hot soup. What I do is I bite off a tiny hole from the top to let the soup cool a bit.
Hi Mike, can you please link all your channels in your channel tab here. That would make it easy for us to navigate. Love the video and your energy, as always. Thanks! :D
my mum tried Singapore's Din Tai Fung and Macau"s (while we are there for a holiday), she said the Macau's one were much nicer then ours here in Singapore. Hmmm.
love your honesty again but not much of a detail to the ambiance so i hope you make some comments about interior too because i love when you take a picture of those restaurant in Korea and of course Japan. Awesome design plus great food is what i would love to look in a restaurant.
I was just there a couple of days ago and I would agree that it's just ok. For a michelin star you're paying extra for the service as much as the food. I had some amazing meals in Taipei for half of the price.
I think there are much better places for xiao long bao in Taiwan but they're little places that my uncles took me too. I wish I could introduce you to them bc they know the best places to eat in Taiwan
Honestly, the way you eat soup dumplings makes you a questionable reviewer of them. To each his own, but if you eat something different from how everyone else does, how it tastes to you won't be the same as others. For instance, if you like to eat your spaghetti noodles and sauce separately, or your fried chicken without the skin, you'll probably like different stuff than other people do.
Din Tai Fung is pretty chintzy with their portion size. I can't believe there is only 5 of the tiniest Xiao Long Baos per steamer basket. You should see in Shanghai where some steamer baskets are brimming with xiao long baos.
