These soup dumplings saved the Big Apple summer.
Our sluggish, outdoor-focused dining scene needed a revitalization.
After big openings at the end of last year from Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Daniel Boulud and Andrew Carmellini, the past few months have been less exciting and autumn new releases seem sparse.
Thankfully, there has been one big recent bright spot: Amazingly, a 425-seat chain restaurant from Taiwan that occupies the former space-themed tourist spot, Mars 2112.
The new Din Tai Fung in Midtown seats more than 400. Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com
Like the Paris Olympics, Din Tai Fung (1633 Broadway, Midtown, DinTaiFungUSA.com), which opened a month ago, has brought excitement to the remaining weeks before Labor Day.
Din Tai Fung first came to New York about 15 years ago, and its famous xiaolongbao sparked a soup dumpling boom in the city.
It was worth the wait — and the hassle of getting in.
Din Tai Fung occupies 26,000 square feet in the basement at Broadway and West 51st Street. An elevator ride from the ground-level plaza leads to a spacious, multi-sectioned party-time floor designed by Rockwell Group, with countless nooks, crannies and bamboo screens that seem to have been inspired by Chinese courtyard homes and gardens.
Din Tai Fung soup dumplings have a delightful texture similar to al dente rigatoni, thanks to an 18-step manual folding process.
This will be Din Tai Fung's first New York location out of the 180 locations worldwide, including 16 in the United States.
China-themed empires that encircle the globe usually lay eggs in Manhattan that last for 1,000 years. Remember the rapid disappearance of Datong and Hakkasan?
But unlike those failures, Din Tai Fung is unlikely to go away for long.
The menu is divided into categories like appetizers, dumplings, noodles, and wok dishes, but don't miss the soup dumplings ($18-19 for 10) filled with pork, pork and crab, or chicken.
Inside a glass-walled room, a group of cooks in surgical masks, white T-shirts and aprons assemble the cookies, piping, pouring and folding with military precision like lab technicians.
The dumplings are made in a glass-walled room by a team of cooks wearing surgical masks, white T-shirts and aprons. Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com
These soup dumplings are smaller and firmer than your standard New York dumplings, and when you take a bite, they jiggle on your spoon like jellyfish and erupt like geysers.
Din Tai Fung's dumplings are made in 18 steps over the course of a minute to perfectly fold the skin and flavorful filling in the so-called “golden ratio,” giving them a comforting texture like al dente rigatoni.
The ginger-flavoured broth gushes generously without being sopping wet, and the ingredients are silky smooth in texture, bursting with flavour in the mouth.
Din Tai Fung occupies a 26,000-square-foot space in the basement at 1633 Broadway and West 51st Street. Jason Barney
My favorite is the one with Kurohata pork and crab meat, which is so tender even a baby could eat it, and the spicy chili-based dipping sauce makes it even more delicious.
We also loved the chewy sliced pork served over egg-filled white rice and the modestly named “cucumber salad” — a cool, refreshing, garlic, chilli and sesame salad perfect for sultry days and evenings.
Unfortunately, the website's booking portal is largely useless: On Wednesday, for example, it showed no available booking options, and the “Check wait times” box enticingly read: “We're not currently accepting reservations. Please try again later.”
They don't accept walk-in customers, but there appears to be space available for walk-in customers.
This simple cucumber salad is cool and refreshing with hints of garlic, chilli and sesame, making it the perfect dish for hot and humid days and evenings. Steven Cuozzo
On two visits, I was surprised, but not surprised, to find that about 25% of the seats were available, despite there supposedly being a months-long waiting list.
The waiters said they were intentionally cutting down on bookings simply to “make sure staff are up to date.”
I suspect there are other calculations at work as well.
Din Tai Fung may be based in Taipei, but it knows the New York way of sacrificing short-term profits to generate long-term demand.
Either way, I'm looking forward to trying the noodles, broth, and black pepper tenderloin again, if I can get a seat.
