Din Tai Fung at City Square Mall

Din Tai Fung is a Michelin-star restaurant, and it was rated by New York Times as the world's top 10 restaurants.  Well, it is a bit strange for me that a Chinese restaurant is being rated by a Caucasian newspaper in the US.  Din Tai Fung is originally from Taiwan, and its original restaurant in Taiwan still offers excellent quality of food.  To Singaporeans, we are lucky that we have our BreadTalk group, and it was BreadTalk that brought the good food of Din Tai Fung to Singapore back in 2003.  There are many branches of Din Tai Fung in Singapore, but all of them seem to have long queues in the evening, especially on Fridays and weekends.  We were at Din Tai Fung City Square Mall on early Friday night, and the place was almost full.

Pork Belly with Garlic (蒜泥白肉), $8.30++

We ordered our favorite pork-belly with garlic as one of the appetizers.  We ordered this dish at Xing Hua Lou too.  Here at Din Tai Fung, individual piece of pork-belly wraps around a piece of cucumber, so for every bite, you can enjoy the rich texture of the pork belly, and the freshness of the cucumber, making the fat less greasy.

Duck Roll (葱香鸭卷), $8.00++

Another appetizer we ordered was the duck roll.  It was a deep-fried dish, and I found it to be too oily for my taste.

Xiao Long Bao, $10.30++

Din Tai Fung is famous for their Xiao Long Bao, so we ordered it too.  The skin was thin but tough enough to hold the filling and the soup inside.  Personally I find their Xiao Long Bao in Singapore is not as nice as that in Taiwan.  I suspect the reason is in the ingredients.  In Taiwan, they can have fresh pork, while in Singapore, we can only have chilled pork.  In addition, the pigs in Taiwan are actually of a better species than the ones we have here in Singapore, resulting in the texture of the pork is different, and the Taiwanese pork is more sweet and fragrant.  If you want to have a taste of their best quality Xiao Long Bao, you still have to go to Taiwan.

Fried Rice with Egg, $8.00++

I had fried rice with egg as my main.  It was the first time I ordered a fried rice here in Din Tai Fung and didn't expect much.  However, it surprised me.  Somehow they made it fragrant, and the texture of the rice was very pleasant to chew.  It was not dry, neither watery, just nice.  I will give them a thumbs up for this simple-looking dish.

Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience.  The service was prompt, and the environment was conducive for a relaxing meal after work.