Din Tai Feng

After hearing how sad Reid feels about Manz dining, I feel rather evil posting up pictures of all the food I've been eating, but since our only reader seems to want pictures, up they go! I have been getting much odd looks from neighboring diners who are wondering who is that girl eating and taking pictures by herself, so I hope the efforts are appreciated.




Din Tai Feng
Address: Xin Tian Di, the very back building, second floor
Price: ooh quite pricey- 100 rmb at the very least

This restaurant is part of a chain in Taiwan but it's been much touted in the NYTimes and other news sources as being a completely undiluted source of tasty xiao long bao. Its location in Xin Tian Di is beautiful and spotless, and the service is one of the finest I've had in China. I felt so at home and comfortable here, and best of all the xiao long bao were just as good as people said, the best I've had in Shanghai so far. However, the other foods- the meat buns, and the drunken chicken in wine sauce-- were only ok and the prices did raise my eyebrows a bit. So I had a very "jia chang fan" or a comfort food meal for a rather expenisve price in China, but again, the restaurant won me over into believing that you pay for what you get, and that includes the setting and the service.