Brian Kennett
Amateur Chef and Foodie Extraordinaire
Din Tai Fung, Parkway Parade
Now I have written about this before when we visited Din Tai Fung I12 Katong but this time it is Din Tai Fung, Parkway Parade. This was our first time here. We’d just finished Jude’s first school party and wandered across the road in search of sustenance. In fact it was my Amy that suggested it – great call Amy. The Semi-Naked Chef was very happy with that choice. As stated I have written before about this restaurant, but it is a restaurant that eeks quality so much it deserves to be written about time and time again. Whichever location you go to you will enjoy the same quality too, I guarantee it.
It is probably THE favourite family restaurant for The Semi-Naked Chef and family!!!
Now one tiny, tinsy wincy winge Din Tai Fung. Your queue system sucks. Come on you must admit, there are always hoards of people queuing outside your places. And usually with kids, that are really hard to entertain stood outside somewhere. Now, how about a queue busting system, linked to an SMS service? Ping the clients when the table is 5 minutes from being available type thing – I can help you with that too, ha ha!!! I am sure places like Parkway Parade would love that too as you are giving them 20-30 minutes of family additional shopping time. Call me!!!
So anyways to today’s meal – yep it will be very similar to before, as we are creatures of habit when eating here. But also for this blog, I am adding some additional photos on pre-eating. As follows with a slight apology for the photo quality of the first few shots as they were taken through a window – whilst stood in that 20 minute queue time.
Four guys all with a specific job to do to prepare the Xiao Long Bao.
The first guy to the left has a little wooden rolling pin and a small block of wood. From a tray of pre-prepared, even weighed individually are little knobs of dough ready to be the casings for the dumplings. A little flour and he’ll grab one and then roll it thinly whilst rotating it to make a perfect circle – then flip over to his mate.
His mate then uses a little wooden spatula to add to the meat mixture. Now, this is the ingenious bit. You can’t really see from this photo, but within the meat are little glistening beads. These are little beads of gelatin or actually solidified soup. As the Xiao Long Bao steam, this eventually melts and leaves soup inside the dumpling. Oh yes, it doesn’t get much better than that. These guys are doing these super fast. This chap fills the meat and passes on to the next stage.
Up next come the folders, who make exquisite little folds in the dough, before a little twist at the top. Amazing to watch, so fast, so intricate with every single one looking the same. Almost machine-made like, but no they are all done by hand. And this place has a Michelin Star to show that that truly means something in the food world.
And now that we’re all done (sorry they’re done), what to do now? It’s stack them up in bamboo steamers and load them onto the steaming platforms. Basically big cauldrons of boiling water with holes drilled in the top that creates massive jets of steam to cook those dumplings and melt that chicken broth.
Out they come all glistening, soft and gooey and ready to eat. This truly is foodporn at its best. Seriously well done Din Tai Fung, Parkway Parade. We went overboard today too and ordered 5 of the black truffle Xiao Long Bao. Now at $5 each yes they are a little indulgent, and god forbid you put the soy and ginger sauce anywhere near this, but hey as a once-off every now and then why not. These are absolutely fricking amazing little bundles of joy.
I love you!!!
Let’s check the rest of our food now – a picture paints a thousand words right? Shame you can’t eat a bloody picture though!
The very best egg fried rice – and with little strips of pork in there too. Died and gone to heaven rice experience, believe me!
Spicy cucumber. This is spicy, crunchy, and cooling all in one. You just gotta get two of these, so bloody nice…
Snow pea shoots, with garlic and pork strips – yep two of these, please. Jude loves these – one ‘green‘ dish the kids NEVER turn down
I think it is the care and attention these guys put into the outcomes of the food, and the fact that they proudly show that off with open access to watch the chefs in action. This is quality at reasonable prices, and we will come here again and again without a shadow of a doubt. One of the very best in Singapore in my reckoning.
So if you have kids, or in fact even if you don’t have kids, you will truly not get much better food than here. This review is about Din Tai Fung, Parkway Parade, but could be about any other Din Tai Fung location. They are all equally as good, the quality extends across locations. You must go here, you simply must. I guarantee smiley faces of all ages – ENJOY!!!
