Din Tai Fung - Sydney

1:03am Thursday 12 August 2010 Sydney (gmt+10)

It's a good thing that they have see-through kitchens so you can kill time by watching the dozens of face-mask covered cooks make dumplings from scratch. Regardless of what time you turn up, whether you have a reservation or not, it would always take at least 20 minutes for you to get to your table because of the large number of people who are trying to get in.

It looks pretty cozy inside. The impressive wall decor is made up of bamboo baskets, rice bowls and Chinese soup spoons. The long wooden tables are designed for communal dinning and the mirrors give a feeling of more space than what is actually there.

Even before you receive your order you immediately get the feeling that Din Tai Fung's got all the bases covered as far as a successful food operation is concerned. The Sydney branch is the 41st in a chain of restaurants around the globe that started in Taiwan in 1958, first as a cooking oil retailer, then as a dumpling food store. And once you see how it is functioning and how organized it is then it's no wonder that it's considered as one of the top ten restaurants in the world.

We ordered Crumbed Chicken with fried rice, Pork Chop with fried rice, Lychee Mint Juice, Avocado Juice , 2 sets of Pork Dumplings and 2 sets of Prawn-Pork Shao Mai. And remarkably everything that we ordered arrived within 12 minutes. And the scent coming from the steam baskets were so good. You could smell the freshness of the dumplings!

The taste was just amazing. The flavors of the dumplings were not overpowering, yet very well defined. The chicken was not oily, and the fried rice was perfect and very succulent. I think the fruit juices that we ordered went well with the food. And I just couldn't help but be fascinated with the degree of craftsmanship that has gone into putting the dumplings together, especially with the Prawn and Pork Shao Mai. Amazing!

The only disappointing thing about our dinner at Din Tai Fung was that we were among the last group of diners to be seated. So even though we wanted to try some more stuff off the menu we simply couldn't because the kitchen was already closed. And being a chef myself I'd know not to annoy the chefs by insisting they go back and cook again if they already called it a day. But if anyone asks I'd say it was one of our best dinning experiences in Sydney ever. It was definitely worth the 20 minute wait! 

Din Tai Fung Sydney

Shop 11, Level 1

World Square Shopping Centre

644 George Street, Haymarket

Sydney