There’s a Din Tai Fung in Japan?! Yes!
You guys know by know that we’re experts when it comes to traveling around Japan! You’d think that for every meal we would be devouring Japanese food when we’re there. That’s actually not the case! Sometimes we crave for something that tastes familiar because we do get a little homesick. So when we were in Osaka one night, we decided to try Din Tai Fung Japan to see if it matches up to what we’ve had in Seattle and Taipei.
EATING THERE
We popped into the location located atop the Takashimaya Osaka department store. We arrived at 5:30pm for an early dinner because we weren’t sure if there would be long lineups. There was plenty of seating available although the restaurant filled up by the time we were finished. Be sure to go at off-peak times if you don’t like to wait!
There is plenty of well spaced-seating inside the restaurant. You will get a menu with mostly Japanese text but they’ve translated all the menu item names into English. You won’t need to ask for a seperate menu. It also helps that there are pictures!
THE FOOD
Ok, so we’re going to be honest with you. We ordered all the food that we’re used to eating and didn’t branch out to anything that was new. The purpose of this meal was to compare what we’ve had before. We also were looking for food items that were our favorites and would help us fight off some homesickness.
Here is what we ordered and a very quick summary of our impressions of the food.
- Veggie Gyoza – had an earthy taste that we couldn’t tell if we liked it or not. Maybe it came from the mushrooms? Overall this was a fairly weak dish and if you’re not vegetarian, you should skip it.
- Spicy Sichuan Dumplings – These are NOT SPICY at all. In fact, we think they’re more sweet than spicy. In Taiwan, these are truly spicy. We liked using the extra chilli oil on our rice. If you’re looking for a chilli oil to enjoy at home, you can check out our favorite one.
- Xiao Long Bao (XLB) – Din Tai Fung is famous for these and we wondered how they would stack up. These are very good and they came out steaming hot. However, we think they’re less soupy and the filling is softer compared with ones in Taiwan.
- Pork on Fried Rice – They soup is supposed to be an extra charge but they gave it to us for free. We’ve never seen this soup come with the rice at other locations. It’s a nice broth and we enjoyed it. The pork was tasty and tender. It tasted on par with what we’ve had at other restaurants.
SHOULD YOU TRY?
We think you should try Din Tai Fung Japan if your home country doesn’t have it. Otherwise, we didn’t think that the food was overall outstanding here. It did satisfy a craving we had for Taiwanese food in Japan but didn’t blow our minds. The service was a bit slow so if you’re in a rush, this isn’t a good choice.
If you’re looking for other Din Tai Fung locations, you can see them all on the official website.
