400 South Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, CA, 91007 and also in: Orange County, Seattle, Santa Clara, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and Thailand. Phone (Arcadia): 626.574.7068

Worth visiting in a 60 mile radius.

While in Arcadia, a suburb of Los Angeles, my family had our sights set on another restaurant. Upon realizing it was closed, we drove around and found Din Tai Fung, not realizing it was an internationally acclaimed, world-famous Taiwanese dumpling house. We were hooked on our first visit and have been coming back for years.

Even getting into Din Tai Fung is an experience. We usually get there around half an hour before it opens, and there are still fifteen or so people ahead of us. If you go at high lunch time, you might be waiting for two hours. While you are waiting, you can look through the window and see the workers, dressed in white and wearing masks, making the dumplings in an orderly assembly line.

Now for a few of my favorites. Chicken soup here doesn’t mean a few scant pieces of chicken floating around in broth. Expect enormous pieces of chicken, clad in thick skin, in a warm, delicious broth. The fried rice is superb. Restaurant fried rice tends to be greasy, but not at Din Tai Fung. I recommend getting it with shrimp.

These dishes are enough to make one’s mouth water, but when I come here, I intentionally don’t gorge on them so I can make room for Xiao Long Bao, or literally, “small dragon dumplings.”  These round dumplings with a twist on top and filled with soup have stolen the hearts of many a patron. With each bite of Xiao Long Bao, there is an explosion of broth in your mouth, coupled with the succulent pork. There is only one small problem: you won’t want to eat the dumplings at your local Asian eatery anymore.

Din Tai Fung’s dishes may seem simple, but the quality will dazzle you if you are willing to sacrifice one or two hours for the wait.