Adventures in Arcadia: Din Tai Fung

I’m not afraid to go to great lengths when it comes to scoring an awesome meal. Hour-long wait times, even longer drives, sketchy neighborhoods, you name it. When it comes to a delicious meal I’m ready to conquer all. And with the onslaught of coughing and congestion, it wasn’t difficult to decide which restaurant to try next. Arcadia, here I come!

A good friend with great taste first told me about the wonder of Taiwanese dumpling house Din Tai Fung. When my buddy asked again about a special Saturday lunch I jumped at the chance. So what is it that makes their dim sum so special?

These are soup dumplings! Dip it in sauce, place it in your spoon, take a teeny bite to let out some steam, and slurp. that sucker. up. Words can’t describe the juicy warming goodness of their pork dumplings. I think I ate 10 of them. We also sampled shrimp and pork (above), but solo pork is their winner. Every table had 1 or several steamy containers filled with ‘em.

After a long wait, and a long (and satisfying meal), we took off for boba around the corner. We stumbled upon some unexpected awesomeness, that brought back fond memories of my trip to Japan:

Cutesy toys! Evil claw machines! A entire room dedicated to the addicting pastime. If you happen to stop for dumpling, make sure to waste a little more money here.

Din Tai Fung