Din Tai Fung

I love a really delicious wonton. Its one of my favourite things in the world and surprisingly hit or miss (with slight more misses than hits).
Din Tai Fung does a good wonton. Not the best in my opinion, but very, very good.
I had the wonton soup with spinach and a side of spicy vege dumplings. All very good. I waited FOREVER for my food (20 mins!), which if it’s a consistent thing, then I won’t bother with them at lunch. They’re also a bit gruff and grumpy.
So… good food, but a long wait and certainly no warm and fuzzies for me. At least I know where I can get a decent wonton now though!

This is much smaller than most Din Tai Fung restaurants — almost a takeaway store in the heart of Greenwood Plaza at North Sydney with limited seating.
You also order at the counter after filling out your menu choices — unlike Din Tai Fung restaurants in Taiwan, Singapore or other countries where they come to your table. The menu also seems to have been condensed here compared to other outlets.
The food is a modern twist on dim sum, made fresh and with scientific precision. I believe every dumpling pastry is delicately hand made to measure between precisely 4.8 and 5.2 grams and served within 4 minutes.
The pork buns are not like the traditionally gooey pork buns you get at a Chinese restaurant, more of a pork mince ball encased in a steamed dumpling shell. Still very tasty.

I’m not going to say ‘I don’t get it,’ because I do. I get it. It’s a Thing. Din Tai Fung is trendy, and therefore we ignore the terrible value, average dumplings and utter absence of any charm or atmosphere in the slightest. We do this because our hip friends will recognize the location on the Facebook status update, and maybe even ‘like’ it.
There’s a qualification: I don’t like xiaolongbao. Other than the baffling technical skill I imagine it takes to put soup inside a dumpling, I find them with as little purpose as they have flavour. I truly could eat ten little bamboo servings of the things and remain unsated. Gladly, Din Tai Fung does serve other stuff — the pork and bean dish is my favourite, though the serving is puny, as it is with the passable fried rice. I seem to recall actually getting my fill of it at the Westfield location — the one here was much smaller. Meanwhile, don’t order one of the pork buns. It won’t be what you want. It’s crap.
We’re in Sydney! North Sydney’s a cheap Opal trip away from a heady world of delicious dumplings in Chinatown, and closer still to a classy joint like Uncle Mings, where you can have your bamboo steamers and a crisp lager to go with it. Din Tai Fung may have been something, once, but now it’s for people who know no better than to eat at literally the closest spot to the ATM.

Amazing adition to North Sydney Greenwood shopping centre. Expect to wait in a long que around luch time but we all know its so worth it! Even if the line look scary is always moving. If there is no space to seat down you can get take away and find more seat in the food court.
The dumplings are always amazing!

You can’t go wrong with the dumplings here. I am a fan of their other locations and almost went crazy with excitement waiting for the North Sydney opening. The only negative I can say about this place is that I don’t think their noodle soup was amazing when I tried it which was a shame. But I have to give 5 stars as the dumplings deserve nothing less. I would eat them everyday if I could! Please try if you haven’t already!