When we traveled to Seattle, we wanted a place to have a nice. We were feeling something Asian, and we found an interested spot. It is a dim sum restaurant located inside a shopping mall called Pacific Place. The food court was on the top floor, and this spot was tucked away at one corner.
The coolest thing we noticed right away is that the kitchen where the staffs make the dumplings was set up right by the entrance. With the large windows, you could watch them create the magic of dim sum, which was really interesting. They were really fast and skilled.
Once we got to the entrance, the hostesses greeted us with a big welcoming smile, and took us to a table right away. Good thing there was no wait, since it was quite busy there. The inside was much larger than I thought. It looked like they had a smaller loft space above as well, and their ceiling goes all the way to the top of the ceiling of the loft space.
With the high ceiling, the space looks even bigger. The restaurant is on a corner spot of the mall, so it was surrounded by large window that goes from floor to ceiling. The bright natural light flooding in, it opened up the space even more. The décor was modern and sleek, simple with clean lines.
The restaurant also had really nice window seats surrounding the main dining area. These spaces were separated from the main dining room just a bit, giving a sense of semi-private dining.
The server brought us a small plate of thinly sliced ginger, fresh and quite powerful. Quick background of this restaurant; they started in Taiwan back in 1958, and since then, their business has grown significantly. Now, they have many branch locations throughout Asia, and also in Australia & the USA.
We were given a pencil and a paper menu, where you mark the items with quantities to keep up with your orders. Each item on the actual menu is coded, which corresponds to the paper list. Easy to find and track each order.
For appetizer, we were intrigued by the “weekend mornings only, limited” item called Small Dumplings with Soup ($15). Our server told us that they only had one or two of these left at that point. So, we jumped on it and ordered one.
It came with 20 small dumplings, with a side of soup. In a way, it is a kind of deconstructed soup dumpling. Interesting…
It was pretty good, the dumpling had pork filling, packed with flavor. The soup was more mild so that it does not fight against the flavor of the dumpling. By having the soup and dumpling together, it did feel like eating a soup dumpling. In a way, it was a safer way to enjoy soup dumpling, you won’t burn your tong with a super hot soup bursting out of the dumpling for sure!
Then, we ordered three items to share. Since we didn’t know the portion size of these items, we didn’t want to order too many too fast. The first item we ordered was Noodles with Minced Pork Sauce ($9.50).
This item was much bigger than we expected. I don’t really imagine a large portion at dim sum place, but they do come in all sizes. The pork sauce was sweet with a little kick to it, nicely balanced between sweet and spicy. The noodles were perfectly cooked, very flavorful dish, we enjoyed it a lot!
The second item was Shrimp & Pork Wontons with Spicy Sauce ($11). This was also a nice portion, about the same as the noodle dish. Each dumpling was a good size too.
On the menu, it did have the “spicy” mark on it, but I didn’t really think it was going to be that spicy. But, the dumpling was spicy! But in a delicious way, not crazy spicy but flavorful spicy. Before we ordered this item, we asked the server how spicy it is. The server said it is 1 out of 5 in spicy level, but I feel it is a bit more than that… I am glad we didn’t order something that was higher than 1 in the spice level… This dish had has some sweetness to it too, which made this dish extra tasty.
The third item was Shrimp Fried Rice ($11.75). It came in a beautiful dome shape, mountain size topped with several plump shrimps.
I gotta say, this one of the best I’ve ever had! It was soooo delicious! Not greasy but had a nice amount of oil to give it that glittery look. It had the perfect amount of seasoning, and the rice was cooked to perfection! My goodness it was awesome!
They had a small jar of hot chili sauce on the table, I added just a tiny little bit to the fried rice to give it a little kick. The fried rice was delicious with and without the hot sauce.
After the main dishes, we decided to get some hot tea and a dessert. Unfortunately, they don’t provide complimentary hot tea. But, they do offer three kinds of Taiwanese hot tea. We picked Taiwanese Oolong Tea ($3.50). It came in a nice sized thermos pot, enough for a few refills for both of us. It was hot, comforting, and soothing. Perfect to help digest the tummy.
For dessert, we ordered Chocolate XiaoLong Bao ($7.75). It is also called Mochi Chocolate. There were five mini dumpling-looking items in the bamboo steamer.
The fun and interesting thing about this dish is, the dumpling-looking part is made with mochi, formed in a shape of dumpling to mimic the soup dumpling! How creative! In the inside was velvety, hot, creamy chocolate oozing out. The mochi was chewy and cloud like, this cute dessert was sweet but not overly sweet, just right.
Their bathroom is tucked away all the way in the back corner through a long hallway.
They paid good attention to their bathroom, it was spacious, nice and clean. Modern and sleek with just what you need in there.
Our server was very nice and friendly, attentive and polite. All the staffs there were quite efficient, constantly picking up empty plates, refilling water. As I mentioned, the hostesses at the front were really nice. We had luggage with us since we were traveling, and they stored them away for us at a spot where we could see from our table. This made our dining experience more relaxing, since we didn’t have to struggle moving around the busy restaurant with our suitcases. The food was delicious, we enjoyed every dish. We would definitely return if we visit a city with their branch restaurant!
Din Tai Fung – 600 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101