Due to Din Tai Fung’s worldwide-scaled expansion and government’s intense advertising, we are inevitable to connect xiaolongbao and Taipei’s delicacy. Indeed, many restaurants in Taipei expertise on providing top-classed xiaolongbao. They are less known by the public only because they target on narrower customer clusters, like local residents, Japanese tourists or Mainland Chinese. Dian Shui Lou is one of great xiaolongbao restaurants but not well known by foreigners.
Affected by Western cuisine, chain restaurants like Din Tai Fung moved their kitchen to front stage. The kitchen is enclosed by glass from dining area, allowing gourmands to see how their dishes are made and how skillful the chefs are. Consumers would also be more pleased to enjoy their food as they can ensure the hygiene standard during the process. On the other hand, at Dian Shui Lou, you can sit just in front of the bar to admire the chef’s doughing and filling like enjoying a show at the first row.
Dian Shui Lou was opened in 2005 and hit the market with its Jiangnan cuisine (江南料理). All kinds of delicacies from Suhang (蘇杭) and Shanghai (上海) regions and Chinese bakeries like congyoubing (蔥油餅, green onion pancake) and luobogao (蘿蔔糕, radish cake) can be found here. Still, xiaolongbao is the hottest item among coming diners. The restaurant provides xiaolongbao in different flavors like basil, XO sauce (a Cantonese spicy sauce consist of dried scallop and shrimp), tuber, crab and vegetarian, but the most special one is mala xiaolongbao (麻辣小籠包, which means spicy). This flavor would numb you head while prevent you throat from burning too hard. These conflicting savors wrapped in a thin layer of dough skin result in a representative of Taipei’s xiaolongbao. Suzha haixian chunjuan (酥炸海鮮春捲, crisp-fried seafood spring roll) and luobosi subing (蘿蔔絲酥餅, crispy stripped-radish cake) are recommended as well. A little flaw of it is the relatively-high price among the field. However, the menu here is supplemented with English and Japanese introduction, attracting a considerable portion of Japanese and Western tourist to the place.
