The owner of the restaurant is allegedly a former chef of Din Tai Fung, and he has opened two branches in Taiwan and more than eight branches in Japan as the target market. As a result, the customers are mostly Japanese aside from local Taiwanese and westerners who are attracted by its reputation. With thin coating, plentiful filling and rich juice, its steamed dumpling (or also called xiaolongbao) is comparable with that of Din Tai Fung. The most special dish here is the self-invented oolong steamed dumpling (烏龍茶小籠包), which has an impressive green coating, hot juice, flavored pork filling and intense aroma of oolong tea, innovatively combining two Taiwanese specialties. The restaurant does not offer many choices of fried rice and snack as it features steamed dumpling. The noodle dishes served here are generally good, whereas the fried rice and deep-fried pork fillet are barely satisfactory.
Reservation is recommended as there are not many seats and will be canceled due to late check-in if there are many customers waiting. It can be easily accessed by five minutes’ drive from Taipei Songshan Airport, allowing tourists from Japan and Hong Kong near Taiwan to enjoy delicacies soon after landing. Even for the customers who take MRT, it only takes two minutes’ walk from Taipei Arena Station. Forget to make a reservation and happen to visit the restaurant on its busy day? No worries. On the same street are various restaurants available, including the Taiwanese cuisine of military dependent villages, America-Vietnamese dishes and Japanese curry.
