Dally at Din Tai Fung UPDATE – Arcadia

If you think about it, Chinese people are actually pretty accepting. Sure, my people make rigid rules for their children and are dogmatic disciplinarians, but about anything goes in just about every other aspect of life. When it comes to clothing, there are no patterns too gaudy, no colors too clashing, and no style too bold to try. And when it comes to food, there are no ingredients too exotic, no combinations too confusing, and no flavors that can fail, just to name a few.

But the one thing the Chinese don't accept is mediocrity of any kind. You go big or you go home, and if you didn’t go big, you really don’t want to go home to the raging eyes of an angry tiger mom. And in a county of 6 billion people, the competition is pretty fierce.

There may not be billions of Chinese people in the SGV, but when it comes to authentic Chinese cuisine, the bar is set sky high, and I don’t understand how Din Tai Fung has managed to survive. My initial experience there was ordinary at best, but everyone insisted that I hadn’t had an authentic Din Tai Fung experience. The Pork Dumplings are their best dish, and since I’d only tried the pork and crab dumplings, I was clearly an unfit judge.

They had a point so I gave it another go. I ordered the pork dumplings steaming hot, and I sipped the savory soup with unparalleled enthusiasm and hope. The soup was tasty, the soft meat filling was satisfying to my inner fatty, and the thin, slightly chewy wrapper made for a tight little package. The dumplings were well-made, and they were definitely pretty good, but they were standard southern Chinese at best. Enjoyable, but they didn’t exactly change my life.

Din Tai Fung may not be making any life-changing liquids, but their Milk Tea with Boba was still a pleasant sip. It was nice to wash down all that hot soup with something icy and cold.

The Pork and Rice Shumai were a lot better than the pork and shrimp. The chewy chunks of pork nestled in a pearly ball of sticky rice were palatably exciting,  but these became a little bit bland. Maybe a little more pork to liven up the ratio?

I had tried to chalk up my initial lack of enthusiasm to my recent return from China, but I’ve been back for a while now, and it’ll be a long while before I’m back to Din Tai Fung. The dumplings weren’t bad by any means, but good isn’t good enough when you’re in the valley of the Asians. Come on SGV, even an A- isn’t enough if you’re Asian, and you’re getting a solid B. How about you try to disappoint your tiger mom a little less next time?