DIN by Din Tai Fung at MidValley Southkey [No Pork No Lard] — Restaurant in Johor

We were genuinely excited to try the Din Tai Fung branch in Johor, especially after enjoying consistently high-quality meals at their outlets in Singapore and Genting. Unfortunately, this visit at Din by Ding Tai Fung MidValley Southkey turned out to be a huge disappointment—so much so that we honestly wouldn’t even give it a single star.

Food Quality Was Subpar Across the Board: Oriental Salad: Overly sour, likely due to too much vinegar. It lacked the usual balance and was unpleasant to eat.

Prawn Cake: Tasted like it was made from frozen prawns, then deep-fried. It was not fresh at all.

Chicken Chop Noodle Soup: The noodles were passable, but the chicken chop was coated in a thick layer of batter—very salty and not crispy in the slightest.

Hot & Sour Soup Noodles: Bland, lacking the signature tangy and spicy punch it should have had.

Minced Chicken Noodles & Scallion Chicken Noodles: Both dishes were far too sweet and salty, and the noodles were not springy.

Mayonnaise Prawns: The mayonnaise was excessively sweet and completely overpowered the prawns.

Chicken Xiaolongbao (Halal version): A complete letdown. The filling had a strange frozen taste and lacked freshness. Worst of all, there was hardly any soup inside—dry and far from what Din Tai Fung is known for.

Chocolate Xiaolongbao: This is a favourite among our kids from previous visits to Singapore. Sadly, this branch served it with a skin that was far too thick—nothing like the delicate version we’ve come to love.

Condiments Were Unexpectedly Sweet: Even the usually dependable shrimp chilli paste and black vinegar were off. The chilli paste tasted like it had been overloaded with sugar, and the black vinegar was strangely sweet instead of sour and tangy. These changes were jarring and not in a good way.

Service and Coordination Fell Short: We had requested the Chocolate Xiaolongbao to be served later as dessert, but the kitchen brought it out in the middle of our meal. This, despite our clear instruction to the waitress when ordering. It reflects a lack of attention to detail and poor communication.

At checkout, the waitress simply stated the amount without showing the bill or asking for feedback. In other branches, staff usually ask customers to review the bill and inquire if everything was okay—something that genuinely enhances the dining experience. Here, even basic service standards were missing.

Feedback on Halal Adaptation: We fully understand and respect that this is a Halal-certified branch and that the team wants to cater to Muslim customers’ taste preferences. However, these adaptations should not come at the cost of food quality. Taste adjustments must be made with care and balance—not simply by leaning heavily into sweet flavors, assuming that’s preferred by all.

To be clear, our feedback is not to criticize the Halal approach or the customer base it serves, but to highlight that maintaining food quality and authenticity is critical, regardless of dietary adjustments. We believe Din Tai Fung can do better by conducting proper food testing and, perhaps, hiring experienced Muslim chefs familiar with authentic Chinese cuisine to help ensure that the Halal adaptations still meet the brand’s renowned standards.

We came in excited and left disheartened. Din Tai Fung is a globally respected brand with a strong reputation, and with that comes an expectation of consistency in both food and service. This branch, unfortunately, failed to deliver on both. We won’t be returning, and we sincerely hope that the management takes this feedback seriously to improve quality...

I don’t usually give low ratings however, I do feel like I need to share my experience at MidValley Southkey’s Din Tai Fung here.

Ceiling plaster/fragments found in dumpling: We visited this outlet for lunch on a Friday and had ordered the shrimp and chicken wonton noodles along with a few other dishes. When I took a bite into one of the shrimp wontons, I felt a crunch. Thinking it was an eggshell, I investigated the other half of my wonton only to see fragments of what looked like ceiling plaster/fragments of a wall on my plate. There were about 4-5 pieces of this fragment (some larger than the pictured fragment) which made me lose my appetite completely.

Complaint management/Service recovery: Upon discovering this, we asked to send our plate back to the kitchen with the fragment pieces in our food so that they can investigate the source. 1st attempt of recovery: The first staff offered to get us a new bowl of noodles which we declined as we were skeptical about the quality of food. About 5-10 mins later, another staff/manager came back to apologise about the incident. We were then told that the meat stuffing came from a central kitchen, and as a result they were unable to give us an answer immediately as to what those fragment pieces were and where they came from. That wasn’t settling because I wasn’t given a clear answer as to what I had just eaten. 2nd attempt of recovery: After a few more apologies, the person in charge told us she would void that order from our bill. Our total bill came down to RM136+ from RM160+. With most of our food untouched and wasted because of the experience we had just gone through, voiding the noodles felt like a poor attempt to rectify the issue. The person in charge was trying to assure us that she has never seen this in their food served before, and had went on to say that “usually complaints like hair in food is more common”, that’s when I felt my stomach flip again. I understand that she was trying to assure us that this was a one-off complaint, however it didn’t make me feel better to hear that in her experience working here, she has heard complaints about hair in food and somehow that is more acceptable than ceiling plaster. I appreciate the attempt to appease us but our appetites were ruined and we wanted to leave as soon as possible. 3rd attempt at recovery: We took our bill to the counter and the host apologised and informed us that our bill would be FOC, which was not communicated to the floor staff and to us. Perhaps, he needed to get approval from higher management before proceeding. We were then given a name card with the manager’s number, to contact them should we wish to visit again so that reservations can be made directly through him. However given our experience here, we are confident that we won’t be patronising again in future.

Lots of room for improvement in terms of hygiene and food safety which should be looked into immediately both at the Central kitchen and in the restaurant. Did not leave the restaurant feeling assured, because even the management and kitchen staff were unable to vouch for the conditions and standards of the central kitchen in which the...

“Woof! If i wasn’t on a diet i’d easily gobble down 4 sets of xiao long baos by myself!” - said by me after the first bite of their xiao long bao

INTRO Well i’m sure Din Tai Fung or DTF is well known and recognised by Singaporeans and Malaysians alike, but have you heard of a DTF serving Halal-esk dishes? Enter DIN by DTF, DIN does not serve pork nor lard and im sure down here in Malaysia any kind of store like this can be recognised as a “Halal” store especially if they have women w hijab on staff.

FOOD I have to say that hands down, i’ve never had better Xiao Long Baos(Chicken Dumpling with remnants of soup within)in my life and by god the chilli oil they leave on the table for you to use to your heart’s delight had me in tears! My GF and i loved their fried Szechuan Chicken which isn’t in the menu but in a separate laminated picture which you have to inform the waiter that you want to order this instead of the typical written down order for their other normal items. We enjoyed their sour noodle, shrimp egg fried rice(THIS IS FIRE AF) and ofcoure their siew mai(shao mai in the menu) which is just easy to eat with the chilli oil!

SERVICE Great great great great great! Actually maybe even AMAZING! nothing to complain about, all i have to do is raise my hand and boom i’ve got someone waiting on me instantly which more than i can say for some restaurants. The staff are super respectful and are busy zipping around being as efficient as they can being clearing tables for new customers or taking orders, you just feel like the staff here know what they’re doing and you don’t feel any kind of air of laziness in the sense that you fee bad for calling them over to add more to your tables order or requesting more napkins and etc.

ATMOSPHERE Yea the vibes here are nice, something i’ve noticed about some Malaysian restaurants is they tend to get the lighting incorrect like using white lights where it should be yellow to provide a more relaxing vibe in a restaurant, WELL this restaurant is bang on the lighting! really feel the relaxing atmosphere even with the staff busy zipping around i can still feel like im dining in a restaurant that really wants to provide a good environment for me to gobble down their food and leave with a food coma around the corner!

OUTRO Easily one of my favourite places to eat in JB and 100% will come back again, if you’ve yet to try DIN, do come down and whack some xiao long baos, shao mais and shrimp egg fried rice! you won’t be disappointed! especially if you’re muslim and wanna try a “halal” DTF! This is one gastronomic experience you won’t forget!

TLDR; Amazing Food, Amazing Service and a nice...