Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 at The Gardens Mall — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

My wife and I decided to have an early lunch at the Din Tai Fung outlet in The Gardens Mall after her Sunday grocery shopping at Mid-Valley Mall. Din Tai Fung is a globally renowned Taiwanese restaurant chain, particularly famous for its meticulous approach to food, described as "Shaped by Tradition, Crafted by Hand", and their use of the "highest quality ingredients".

The location at The Gardens Mall is indeed spacious, clean, bright, and comfortable, with soft pipe-in Taiwanese music contributing to a pleasant atmosphere. It's nice to see the care taken in the dining environment.

We ordered and shared a set of Shao Mai and Mushroom dumplings. The menu does list Shrimp & Kurobuta Pork Shao Mai and Sticky Rice Shao Mai with Kurobuta Pork & Mushroom, as well as Vegan Dumplings that contain shiitake mushrooms, offering various options in these categories. We also shared the highly recommended Pork Chop Fried Rice. Sources describe this dish as having perfectly seasoned fried rice and a signature Shanghainese-style fried pork cutlet that is crispy on the outside with a tender, juicy center, which aligns with positive reviews from other diners in Malaysia.

For drinks, my wife requested a Hot Soy Milk, and I opted for a refreshing Ice Watermelon Juice. While the menu excerpts provided do not specifically list Hot Soy Milk or Ice Watermelon Juice, they do offer various teas and fresh juices like Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, suggesting a range of beverage options might be available at this location.

The service was superb, which is a great plus for any dining experience. Other reviewers have also noted the service being attentive and great at Din Tai Fung locations.

Regarding the prices, we found them to be competitive and affordable. The average price per person for the Kuala Lumpur locations is estimated around RM25-35, which some find reasonable for a meal in an upscale mall location.

Overall, we were very pleased and satisfied with our meal. Din Tai Fung aims for consistency, and our experience here lived up to expectations for a quality, handcrafted meal. We look forward to having more meals in the near future.

As...

Great food and efficient service. Was here on a Saturday night and it was packed. The numbered waiting system with a call signal on a screen is such an effective method. After 20 minutes waiting we got our seats even when we had arrived at 7.35pm.

Xiang loong baos were excellent as usual. But the star had to be the scallion sauce dry la mian which we ordered with shredded pork and prawns. The la mian was pulled until nice and springy, plus it wasn't overcooked so it still had a 'QQ' bite. The scallion sauce was aromatic with the fragrance of fried shallots. We had the stir fried pea shoots, which came with a good wok hei. We loved it so much we ordered another bowl.

The only minor let down that night was the House Special appetizer; the dressing was too heavy on the sesame oil so that was all we could taste, resulting it being the only dish we didn't finish that night.

I have to also mention our dessert. We had the black sesame rice ball (tang yuan) in both red sesame soup and soy milk. We were blown away by the tang yuan as they were generously filled with black sesame paste, which was not well balanced in sweetness. We preferred the one in the soy milk as it too wasn't too sweet and was light enough to balance out the. Again, we ordered another serving.

All in all despite the crowd, we had a great meal at DTF. The servers came over as soon as they spotted us waving at them. They responded briskly and worked with great efficiency. A great place to return to and well worth the...

A bit disappointed with this visit. Have not visited this outlet for while now and somehow felt that service and food quality have dropped significantly. Issues that had impacted my visit this time around are as follows:-

Menu has changed and downsized. They seem to be offering lesser choices which is a negative. Cleanliness is an issue. The plate that was on my table was dirty with hardened food. This was a big turn off before I even ate my meal. Service quality is downright bad. We were seated promptly but there was no one to take our orders after we had filled up the order form. I was close to walking out before one lady saw us waving for assistance. This is the first time in a DTF outlet that I have encountered this. Food was very very slow to be served. We had finished the noodles before the fried rice was served. And this was not rush hour. After seeing the dirty plate, I was served my noodle which looked pretty messy. The plating was done pretty badly I would say. Another cleanliness issue was with the chilli container and soy sauce bottle. Seems that no one checks before a table is occupied.

This episode will ensure that I will no longer patronize DTF...