Dian Shui Lou — Restaurant in Da'an District

Noodles Mixed with Spicy Seafood Sauce ($280): This has always been my favourite delicacy of Dian Shui Lou since I was little. I really enjoy the great juiciness and spiciness of the XO sauce here unlike the majority of XO being flavourless. After stirring up, the noodles become absolutely superb and at around medium spiciness.

Steamed Spicy Dumplings (Xiaolongbao) (5 pcs: $190, 10 pcs: $360): If you love spicy foods, this can be suitable for you. The spicy sauce stands out extraordinary in Xiaolongbao and quite spicy that it gets me slightly sweating and I assume its spicy level is around medium.

In addition, Chinese Tea is $60, Cola/Sprite for $90, and Iced plum juice for $180.

It’s located on the toppest floor (11) of Sogo Fuxing building and there is an escalator and a bridge that leads to the restaurant.

To top it off, all the dishes are more expensive than Din Tai Fung but no doubt great value, superior dining experience, and decent service,...

Came for dinner - got xiaolongbao, turnip cakes, beef noodle soup, scallion pancakes.

Ludicrous prices (the xiaolongbao are more expensive than DingTaiFung, and far inferior, several breaking without even being touched). You can tell from the consistency of the filling that they freeze and thaw their dumplings. Sadly, the bao were the best part of our meal.

The beef noodle soup was horrible, tasted of nothing, essentially udon and soy sauce with beef?? $380 for a tiny portion, insane. Tastewise, I would happily trade it for an instant noodle. Just go anywhere else, and pay half price for 4x more food/better quality.

Also, the waitress saw my chopsticks break (first time happening to me - who buys chopsticks that are bifurcated in the middle?) and she briskly walked away. I incorrectly assumed that she was running to get me some new ones..

That being said, the restaurant is furnished well, fancy tables...

I wasn't expecting much, but this restaurant surprised me. It's one of the very few restaurants in a Taipei that actually offers good quality food at a reasonable price. The afternoon tea selection is good too, I noted many of the deserts were hand made, for example the buns were made from scratch (most restaurants in Taipei heavily use industrial and factory made ingredients to save cost).

The interior decoration is a traditional Chinese style, slightly above average, but nevertheless...