Maddie and I took a few days to go down to Los Angeles. Really it was for dumplings (no, really). While I was on my last business trip, I was introduced to a delicacy of a restaurant called 'Din Tai Fung' in Sydney, Australia. Turns out to be the best dumpling I have *ever* had by the largest of margins.
Anyway - they have locations all over the Asia-Pac region and a *single one* in the good ol' USA. In Arcadia, California. Not NYC, not SF, not in Vancouver (a huge asian population) - shoot, Arcadia isn't even LA - its a suburb of Pasadena really.
So I had to take her to this place to have a similar experience that we didn't get to share when I was on the trip. So down to LA we went. Of course we made a mini-vacation out of it - we stayed at the Fairmont in Santa Monica (cute little bungalow in their courtyard), we planned many other things to see/do while there but it was all about the dumplings.
How where they? Not quite up to the amazing delicacy I had in Australia (in summary, they were close but the ingredients weren't as fresh, amazingly, and the pork in the dumpling not as minced so it was more chunky of a mouth feel than what I had previously) but if you hadn't had the dumplings previously - they are 'scrum-dilliscous' - according to Maddie.
But be prepared to wait, when we arrived there were about 60 people already waiting for a table on Friday night (about 6pm) but since we were a 'table for two' we got seated immediately. And that is the secret I am sharing with you now, don't take any friends, go by yourself or a single loved one and enjoy beating everyone to the amazing dumpling. And if you get a chance, try one of their several other locations around the world - you will be grateful you did.
As for the 'more' part of this post: expect pictures, updates and more about this trip in the coming days.
