We were very excited that Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese restaurant founded in 1958, opened its first restaurant in Covent Garden, London on 5 December 2018. I’ve previously eaten dim sum at their Singapore and Shanghai branches and it was delicious. We decided to go in early January as long queues were reported of 4 – 5 hours when it opened.
When we arrived there was a smallish queue around 11am but as the doors opened the queue moved swiftly. We walked past the dim sum chefs who were busy making hundreds of dim sum before we were seated on the ground floor underneath the lovely skylights. 
Here are the 5 dishes we ordered:
- String beans with mince pork £5
- Prawn and pork dumpling noodles with Sichuan sauce £12.80
- Pork and vegetable dumplings in chilli oil £7.50
- Xiao long bao £6.80
- Prawn and Pork Shao Mai £8.80
My favourite dish was the Pork and prawn dumpling noodles with Sichuan sauce as the combination of fresh noodles dumplings and spicy sauce was delightful. It even trumped the Xiao long bao for me!
The remaining dishes did not stand out and I would skip the prawn and pork shao mai. Whilst it looked good the taste was bland.
Overall, it was expensive for the quality and serving for the London branch. However, I will continue to go to the branches in Asia.
Address: 5-6 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 8PT
Opening hours:
Cost: £46 for 2 people
Have you been to Din Tai Fung UK? Did you enjoy it?
