All the goodness of a traditional Chinese cuisine served at this oriental dining place, which is one of the best in the world. 

Din Tai Fung is a Taiwan-based Michelin Star restaurant which opens its door to Filipino gourmanders in 2015. 

It is dubbed as one of the best xiao long bao (steamed bun, soup dumplings) restaurants in the world.

Over the years, it receives numerous accolades for its high quality food, meticulous preparations and scrumptious dimsum dishes, especially the dumplings. 

New York Times hailed it as one of the best top 10 restaurants in the world, while Forbes magazine dubbed it as home of the best dumplings in the world. Michelin Red Guide awarded it with a Michelin-Star rating five times since 2010.

Michelin Star is the highest honorary distinction given to a restaurant or chef around the globe for coming up with high quality dishes considered as the best in the world.

Though Din Tai Fung has been serving the Filipino foodies for quite sometime now, it's only recently that I got a chance to drop by at this restaurant SM Megamall. Making me perhaps the last food blogger to do a Din Tai Fung review.

The ambiance at its megamall branch is a very traditional Chinese restaurant frill. With soft golden lighting, wood tables and oriental ornaments sprucing up the entire place.

But it's usually crowded. Diners will have to sit outside the waiting area and given a number to be called. 

During our visit, we waited for 30 minutes before we were ushered inside. What a sigh of relief because we're already super hungry.

But it was worth all the wait! Sumptuous oriental dishes made us all giddy and full. All those xiao long bao goodness. Yum!

We ordered the house specialties: Steamed chicken soup, Mushroom wonton dumplings, baked garlic buns served in xiao long, Stir-fried Chinese kangkong, sweet and sour fish and steamed rice.

The scrumptious mushroom wonton dumplings were my favorites among the dishes and the garlic buns. So tasty and flavorful! Authentic oriental cuisine that left me so full and satisfied.

I love the dumplings, so perfect in my taste,  soft and chewy and savory fillings. Its luscious taste is more lip smacking when dip in chilli sauce with a black vinegar and shredded ginger.

I also like the garlic buns. Cooked in precise perfection, the spices blended so well with other ingredients and herbs stuffed in the bun. 

It appears like siopao, pretty close but a lot tastier and flavorful. It tastes heavenly and I like the spicy flavor, sumptuous in every bite.

The house steamed chicken tastes like the regional Filipino tinola but a lot flavorful with some oriental spices in it. 

I also love the Chinese kangkong, freshly cooked, still crisp and appetizing. I also love the white plain rice (Php60.00), so tasty and smells so good.

Overall, my dining experience at Din Tai Fung was excellent and superb. I love the food, customer service and the whole atmosphere. Very relaxing and cool. A typical oriental restaurant ambiance.

Though pricey compared to another Michelin Star restaurant I tried, Tim Ho Wan, Din Tai Fung dishes are worth the value of money. The dumplings are truly the best! It lives up to the hype.

Asking if this restaurant has rice meals? Yes, it has. Price ranges from Php300 to Php450.00 for each rice meal. Prepare a budget of Php600.00 per head when you visit Din Tai Fung.

This restaurant has take-out and food delivery and available in your favorite food delivery app like Grab food and Food panda. 

Don't forget to try Mushroom wonton dumplings, it's truly the best! Forbes magazine once dubbed Dinner Tai Fung as the restaurant that offers the best dumplings in the world! 

Din Tai Fung is a Taiwan based restaurant with several branches in Metro Manila. It has a Michelin star rating which proved its high quality dishes.

Have you ever wondered what is a Michelin Star and how it gives prestige and impact to a restaurant? I've been blogging for almost 10 years now but believed me, it's only recently that I expressed interest to discover more about a Michelin Star-Rated restaurants.

Well, a Michelin Star is often called a hallmark in fine dining with restaurants considered it as the highest achievement in food business. It is a rating, to emphasize more - an honorary grade - granted to a restaurant by food expert reviewers of the Michelin Red Guide, published by a French company for achieving a highest standard in food quality. It is also given to a chef who crafted recipes and cuisine on highest quality.

In the Philippines, there are restaurants that achieved this rating but some of it are quite expensive. And mostly located in hotels. However, there are some exemptions. Though a Michelin Star-rated restaurant is quite a luxury, not all can empty your wallet. Believe me.

Tim Ho Wan, a Hongkong-based dim sum restaurant, is one of the most affordable Michelin Star-rated restaurants in the world. With less than Php200.00 for each of the dishes, including the best-seller soft buns, you would not breaking a bank for taking a regular meal here.

One Sunday, my friend and I dropped by at Tim Ho Wan at SM North for dinner to try its much-hyped baked buns. It was quite late for dinner, almost nine in the evening. Which was good since this restaurant drew a large crowd everyday at meal time.

I chose the Spare ribs rice toppings, my friend chose congee. We chose Jasmine Tea as our beverage. It is a great shame not to include the soft buns in your table when you are at Tim Ho Wan. So we took one order. And yes, it lives up to the hype!

The much hyped baked buns in pork barbeque sauce.

Soft, fluffy and super yummy! Only Php158.00 (the 3 pieces)

Super luscious!! The buns, soft and fluffy outside to the point of crumbling the texture when you take a bite, appears to be very willowy but super tasty and really scrumptious. The pork barbecue sauce balances the sweet and spicy taste and it compliments the mild flavor of the soft buns.

Super luscious!! The buns, soft and fluffy outside to the point of crumbling the texture when you take a bite, appears to be very willowy but super tasty and really scrumptious. The pork barbecue sauce balances the sweet and spicy taste and it compliments the mild flavor of the soft buns.

Spare ribs 170.00

I would also recommend the spare ribs rice, it suits the Filipino palate. Savory, with a tasty sauce coating of spices and oriental flavors. Compared to typical ribs recipes, this special dish is so meaty and cooked to perfection as textures are so tender.

Other must-try at Tim Ho Wan are Steamed egg cake, Beancurd skin roll and shrimp, Pork dumpling with shrimp, Beef brisket and tendon noodles, Prawn dumplings, Vermecilli roll with shrimp.

All these dishes per order is less than Php200.00, making Tim Ho Wan an ideal place to hold a family or team gathering. You can have a sumptuous, high quality food without ruining your budget.

Tim Ho Wan has six branches in the Philippines. In SM Megamall, SM North Edsa, Glorietta, Uptown Mall, Mall of Asia and Ayala Center, Makati. The atmosphere of the restaurant is in a typical oriental setting, earth interior, homey and minimalist.

Just stretch the fiber of your presence when you dine at Tim Ho Wan. It gets crowded at meal time with some are lining outside waiting for a vacant table. But it's worth the wait and the value of your money! Remember, this is a Michelin-Star rated restaurant.

A special dinner for a team that's about to change the routine. And part ways. Though this set-up is temporary, it still drew a sore kick in the gut.

Saying goodbye is always difficult, after all.

There's always a dark hue of sadness spewing the horizon. A gloomy pattern of blues. But we got to deal with it. In part, because it is necessary. 

Waiting for our turn to be served

So last Thursday, the 30th of January, we had a dinner one last time as an intact team in our shift. It was special because it was the first and last time we gathered as a complete bunch. It was also the birthday of our team lead. So the moment was a bit surreal.

Looking for a dining place where to hold our food bonding was not really a challenging decision making. I knew then which place suits the honor. Where else but at a special dining place where food selections are rated as world's best.

Tim Ho Wan is a Hongkong-based Michelin Star-rated restaurant where dim sum is the specialty, and cooked into perfection. So there was nothing more special that evening than held our last dinner together as a team at this prestigious oriental restaurant. 

Stir-fried noodles

By the way, Michelin Star is an international accolade given to a restaurant that offers high quality food as reviewed by the Michelin Red Guide food reviewers. In food and restaurant industry, to earn a Michelin Star rating is an ultimate quest.

Only few restaurants earned this honorary distinction. Tim Ho Wan, which has six branches in the Philippines, achieved the honor through its dim sum selections. But despite its prestigious status in the restaurant industry, Tim Ho Wan remains affordable. And to date considered as one of the world's cheapest Michelin Star-rated restaurants.

Dumplings

It was my second time dining at Tim Ho Wan. Last December, I dropped by at the SM North Edsa branch with a friend for our late dinner. I sampled the spareribs rice toppings during that food trip, and I love it. Flavorful and a little spicy. The sauce has just the right amount of thickness with succulent taste in every bite. It was so good I recommended it to my colleagues.

In this latest visit, at last I tried Prawn Dumplings, one of the items in the savory array of dim sum where this resto earned its Michelin Star status. Cooked in precision and distinct quality, this dim sum selection is extra awesome with an ultra sumptious blending of spices and flavors. I like the texture of dumplings, silky and smooth but firmer inside. Extra savory when drizzled with chilli oil. Insanely scrumptious!

We also tried the Chow Mien Stir-fried noodles and the Beancurd skin roll with Pork and Shrimp, part of the four heavenly kings due to its heavenly spicy and palatable flavors. I like the taste, not too spicy. Trickled with thick sauce and spices, the taste so rich and delectable. The Chow Mien Stir-fried noodle is another must-try recipe. Distinctively Asian, the oriental spices perfectly coated each strand of the noodles, making it extra flavorful. 

Other selections in the menu that should not be missed are fish cake laksa noodle soup, vermecilli roll selections, steamed egg cake, rice toppings with a variety choices of dish such as chicken and mushroom or spareribs or pork.

Tim Ho Wan is always an ideal place to whisk the evening away for a sumptious dinner. An affordable place to grab a bite of high quality Asian dishes. And a perfect place to chill with the team and mark some special bonding. We had a great night sharing dinner over laughter and fun and relaxed conversation. A surreal moment to remember. Now that reality sinks, we can only look back at the memories and reminisce the happy times.

Until then.

Thanks to our TL, Sir Daryl Ballarta, for the group pictures I grabbed from the Fb album 😀 and one photo from Mits 😊