The finest XLB in the world

Yes, I'm talking about the xiaolongbaos (小籠包) from Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐), the world-famous (or so I told Froggie) franchise from Taiwan. 

Froggie and I were going to the Le Creuset sale during lunch time, and I suggested that we grab ourselves some XLBs at DTF.  She had never heard of DTF (quelle horreur!!!) so of course she needed an education / introduction...

We didn't want to be too ambitious, so I started us with 3 baskets (of 6) along with a veggie...

Angled loofah and prawn xiaolongbao (絲瓜蝦仁小籠包) - one of DTF's signatures.  Loofah (絲瓜) is one of my favorite veggies, and the light flavor here complemented the prawns.

Crab roe xiaolongbao (蟹粉小籠包) - this was pretty damn good, and lived up to my expectations.  They were, of course, not as big as the ones I would normally get from places like Jiajia (佳家湯包) in Shanghai...

Black truffle xiaolongbao (黑松露小籠包) - how could we pass this up?!  No, the truffles weren't from Périgord, but no matter.  They were very fragrant, and Froggie was surprised by the amount of truffle in the dumplings.  Very yummy indeed...

After finishing off a plate of stir-fried veggies, Froggie decided there was still some room for more dumplings, so I ordered the specialty xiaolongbao (特色小籠包).  Of course the "original" flavor was still very, very good, and they disappeared in no time.  I kinda noticed that there was a hint of ginger in the pork.

It's been a while since I've had my fix of DTF XLBs, and no disappointment today.  The skins were paper-thin, molded to form the perfect shape with pretty folds on top, and steamed to perfection.  I picked them up gently with my chopsticks, and the skins would kinda get stuck.  But not a single one out of the 24 broke.  The skins were slightly drier than the other XLBs I had in Shanghai over the last year, but they were perfect.

Two happy campers today, who were even happier after fighting through the crowd for some Le Creuset...