Din Tai Fung (Xintiandi)

Din Tai Fung's Xintiandi branch is lying on the second floor of a complex in the southern block. Its consistent food quality and warm service have credited the restaurant a must-try among so many strong competitors in such a hustling and bustling tourist destination.

About Din Tai Fung

Whenever the name Din Tai Fung has been mentioned, the first impression popping out is usually its tasty xiao long bao which has the succulent filling folded by a delicate bun, serving fabulous satisfaction to the palate but never feeling over rich, everything you could acquire from each bite of it is the delightful perfection. 

Yet how comes Din Tai Fung obtained its reputation? Where does the name of Din Tai Fung come from, and how did the enterprise grow up? This is the story about Din Tai Fung.

Din Tai Fung's founder, Mr. Yang Bing-Yi, was born in 1927 in China's Shanxi province.

In the summer of 1948, when the major part of China's mainland was suffered in the civil war, the 21-year old Yang made his decision to leave the mainland and make his way into the world. He boarded the ship Hualian 花莲号 in Shanghai and voyaged to Taiwan for a reunion with his aunt and uncle. With their help, he got his first job in Taiwan as a deliveryman for a cooking oil retailer Heng Tai Fung.

Two years later, he received acknowledgment from the shop's owner for his honesty and hardworking, hence, the owner put more trust in him and delegated more duties to Yang.

At the age of 28, Bing-Yi Yang married Lai Pen-Mei who was also one of the employees of Heng Tai Fung at the time, and they worked together for another four years at Heng Tai Fung.

It was until the day an investment of Heng Tai Fung's owner failed, the store was forced to close due to the tremendous loss caused by the investment failure which was impossible to recover from. After losing jobs from the incident, Yang Bing-Yi and his wife decided to start their own business. To commemorate the memorable working period at Heng Tai Fung, as well as to express their gratitude to their former employer, they named their own business Din Tai Fung, which is a combination of the names of Heng Tai Fung and Din Mei Oils, the name of their supplier.

The debut of the store was given in 1958 when was the period even obtaining a telephone number was difficult. The number 2321-8927 still kept in use at the original location in Xinyi is the one Yang Bing-Yi managed to acquire in 1958. He also managed to receive a signboard as a gift given by a famous calligrapher Yu You-Ren. The letters, which read: Din Tai Fung Oil Retail, were framed and hung on the wall next to the shop's front entrance.

The signboard hanging on the wall of Din Tai Fung Xinyi Branch

Thanks to Yang Bing-Yi's good personal reputation that he had gained from the working period at Heng Tai Fung, his startup went well at the beginning. By putting together some savings accumulated by Yang and his wife, a storefront was bought by the couple to house their business for a large market prospect. This new location is where the current Din Tai Fung still situates today.

However, in the early stage of the 1970s, when the traditional oil faced challenges brought by the consuming trend of tin-held oil, Din Tai Fung's oil business started to decline, hence, Yang Bing-Yi and his wife knew it's time to make some change.

After accepting the advice from Mr. Tang who was one of Yang's friends and the owner of the Fuxing Yuan restaurant, Yang shifted its business doing way by allocating half of the storefront to selling Xiao Long Bao. This move helped Din Tai Fung receive dramatically good feedback from the market, customers much appreciated the tastes of the Xiao Long Bao brought by quality ingredients and earnest working attitudes, they were more than willing to help spread the store to their friends. Therefore, Din Tai Fung gradually closed the oil business and formally became a restaurant specializing in Xiao Long Bao and other Chinese dishes.

Xinyi Branch in Taiwan