Din Tai Fung - Chef's Table Take 2

Back to Din Tai Fung Chef's Table on a weeknight for dinner. As predicted in the earlier post, we were back here as we didn't know what to have for dinner.

Braised Pork Belly Noodle - 55thousand
As previously mentioned there are 2 types of noodles served for all noodle dish, normal or spinach, and we opted for normal noodles.This particular one is served in pork bone soup, which made it very fragrant. The pork belly was tender but slighty tough at the same time.

Salt and Pepper Squid - 52thousand
Fried squid in batter seasoned with salt and pepper. This was such a fail. The batter was such a fail, and the squid wasn't fresh. We all had a few pieces and was left untouched for the rest of the meal.

Three Cup Chicken ala Chef's Table - 65thousand
Chicken served with whole onion and garlic, like how Grandma used to cook them, but tasted different. It was tad too sweet, and wasn't fragrant. They were cook alright, but it doesn't have that 'wok' smell to it.

Pork Ribs ala Bi Feng Tang - 89thousand for 4 pieces
Fried pork ribs with garlic. One thing that pop out in our mind after that first bite was salty! They were tender and not so oily, but salty. We've had better ones over at Paradise Dynasty.

Steamed Vegetable & Pork Jiao Ze - 30thousand for 4 pieces
The name of the dish is pretty explanatory, and taste, texture wise, nothing much to write home about.

Xiao Long Bao - 34thousand for 4 pieces
The other visit we were raving for this dish, but not quite the same this time round. There weren't any broth in each Bao, and tad too much meat, which made it dry.

Xiao Long Bao Gems - Free
Not sure til when they are valid for, but for every 350thousand spent (before tax and service charge), you get a free portion of this Gem! Flavours in clockwise : Seafood, Bolognaise, BBQ Pork, Cheese, Salad Green, Golden Corn and Garlic Pork. The choices of flavours was slightly more peculiar than the ones you'd get at Paradise Dynasty.

Seated next to the open kitchen, we were able to see them made, and it irks Le Sister. The colours used were in liquid form, which Le Sister has no problem about. But they were stored in PET (Aqua/Ades) plastic bottles. Pretty sure they aren't safe for repeated use.

Strawberry Fantasy - 40thousand (personal)
Shaved ice served with fresh strawberries, strawberry jam, strawberry ice cream and condensed milk. This would have made a great dessert, if not for a few things : the fresh strawberries did not appear to be clean, we had some that still had leaves on it; and the shaved ice texture was too rough.

First time round, we had a probability of coming back for another meal. After this though, we probably aren't going to come back anymore. One thing that deserve a thumbs up was the service, there wasn't any supervisor or manager in sight yet they were doing pretty good.

Din Tai Fun - Chef's Table

Puri Indah Mall

2nd Floof Unit 201-202

Jl. Puri Agung, Puri Indah

Jakarta Barat

 

Telephone : (021) 582 3460/61

 

Operation Hours:

Monday-Sunday: 10AM - 10PM

(last order at 10PM)

[Review] Din Tai Fung - Chef's Table

Din Tai Fung - Chef's Table, a new restaurant in Puri Indah Mall. Just opened a few days ago, the atmosphere is bright and minimalistic, as opposed to the usual traditional wooden red and black found in their every branch. Chef's Table serves pork dishes, whereas the regular DTF is Halal.

Xiao Long Bao - 49thousand for 6 pieces

This is a definite must order! It's skin is thin, soft fragrant pork meat in the inside, and filled with a lot of juice. It is one of the best we've tried, and definitely better than the ones we've tried the night before at Paradise Dynasty.

Sauteed Prwan with Salted Egg Yolk - 75thousand for 5 pieces

 The prawn is crispy and covered with just enough salted egg yolk that it's not too overpowering. There's a mixed opinion for this dish, Le Mom and Le Dad found it just okay, while Le Sister likes it.

Pan Fried Gyoza (Pork & Vegetables) - 29thousand for 3 pieces

This dish was tad disappointing, especially after the excitement from the Xiao Long Bao. It was sort of soggy, as opposed to being crispy; it was okay though.

Steamed Vegetable and Pork Jiao Ze - 43thousand for 6 pieces

This was another let down. It is filled with too much vegetables, you can't barely taste the pork.

Vegetarian Delight in Special Vinaigrette Dressing - 26thousand

Xiao Cai, is an appetizer, with mushrooms and strings of tofu tossed together. It's pretty good! Do give it a try. 

Sauteed Asparagus with Crab Meat & Roe - 68thousand

It looks pretty in the menu, and came out exactly the same, but somehow didn't taste like how we'd expect it to be. The asparagus tasted bland, and it's probably just our luck, the asparagus were old, so the bottom was stringy and hard to chew (and probably hard to digest too).

Hot & Sour Soup - 42thousand (small)

The dish came spicy, too spicy for Le Sister to enjoy, and without a hint of sourness to it. We were told that it was purposely served this way, so the customer could add in their own vinegar to it, as to adjust to their own taste. It didn't make much sense though. Why skip the vinegar but not the chili oil?

Braised Beef Noodle - 58thousand

There are 2 types of noodles served for all noodle dish, normal or spinach, we opted for normal noodles. It's pretty good! We weren't a big fan of the beef as it wasn't tender enough, but the broth and noodles were good. It's soft and chewy, just the right texture.

Bubble tea - 25thousand

We're aware for the same price you could get a large milk tea at any bubble tea joint in town, but do not let it stop you from trying! The tea smells and taste really good, unlike most where there more milk to it's tea:milk ratio.

Mixed Fruit with Xi Mi Lu Sago - 30thousand

Consists of melon, watermelon, apple, and papaya, in a milky base. Nothing much to say about it, except the spoon. It's the flat one where restaurant would use for ice creams, so it was kinda challenging to drink the base. Forgiven, since it's a new place, they'll probably change to a proper one.

Gui Ling Gao - Free!

If you spend more than 200thousand before service charge and tax you get a free Gui Ling Gao! Look around for the brochures before stopping by. We seen them being handed out at the escalators, and probably at Blacklisted, their sister store. It looks like the one below.

Yeap! 20% off all items! Valid only until 18 March, not much time left. 

We also received this little voucher, where you get a free almond croissant for every purchase of coffee. We've featured their cakes this on our very first post previously.

Food was pretty decent, and the atmosphere is good too. We'll probably stop by again when we ran out of ideas where to dine on a weeknight. But still, nothing beats Duck King at Central Park since it's still closer to us ;)

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A little mini update : Le Cousins W tried this not long ago in April, and they didn't really enjoy their meal. So it probably is not as good as when it first opened, where they have the higher management controlling the situation.

Din Tai Fun - Chef's Table

Puri Indah Mall

2nd Floof Unit 201-202

Jl. Puri Agung, Puri Indah

Jakarta Barat

Telephone : (021) 582 3460/61

Operation Hours:

Monday-Sunday: 10AM - 10PM

(last order at 10PM)