Din Tai Fung Holland Village

Din Tai Fung Holland Village is one of our favourite restaurants at the newish One Holland Village Mall. It has a very convenient location on the ground floor and seems to stand at the point of transition from the old Holland Village shophouses to the modern shopping mall.

One Holland Village DTF

We have not tried all of the 30 DTF stores in Singapore and are not able to say which is the best. We posed the question to Google and the Paragon outlet (which is also the first DTF outlet in the Lion City) seems to be widely regarded as the best. A more recent challenger has emerged in the form of the new Ion Orchard outlet which is said to recreate the ambience of the first and original Din Tai Fung in Taipei.

It is clear that both the Orchard Road outlets are tough to beat on account of their historical connections. But in terms of day to day usage, we think Din Tai Fung Holland Village is one of the best, perhaps even the best in Singapore. Nothing beats convenience like street level access. No need to travel up or down escalators or get lost in a maze of mall corridors. Being a suburban mall also means that we can time our visit at peaceful off-peak times.

A Bright Welcoming Restaurant

Here are a few pictures of the restaurant interior. We like the large windows that look-out at the pedestrian activity outside. Wooden panelled walls with Chinese paintings make this feel like a welcoming restaurant in Taipei.

Din Tai Fung Restaurant @ One Holland Village

In particular we like this view of old shophouses of Holland Village. This could be a view from one of the cafes at Fujin Street (富錦街) in Taipei.

Here is a picture of the DTF menu. It is probably the same in every store in Singapore. Service at Din Tai Fung outlets are usually good and this is usually the case here.

There was one particular visit to this outlet which was memorable. It was a visit when we wanted to avoid dishes made with crustaceans. Our kind server did not know the answer. She disappeared for a few minutes into the kitchen and returned with this menu. She had enlisted the help of her kitchen colleagues to mark out the dishes to avoid. We are used to good service at DTF but this extra step was indeed impressive.

What We Ate On This Visit

There is nothing special to say about the food on this visit. We ordered the usual things that we are familiar with. Stir-fried Nai Bai with Garlic ($14) is a typical vegetable we order at DTF. Usually well fried but still remaining crunchy. Its portion size is also adequate for two people.

For mains, there are more choices of noodles and rice dishes. It is usually a hard choice between the beef noodles and pork chop fried rice. On this visit the beef noodles won. The Special Braised Beef Noodle Soup with Beef ($16.50) has a rich meaty broth and the beef quantity is decent.

Special Braised Beef Noodle Soup with Beef

Our usual constant dish at DTF is their signature Steamed Pork Xiao Long Bao ($12.80 for ten pieces). We do not need to describe the taste of these dishes as they are well-known. It is amazing how they can be so consistent across so many branches.

DTF signature Steamed Pork Xiao Long Bao

The only area where there is room for improvement is the small amount of sliced ginger served with the XLB, although that can be remedied by a request which has never been declined. Overall, the quality of food is similar to other DTF branches, but the ambience and service at Din Tai Fung Holland Village is a notch better than the already high standards at most other outlets we have been to.