Dumpling, Dumplings, Everywhere!

While we were in Seattle for Super Bowl weekend we ate at Nick's favorite Chinese restaurant in Toyko called Din Tai Fung. He was thrilled when he saw that one had recently opened in our old neighborhood.

They are known for their dumplings and Nick even has a punch card in Japan for this restaurant. (They don't do punch cards in the U.S.)

They have a team of cooks preparing the dumplings and you can watch them through a window into the kitchen.

This restaurant doesn't take reservations so we had to wait two hours. We had plenty of time to watch them entertain us with their dumpling making.

We didn't actually stay there the whole time to wait for our table since the restaurant is located at University Village where there is a lot to see and do. We wandered into the Village to kill time and check out the shops…like the Team Store full of Seahawk gear.

How does this cap look?

Nick was feeling right at home and I was too, at my favorite kitchen store, Mrs Cook's.

I loved how all the stores had displays everywhere you looked to honor the Seahawks.

You gotta love Seahawk colors if you're in Seattle this weekend because they're everywhere you look.

We had no problem waiting for our table at University Village. (Notice Bruce wearing this new Seahawk's cap that he just bought at the Team Store)

We ended up waiting out the rest of our time at the new Starbuck's (and third Starbucks in the Village) that is a Starbuck's "Reserve".

It's like a wine tasting shop. They describe their coffee just like wine. Nick tried the new Ethiopia blend but we didn't taste any strawberry, bing cherry or chocolate I'm sorry to say... but it was fun trying all they had to offer in this exquisite coffee shop.

I ordered wine (since I felt like I was at a wind tasting event) since they also offer beer and wine.

My wine came with some spiced pumpkin seeds. Delicious!

It was a good place to wait for our table and soon Nick received a text that our table was ready.

Nick did all the ordering for us since you fill out an order sheet after you are seated.

He knows what all his favorite choices are at Din Tai Fung.

And he did not disappoint. We started out with beef hot and sour soup.

All our choices arrived at the table "family style". The soup arrived in one large bowl so we portioned out the soup to individual smaller bowls and it was delicious!

And then the dumplings started arriving…our favorite being the sharonpo.

Nick showed us the proper way to eat them: pick up with your chop sticks, place in your soup spoon and poke with your chop stick to puncture a hole in it to let the steam out because they arrive really hot and steamy, and then you can eat it.

And they go down real easy. Love these things. We also ordered shrimp and pork shumai dumplings pictured above at the beginning of the post. They are all so cute, you just want to pop one in your mouth.

Another favorite at our table were the shrimp fried noodles. We ordered seconds on this one.

Next, the pork chop fried rice, very tasty indeed.

Nick also ordered rice cakes that were like pasta but made with rice flour instead. Not like the "rice cakes" we know that are those large, round, crisp snacks. These must be the Chinese version of pasta. We all loved them.

We also had to have our token green vegetable, Nick selected bok choy. I always love mini bok choy.

We also ordered the always popular pot stickers.

Nick actually had to fill out order sheets twice because after we ate the first batch, we wanted more.

I didn't mention anything about the beverages but they had all kinds of interesting drinks like this green tea smoothie drink that Nick ordered.

The food was very satisfying and we didn't feel "stuffed" or even very full, just satisfied even though the food just kept coming and coming and it seemed like we were eating a long time. I highly recommend Din Tai Fung. Unfortunately, Din Tai Fung is only located in two place in the U.S; in the Seattle area and the Los Angeles area. But there are many right across the Pacific.

Another wonderful eating experience during our Super Bowl weekend in Seattle.

Can we pay with Japanese currency? Nick had a few of these in his wallet but not accepted in the U.S. Really?

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