For those of you not familiar with xiao long bao (xlb)- look up the Internets.

Din Tai Fung (DTF) is pretty special in terms of xiao long bao. There are only a handful of DTF places in the USA. There are a few places here and there that might make better xiao long bao than the DTFs in the USA. The DTFs in Asia are supposed to be the best. I've eaten xlb at the Xinyi location in Taipei. I believe Xinyi is the "original" location before they expanded - it's considered better than the Taipei 101 location. The Arcadia location makes good xlb, but the Taiwan location is a notable step up. The Arcadia location at least seems consistent in quality. I've looked through the window and seen the Mexicans rolling the wrappers. On one occasion, the Glendale location was actually better. Glendale seems less consistent. I see a combination of white people and Mexicans (lighter skinned) behind the window at the rolling stations there at Glendale. They don't seem to work as hard as the guys I see at the Arcadia location. The dough / wrapper rolling guys in Taipei  look like maestros compared to their USA counterparts. They've probably been doing for most of their life and were apprenticed at a young age. The problem in the USA seems to be poor technique and insufficient diligence (time constraints to do it properly.)

The wrapper or "skin" is what makes xlb. It must be sufficiently thin, but also strong enough so that the meat filling and juices does not fall out when you lift it up with chopsticks. There is a certain quality of the dough which in Taiwanese is pronounced something like "quew". It means a balance of rubberiness / elasticity and softness. Too rubbery, and it's too much like squid. Too soft, and the dumping falls apart. If the wrapper is too thick, it will not steam correctly and not be moist. The filling (pork + cabbage + other stuff depending upon recipe) must be moist and produce a lot of juice. A properly made xlb would have a skin that is consistently moist - not too soft - not too rubbery. The pouch should be slightly expanded because of the juices from the filling / steaming process.

Are there better places for xlb than DTF? Yes there are. Unfortunately, I currently don't know of any as of this minute. The problem with Chinese restaurants is that once ownership changes, the food quality also changes. The Taipei place is better than the LA places for xlb. Still, The SoCal DTFs have been better than the few other Shanghainese places I have tried in the Bay Area and San Gabriel / Monterey Park. (Irvine does not count - Irvine Chinese food is generally shitty - although a one or two places have opened up which are good).

Finally DTF seems to only do xlb well. For shui jiao (boiled Chinese dumpings), Tasty Noodle (any of the SoCal locations) is better. I like to equate DTF with Apple. Generally good and consistent quality and experience with a marquee product. Expensive doggy bags. You can't go wrong. You can find better (if you look really hard), but you can certainly do much worse.

This is how I eat the xlb. I grab one with chopsticks, put it on a Chinese soup spoon. Put a few slivers of ginger and pour a little black vinegar on top. It is then slurped up. This way, the juices are not wasted.

Last pic is the black sesame bun. They suck in the USA when compared to Taipei. The mantou (dough) element in the Socal DTFs is drier and not as puffy as in Taipei. Also, the quality of the black sesame filling seems more fresh in Taipei. But they are still good though - not too many other places you can get that in the USA.