OK lets get on with the food. We started with this shredded veggie dish marinated in sesame oil, soya and a dash of chili oil. I will have to go back and check on the proper name of this dish as we usually just point and choose from the menu. The veg are bean sprouts, toufu, peppers, and the green things are a type of seaweed I believe? It is a (rightly) popular dish as I have seen it being sold (already mixed and seasoned) in markets here.
Then we had the fried pork fillet. It's been marinated in the usual Yan Can Cook/Chinese concoction: soya, corn starch, sugar and salt. In this instance I believe they also use chinese wine and lots of black pepper and perhaps a bit of a massage on the pork as the meat is always sooooo tender and succulent. Hmmm......
This is our new found favourite: stir-fried river shrimps. I don't know what it is but the taste of the shrimps are just so delicate it makes you keep going back for more. The dish comes with a dip with tastes like a water down vinegar - works like magic with the shrimps. You can see on the top left cover my husband's chopsticks as he's edging eagerly digging into the shrimps.
Here you will notice another helping of the pork fillet, this time with fried rice. I am not kidding you but we now order 2 helpings so that my husband and I don't have to fight for the pork. Yes it is THAT good. The fried rice was out of this world, as usual. As they say you can challenge a cook's skill with the most simple dish. 
Now. The reason for coming to this place. The dumplings. Xiao Long Bao. Ding Tai Fung serves Taiwanese-style Xiao Long Bao, which, in our humble opinion, is tastier than its Shanghaiese counterpart. The Taiwanese style dumplings have thinner pastry and smaller size (as Ding Tai Fung claims-I will need to do some investigation if I ever get to go to Taiwan). Here the pastry was so thin and elastic that when I picked a dumpling up I could see its filling (seasoned pork + soup) dangling off my chopsticks. I quickly dipped it in the ginger infused vinegar and put the whole thing in my mouth. At this point the nicely flavored soup came bursting out and burned my mouth. Every single time I would think to myself dang the soup is too hot and I wish I have waited.
On this visit we also ordered a chicken soup with hand made noodles, and a fried veg, a lame attempt to make us feel like we were eating healthily. I totally forgot to take pictures until we were half way through so sorry guys. The bill came to RMB340 for the 2 of us, although we ordered enough food for 3 or 4. The place is always spotlessly clean and the service typical upscale Chinese: overly abundant and distracting. The waitress would insist to switch your plate 10 times during the meal, or reach over in front of your face at inappropriate times, rearrange your plates when you are still working at it, lots of fussing around for no good reason. I think they call it attentive here.
Ding Tai Fung
Unit 11A, 2/F, South Block, Xin Tian Di, 123 Xingye Road, Shanghai. Tel: 6385-8378
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