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Dian Shui Lou - Shanghai Restaurant in Songshan Taipei 點水樓 (松山)



Restaurant name: Dian Shui Lou 點水樓 
Address: No 61, Section 4, Nanjing E Road, 105, Taiwan, Taipei City, Songshan District | 南京東路四段61號
GPS: 25°03'06.6"N 121°33'10.1"E | 25.051823, 121.552810
Nearest MRT station: Just a short walk from Taipei Arena Station 台北小巨蛋站
Tel+886 2 8712 6689
Hours: 11:00am - 2:00pm | 5:30pm - 10:00pm




Shanghainese restaurant, Dian Shui Lou was awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand in the inaugural Taipei Michelin guide in 2018.

Dian Shui Lou's founder was born and bred in Shanghai, so he has a deep appreciation of Jiangzhe 江浙 cuisine. Dian Shui Lou put equal emphasis on both their dim sum and main courses.

Dian Shui Lou's menu changes according to the season, taking advantage of the season's best. Their signature dishes are available most of the time.



Must try their 薺菜鍋餅, a pan fried vegetable pancake which has finely chopped fresh greens, shrimps and mushrooms sandwiched between two pieces of crackly crispy biscuits. The freshly pan fried biscuit has six layers on the top and another 6 layers at the bottom. Customers enjoy the layered crispiness of the pancakes and soft savoury sweet green filling in between. The well browned biscuits are encrusted with toasted sesame seeds.

Dong po rou 東坡肉 or braised pork belly is another of Dian Shui Lou's most popular signatures. This dish is representative of Jiangzhe cuisine. Dian Shui Lou uses fresh, never chilled Kurobuta (black pig) pork belly which they stew for four hours with rice wine, sugar, soy sauce and spices until the meat is juicy tender. The fat and skin are stewed until they become like jelly. Dong po rou is an extremely delicious savoury sweet pork dish. The stewed pork is enjoyed with soft steamed buns.



Another much sought after dish at Dian Shui Lou is their 西湖醋魚 West Lake Fish in Vinegar, which is a steamed fish dish. The 2.4kg river fish is brought to the restaurant live. It is kept alive without food for two days to purge their stomachs before processing. The fish is thoroughly gutted and cleaned to rid it of any traces of earthly taste.

The large fish is butterflied, steamed and when cooked is topped with julienned ginger and stalks of spring onion. The fish is then slathered with Dian Shui Lou's special thick tangy sweet vinegar sauce, smothering the fish in a dark blanket.



Besides their main course Jiangzhe cuisine, Dian Shui Lou is also famous for their xiao long bao 小籠包 (after all, DSL is a Shanghainese restaurant).

Dian Shui Lou's xiao long bao is a little meat purse with 19 folds at the top (probably the most in Taipei restaurants). The minced pork filling and dumpling skin are freshly hand made. The small steamed dumplings are meaty and bursting with tongue scathing hot savoury sweet broth. 

Besides the classic xiao long bao, Dian Shui Lou offers a few other versions including seafood and spicy. DSL's xiao long bao is considered the best in Taiwan by its fans.

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