Hao Kung Tao Chin Chi Yuan Golden Chicken Shanghai Dim Sum in Da'an Taipei 好公道金雞園點心 ☏ +88 62 2341 6980

Hao Kung Tao Chin Chi Yuan (Da'an) 好公道金雞園 | No. 28-1, Yongkang St, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106 🚅 10 minute walk from Dongmen station ☏ +88 62 2341 6980 ⏰ 9 am - 2 pm | 5pm - 8:30 pm (Weds off)

This is a place I would go back to when I am in Taipei again. The menu is wide ranging with all the quintessential Taiwanese dishes present. Prices are reasonable. We ordered only a few things and enjoyed everything.

Golden Chicken Dim Sum is often compared favourable with Din Tai Fung and sometimes referred to as the "cheaper Din Tai Fung 便价鼎泰丰" with 50% discount 打对折.

This was our third day in Taipei. It was raining but our enthusiasm to explore Taipei was not a least bit dampened.

We were early, the first customers of the day, probably because the rain kept some people away.

Seats near the windows, my favourite kind of seats (whether it is in aeroplanes or restaurants) 😄

Hao Kung Tao Chin Chi Yuan have been here at Da'an district since 1962.

Nostalgic memorabilia dotted the lovingly kept shop.

The food were still handmade the old way at the shop (at the ground level). I appreciate the high standards of hygiene at Hao Kung Tao Chin Chi Yuan.

A meticulously maintained dumb waiter brought the food up to the dining room upstairs.

Ordered the usual suspects first.

The quintessential Xiao Long Bao 小籠包.

What can I say? It's as good as any xiao long bao I've tried anywhere. The little pork ball dumpling was filled with scathing hot savoury soup (be very careful, if you this is your first XLB). The tender pork ball was sweet savoury. Skin was tender chewy. At least match the XLB at Taipei Din Tai Fung in my opinion.

Shrimp Siew Mai 蝦仁燒賣.

Open top pork ball dumpling with shrimp on top.

I am not previously a fan of siew mai but am a convert now after this at Chin Chi Yuan. The fresh crustacean sweetness added a layer of flavour on top of the sweet savoury pork ball.

After this, we ordered shrimp siew mai at every restaurant we visited that have it on their menu.

紅豆鬆糕 Glutinous Rice Cake.

We skipped to sweets because we were just sampling dishes, hopping from restaurant to restaurant the whole day.

This was another life changing dish - I mean after this we were looking out for this dish at every other restaurant we were visiting (but couldn't find another).

It's a grainy spongy mildly sweet steamed glutinous rice cake with embedded sweet red beans, red bean paste, etc. All natural flavours complementary sweet on sweet.

八寶芋泥 Eight Treasures Taro Pudding.

Ideal for taro or yam lovers. Not overly sweet with the taste of mashed taro studded with embedded candied date, raisin, lotus seed, winter melon, etc.

We love this place even though we didn't try many dishes here. Indeed, this was one of our favourite places for this trip to Taipei. We had to fight ourselves not to come back during our trip instead of looking for new places to try.

Golden Chicken Shanghai Dim Sum is not only more affordable than Din Tai Fung, it also has some items not available at the world famous chain. Next time, we want to try 油豆腐 pork roll with tofu skin, fried pork chop, fried chicken thigh, traditional bakes, steam pork bun, sweet & sour soup, etc.