First UK Din Tai Fung confirmed for Covent Garden in Q4
The international chain’s arrival on these shores was first mooted in 2015, so the official announcement has been a long time coming.
The restaurant will seat close to 250 guests and offer a wide-ranging Taiwanese menu that includes its world-famous xiao long bao (steamed pork soup dumplings). Other key menu items include steamed chicken soup and steamed prawn and pork shao-mai.
Spanning two levels, the walk-in only London restaurant will have an oriental-style wooden interior and have a large open kitchen so customers can see the dumplings being made.
The brand operates well over 100 restaurants worldwide. Two of its Hong Kong sites have previously held Michelin stars. The group’s UK activity comes as a result of a joint venture with the Singapore-based food and beverage company BreadTalk Group.
Din Tai Fung will open its second UK location in London’s Centre Point in early 2019.
Ranked as one of the world’s Top Ten Best Restaurants by The New York Times, the restaurant’s roots date back to Taiwan 46 years ago. Founded by Mr Bingyi Yang in 1958, the brand started off as a cooking oil retail business, before re-inventing itself in 1972 into a full-fledged restaurant.
