Din Tai Fung Selfridges

Unlike any other department store, Selfridges has managed to reinvent itself as a lifestyle destination that goes beyond its functionality as a luxury goods retailer. Part of its shapeshifting has seen it create a mini restaurant empire at the top of its Oxford Street store.

With an already established presence across the world, Din Tai Fung’s placement in the fourth-floor food hall is well positioned for tourists looking for a taste of home or hungry Londoners who have long since been charmed by the delights of dim sum.

The decor isn’t exactly clinical, but it doesn’t feel like it’s been designed to create an atmosphere where people will want to linger. The speed at which your food comes out fresh and hot from the kitchen proves this perspective somewhat but at least if you’re on the verge of hangry when you arrive there should be a swift improvement to your mood.

There’s a bit of added theatre in funny little robots that shuttle up and down to carry plates to and from the kitchen, while the chefs work behind sheets of glass to allow you a glimpse at the complicated folding of the restaurant’s signature Xiao Long Bao dumplings. There are towers of bamboo baskets and pillows of hot steam erupting from the workbench. Plus, there’s no greater thespian gift than the people watching of WC1.

Friendly and attentive staff keep the baskets coming. They’re filled with fluffy steamed buns and soup-filled pleated mouthfuls that burst to release a hot, rich stock. An unsuspecting plate turns out to be the star of the show. A prawn pancake that comes stuffed with sweet, chopped meat and is fragrant with aromats. Magic happens in its gnarled crispy edges where the flavours intensify. All the usual suspects are there in the supporting roles too - egg fried rice, stir fried morning glory and gyoza.

Surprisingly, the cocktails are very good. Fresh and fruity, served ice cold, and similarly the steamed chocolate dessert bunny buns manage both style and substance. So okay, this isn’t occasion dining, but it’s universally appealing and given its egalitarian pricing you’d be hard pressed to sustain a complaint.

If you trace Taiwanese restaurant royalty Din Tai Fung back to its roots, you will find it was doing the one-item menu trick decades before London caught on. This xiao long bao specialist came from humble beginnings, but nearly four decades on it is an industry byword for superlative steamed soup-filled dumplings.

Founded by default in Taipei in 1980 (the owners needed to make ends meet on the premises of their cooking oil business when it threatened to fold), it became so successful that it has since branched out, and now boasts branches across Asia, some with Michelin stars to their name, plus much-lauded venues in Australia, the US and Dubai.

This Selfridges site is the brand's second London location, following its debut Covent Garden site which opened in December 2018. The restaurant sits in the fourth floor space formerly occupied by Selfridges Kitchen, a casual all-day restaurant that served a global menu.

Din Tai Fung’s signature dish may well be its xiao long bao, but there are plenty of other dishes to choose from on its extensive menu. Starters and small plates include the likes of pork and vegetable wontons or chopped cucumbers in a spicy sauce, while larger offerings see pork chop with egg fried rice and noodle soup topped with braised beef.

If you can’t get enough of Din Tai Fung’s signature steamed buns, you can even enjoy them at dessert. Order the red bean xiao long bao which are filled with chocolate ‘lava’, or stick to a slightly more conventional dessert with cubes of chilled Osmanthus jelly.

Din Tai Fung was originally rumoured to be opening its second London site within the Centre Point building, but it appears that site will no longer be happening. Selfridges has taken a renewed interest in its restaurant offering in recent times, launching various concepts such as honey-based restaurant Hive.