Quick Hits - 福大山東蒸餃大王

Address: No.11, Sec.1, Lane 140, Zhongshan N. Road, Taipei Taiwan. 台北市中山北路一段140巷11號

Telephone: (02)2541-319

Hours: Forthcoming.

This happened purely by impulse... but sometimes isn't that how the best things in life come about?  I had just finished brunch with a friend and was toting my camera around along with a full stomach.  But to be honest, it is rare indeed that being full has really ever deterred me from taking in that next bite.
She happened to point out that this little gem of a mom & pop store was hiding just around one of these alleys.  I wasn't going to let something as minute as popping a belt buckle stop me from checking it out while I had the chance.

To be honest, I had never heard of 福大山東蒸餃大王, but apparently many other people have, and here I bow down to their better judgement and my own ignorance.  I have always said that in my opinion, it is one of the crowning achievements in food to make simple dishes become more than they are.  By their very nature it is not difficult to make something basic taste good... but to make it great? That's a different matter altogether.
So was 福大山東蒸餃大王 great? Well.....

The essentials.

Hot and sour soup.  Could've been a bit more hot and sour-y for my tastes.

I hesitate to call it great.  Was it good? Oh most definitely it was very very good, and I would have no qualms with anyone claiming they like 福大山東蒸餃大王 more than say Ding Tai Fung or some other renowned purveyor of soup dumplings.  But, for my part, there was nothing discernible about 福大山東蒸餃大王's version that really made me want to stand up and order seconds (perhaps you can blame my already bloated stomach).

Look, everything you like about a soup dumpling is here.  It's juicy, the skin is chewy without being soggy and the meat is flavorful.  But like I said earlier... they made a basic thing good, but failed to achieve greatness.

Don't get me wrong... I could really eat these things all day. 

I am basically only comparing it to the perceived hype that I subsequently have read about.  It is a burden to live up to ones own expectations, and for me, I think 福大山東蒸餃大王 suffers from that.  Other than the soup dumplings all we had was some hot and sour soup.  And it was perfectly fine, exactly as you would expect.  

福大山東蒸餃大王 is a small store that has apparently carved out a relatively large name for itself and I give it high marks for achieving that.  But if this was a proper review I would rank it below some of the other establishments such as Yonghe Soy Milk King or Ding Tai Fung.  A travesty? Not in the least.  

But these are just the humble opinion of a man who may have eaten too much already that day.  Throw in your two cents and check it out for yourself please.

-Til Next Time-