A line of crowd-control stanchions snakes down the hallway leading to Din Tai Fung, the kind you see at the airport or a movie theater when the new Harry Potter movie is coming out. As we mentioned earlier this week, the wait times for a table at this newly opened outpost of the popular Taiwan-based dumpling chain have been crazy long. This Seattlest made it over for lunch on Wednesday and was thrilled to have some hot xiao long bao to ward off the nasty weather. more ›

This Seattlest broke the news two weeks ago at the Gastrolust site, but new details have emerged: Din Tai Fung is targeting September or October to open its second restaurant in the States. This beloved dumpling house, based in Taiwan, will dole out dumplings and more on the second floor of Lincoln Square in Bellevue. more ›

Last year we complained about the quality of the few xiao long bao options in Seattle. We mentioned that these soup dumplings originated in Shanghai, but that we’d found great ones in Taipei. more ›

We’ve been big fans of Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid since reading Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia (James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook of the Year for 2000). This coffee table-worthy book completely captured us with great recipes, gorgeous photos, and even its glossary. We immediately dug deep into their earlier work, including the aptly named Seductions of Rice, which is also as much travelogue as it is cookbook. more ›