There’s a Din Tai Fung and a Dough Zone in my neighborhood, both within a very short walk of each other. I’ve eaten at both and have wondered to myself, “who makes the better soup dumplings?”
Is it Din Tai Fung, the more expensive, 5-time Michelin star winning restaurant? Or would it be Dough Zone, the fast-growing, more affordable alternative that is considered by some to be the best in Seattle? I decided to do a back-to-back comparison, two dinners in one night.
In addition to the soup dumplings, I was also curious to try a few other items: pork buns, wontons in chili sauce, and the dan dan noodles. On a scale of 0-5, here’s how Leah and I ranked them.
Soup Dumplings
🏆 Din Tai Fung (Kurobuta Pork Xiao Long Bao)
Raja: 4.5 - “Tiny, adorable sized. Clean taste. Impossibly thin dough. Impressive.”
Leah: 4.0 - “Nice spice, more soup than Dough Zone.”
Dough Zone (Berkshire-Duroc Pork Xiao Long Bao)
Raja: 3.75 - “Thin and delicate dough. Melts right in my mouth, great mouth feel for the soup”
Leah: 3.0 - “A little too salty. Don’t like the meat taste. Dough is good. Not much soup.”
Pork buns
Din Tai Fung (Kurobuta Pork Buns, steamed)
Raja: 1.5 - “Heavy dough. The only item I didn’t finish”
Leah: 2.0 - “Chewy dough but I don’t care for the taste of this dough and meat.”
🏆 Dough Zone (Q-BAO Pan Fried Pork Buns)
Raja: 4.0 - “Excellent crispy bottom. Delightfully thin as well. Kinda mushy, more texture over flavor, but I’d get it again.”
Leah: 2.0 - “Top part dough is great, bottom was too crispy. Don’t like the meat.”
Wontons in chili sauce
🏆 Din Tai Fung (Vegetable & Kurobuta Pork Spicy Wontons)
Raja: 4.0 - “Vegetable flavor and texture dominates. More scallions on top of these. More depth in flavor, the sweet and spicy is better balanced here.”
Leah: 4.0 - “Great texture. Not a strong meat taste which is good. Sauce is good.”
Dough Zone (Pork Wontons with Chili Sauce)
Raja: 3.5 - “Supremely thin. Slippery and slides down my mouth. Barely there, small portion, very sweet.”
Leah: 3.5 - “Great texture. Don’t like the meat taste. Sauce is good, sweet.”
Dan Dan noodles
Din Tai Fung (Noodles with Sesame Sauce)
Raja: 2.0 - “Boring. Simple.”
Leah: 2.0 - “Meh sauce. Straight noodle texture.”
🏆 Dough Zone (Dan Dan Noodles)
Raja: 4.5 - “I could eat two orders of it. Perfect spice. Tingly, slippery and chewy. Wavy texture.”
Leah: 4.5 - “Great spice level, could eat it all. Tingly from Sichuan peppercorns, wavy shape.”
Notes
Leah doesn’t really like meat, as you can probably tell. Keep that in mind as you read her notes.
We went to Din Tai Fung first, put our names down for a 90min wait and ate first at Dough Zone. I would’ve suspected that we’d be too full to enjoy Din Tai Fung, but that’ wasn’t true.
It wasn’t fair of me to compare the pan fried Q-bao from Dough Zone to the steamed buns at Din Tai Fung, but I really don’t like steamed buns.
I was hoping I’d like the food at Dough Zone more, since it’s almost half the price of Din Tai Fung and it’s far easier to get a table. I’ll still eat at Dough Zone, but now I feel like I’ve got the freedom to explore the items on their menu that aren’t the headliners.