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.