10 days in Japan - 10/29/2022 to 11/7/2022

Day 3- Yokohama -10/31/22

Landmark tower and Lunch

Landmark tower building.

The Landmark Tower has 70 floors and the observatory is on the 69th floor called Sky Garden with a 360 degrees view of the city.

The building is 972 ft tall and is the 2nd tallest building in Japan behind the Osaka's Abeno Harukas skyscraper.

The building was completed in 1993 and located in the Minato Mirai 21 district which is the central business district of Yokohama.

Inside the Landmark tower.  The lower 48 floors contains shops, restaurants, clinics, and offices.

Lots of restaurants inside

Hoa wanted to have Din Tai Fung a world renowned Chinese restaurant originating in Taiwan that specializes in soup dumplings and noodles.

Din Tai Fung won many awards including the coveted Michelin star at its Hong Kong branch and has become an internationally beloved brand that offers a taste of Taiwanese to many countries.

They make their own dough and while waiting you can watch them behind the front window of the restaurant .

There was a long line and we had to wait for 20 minutes or so.

The restaurant is really big and also very clean.

Table set up and hot tea.

We ordered a cucumber salad made with crisp Persian cucumbers combines with cuts of mild fresno chili peppers and sliced fresh garlic, drizzled with sesame oil and chili oil

Steamed chicken with scallions and mustard green with garlic.

This is their famous signature dish: Kurobuta Pork Xiao Long Bao.

Each of the Xiao Long Bao is carefully weighed and folded by hand to achieve the signature Golden Ratio of 18 folds and stuffed with top-quality Kurobuta pork marinated in a blend of carefully-selected seasonings. Paired with the piquant aromas of fresh ginger and green onion, every bite is the perfect bite!

Shrimp and Kurobuta Pork Shao Mai

For this classic Shanghainese dish,  the Shao Mai skin is made thicker than the other dumpling skins to give a nice chewy texture, complementing a filling of our signature Kurobuta pork. A single juicy shrimp tops it all off.

For dessert I ordered an almond Jelly with red beans.

The legend of Din Tai Fung.

Din Tai Fung was originally a shop that sell cooking oil back in 1958. As consumption patterns of cooking oil started to change in the early 1970's, the survival of the business was threatened, so in 1972 Din Tai Fung transformed into a restaurant specializing in xialongbao.  In 1993 Din Tai Fung was featured the New York Time article "Top-Notch Tables" and named one of ten restaurants around the world taht inspire a pilgrimage. In 2013 Din Tai Fung was ranked #1 in the "101 best restaurants in Asia" list released by US based food website. Din Tai Fung now has over 100 locations around the world.

NEXT....Observatory: Sky Garden