![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It was then that Yang Bing-yi and his wife Lai Pen-mei opened Din Tai Fung, in 1958. A fellow co-worker, Lai Pen-mei, was to become the love of his life, the pair marrying and ran the cooking oil shop until its closure. There he worked in a small shop called Heng Tai Fung that sold cooking oil. Yang Bing-yi was born in mainland China’s Shanxi province in 1927, but like many others fled to Taiwan in 1948 as a consequence of civil war erupting in mainland China. And, coincidence or not, my health did improve rather quickly after that meal, which I have always liked to think had something to do with my quick recovery. I might have been sick at the time, but not stupid. The xiao long bao (soup dumpling), the steamed truffle and pork dumplings, the wontons in red chile oil and other delicacies provided me with a real eye-opening experience and an awakening of sorts. My own history with the brand began in the most significant of ways: while stricken with high fever and a bad flu-like illness (in happier times before anyone had ever heard of or even knew what Covid was) my Taiwanese girlfriend, in an effort to make me feel better and perhaps recover sooner, took it upon herself to order food from Din Tai Fung. It’s hard to put into words exactly what Din Tai Fung stood for, represented even, for all those with Asian culture and food sensibilities as what he created really was that pervasive and all-important. Yang Bing-yi passed away at age 96, the company announced on March 25. Famous for its soup dumplings, but not just, Mr. To all food lovers in and out of China, Din Tai Fung was much more than a restaurant chain that started out modestly in Taipei only to conquer the world and even a Michelin star: it was a much-loved institution. ![]()
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