Beyond Din Tai Fung —
8 Xiaolongbao Shops in Taipei That Hold Their Own 2026

The shop that carried xiaolongbao around the world — it began as a cooking-oil store on Xinyi Road and grew into a Michelin-recognised brand. The hallmark is precision: 18 identical pleats on every dumpling, a skin rolled paper-thin, a glass kitchen on view. The menu reaches well beyond soup dumplings — crab baskets, fried rice, stir-fried greens, desserts. The safest first xiaolongbao if you've never had one — at the cost of a longer queue and a higher price than the rest of this list.

The shop Taipei locals name as "the Din Tai Fung alternative" — a soup basket with a slightly thicker, chewier skin and a bolder, richer broth inside, at a clearly gentler price. The main branch sits near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial (CKS), an easy walk for any visitor. There's a queue, but it turns over faster than Din Tai Fung's, and some branches even offer creative baskets like a dark-chocolate filling to try.

A long-running Shanghainese restaurant on Yongkang Street, just around the corner from Din Tai Fung — many eaters rate the two neck and neck. The soup baskets here have a thicker, chewier skin, and the unmissable dish is the sheng jian bao (生煎包), a pan-fried bun with a crisp base and soup hiding inside too. It's a full multi-storey restaurant with a long menu, a more relaxed feel and prices below Din Tai Fung.

A Huaiyang–Shanghainese restaurant with a Michelin Bib Gourmand that treats the xiaolongbao as an art form. It's known for creative soup baskets — crab, shrimp and truffle fillings, plus skins tinted with natural vegetable juices for a rainbow steamer. The dining room is elegant, decked in classic Chinese décor — a good choice for a special meal, or for anyone curious how far the soup dumpling can be pushed.

A Suzhou–Hangzhou dim-sum shop beloved by budget eaters. The standout is the broth inside — darker and heavier than most, deep and full in every bite. A basket holds 8 dumplings at a very gentle price, good enough that many people order a second. The room is plain and genuinely local, and the menu also runs to soup wontons and fried snacks — proof that great xiaolongbao needn't be expensive.

A backstreet shop in the Da'an district that wins locals over with its unfussy, homemade character — and serious skill behind it. The room looks plain, but the thin-skinned, juice-filled baskets are beautifully balanced and cost far less than Din Tai Fung. A basket holds 8, and many eaters rate it among the best xiaolongbao in Taipei at a price anyone can afford — ideal if you want to eat the way locals really do.

Another Yongkang Street shop locals call "as good as Din Tai Fung" — but with a far shorter queue and a much lighter bill. The juicy soup baskets pour broth in every bite, the service is quick, and the long menu spans dim sum, rice and stir-fries. The perfect move when you reach Yongkang and find the Din Tai Fung line too long — turn the corner to here and you won't be disappointed.

A storefront shop with its own signature — a loofah xiaolongbao (絲瓜), where slivers of fresh loofah gourd are folded into the pork, giving the broth a sweeter, fresher, lighter character than an all-pork basket. It's a flavour hard to find anywhere else. The classic pork basket is well done too, prices are gentle, and the weekday queue is usually short and fast — a great pick for an eater who wants a xiaolongbao that's a little different.