Is Din Tai Fung Halal?

Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese restaurant group famous for xiao long bao, or soup dumplings. Its US menu is heavy on pork. Signature items include Kurobuta pork xiao long bao, shrimp and pork shao mai, pork buns, pork wontons, pork potstickers, sweet and sour pork ribs and fried pork chops ^[1].

The menu also has chicken and beef dishes, such as chicken xiao long bao and braised beef noodle soup ^[1]. But Din Tai Fung does not say that this meat is halal, and its FAQ has no halal answer ^[2]. So the chicken and beef are not confirmed as halal-slaughtered.

The US restaurants also serve cocktails made with vodka, rum, tequila, gin and whiskey ^[1].

With no halal statement, no certifier listing and pork at the center of the menu, the honest answer for the US is "not certified." The meat-free dishes are a separate question, covered below.

For dumpling restaurants, cross-contact is a real issue. Dumplings are often steamed in shared baskets, and noodles and wontons are cooked in shared water.

Din Tai Fung's US menu says its kitchens use shared equipment, surfaces, cooking oils and water, and that it cannot guarantee any item is free of animal products ^[1]. In a kitchen where pork is the main protein, that means even vegetable dumplings and chicken dishes may come into contact with pork.

Din Tai Fung does offer many meat-free dishes. Its FAQ says there are 27 vegetarian dishes and 22 vegan dishes ^[2]. Those dishes have no meat in the recipe, but the shared-kitchen note still applies. Whether that is acceptable is a personal and scholarly question. Some Muslims eat vegetarian dishes at non-halal restaurants, and others do not.

Din Tai Fung restaurants abroad are run by different local partners, so menus differ by country.

In Malaysia, the group runs a pork-free sub-brand called DIN by Din Tai Fung. A guide to the KLIA airport outlet says all of its dishes are pork free ^[3]. That is a big change from the US menu. But pork free is not the same as halal certified. We found no JAKIM certificate for DIN outlets in the sources we checked. If you are in Malaysia, look for the JAKIM halal logo and certificate at the outlet.

For other countries, we could not verify a halal certificate in the sources we checked. Ask the outlet for a certificate from a recognized local body.

Halal dumpling and Chinese restaurants exist in many US cities, especially Hui Muslim and Uyghur restaurants. Look for a certificate on the wall.

For Asian chains, see our pages on P.F. Chang's and Panda Express. For hot pot, see Happy Lamb Hot Pot. Our page on pork explains why pork is not halal and how it shows up in sauces and broths.