Here's my take with Din Tai Fung, and this is from a former Honker who literally grew up at Newtown Centre mall back in the 80s - it's definitely overhyped with a sprinkling of false advertising thrown into the mix.
If you survey their menu, they proudly proclaim its status as a Michelin star awarded restaurant. They are clearly not. Michelin star(s) are awarded to a specific branch of a specific restaurant at a specific moment in time. Din Tai Fung earned it at their TST and Causeway bay locations back in 2009/2011, and then lost it in 2015/2012 respectively. The stars are re-evaluated each and every year. and once you lose it, you don't get to use it for bragging rights unless you earn it again. The stars are also not transitive across the entire chain - if McDonald HQ's food testing labs outside Chicago gets a Michelin Star, their entire chain do not get the right to claim the same...because that's simply not how it works (the day McDonalds gets a Michelin nod will be a very cold day in hell). So no, this restaurant is not Michelin rated.
Now, onto the Xiaolongbao. Now, MAYBE if you are some expat who lived their life at West Podunk, Indiana whose first assumptions about Chinese food involves a packet of fried noodles, an egg roll and putting Sriracha sauce on it, sure, this stuff is like fresh baby jesus jizz. Now for someone who had some experience with the stuff under his belt, it's better than the usual tripe cranked out by Chinatown eateries in New York (Joe's Shanghai), Montreal (Maison Kim Fung *barf*) and Toronto (too numerous to count), but it's not a step above thr rest made with pixie dust and organic free-range unicorn meat. You can accept that while they are decent, the best is still a 14 hour flight away. I would grant you that the real Din Tai Fung in Taipei is brilliant and freaking magical - but then, so are most items in their night markets, and let us not forget the 900 pound gorilla macdaddy of the soup dumplings - Nan Xiang in Shanghai. This place qualifies as neither.
So here's my bottom line. The dumplings are decent and fresh. But it's not awesome, or the best, or even superlatively great - it had clean flavors and delicate skin, but that's about it, and that does not earn it a ton of accolades. I don't wake up in the middle of the night in New York reminiscing about the soup dumplings here. It was simply "meh", and I didn't really need to fly 16 hours non-stop for this. However, what I did remember was the fact that I blew ~550 HKD for 6 items - that's 70 USD for not much - what the heck did I pay for? The courtesy of drinking my tea without sharing a table? Pretending to lunch at a (not) Michelin starred joint? There is a Shanghaiese place on the 8th floor of the mall that matches it in terms of quality or accouterments - and you won't have to deal with the 75 minute dining limit or the better-than-thou attitude. Oh yeah, it's certainly not very "Hong Kong" either. I would rather bank up, do the 60 minute flight to Taipei and eat the real thing.
If you want authentic dimsum with an actual Michelin star rating and HK homegrown-to-boot, hit Tim Ho Wan is on Wharf Street in North Point. Feel free to go nuts there, at least your money will be better spent on better tasting wares. As for me - once is enough. It's a city of 7 million, and better/cheaper food is everywhere. read more