Inside Din Tai Fung's Showstopping New SGV Flagship

Din Tai Fung has been a big part of the rise of the San Gabriel Valley in the past decade, but as demand for the company's soup dumplings grows so too does their need for more space. Hence the company's beautiful new restaurant flagship, now open inside the Westfield Santa Anita mall.

The name Din Tai Fung is nearly ubiquitous with soup dumplings these days, as the Taiwanese specialist has built a global empire on the stuff. Their beginnings were much more low key though, as the brand first dropped into Arcadia with little more than a strip mall space and a dream. Now their glittering new flagship restaurant is ready for its close-up at the Westfield Santa Anita mall.

The gigantic Shawmut Design-built restaurant occupies a prime corner location that offers plenty of dim spaces to retreat into with friends and loved ones, and was designed by Innovation & Design in Architecture. This iteration of Din Tai Fung is meant to be a glossy showpiece for the company as a whole, which means lots of attention to detail in the woodwork, bar, and layout of the place. There are endless dark booths for sliding into, plus a wrap of bar seating and more than a few eight and ten-tops meant for large groups.

You'll also find lots of brushed stone and subtle imagery, from bamboo steamer details to the intricate wooden dividers that help to separate varying sections of the room. All those details coalesce around the same strong menu of dumplings and other Chinese favorites, though, as Din Tai Fung at the Westfield Santa Anita intends to keep the classics and expand into an even larger menu now that they've got the room.

As for the original Din Tai Fung and its attached annex, those Arcadia destinations are now closed (though the original is being repurposed into a more takeaway concept). That means for anyone hunting for their Din Tai Fung fix in the San Gabriel Valley, this new location is it. Din Tai Fung at Westfield Santa Anita is now open, and keeps daily hours from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and weekends from 10 a.m. on.