THE founder of one of the world’s biggest dumpling empires has died.
Yang Bing-yi, who set up the Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung, “passed away peacefully” at the age of 96 on March 26, the company said in a statement.
It did not mention the cause of death but said that private funeral arrangements were underway, and that the family has asked for privacy.
Yang, who was born in China's northern Shanxi region in 1927, emigrated to Taiwan as a young adult "with US$20 in his pocket," according to the company.
Alongside his wife, they founded Din Tai Fung, a tiny business in Taipei, selling cooking oil and Xiao Long Bao, steamed Chinese soup dumplings usually prepared with pork.
The restaurant became renowned for dumplings and other dishes such as steamed buns, egg fried rice, and noodles.
It expanded into a franchise, with outlets in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, and Singapore. The franchise currently has 14 outlets in Malaysia, most of which are in Kuala Lumpur.
Din Tai Fung sold 28 million of its iconic soup dumplings in Taiwan alone back in 2013 – an average of 76,000 dumplings each day.
Starting in the late 1990s, the constant quality of cuisine and level of service led to an explosion in popularity which was shortly followed by international expansion, including in the United States. Din Tai Fung's Hong Kong outlet received a one-star rating from Michelin five times.
"When the first Din Tai Fung opened in Los Angeles, most people had no idea what a soup dumping was. It kind of blew everyone's mind in America," says Clarissa Wei, a Taipei-based writer and author of Made in Taiwan, a Taiwanese cuisine cookbook.
Several of Yang's restaurants have glass panels that allow guests to see hundreds of chefs in pressed white uniforms and chef caps carefully preparing their meals, painstakingly measuring each piece of soup dumpling dough and filling. Every Din Tai Fung xiao long bao must be exactly 21 grammes in weight, or around three-quarters of an ounce.
As Din Tai Fung developed, so did its menu, which included non-dumpling foods inspired by China's southern Jiangnan and Sichuan culinary traditions.
Yet the soup dumplings, served on hot bamboo platters, remain the hallmark dish, each flawlessly uniform bun formed by scrunching up a paper-thin layer of dough encasing the broth and filling within.
"God is in the details and that's where [Yang] excels. He took one thing, and he perfected it," says Hom. "And it is that obsessiveness that is at the core of Din Tai Fung's success."
Yang made few public appearances as Din Tai Fung continued to expand. He did, however, come on television once to show people how to eat soup dumplings: Bite first into the skin; delicately slurp up the hot broth that spills out – but careful! Don't scald yourself. Then, finally, eat the bun. – The Vibes, March 31, 2023
