Din Tai Fung/Tamagawa鼎泰豊/玉川

The Tamagawa Din Tai Fung is inside the Tamagawa Takashimaya, north and across the street (Tamagawa Dori) from Futako-Tamagawa station on the Tokyu Denentoshi and Oimachi lines. Tamagawa/Futako-Tamagawa is a busy area on the weekends with many people shopping, eating and walking around. We have enjoyed the Shinjuku Din Tai Fung whenever we went there so we decided to try the one in Tamagawa and also stop by to visit the Takashimaya. Luckily for us there was no line to get into the restaurant, at about 3 PM on a Sunday. My wife and I each had an order of xiao long bao, the really good dumplings with savory juice inside. I also had the suratanmen (think hot + sour soup with noodles) while my wife had the braised beef noodle soup, an unusual dish for a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo. The mark of a good suratanmen IMO is the amount and kind of black pepper used in it. The suratanmen at Youshou Shonin gets my vote for best in Tokyo, with this in second place. The service is very attentive and quick. Din Tai Fung isn't a ramen shop per se, it's a Chinese restaurant that happens to have a lot of good noodle soup dishes on the menu.

On the first floor of the Takashimaya is a large area with many comfy-looking leather chairs to sit it, a rarity in Tokyo. Also on the 6th floor there is a very nice (and large) rooftop garden, with various art works, benches, plants, flowers and a little cafe. This rooftop garden is actually bigger than some of the public parks we have been to in Tokyo.

Web Site (w/Locations)
Tamagawa Takashimaya Roof Garden Page
Google Map