The story of the founder of the restaurant Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) will soon be turned into a TV miniseries to be aired on Hakka Television.
The restaurant is famous for its xiaolongbao (小籠包), a type of dumpling. In addition to its restaurants in Taiwan, the chain has 40 branches around the world, including locations in Japan, China and Singapore.
Born in Shanxi Province, founder Yang Bingyi (楊秉彝) came to Taiwan in 1949. He was a worker at a cooking oil retailer for about 10 years before opening Din Tai Fung in 1958 with his wife Lai Penmei (賴盆妹), who has since passed away.
Yang did not know how to make steamed buns, but Lai did. Yang later hired Luo Lun-biao (羅綸標), known as Chef A-biao (阿標師), the restaurant’s current head chef.
Over the decades, Din Tai Fung has grown from a single dumpling shop to an international chain. In 1993, the New York Times listed Din Tai Fung as one of the top 10 restaurants in the world.
Yang’s son Ya Chi-hua (楊紀華) has run the business since his father, who is now 83 years old, retired.
The production of the series was funded by Hakka Television and the story will be told from the perspective of Lai, who was Hakka.
The series, titled Guihua shi li xiang (桂花十里香) is divided into four episodes. The title is a Hakka description of the sweet osmanthus flower meaning that its fragrance can be smelled far from its trees.
Director Liang Hsiu-shen (梁修身) said in a press conference on Monday that the project was a challenge because he wanted to link Din Tai Fung to the Hakka spirit.
The actors in the series were all trained by the chefs at Ding Tai Fung.
The series is scheduled to be aired in late May.
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