Din Tai Fung

In the same way that a tourist can not spend a week in Los Angeles without trying In-N-Out, no self-respecting Angeleno should ignore Din Tai Fung. Honored with a Michelin star in Hong Kong, this Taiwanese restaurant chain specializes in xiaolongbao, i.e. pork dumplings filled with steamy broth. Prepared on site daily, these small bombs will squirt in your mouth if you don’t tame them beforehand: place the xiaolongbao in your spoon, poke it with a chopstick, slurp the juice, and swallow the beast. Despite the location (a massive mall similar to the Grove), excruciating lines if you haven’t booked, and a pricey bill, there’s no escaping it.