De Fa Chang Restaurant is located in Xi'an Bell and Drum Towers' square where you can't miss the sign outside. The restaurant is large and elegantly adorned. The dumpling banquet with 180 varieties and other banquets including, Flowers Banquet, Dragon and Phoenix Banquet, Palace Banquet, Eighth Precious Banquet, along with 15 different series of banquets held there.
De Fa Chang Dumpling Restaurant has its own unique version of the Dumpling Banquet. The ingredients for the dumpling fillings are as follows: various meats, vegetables, and seasonings. The cooking methods vary from steaming, boiling, pan-frying, deep frying, to roasting. Many flavors, including salty, sweet, hot, and sour are offered. Other house specialties include Peking dumplings, steamed sweet bean paste buns, steamed shrimp paste buns, and various spiced dishes. While guests sample various delicacies, traditionally waiters will explain the cuisine culture of each dumpling. It is said one dumpling one shape, hundreds of dumplings hundreds of tastes. This banquet is a combination of ancient and modern, court and local dumplings skills.
Defachang has many specialty dishes, but the most famous is jiaozi made of Shark fin. Another kind of jiaozi as big as a small fingertip filled with chicken meat. It is called a pearl jiaozi and is boiled in a hotpot of chrysanthemum soup. There is a vivid story that when Empress Dowager Ci Xi came to the city she asked her cook to give her something new, and the cook prepared this kind of jiaozi to please her. It was well received. She ate either three, six or nine, which is regarded as good luck in China. Today, the words are different, for having one jiaozi, means to go off smoothly, and two jiaozi for double happiness at the same time. When having a jiaozi, you can listen to the story and receive a blessing.
