It may seem ungracious of me to write this, living as I do in a city where restaurants are opening at a world-beating rate, but there are some exciting rumours for Londoners, just in from Taipei. The exceptional Din Tai Fung restaurant franchise, which opened in Taiwan and spread across Asia to west coast America and Australia, is reportedly planning to open here. For those who have not yet eaten in one of the 112 branches, or sampled their Shanghai dumplings, let me explain my enthusiasm.

These large, good-value restaurants, great fun for families and groups, are run to the highest standards of hygiene and service. They are also quite simply addictive – hence my happiness at an outpost less than an overnight flight away.

All this because Din Tai Fung’s founder, Yang Bingyi, was forced into the restaurant trade when his family’s cooking-oil business collapsed. With his wife, Lai Penmai, he began in 1972 to serve xiaolongbao, or steamed Shanghai dumplings, with their traditional filling of minced pork and just the right amount of nourishing stock. Their fortunes have evolved from this one dish, often referred to as soup dumplings, and from an awful lot of hard work.