Min Chef

4 Visit Review Unassuming spot with world class food. I stumbled on this spot accidentally my first visit. And I've gone back twice in a week. The flavors are well balanced, and dishes are unique. The type of dishes should belong in a typical Chinese banquet, but the hole in the wall atmosphere is a strange background for this level of detail in their menu offering. Stir Fry Assorted Vegetables (5/5) Fresh, well balanced, crunchy vegetables. Meat Pie (4/5) Solid execution. Flavor varied across my different visits. I would ask them to pan fry is crispier. Pan Fried Chive Pockets (5/5) Amazing. Delicate in taste, well executed. Stewed Tofu w/ Cabbage & Shrimp (5/5) Must get! This dish is simple but difficult to execute. Many other mainland style restaurants can't get this dish right. Min's does it so well! House Special Pork Hock (3/5) Every table ordered one of these. For me the flavor was too strong and too salty. Sichuan Spicy Shrimp (1/5) This is a miss for me. I ordered this twice on two separate visits. The shrimp isn't fresh and the flavor overpowered the natural sweetness of the shrimp. Sautéed Prime Beef w/ Ginger Scallion (4/5) Very tasty but also very oily. I'd go back as much as I can cause I want to try everything. The service is your standard local Chinese spot, with the inpatient order taker. But everyone who brings out the dishes seem to be good spirits. There was once, I came right at opening and allegedly the owner was yelling at everyone is the kitchen, but food was still good.

Came on Christmas and they were open! Every dish we had was good and service was good. stir fry cauliflower: delicious Chinese cauliflower that was cooked well and savory. stewed beef with potato in brown sauce: there was a mix of beef cuts but it was mostly lean. The potatoes and carrots were soft and delicious in the sauce. sweet and sour house meatball: meatball was deep-fried then covered in a sweet and sour savory sauce. really liked this dish. yuxiang shredded pork: lean shredded pork that was covered in a tomato based sauce. smashed cucumber salad: refreshing appetizer and was super crunchy. deep fried starch with garlic sauce: my friend said this was a staple Beijing street snack. The texture was chewy inside and crunchy outside. Pair it with the garlic watery sauce and it was super delicious.

TLDR; pork hock too salty, food made to-order was awesome, service was fast I've been looking for a nice Chinese in Irvine for a while now that isn't too expensive, and min Chef does a reasonable job in doing that. The food came fast, and the stir fry dishes had a lot of wok hay (breath of wok taste, almost smoky). Shrimp was very good too --crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. The stewed pork hock was too salty though and could use a couple more hours of cooking, but overall decent food and service. Bathroom was gross though.