Main Street Cupertino mall is the location. Chef Hung is till under construction. No more having to trek to OC/ Taiwan for those who want its ‘Champion bowl’ of beef noodle.
The old LA thread:
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Sadly the Irvine location was not so good when I went a couple to two years back. Lukewarm noodles and just not so great execution across the board. Given the track record of Taiwanese chains that do ok in Southern California, but cannot replicate the quality 500 miles north, I would still give this place a try at some point, but set expectations low.
Like North American Din Tai Fungs, they will probably have rice bowls, boba drinks, and try to do too many things at once.
Thanks. Too bad it is a bit far from me.
Didn’t realize there was such a chain. Maybe there will someday be a “Chef Hou’s” too.
Did you try when they first opened? If so how did that compare to your experience 2 years ago?
But lukewarm- that’s just travesty for a noodle joint. Was it crowded despite the average execution?
October opening date. The chef will be there to open and to ‘show off his skills’, as well as make an appearance at the Irvine branch.
So the noodles better be good.
Tried the one in Irvine several years ago. Just ok.
Someone should ask him while he’s here how he expects to maintain quality over time when he’s not physically here, and why it tastes just ok at Irvine
They are still waiting for inspection to finish. They say they may open next week. The noodles are around $12 a bowl. They are handing out 20% off coupons for use in the first month.
Open. Early comments seem not to be very encouraging.
I never tried Din Tai Fung in US nor these Asian joints (I preferred to eat local than Asian food there), I wonder why when Asian joints with reputation when arrive in US, they don’t try to put in more effort to make the cooking better?
Lack of Chinese ingredients, talented chef, or the clients don’t care too much the quality?
Local is tough to define as the major cities are all diverse. Unless you are talking about classic American cuisine.
I think if there is a quality gap, difference in ingredients (e.g. meat cut, flour), talent level, and less severe competition can all play a part. Clients can settle for less given a potentially lower level of the specific item or cuisine.
And I can’t see them importing talented chefs to North America unless we are talking about major restaurants, like Koi Palace. So its basically the same pool of chefs, with different training.
Ingredients can be problematic. case in point, meat. The way meat is raised here vs Asia is different, so that gives differences in taste, texture, fat content, etc. Sourcing the right type of meat can be problematic, and can raise the costs.
I once attended a presentation by Chef Hou Chun-sheng, winning chef at the 2011 Taipei International Beef Noodle Soup Festival, Spicy Braised Beef Noodle Soup category. He allowed as to how he preferred imported American beef because of its lack of grass-fed flavor.
“Yelpers report this location has closed”. Does anyone know what’s going on?
Per the last Yelp reviewer, they were still in a soft opening period as late as last Thursday. They may just be tweaking and retooling prior to an official opening.
They are open, just with hours that are changing a bit. Best to give them a call to see when they are open for the day.
