Genuine Food & Travel Review

I had a chance to visit Illinois for two weeks. So I will be sharing a few places that I have had an opportunity to visit. Upon visiting my family members and friend suggested Minghin as one of the food options I should try. So we decided to stop by Minghin’s Chinatown location in downtown Chicago as our first meal! Minghin currently has 6 locations located in and near Chicago area.

Historical Context

Dim sum has a Cantonese origin and consists of an assortment of small dishes. It is often served as breakfast and lunch. Dim sum is believed to be derived from the Mandarin Chinese word “Dianxin” or appetizer. There are two broad categories of dim sum which are steamed and fried. Each of the categories has quite a wide range of different dishes.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/dim-sum , https://www.dash.co/en/blog/10-most-delicious-dim-sum-to-try

Value & Vibe

Value: This is a tough one because I have always thought that dim sum in North America in general is more on an expensive side for the value. I would say that it is in line with the other dim sum restaurants that I have had but do prepare to spend quite a bit more if you are super hungry. The dimsum dishes that we got was around $6-7USD per dish and the fried vegetables with pork was $16.95 and three pork soup dumpling was $13.95USD.

Vibe: Spacious. Many large tables available. Great for small and large group.

Taste

Overall I would say some are pretty decent but there are definitely some dishes that are better than the others.

Let’s start with dim sum. My favorites are the bean curd skin (I am biased as I do like this dish in general). Siumai and the bun with egg yolk paste were pretty good. The rest I would say doesn’t really quite stand out from the other dim sum that I have had. However, nothing much to complain. If anything I would say that the soup dumpling was a bit underwhelming, especially at this price point.

We also had the fried taro. I thought it was well made but personally I am not a fan of taro so I wouldnt personally order it but for those who like taro, this could also be worth a try.

Lastly, we also ordered stir fried choy sum with pork fat. I actually thougt that this was quite good. The pork fat also added a different softer texture and richness but if you do not like the fat you can also go with just the vegetables option. Ordering stir-fried vegetables is quite nice when eating with the other dim sum dishes that are quite meat heavy.

Overall I would say that the dimsum and the stir-fried dish were pretty good. However, the pork soup dumpling was a bit underwhelming based on the price.

Score

Atmosphere: 7/10 (Great service. Spacious and accommodating)
Price: 6/10 (Overall decent price)
Taste: 6.5/10 (Decent taste. I enjoyed them but does not stand out too much)

Scale:
Would not recommend: Below 2
Need some improvement: 3-5
Average: 5
Decent: 6
Great: 7
Excellent: 8
Outstanding 9+

Website: https://www.minghincuisine.com/