Ming Tsai

Tastemaker

Chef & TV Personality

Boston

Ming Tsai is the chef and owner of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Mass., and the host and executive producer of the public television cooking show, Simply Ming. In 2009, the show earned Emmy nominations for Outstanding Culinary Program and Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host, and it received two Bronze Telly Awards for lighting and art direction. Tsai began cooking for TV audiences on the Food Network, where he was the 1998 Emmy Award-winning host of East Meets West with Ming Tsai and led the popular cooking adventure series Ming?s Quest. In the summer of 2008, he traveled to the Beijing Olympics with NBC?s Today show to provide viewers with insight into the food customs and traditions that define his Chinese heritage. In addition to his TV pursuits, Tsai?s also the author of several cookbooks, including Blue Ginger: East Meets West Cooking with Ming Tsai, Simply Ming, Ming?s Master Recipes and Simply Ming: One-Pot Meals. The James Beard Foundation crowned him the 2002 Best Chef: Northeast.

  • Ming Tsai, Chef & TV Personality answered a question:
  • Ming Tsai, Chef & TV Personality answered a question:

    • What are some good restaurants in Beijing?

      Go to where there are only Chinese people; don’t go to places where there are only tourists. Street food is some of the best food. A must go restaurant in Beijing is Made in China in the Grand Hyatt; they have really good peking duck, good potstickers and sizzling lamb. A second restaurant that has really great peking duck is Da Dong.
  • Ming Tsai, Chef & TV Personality answered a question:

    • Are there any restaurants in San Francisco that have you psyched right now?

      There’s a great little Korean restaurant called Namu, which is just delicious. Order anything off of their barbeque. Other favorites that I go to often are Tommy’s Tequila, which has the best margarita and yucatan-style food, the best dim sum is at Tonkiang (order the pishu dumpling) and you have to go to Slanted Door. Another place is NoPa. It’s really great California cuisine.
  • Ming Tsai, Chef & TV Personality answered a question:

    • What do you love about Beijing?

      I think Beijing is hot. Last time I was there, it was during the Olympics so that was really unique. It is one of the most fascinating cities. You don’t need to be Chinese to appreciate the Chinese civilization. The Great Wall is exactly that — a great wall — you can’t believe that someone built that over hundreds of years and thousands of miles. It’s just mind-boggling how they did that. You walk through the Imperial Palace and it’s just this magnitude inside; impressive what they did. All of the art, not just the Ming vases but the structures and sculptures are just mind-boggling. Then of course, there’s the food.
  • Ming Tsai, Chef & TV Personality answered a question:

    • What are your favorite wineries in Northern California?

      Cain Five has always been one of my favorites since the beginning. He’s way up in the mountains, the views he has are just unparallel as are his wines. As a sidenote, I just shot three episodes of Simply Ming, with my parents so it’s an old old relationship. But there are so many; wines in California are as amazing as everywhere else now.
  • Ming Tsai, Chef & TV Personality answered a question:

    • What is your favorite hotel in San Francisco?

      Well it depends who’s paying! The most amazing views are at Mandarin Oriental. In the bathrooms, there is a full-length window, so you’re essentially washing yourself to the world watching and you’re high enough up that no one can see, I assume. But it is just stunning. It’s a Mandarin property, which are awesome. The Four Seasons is a superb hotel; it really is one of the best hotels to stay at, anywhere.
  • Ming Tsai, Chef & TV Personality answered a question:

    • What are the best restaurants in Boston?

      Clio, if you want to be loud and its sushi bar, Uni for the sashimi. Oiishi has best sushi chef bar none. Order the smoked himachi — it comes smoking to your table, its delicious. Stella is a great bar scene, and Toro is fantastic. Via Matta has great Italian food. Order the Chicken Liver Crostini. Summer Shack has great New England food; and I go to Scampo for the lobster pizza, and Myers+Chang’s for the Tigers Tears.
  • Ming Tsai, Chef & TV Personality answered a question:

    • Why do you love San Francisco?

      Not only did I get married there, but I think its really one of the best cities in the world to visit and to live. The Bay Area has everything. It has great weather although yes we know august is cold. You have within an hour’s drive some of the best wineries in the world, which also means best produce which translates to best restaurants. Huge influence of Asian so it has a couple chinatowns now in San Francisco. Not just Chinese but Japanese, Korean, thai, Vietnamese, Indian all ethnic cuisines well represented. You can go skiing within a couple of hours and everything you’d want to do at a beach so you really have every natural playground. Muir Woods is one of the most amazing woods that you can go in and camp. Its like Disneyland for adults: it has everything you’d want.

  • Are there any restaurants in San Francisco that have you psyched right now?

    There’s a great little Korean restaurant called Namu, which is just delicious. Order anything off of their barbeque. Other favorites that I go to often are Tommy’s Tequila, which has the best margarita and yucatan-style food, the best dim sum is at Tonkiang (order the pishu dumpling) and you have to go to Slanted Door. Another place is NoPa. It’s really great California cuisine.

  • What are some good restaurants in Beijing?

    Go to where there are only Chinese people; don’t go to places where there are only tourists. Street food is some of the best food. A must go restaurant in Beijing is Made in China in the Grand Hyatt; they have really good peking duck, good potstickers and sizzling lamb. A second restaurant that has really great peking duck is Da Dong.

  • What are the best restaurants in Boston?

    Clio, if you want to be loud and its sushi bar, Uni for the sashimi. Oiishi has best sushi chef bar none. Order the smoked himachi — it comes smoking to your table, its delicious. Stella is a great bar scene, and Toro is fantastic. Via Matta has great Italian food. Order the Chicken Liver Crostini. Summer Shack has great New England food; and I go to Scampo for the lobster pizza, and Myers+Chang’s for the Tigers Tears.

  • What are your favorite wineries in Northern California?

    Cain Five has always been one of my favorites since the beginning. He’s way up in the mountains, the views he has are just unparallel as are his wines. As a sidenote, I just shot three episodes of Simply Ming, with my parents so it’s an old old relationship. But there are so many; wines in California are as amazing as everywhere else now.

  • What do you love about Beijing?

    I think Beijing is hot. Last time I was there, it was during the Olympics so that was really unique. It is one of the most fascinating cities. You don’t need to be Chinese to appreciate the Chinese civilization. The Great Wall is exactly that — a great wall — you can’t believe that someone built that over hundreds of years and thousands of miles. It’s just mind-boggling how they did that. You walk through the Imperial Palace and it’s just this magnitude inside; impressive what they did. All of the art, not just the Ming vases but the structures and sculptures are just mind-boggling. Then of course, there’s the food.

  • What is your favorite hotel in San Francisco?

    Well it depends who’s paying! The most amazing views are at Mandarin Oriental. In the bathrooms, there is a full-length window, so you’re essentially washing yourself to the world watching and you’re high enough up that no one can see, I assume. But it is just stunning. It’s a Mandarin property, which are awesome. The Four Seasons is a superb hotel; it really is one of the best hotels to stay at, anywhere.

  • What’s another city or country that you’d like to go back to?

    Spain is the epicenter of new cuisine these days. Madrid is the hottest city that I’ve seen in Spain. It’s got fantastic restaurants and art. Madrid is really to Spain what Shanghai is to China, it’s just the hot city. In Madrid you just take an afternoon and you just bop from tapas restaurant to tapas restaurant.

  • Why do you love San Francisco?

    Not only did I get married there, but I think its really one of the best cities in the world to visit and to live. The Bay Area has everything. It has great weather although yes we know august is cold. You have within an hour’s drive some of the best wineries in the world, which also means best produce which translates to best restaurants. Huge influence of Asian so it has a couple chinatowns now in San Francisco. Not just Chinese but Japanese, Korean, thai, Vietnamese, Indian all ethnic cuisines well represented. You can go skiing within a couple of hours and everything you’d want to do at a beach so you really have every natural playground. Muir Woods is one of the most amazing woods that you can go in and camp. Its like Disneyland for adults: it has everything you’d want.