Taiwanese Food In Brea! Taiwanese Food In Brea!

[Chandavkl]

Did I tell you there's Taiwanese food in Brea? Pardon my excitement, but as previously documented on this board, there is a dearth of authentic Chinese food in north Orange County. This is likely due to the relative, though not absolute proximity of the Chinese food Nirvana that is Rowland Heights just on the other side of the hill. Anyway, Midastee Tea House is primarily a tea shop, and if you go to their website all you see is tea and tea time desserts. However, sometime last year they added Taiwanese food to their menu, and while the selection is relatively small at about 30 items, this is good stuff. They have mostly noodles, dumplings and rice plates/dishes. They do have popcorn chicken, Taiwanese sausage and pork loin dishes. No stinky tofu, pig's blood or pig's ear. I had the chicken roll, which is made like 101 Noodle Express, but is actually better because it's made with bits of popcorn chicken. Also had the fish dumplings which were terriffic. Midastee Tea House is at 912 E. Imperial Highway, sort of across the street from Brea Mall.

[js76wisco]

Thanks for the recommendation. We tried this place for dinner on a Friday night at around 7pm and the entire place was deserted. Two people came in for pick up while we were there. A delightful little tea shop and the family who run the place seem very nice given our very brief interaction. We ordered fried pot stickers, popcorn chicken, beef roll and dan dan noodle. The pot stickers were excellent, we'd order them again in a flash. Good crisp skin and inside was flavorful and moist. The beef roll was good - nice balance of meat, sauce, cilantro to green onion pancake. I usually like reheating mine the next day in the toaster oven so the pancake is crispier so I am usually judgmental. The dan dan noodle was just ok. Every place has their own version and this one had a nice kick from the peppers. My wife still gets a little freaked out by the tingling sensation but the taste of the noodles were fine. The popcorn chicken is where we had our difference. Wife thought there was an odd floral component to the dish while I liked it. The chicken was well fried and not too greasy although a few bites were lacking in much meat.

My verdict is that Midastee has good food but it's a tough call. We could drive an extra 10 to 15 minutes and be eating somewhere in Rowland Heights - Noodle House, Earthen, Newport Tang and a number of other places. I guess it just depends on whether you want to add another 30 minutes of driving for better food?

[Nolita]

I WILL check this out. Thanks for the tip!

[OCAnn]

How did I miss this eight months ago?!? I will definitely give this a try this week. A very belated thank you for the heads-up!