#Diho Bakery

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Diho Bakery, 14130 Culver Dr, Ste J, Irvine, CA 92604

I used to come here years ago, way before I joined Yelp…hadn’t been back for a long time since Mr. Froyo graduated and left the area. Diho doesn’t seem to have changed that much over the years. They’ve been in business for over 30 years, making their own handmade Chinese bao (steamed buns), dumplings, baked buns, bread, roll cakes, cold dishes, Taiwanese rice cake, cakes for all occasions) and more. They have lots of bao to choose from – plain, filled, vegetable, meat, sweet, etc. The buns are nice and big. Some are white, some whole wheat (brown). Bun varieties: napa pork, mushroom pork, BBQ pork, pork, pickled mustard pork, teriyaki chicken, chicken noodle, chicken cabbage, curry beef, wheat vegetable, wheat black fungus cabbage, wheat bamboo vegetarian meat).

Vegetable steamed buns, 6 for $11, with cabbage, carrot, tiny bits of bean curd, shiitake mushrooms – everything was finely diced/shredded. The whole wheat bao was as good as the white bao – fluffy and soft. The filling wasn’t salty though it wasn’t as flavorful as the meat-filled bao.

Chicken & cabbage buns, 6 for $11: Bits of cabbage, chopped chicken, ginger – not salty, wish the chicken pieces were larger though

Curry beef buns, 3 for $11: Ground beef, potato, onion and a yellow curry sauce (the only kind of curry my Chinese mom would make). I liked that it wasn’t too salty and the bun part was fluffy, smooth and slightly sweet. The potato gave it a mealy/pasty texture though.

Taiwanese steamed rice bowl cake: The rice bowl cake is made with rice paste (rice flour & water), topped with small bits of pork and a whole shiitake mushroom, soy gravy served on the side. This was okay. The texture was very mushy. It didn’t have a lot of flavor but it’s comforting if you grew up liking it. Yi Mei’s is better.

Taiwanese meatball in glutinous rice: Pork meatball inside a steamed rice flour wrapper with shiitake mushroom, julienned bamboo shoots and smothered in a sweet tomato sauce. The meatball of ground pork was dry and dense (chopped pork?). Never been a fan of this dish.

The bao are made without MSG. The dumplings contain MSG. They have a frequent buyer card. Credit cards accepted. The bakery looks older and is filled with freezers and refrigerators.

4 out of 5 stars

By Lolia S.