I Tried Top Chef Mei Lin’s Daybird!
All Top Chef restaurants I’ve tried have been really good – Shota’s Taku in Seattle, Stephanie’s Girl and the Goat in LA (wanting to try the Chicago one too), Jamie’s The Black Sheep, Tom’s Craftsteak, and such. I get to add one more to the list – Mei Lin’s Daybird in LA!
Casual Spot, Great for Take Out
Funny enough, the prior Top Chef restaurant I went to specialized in chicken as well, and Mei’s spot has some pretty great flavors. The main focus is also chicken in form of sandwiches and tenders, but there is also a crispy cod sandwich as well. Let’s take a look at the menu!
Popular for Takeout
Small spot, next to a lot of convenience items, but not somewhere you’d stay for a long time. There weren’t tables inside, but there was a small area against the wall where you can stand and eat. Take out orders are really popular here!
Quick Service
Ordered a couple tenders, a milk tea, and the cod sandwich, and it took around 10 – 15 minutes, quicker than the estimated 20 minutes given.
Sauce is Extra
The sauces sound pretty good, but didn’t get any, and the tenders themselves were pretty good. I suppose some hot honey would have elevated my hot tender (in both temperature and spice), but oh well… maybe next time! The tender wasn’t dry or anything. There was a good amount of spice (I got the hot) and that saltiness was amazing.
Caviar Option
There are more options ordering in person at Daybird compared to their online ordering system. They have a cod sandwich, and some people have been ordering the caviar with it, so you can get caviar in that sandwich! Crazy!! The caviar can be added to the chicken sandwiches as well, but I’ve just seen them on the cod ones so far. $20 for the sandwich, $60 to add the caviar = $80 sandwich!
Cod Sandwich Taste
You can tell it’s a premium fish sandwich. The bread, fish, sauce, etc., has amazing texture and it all goes well together. Great quality. A bit much for $20, but it was delicious. I’m curious re the caviar, but not $60 extra curious in this situation!
Hong Kong Milk Tea
Thought the milk tea was just alright. Not too sweet, which is good.
Worth It?
I enjoyed it. I’d like to try one of the chicken sandwiches next time though. $20 isn’t too worth it for the sandwich, and the milk tea was just OK. The tenders were good, but maybe I’ll splurge a couple dollars on some sauce next time. The sandwich was a bit messy to eat as the sauce sort of sank to the other side, but those wipes were included as if they knew you’d need them!
