Ming Tsai Biography: Age, Wife, Net Worth, Restaurant, Height, Recipes, Career

Ming Tsai is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality, and former squash player whose fusion of Eastern and Western culinary traditions first drew national attention when he hosted East Meets West on the Food Network in 1998.

Raised between California and Ohio in his family’s Mandarin Kitchen, he has since become a familiar face on public television with his long-running series Simply Ming, while also building and running celebrated restaurants such as Blue Ginger and Blue Dragon.

Profile

• Full name: Ming Hao Tsai
• Date of birth: March 29, 1964
• Age: 61 years old
• Gender: Male
• Place of birth: Newport Beach, California, U.S.
• State of origin: California
• Nationality: American
• Profession: Chef, restaurateur, television personality, former squash player
• Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
• Eye color: Dark brown
• Hair color: Black
• Parents: Stephen W. Tsai and Iris Tsai
• Spouse: Polly Talbott-Tsai (m. April 1996)
• Children: David Tsai, Henry Tsai
• Relationship status: Married
• Ethnicity: Taiwanese American
• Net worth: $10 million

Early Life and Education

Currently at the age of 61, Ming Hao Tsai was born on March 29, 1964, in Newport Beach, California, to Stephen W. Tsai and Iris Tsai.

He spent his formative years in Dayton, Ohio, working alongside his parents in their family restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen, where he absorbed both kitchen skills and front-of-house operations.

He attended Phillips Academy Andover before earning a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University in 1986.

He then obtained a master’s in hotel management and hospitality marketing from Cornell University in 1989, and also studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris during his college summers.

Personal Life

Ming Tsai married Polly Talbott in April 1996, and the couple have two sons, David and Henry.

He maintains a relatively private family life with no public record of divorce or extramarital affairs.

Career

Ming Tsai’s television career began when he filled in on Sara Moulton’s Cooking Live in 1997.

He then hosted East Meets West on the Food Network from 1998 to 2003, winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Service Show Host in 1999.

In 2000, he launched Ming’s Quest on the Fine Living Network, followed by Simply Ming on PBS in 2003, which continues into its seventeenth season.

He has served as a judge on Cooking Under Fire (2005), challenged Iron Chef Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America (2005), competed on The Next Iron Chef (2010), and appeared as a guest on Top Chef (2014).

In the restaurant world, Tsai opened Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in 1998, which operated until June 2017, and Blue Dragon in Boston’s Fort Point Channel from 2013 to May 2020.

In 2020, he became chef and partner at BāBā at the Yellowstone Club in Montana.

Awards

• Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Service Show Host (1999)
• Blue Ginger Restaurant inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame (2012)
• Named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” (2000)

Net worth

Ming Tsai’s estimated net worth is $10 million, accrued through his television shows, restaurant ventures, cookbooks, and brand partnerships.

Social Media

• Instagram: @mingtsai
• Twitter: @mingtsai
• TikTok: @chefmingtsai
• YouTube: Official Simply Ming

Filmography

• Simply Ming (2003–present)
• East Meets West (1998–2003)
• Ming’s Quest (2000)
• Cooking Under Fire (2005)
• Iron Chef America (2005)
• The Next Iron Chef (2010)
• Top Chef (2014)
• Zoom (2005)
• Arthur (2006)
• Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Books

• Blue Ginger: East Meets West Cooking with Ming Tsai
• Simply Ming: Easy Techniques for East-Meets-West Meals
• Ming’s Master Recipes
• Simply Ming One-Pot Meals
• Simply Ming in Your Kitchen