Irvine’s food is in its shopping centres, which is not a criticism. The Diamond Jamboree centre alone holds Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese and Chinese restaurants of genuine quality alongside a large Asian supermarket, and there are several comparable centres across the city.
The Chinese and Taiwanese cooking is the strongest thread — hand-pulled noodles, soup dumplings, boba that set the template for much of Southern California. Korean barbecue and Japanese ramen are both well served.
Irvine is a planned city and reads as one, but its Asian food scene is among the best in the state and considerably less crowded than the San Gabriel Valley equivalents. The surrounding Orange County cities add Vietnamese in Westminster and Mexican in Santa Ana.