When he’s not eating internet-famous sandwiches, Cheung, who is best known by his 321,000 Instagram followers for slurping massive bowls of noodles in his car or biting into gigantic strawberry-stuffed mochi, is on the hunt for his next delicious meal around the bay.

I meet the food blogger on a cloudy San Francisco morning to have lunch at Daeho Kalbijjim & Beef Soup in Japantown. Cheung greets me wearing a bright blue puffer jacket and appears more mellow in person than his typical animated self on social media. The staff recognizes him immediately as we take a seat by the window. Daeho has been featured many times on Cheung’s social media pages, chiefly for the kalbijjim, a braised beef rib entree, which is his favorite Korean dish.

“Imagine a mountain of the most tender beef short ribs just bubbling in a Jacuzzi of concentrated spicy umami,” Cheung enthusiastically shared in an Instagram post last March.

A waiter appears not long after we order and presents us with a massive bowl of kalbijjim — prepared with thick rice cake noodles, assorted vegetables, and the optional cheese topping for $5 extra. When the waiter places the giant bowl on the table, he whips out a blowtorch and begins to melt the cheese tableside until it transforms into a gooey splendor. Cheung’s eyes gleam with excitement. 

“The food itself is a show,” Cheung tells me as white smoke billows from the hot stone bowl. “It’s such a great time eating this kind of dish.” 

From computer science to food blogging

Cheung, who is from the South Bay, launched Bay Area Foodies in 2015 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from UC Santa Cruz. He decided to open an Instagram account devoted to his tasty discoveries around the bay.

Food had been a passion of his since childhood. Growing up in San Jose, Cheung began to cultivate an interest in food when he and his family would visit the abundant Vietnamese restaurants in the area. Among them was Pho Ha Noi, a popular pho restaurant in San Jose with a location in Cupertino and an upcoming site in Palo Alto. The Vietnamese restaurant is known for drawing lines and is still one of Cheung’s favorite spots. He orders the beef short rib pho, which comes with a full pound of meat.  

Things really clicked for Cheung at age 14 while on a fateful run during P.E. class. Cheung and a group of classmates were doing a 5K run around San Jose when they ran past Araujo’s Mexican Grill. The group was starving by the end of the class, so they decided to visit the taqueria. 

Tim Cheung eats at Daeho. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Tim Cheung eats at Daeho. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)

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“The specialty at Araujo’s is that they charcoal grill the asada … and this was my first time having an authentic Mexican burrito,” he said. “I didn’t know so much delicious food existed. I literally shed a tear.”

Cheung eventually enrolled in a post-bachelor program in 2017 for computer science but dropped out when Bay Area Foodies picked up momentum. He just couldn’t resist the pull of creating food videos before his hobby became a full-time gig. He launched his TikTok in 2019, and it has grown to nearly 400,000 followers.

“I haven’t looked back ever since,” Cheung said.

How to eat like a gourmand

Bay Area Foodies has taken Cheung to all corners of the Bay Area, with pit stops throughout San Jose and San Francisco. He’s featured mochi at the decades-old Shuei-Do Manju Shop in San Jose and tamales at the Walmart parking lot in Mountain View. Along the way, he’s discovered some amazing hidden gems.  

Last year, Cheung had a viral post that featured the Hong Kong-style pork chop plate, which is priced at $6.50, at Super Star Restaurant in San Francisco. Cheung’s video of him taking a big bite out of the juicy pork chop garnered more than 93,000 likes on Instagram, and nearly a million views on TikTok. The post also piqued the interest of locals, who ventured out to the Excelsior District to try it themselves.

“I think they serve one of the cheapest meals in all of San Francisco,” Cheung said. “People usually associate San Francisco with expensive food, but if you look hard enough, you can find these hidden gems that are very affordable and delicious, too. It blew me away.”

When he’s in the mood for Chinese barbecue, he’ll head to Kam Po Kitchen in San Francisco’s Chinatown. He’s a huge fan of the Chinese-style barbecue pork dish served with rice. What Cheung likes best about the mom-and-pop business is that it isn’t trying to be stylish. Instead, it offers comfort food priced under $10.

“It gives you that really homey feel,” he said. “You walk in, and the menu is kind of run-down. They cross off menu items so they can rewrite another one on top. You don’t go there for the atmosphere. … The biggest selling point is the food. You just get good, delicious, simple food for a good price.”

Cheung is a fan of getting the most for his money. When he visited the House of Prime Rib for the first time in February, he made sure to come armed with a plan — albeit a controversial one. Instead of getting a plate with a baked potato, Yorkshire pudding and creamed spinach to accompany the prime rib, Cheung requested to hold the sides altogether.

“If you want to maximize your money over there, you should box the sides and focus on the meat,” Cheung said. “So, if you can finish your first plate, you can get a second and sometimes a third depending on the server. Some people might disagree and say that the sides are the best.” 

How does Cheung find his spots? Like many of us, he relies on social media. He usually starts with the ongoing list of local businesses that he’s previously bookmarked on Instagram or TikTok. Sometimes he’ll spend an hour or two on Yelp. In either scenario, he’s always on the prowl for locations that strike a balance between innovation and flavor.

There have been times when he’s tried viral foods and has been left sorely disappointed. Such was the case a few years back when he tried birria tacos from a business he prefers to keep anonymous.

“A lot of spots copy that kind of taco style and it’s kind of underwhelming,” Cheung said. “I’ve had a few spots that were really good, but the majority of them I felt mediocre.”

To avoid burnout, he tries to avoid posting about viral foods unless the business has perfected the dish. It’s often a challenge to find a balance between testing trendy meals and knowing what his followers are actually craving. But when he can’t seem to find inspiration on Yelp or TikTok, his followers will always put a new restaurant on his radar via direct messages.

“I love to try new food,” Cheung said. “I can do that forever.”