In this city, the best Chinese restaurants are casual. Mimi hasn’t changed that fact, but it has filled a gap for Chinese options that are equal parts sexy and flavorful. There’s no more perfect neighborhood for that kind of restaurant than South Beach. Mimi has the typical look of a sceney restaurant that influencers are paid to lie about—red velvet seats, dim lighting, and at least one dish (the unnecessarily long noodle) that exists only for the algorithm. But the staff here disarm you of that notion with earlobe-to-earlobe smiles and heartfelt soliloquies about green beans. That’s true even if you show up in jeans and Vans (we know because it’s what we were wearing). Setting aside the warm hospitality, Mimi is, after all, a sceney South Beach restaurant. And as such, there are a few ripoff dishes you should avoid—like the $130 beef rib that’s the size of a toddler’s forearm and bland compared to the other entrees. Or the four-foot belt noodle whose only purpose is to be filmed. Instead, focus on the tender seabass dishes. One is bathed in lip-tingling hunan chili, the other rests in a zesty blend of ginger and tangerine peel. They’re half the price of the beef rib and triple the flavor. Mimi is not a product of Miami. It's originally from Toronto. But after eating our way through the dozens of other out-of-town restaurants that pop up around our city like invasive skunk vines, we’ll count Mimi as a miniature blessing. Because not only is it, mercifully, not another Italian restaurant. But it cooks with a tangible passion and knowledge of Chinese food that’s unheard of at a restaurant that looks like it should have a frowning bouncer at the front door.