Best Chinese Chef Knife That Will Up Your Game In The Kitchen

★★★★★ the best thin vegetable cleaver i’ve tried. i don’t normally write reviews but i am so impressed with this knife i had to write it. i’ve always wanted a chinese chef’s knife due to its versatility and practicality. when i did my initial research my top choice was the dexter chinese cleaver, which was very popular. in the end, i opted to try the mercer primarily because of the rubber handle.i was very happy with the knife. over time i got more interested in knives, german vs japanese steel, and i decided to “upgrade” to the  ZHEN VG-10 Damascus Cleaver . the steel was noticeably sharper when you touch it, and the damascus pattern was beautiful. however, when it came time to actually cut, the mercer was actually better. the secret here is that the mercer has a convex grind, while the zhen was a more conventional V-grind. this meant that vegetables did not stick to the blade nearly as much. with the mercer, i can half a cucumber, and slice into thin slices by draw cutting through the cucumber. i could not with the zhen — the cucumber would stick to the other side of the blade.next up, i tried the  Wusthof Chinese Cleaver . i disliked it immediately — it was very heavy. in fairness, heavy is in the title, but i didn’t expect it to make that big of a difference. the fit and finish also wasn’t as good; the spine was not smooth, and neither was heel…which meant holding the knife properly by choking up to the heel was uncomfortable. the mercer’s spine and heel of the blade are smoothed. and speaking of weight, this is when i realized that the mercer is 8.8 ounces, which is super light. it’s also only 2mm thick at the spine.still wanting to find “the best” knife, i tried the other german brand,  Zwilling . this one was slightly heavier than the mercer, slightly thicker, but the balance was off. i prefer the 7 inch size of the zwilling more, but the size of the handle relative to the blade was awkward and made for weird balance. if you’re holding a chinese chef’s knife properly, you’re pinching the blade, so in the zwilling half of the handle is sticking out the back of my hand. and this was when i realized that i really, really like the non-slip rubber handle of the mercer.next up, was the  Messermeister Asian Precision Chinese Knife, 8-Inch . i don’t know why i didn’t try this one first before the others, since this is the knife that celebrity chef Martin Yan uses. it was the only knife that was competitive vs the mercer. it is a little bit heavier, which makes certain cutting tasks easier as the weight of the knife helps, but not so overwhelming like the wusthof. it’s thicker at the spine, but it actually gets even thinner than the mercer (which you can see in the picture, is already very thin). it’s full-tang, 3 rivet, with a nice “ping” when you tap on the blade vs a “thud” of the mercer, so it definitely feels like quality in your hand if you’re into that kind of thing. i still liked the rubber handle of the mercer more, so i eventually ended up wrapping the messermeister handle with rubber splicing tape.5 chinese chef’s knives later, the mercer and messermeister are my favorites. for the mercer, the only downsides i can think of are not really downsides at all, but personal preference. the tip is a bit more rounded than the others, not a 90 degree angle. this makes rocking and draw-cuts easier because it doesn’t dig into the cutting board as much, at the expense sacrificing ease of delicate tip work. it’s also 8 inches instead of 7, but i’ve gotten used to it.if you’re looking for a thin and light vegetable cleaver, this is incredible value at this price point.

★★★★★ Great thin vegetable chopper. I’m used to using a western chef knife when cooking, but I’ve noticed that 99% of the time I’m chopping vegetables. I find that a Japanese nakiri or Chinese vegetable knives are much better for slicing vegetables. I have the cheap carbon steel Wokshop cleaver. It’s thin and slices well, but it’s carbon steel, so it rusts. On top of that the handle is wooden, so it’s just not something you can leave in the sink. I was looking for a Chinese vegetable knife and ended up purchasing the Shibazi F208-2, a Winco KC-601, and a Daways knife (a Dexter 5198 knockoff that can be found in Asian groceries). The Winco and the Daways have a thicker blade. They are more of a heavy multipurpose knife that can be used to break down a chicken as well as slice vegetables. The thicker blade doesn’t glide through vegetables the way the Wokshop cleaver does. The Shibazi and the Mercer have lighter and thinner blades and slice through vegetables with little effort. I would not use these on meat with bones. The Shibazi has better fit and finish, as well as what appears to be harder steel. I also prefer the flatter blade profile of the Shibazi. The Mercer blade is somewhat flexible, and the shape of the blade is more rounded. However, the plastic handle of the Mercer really makes it a low maintenance knife. Between the plastic handle and stainless steel, I can let it sit in the sink and not worry about the blade rusting or a wooden handle soaking up water. The softer steel means it’ll require a honing steel and a sharpening stone more often, but so far the edge has really held up. It’s now my go to knife.

★★★★★ Light weight knife. Gave my first pair away and got me another one. Fantastic vegetable knife (can cut meat too but it’s a light knife) that has an abundant area surface to lift the cut veggies, much like the Chinese restaurant knife – one for all. Except the material feels solid quality, edge stays sharp and easy to handle. It’s light and not cleaver like so I’d recommend it for chopping vegetables. Much better than the other so call veggie knife that you can’t even cut flat to the cutting board surface (see my other review). Overall recommend if you want something similar to the Chinese style restaurant knife. The blade is thin enough to cut fine pieces of green onions or garlic and the handle feels comfortable to handle. Would recommend!

★★★★★ It is sturdy, well-balanced, and sharp. Mercer’s Chinese chef knife is suitable for general kitchen cutting tasks. Although shaped like a cleaver, the blade is thin and will chip if used to cut through bones, stored improperly, or dropped in a ceramic sink.I purchased this knife because… It is the size I was looking for; It’s priced reasonably; And Mercer supplies cutlery to culinary schools, so they must know how to make a good blade.When the knife arrived, I immediately took it to the kitchen to play… cook something. At first, I was afraid of cutting myself while scooping up food. (A sharp knife is *not* a safe knife when the cutting edge is directed toward one’s self.) The fear subsided after a few days. The knife is sturdy, well-balanced, and sharp. The weight of the knife with a forward motion is enough to to slice through garlic, onions, carrots, celery, and all of the other foods I commonly cut. Butternut squash isn’t a problem, but takes a bit more effort. Kabocha (“Japanese Pumpkin”) is tougher — I use my guiding hand on top of the blade to apply pressure after embedding the knife with an initial cut.The edge does need to be maintained. It can be honed by stropping or steeling. For those who prefer steeling, use a high-quality steel to avoid damaging the edge with the steel. The blade is easily sharpened with a ceramic.

★★★★☆ Solid mid-range quality at a budget price. Very nice. Thin and light. If you like MAC knives that are really thin and keep their edges well, you are getting almost the same thing here, just not the crazy blade edge angle like MAC’s.

★★★★★ Excellent introduction to chinese style chef knives. Handle seems weird at first but since you hold more of the blade than a french or gyuto it works even with big hands. Nice affordable knife that can do a ton of work and you dont have worry about rusting or it getting too beaten up. Factory sharp was very sharp and is holding up still.If you’re looking to try out a chinese chef knife or want a cheapish workhorse house knife this is it. Once you really learn how to use it it’s hard to go back to western or japanese style knives. My daily driver for kitchen work; will reach for this before my $300 carbon steel nakiri.

★★★★★ I bought this because I wanted to try this style of knife before splashing out on anything more expensive. As others have pointed out, despite the shape, it’s not a a ‘cleaver’ in the sense of something to bash bones with, it’s a general purpose tool for cutting up relatively soft things like meat and veg.It’s taken me a few cutting sessions to adapt to the geometry, but it is a very versatile tool when you get the hang of it. The wide blade seems to make cutting thin slices of stuff without wandering easier and being able to ‘scoop’ things from the cutting board to the pan in one go is a plus.Out of the box I found the ‘factory edge’ very sharp – good enough to score pork rind cleanly and with control, which needs a good edge.The edge has held up reasonably well for a stainless steel knife. After two cutting sessions it was noticeably dulled, but a few swipes with a ceramic rod restored it. This isn’t unexpected for the steel – there is always a trade-off between corrosion resistance and edge quality/retention and the compromise here leans towards corrosion resistance. I’ve left it out wet on the draining board, and not a spot of rust.It’s a very good knife for the price IMO. I’d recommend, but don’t expect the edge to hold up like super-hard high end knives. Much easier to sharpen though!

★★★★★ Very versatile. The product is well made and extremely sharp. The handle is good, although I would have preferred it to be to be longer. I am happy with my purchase.

★★★★★ Tiene un buen balance, es ideal para un chef profesional o para cualquier amante de la Cocina, ligero y con buen buen filo, el mago pudiera ser de mejor calidad pero te funcionará de una manera cómoda, lo recomiendo ampliamente

★★★★☆ Great value knife made out of a premium German steel. I still use this quite a bit despite having Japanese knives which cost many times more.Good sharpness out of the box.Fairly thin behind the edge, and goes through big dense things like squash and swede really well.Big flat blade is great for scooping / moving food.Edge retention has been good so far (as you’d expect with X50CrMoV15).Took 1 star off as the spine and choil are quite sharp, which for me made it uncomfortable to hold unless they’re rounded off slightly.