Boston Chinatown Eat Sheet

by Christine Liu - Citysearch Editor - 63 Reviews - 102 Lists

Updated: February 06, 2009

Chinatown: It's a loud, confusing, smelly mess for one not properly initiated. But behind mysterious doors and dusty entrances lie glorious feasts for those in the know: Roasted duck, juicy pork buns, spongy taro cake, milky bubble tea. There are plenty opportunities to polish your butterfingered chopstick skills, from dim sum houses to sinus-clearing shabu stalls.

Asian Invasion

  1. 1 4.5 Star Rating: Recommended Taiwan Cafe
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    34 Oxford St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    The eggplant basil alone will blow you away. But this perpetually bustling Taiwanese hole-in-the-wall continually challenges and heightens your palate, with its authentic menu spanning stinky fried tofu to blood pudding rice cake. For a non-jaded version of fetishized pork belly, try the braised bacon cut--you won't regret it.

  2. 2 4.5 Star Rating: Recommended Suishaya Restaurant
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    57 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    Purveying a bit of column A (Japanese dishes and sushi bar) and column B (Korean specialties like bibimbap), this classier-than-most eatery rises to the levels of business-lunch and date-night material. Midnight specials (bulgogi or sashimi box?) help sate the early morning crowd.

  3. 3 3.5 Star Rating: Average Kaze
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    1 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    For the observant, a number of shabu joints have sprouted like dandelions about Boston. However, Kaze sits tall and unfazed, as one of the first (and centrally located) cook-it-yourself soup centers. Sit with your group, order your broth and raw ingredients, kick back with sake and let the boiling times begin at the table.

  4. 4 Pho Hoa
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    17 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    Within the little Vietnam corner of Chinatown (arguably with some of the tastiest, cheapest bites on the block), Pho Hoa consistently delivers top-notch noodle soup. Doctored with fresh Thai basil and a squeeze of lime and Sriracha, it's a brothy heaven. Servers, weaving in a sea of wooden tables, offer advice to the bewildered.

  5. 5 4 Star Rating: Recommended East Ocean City Restaurant
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    27 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    Easiest fishing trip of your life! Here, at Boston's destination for Cantonese- and Hong Kong-style seafood, you can select your dinner from the tanks (shrimp? lobster? eel?) and inspect it before it goes straight into the kitchen and later, seasoned and hot, onto the table. Fresh enough for you?

  6. 6 Hing Shing Pastry Inc
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    67 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    Among Chinatown's several Chinese bakeries, Hing Shing takes the (spongy rice) cake with its cheap, consistent, delicious array of fresh pastries. From coconut cream buns to dense sesame-paste balls, everything's pretty much a buck or less apiece, making for an easy, sweet end to an Asian food crawl.

  7. 7 Winsor Dim Sum Cafe
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    10 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    You don't have to wait until weekend brunch to scratch your dim sum itch. Here, at one of the few places in Boston to serve it at all hours (efficiency means no carts), get hit pell-mell with crab dumplings, soft rice noodles, shrimp shu-mai, and pork-filled anything. Savory, porridge-like congee's the house specialty.

  8. 8 Mei Sum Inc
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    40 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    Tucked away in the Vietnamese corridor, Mei Sum soon becomes a sandwich addict's new best friend. For a few dollars, get a bahn mi made to order, its pork pate and shredded vegetables and spicy peppers (trust us, you want them) housed within a shatteringly crusty roll. Redefines whatever you think of fast food.

  9. 9 4 Star Rating: Recommended Chau Chow City Restaurant
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    81 Essex St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    A bastion of the old-school Chinese dynastic empire restaurants, CCC has plenty of gold and red to dazzle the eye and several floors for group dining and multi-course banquets. The charm increases as the night gets long, with late hours to feed the bleary-eyed hungry with sizzling scallops or winter melon soup.

  10. 10 4 Star Rating: Recommended Penang
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    685-691 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111 (map)

    The cavernous interior of this Malaysian joint edges on the ropey-tropical cheesy, but the food is straight-up solid. You'll be hooked from the first bite of the chicken-studded curry and poofy Roti Canai; go family-style on groaning platters of deep-fried snapper or ginger duck noodles. Fierce winter fuel? Curry mee soup.