The Best Chinese Restaurants in Seattle, Bellevue – Seattle Met

You could spend weeks eating in Chinese restaurants in the greater Seattle area and still not cover a fraction of them. New places pop up faster than you can visit the “must-tries” that were already on your list . The classics will be the classics and the familiar chains we all love will continue to thrive. This tour of Chinese dining places spotlights locations that have a particular specialty, or an especially good version of a specific dish.  

A note about flavor profiles: For restaurants to meet the demands of the dining public, they tend to draw influences from across regional Chinese and Taiwanese cuisines. So , the Sichuanese restaurant may also have Northern-style dumplings or Cantonese-style dim sum. Being rigid along local boundaries can be detrimental to a restaurant’s survival.  

Dumpling Generation

Edmonds, Lake Forest Park

As the name implies, baskets of steamed dumplings are the move here. The wrappers are hand-rolled—not too thin or even thick—and the fillings are savory plus juicy. If you prefer some pungency, get the dumplings that include Chinese chives, which have large, flat leaves that aren’t afraid to announce their presence. The kitchen makes its own noodles, upping the game on dishes like beef noodle soup and tomato egg and noodles. It’s always a delight to encounter tomato egg on a menu. To find this dish with noodles doubles the particular pleasure.

Spicy Style of Sichuan

Northgate

The particular restaurant’s Mandarin name is a clever play on a phrase that means “we’re No . 1 and No. 2 best Sichuan” restaurant. The boast makes sense when you taste dishes such as the stir-fried sour-and-spicy shredded potatoes, eggplant with chili peppers and preserved eggs, dry-fried green beans, and steamed pork belly with buns. The potato dish (a telltale benchmark of the kitchen’s attention to detail) hits all the right notes. The ma la tingling of Sichuan pepper isn’t shy in the ma po tofu plus it’ll require extra rice as a companion. Spicy Style is located at the Asian Family Center on Aurora Avenue North, so time your visit for when you need to stock up on Asian ingredients.  

Looking for Chai

Bellevue, Edmonds

When the Three Spiced Chicken with Basil (aka three-cup chicken) arrives at the table, it’s a moment of exaltation and appreciation. Chunks associated with bone-in chicken have the right amount of seared edges; sauce is a caramelized balance of soy sauce and wine. The basil ties it all together. For fans of dry-fried green coffee beans, Looking for Chai’s version contains bits of pork and dried shrimp. The particular sizzling platter with poultry steak or pork chop is a mess of food that many folks find irresistible.

Imperial Garden

Kent

The dim amount menu consists of all the favorites and any extras make great takeaway. The kitchen uses lump shrimp in its har gow, delivers perfectly fried (i. e., not greasy) sesame balls, and focuses on making great pork for its steamed barbecue pork bao. But Imperial Garden’s star remains the Beijing Duck—shaved pieces of meat topped along with planks associated with lacquered duck skin, served with condiments and translucent steamed pancakes. A whole order commands the particular table; the half purchase lets you explore more of the menu. While the cafe uses white tablecloths and is spacious enough to accommodate large banquets, the vibe is not formal. Folks are as likely to come after shopping next door at 99 Ranch Market as they are usually for a special occasion.

Mama’s Dough

Kent

The soup dumpling game in the Seattle area has its camps. Mama’s Dough can hold its very own with its xiao long bao, which have thin wrappers that are gorgeously pleated. Filling options include pig, crab, or even vegetables—though the particular vegetarian version doesn’t have soups in them. Surprisingly few restaurants in town serve braised beef pancake rolls; the edition here wraps a scallion pancake around sliced shank to create a filling appetizer, albeit tough to share beyond two people. Round out your meal with a few cold dishes, like the seaweed or cucumber salad.

A+ Hong Kong Restaurant

Chinatown–International District

If the opinion of an 80-year-old Chinese grandma matters to you, the braised meat brisket stone pot from A+ Hk Restaurant is the best in Seattle. Indeed, the particular brisket and tendon keep together until you take a bite. The bed of napa cabbage under the braised beef deserves its own award, cooked to the point of translucence, but before it loses structural integrity. Other stone pots include the eggplant with XO sauce plus sliced beef, which has just enough funk and arrives still bubbling in its cauldron. If quantity of food is an important measure, the lunch plates offer enough grain for two meals. The salt and pepper chicken wings are deep-fried crispy plus laced with just enough curry to make you obsess about it but not so much to overwhelm the taste profile. We could go on. Or you can just go now.

151 Days Poultry Soup House

Redmond

In case you go to a chicken soup house that raises its own Arlington Bresse chickens on a farm an hour north of Seattle, it stands to reason: You get the chicken noodle soup. 151 Days serves its signature noodle soup with slivers of chicken breast, chopped cilantro and green onions, deep-fried shallots, soft-cooked egg, and greens. The particular light-bodied broth goes down easily. Potstickers shine thanks to Berkshire pork filling that tastes memorably fresh and clean. The tofu salad combines slivers associated with potato plus radish alongside the fried tofu. It’s a can’t-stop-eating-it dish that’s sumptuous enough to be an entree greens.

Xi’an Noodles

Downtown Seattle, Down-town Bellevue, University District

Biang biang noodles take their title from the satisfying thwack you hear when chefs slap skeins of dough on the counter. The impact creates fissures that lead to wide ribbons with ragged edges, the particular specialty of the northwest Chinese language city of Xi’an. These chewy, hand-ripped noodles center in most dishes on the menu. Order them as a soup, or even as a bowl tossed along with spicy cumin lamb or just some chili-flecked hot oil. The original U District location just received a thorough remodel; the downtown outpost is really a counter around the second floor of Westlake Center.

Xiaolongbao Home

Shoreline

The Mandarin characters for Xiaolongbao House (formerly Royal Dumplings House) translate to “No. 1-ranked Sichuan and Hunan. ” You might notice this has nothing to do with soup dumplings, the purported specialty. The particular compact dim sum lineup nods to that English name, but the full menu is where this place reveals its true nature. Thin dan noodles sport a mixture of caramelized ground pork and sui mi ya cai (minced pickled mustard stems) and a pool of mother la chili oil having a hint of sesame paste. The kitchen knows its way around eggplant with green chili peppers and preserved egg, a dish that is gained popularity across many Sichuan dining places. Their version of sour and spicy potato is loaded with garlic chunks, ginger coins, dried out red chilies, fresh green chilies, pickled cowpeas, green onions, plus red bell peppers. The pig trotters—pressure cooked and then stir-fried with dried red chili peppers and black beans—are ideal for diners who like to savor the bits. Focusing on xiao long bao in the name is culinary clickbait for a menu with other intentions.  

Vivienne’s Dining area

Mercer Island

Chef Danna Hwang, previously of Peony Kitchen, right now oversees a good upscale 180-seat dining room, marked by wooden lanterns, high-backed booths, and a preponderance associated with citrusy cocktails. Hwang’s menus starts along with Cantonese flavors, then moves in unexpected directions like mu shu tacos, clam chowder croquettes, or squid ink rice baked using a decadent topping of cheese. Even familiar dishes such as honey walnut prawns or wontons get plated for looks as much as flavor; Vivienne’s showstopper is the Forbidden Roast Duck plate, a five-spiced bird with crackling skin that arrives with a DIY array of herbs, radish, delicate lemon slices, and monogrammed bao buns.

Chengdu Taste

Chinatown–International Area

A Southern California favorite—started by a pair of Chengdu natives nostalgic for break-a-sweat spicy Sichuan—expanded to include the handsome dining room in the Publix building. Classic Sichuan dishes are uniformly great, the laziji rooster exceptionally so. On the menu, it goes by a deceptively tame moniker: crispy chicken with red chili spice up. Bite-size morsels get a deep-fry to lock in moisture, then a wokked follow-up tossed along with Sichuan peppercorns, toasted sesame seeds, and generous lengths of crimson chilies. Chengdu Taste offers two versions of this meal, a traditional bone-in chicken along with a boneless take that’s easier to eat.

Friendship BBQ

Northgate

Northeastern-Chinese-style grilled skewers would be the main attraction at the Seattle franchise of the New York–based chain. Meats and seafood (chicken, wagyu beef, lamb, pork, shrimp, squid, plus others) come coated in a cumin-forward seasoning with your choice of spice level. Don’t miss the side dishes, including the garlic clove eggplant, which is roasted until the flesh is virtually liquified and slathered with a minced garlic sauce. The cold shredded spud with garlic herb strikes an ideal balance of texture, savoriness, and acidity. If a restaurant could have a personality, Companionship would be the philosopher. The Chinese characters printed on the backs of staff uniforms roughly translate in order to: “Your palate can enjoy all of the flavors. But life can also subject you to fire and ashes. ” Such may be the duality associated with life—and of flame-grilled foods.  

Hot and spicy PoPo Szechuan Fish

Bellevue/Bel-Red

The objective here is the fish pot. It’s the cauldron associated with spicy plus numbing (and piping hot) broth brimming with chunks of halibut, red and pickled green chiles, and your selection of meats and vegetables. The particular pleasure plus pain of each bite necessitates at least one bowl of rice, which goes down too quickly. You can choose the level of spice from zero to three. Even the degree one packs a punch—though, anecdotally, they might tone down the spice if you aren’t Asian. The dry pots are popular, too. The range associated with other stir-fried dishes within the menu could be hit or even miss.  

Dan Gui

Bellevue/Bel-Red

Deciding what to order is easier if you’re with a larger group that can handle ma la and pungent foods. You can’t go wrong with classics: mum po tofu, dry-fried eco-friendly beans, toothpick lamb, eggplant with maintained egg. Do give fish or poultry with green sichuan peppercorns a try, as well as the sauerkraut meat or seafood. For something sweet, the particular fermented glutinous rice ball “soup” can help tame some of the fire on your palate.   The eating place takes its title from the fragrant osmanthus flower and offers a definite bright spot in a sprawling strip mall.

Tyger

Queen Anne

Yes, it’s possible for wok-seared brussels sprouts to carry a menu. In the version at this spot across from Seattle center, the brussels and slices of Chinese sausage come alive with the wok char, plus chilies, garlic, ginger, and Sichuan pepper. It is hard to stop popping bites and focus on other meals, but then you’d miss out on the particular prawn, chive, and egg cell dumplings, which usually arrive in the pool associated with black vinegar chili essential oil. The crispy rockfish along with sour mustard greens will be fiery, tangy, and needs steamed grain. The serta dan noodles are creamy and tingly. Tyger describes itself as “Sichuan-inspired” (like the sibling restaurant, Lionhead, upon Broadway) thus they’re not really shy using the ma una flavors.

Harmony Palace

Chinatown–International District

The new occupant of the former Fortuna Cafe spot offers a curated selection of rice comes, rice, noodle dishes, plus dim sum—flavorful shrimp-packed dumplings, fluffy steamed barbecue buns. XO spices is a popular flavor on Cantonese menus; one of the house specialties is the XO with two types of noodles and bits of chicken. When you need a big plate of rice, the Singapore-style curry deep-fried rice provides a hint of spice with chunks associated with pineapple like a sweet counterpoint. Harmony Palace is the kind of place where you might find a group of elders chatting away over snacks and tea. Snag a table upstairs, if you can.

Lucky Barbecue and Noodle House

Bellevue/Bel-Red

They had us at “chubby sweet. ” This particular fast-casual spot for Hong Kong–style noodle soups, rice dishes, and congee is part of the food court area adjacent to Asian Family members Center. Noodle varieties include thick or thin ovum noodles, or even several different grain noodles; you can top them with duck, beef brisket plus tendon, fish balls, squid balls, and barbecued pork. Roast pig, ribs, chicken, and duck are all for the barbecue menus. When you select a duck from the case, you are able to specify a skinny or chubby duck. Bring on the fat.