When the pandemic first started, I decided to order delivery only
from Chinese restaurants. Even slightly before everything shut down,
Chinatown was getting quieter and quieter caused by a combination of
caution (from the community itself) and racism (from outside the
community). Nowadays, I still largely order from Asian restaurants
because I discovered that my number had already been registered with
UberEats and I was too lazy to do anything about it.
I don’t have any notes from anything before the pandemic, it’s been
too long. I’ll probably update this as time goes on (I’ve already gone
through a few versions without posting so I thought I’d just throw it up
for now).
Delivery
Yummy Yummy Noodles. For a long time, they had
wonton noodles (and related) for about 5 bucks a bowl. Sadly, inflation
has driven that price up closer to $8, which is still among the cheapest
you can get. The usual soup HK soup noodle classics are excellent—I
really like their beef brisket ho fun and their wonton noodles are the
best I’ve had here, but they also have good siu laap offerings.
Saint’s Alp. A Taiwanese (?) bubble tea place that
has a wide variety of food offerings. My favourite here is their baked
rice, an HK cafe staple. I particularly like the chicken curry or cream
seafood variants. On a related note, it’s kind of weird that Chicago
doesn’t have a place that really does a Portuguese sauce chicken baked
rice. Portuguese sauce is a curry-like sauce that’s milder and heavier
on coconut that made its way from Macau (formerly a colony of
Portugal).
My Place. Probably the only place that I know of on
delivery that does a decent HK style milk tea (if anyone has
suggestions, please let me know). The brunch specials are killer. They
also do good baked rice. They’re actually up in South Loop by Roosevelt
station.
The Noodle. Good Vietnamese noodle soups. I like
their bun bo hue and the special pho with everything in it.
China Cafe. Solid place for dim sum and Cantonese
classics with reasonable prices, even after inflationary jump.
Potsticker House and Northern
Taste. These two go together as my two Northern Chinese
standbys. The dumplings are an obvious choice, but I also really like
the Shanghainese lion’s head meatballs or the “boiled beef”, which
sounds boring but is really beef poached in a vat of chilis and chili
oil.
Golden Bull. Another decent Cantonese restaurant,
but their claim to fame is their claypot rice. The most popular one is
the cured meats version but I really like the chicken and mushroom
(which also comes with chinese sausage).
In-person
BBQ King House. I always stop by this place
whenever I’m in Chinatown. Excellent HK-style siu laap joint. I usually
get the BBQ pork and roast pork rice combo, comes with a Chinese soup on
the side.
Saint Anna’s. They have the cheapest HK-style baked
goods and are conveinetly located in Chinatown Square. As a side note, I
thought it was interesting that Chinese bakeries in Chicago weren’t
self-service (at least all the ones that I’ve been to).
Jade Court. Really great local option in Hyde Park.
I’ve usually gone for takeout because I’m not actually entirely sure
about their eat-in hours.
Ken Kee. This is one I remember pre-pandemic
because there’s another restaurant in Toronto that goes by the same name
(likely no relation) and was a very similar style of restaurant. They
shut down for renovations shortly before the pandemic and after the
pandemic got a glow-up. They’re a bit pricier now, their menu is more
focused, and the new ownership seems like a next-gen HKer (i.e. someone
like me) since the new shop leans on the retro-HK styling that I’ve seen
a lot of in recent similar spots in Toronto.
Strings Ramen. Their ramen is fine but I’d skip
their tsukemen—they use the same noodles as their ramen, which feels
wrong. They remind me of local Toronto options (perfectly serviceable)
more than Japanese chains (not that there are any around here).