Dim sum starts early at the flagship, kicking off at 8 a.m. This is a dumpling that’s all about the filling: a meaty burst of flavor that stands on its own, no dipping sauce required. Don’t miss the siu mai ($3.95), tender, succulent balls of chopped pork and shrimp that come packaged in a wheat wrapper. MingHin’s flagship location in Chinatown is a great place to start. With small portions and highly visual menus, there’s little risk - and lots of reward - to pointing to something that looks tasty and giving it a go. Looking for an easy entry into Chinese food? Dim sum is your ticket. Enjoy them chilled with an inky black soy bean sauce ($7.99) to appreciate each unique strand, or get them stir-fried ($9.45), where they also pick up a faint smokiness from the high heat of the wok. Some are pleasingly squishy, while others are delicately thin. Because of this method, no two noodles taste quite alike. To make them, chefs fold a wheat-based dough over multiple times, before hacking strands off with a knife into a pot of boiling water. But it’s the shaved noodles that I obsess about. These work best in the big bowls of brothy soup, which most people around the tiny shop tend to order. Crafted by continuously stretching a chunk of dough until hundreds of distinct strands form, the hand-pulled noodles feature a silky smooth feel and a pleasingly bouncy texture. Slurp Slurp proves the power of focus, with a menu dedicated to two very different kinds of freshly made noodles. So while this guide to Chinatown is exhaustive, it won’t be for long. The oldest restaurant in Chinatown, it closed after 90 years, despite a recent renaissance as a dim sum and Tiki cocktail destination that was rediscovered by chefs and bartenders. Most notable among the closings, Won Kow. Restaurants opened and closed within the few short weeks we worked on this guide. So the Food & Dining team ate at every Chinese restaurant in Chinatown over the past month, 70 in all, then picked our top 12.Ĭhicago’s Chinatown is changing fast, faster than any other historic Chinatown in North America. Many of those restaurants are gone most were descendants of Lao Sze Chuan in the Tony Hu era. We have our favorites, but it’s been eight years since the Tribune wrote a guide to Chinatown. “Who does what best in Chicago’s Chinatown?” asked yet another. “How authentic is the food in Chinatown?” asked another. “I moved to Chicago three weeks ago - where can I get the most authentic Chinese food in Chinatown?” asked one reader. Overwhelmingly, one request came up most, not only through our reader question series “What’s the Story?” but also on social media and even around the newsroom. When we asked, “What do you want to know about Chinese food, restaurants and culinary traditions in Chicago?” you answered.
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