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A black plastic bowl of thick hand-pulled noodles, heavily dusted with chile powder and topped with greens and a generous dollop of garlic. A wooden skewer of lamb pieces sits across the rim of the bowl, which is on a Chinese Zodiac placemat on a red tray.
Gene’s was at the vanguard of Boston’s hand-pulled noodle scene.
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

16 Excellent Chinese Restaurants in Boston

From Sichuan to Hunan to Cantonese to Chinese American

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Gene’s was at the vanguard of Boston’s hand-pulled noodle scene.
| Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

Boston’s Chinatown is one of the best places to eat in the country, but it’s not the only neighborhood with good Chinese food within Boston’s city limits. Diners can find great hand-pulled noodles, for example, in Brighton, a mall food court in Downtown Crossing, and a hospital food court in Longwood. Chinatown is of course still the hub — but the spokes aren’t half bad, either.

Here are 16 of the best restaurants in Boston that serve Chinese food. (Note: This map includes restaurants only within Boston proper; Boston-area cities like Quincy, Cambridge, and beyond also have their own excellent Chinese options.)

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Xi'an Rougamo

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Mall food courts are mostly filled with heart palpitation-inducing grease bombs. The food court at the Corner Mall in Downtown Crossing breaks that mold a bit. Go to Xi’an Rougamo for its eponymous treat — a burger-like sandwich, the English transliteration of which is rougamo, served on flaky, layered flatbread and packed with stewed meat. Also worth your coins: the garlicky hand-pulled noodles.

Chopsticks lift a thick hand-pulled noodle from a plastic bowl full of noodles, chili flakes, garlic, and vegetables
Mall food court delights
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe

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Gene’s is the OG player in Boston’s growing hand-pulled noodle scene. Order the hand-pulled noodles in chile oil; order the hand-pulled noodles with cumin-spiked lamb; order some lamb skewers; order everything.

Patrons eat at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Downtown Crossing.
Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe.
David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Mala Restaurant

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Mala is the hot spot for hot (as in spicy) food in Allston. The following dishes are compulsory: fresh whole fish with Sichuan hot and spicy sauce; dan dan noodles; mapo tofu; dry stir-fried chicken with spicy capsicum (a type of pepper); chile and cumin dry lamb; stir-fried string beans. This is good — no, great — beer-drinking food. Wash it all down with so many Tsingtaos (or another cold, crisp lager of your choice).

Hei La Moon Restaurant

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This gilded dim sum destination relocated to a smaller space in 2022, but the food and the experience remains top-notch. The menu is full of good bets here, including the taro dumplings, bok choy drizzled in oyster sauce, and steamed roast pork buns. (Looking for more dim sum? Empire Garden Restaurant and Winsor Dim Sum Cafe are two other go-tos in the neighborhood.)

Five Spices House

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The menu at this Sichuan spot is vast and therefore a little overwhelming. But you should definitely order the duck tongues with spicy green peppers, the hot and spicy pig intestines, the crispy beef, and the foil-wrapped lamb. And some dumplings. And the Chinese watercress. On the other side of the river? There’s a sibling spot in Cambridge’s Central Square.

Dumpling Cafe

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Dumpling Cafe’s menu features cuisines from a number of regions and cities in China, and Taiwanese food features heavily too. Again, go for the thing that’s in the name — and specifically the mini juicy buns with pork, which are the best in the city.

A plate of sauteed string beans sits beside a plate of spicy eggplant. They are accompanied by two bowls of rice and various sauces.
The sauteed string beans and the Taiwan-style spicy eggplant are among Boston’s best bites.
Terrence B. Doyle/Eater Boston

Peach Farm

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Before the pandemic, Peach Farm was a late-night favorite for restaurant industry types. It’s the spot for seafood — especially the lobster with ginger and scallions.

A plate with a blue border embellished by birds holds a portion of lobster with scallions and ginger
The lobster is the order at Peach Farm.
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

Hong Kong Eatery

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Hong Kong Eatery is an old-school spot for Cantonese food. Order the barbecued meats, fried pork chop with rice, or anything with XO sauce, a spicy fish sauce from Hong Kong.

A white plate with a blue floral pattern around the edge holds a Chinese beef and rice dish.
Beef in Beijing sauce at Hong Kong Eatery.
Herman Saksono/Flickr (Creative Commons)

New Jumbo Seafood Restaurant

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New Jumbo is also among the few restaurants that offer Peking duck, but it’s all about seafood here. The scallops cooked in black pepper, clams in black bean sauce, and seafood soaked in XO sauce are good places to start.

Signage for New Jumbo Seafood Restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown — raised red lettering on a gold background
New Jumbo is one of the best spots for seafood in Chinatown
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

Little Tao

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Little Tao is a Sichuan newcomer in Allston led by chef Tao Liu, who hails from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan. Whatever you do, don’t pass up the Sichuan special noodle menu — the tao tao noodles, with minced pork and beans in a zingy chile sauce, are excellent.

Clay Pot Cafe

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Clay Pot Cafe specializes in food prepared in clay pots, which is typical of Cantonese cuisine and popular in cities such as Hong Kong. The play here: the minced beef and egg clay pot.

MDM Noodles

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MDM is another part of the small but growing cadre of hand-pulled noodle shops in and around Boston serving Xi’an-style biang biang noodles. Order one of each of the following: hand-pulled noodles with beef and scallions; hand-pulled noodles with scrambled eggs and tomatoes; and spicy hand-pulled noodles with boiled lamb.

The facade of MDM Noodles in Brighton. An orange sign is adorned with white type and sits above two glass doors and two windows.
MDM Noodles is worth a ride on the Green Line.
Terrence B. Doyle/Eater Boston

Myers + Chang

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Open for over a decade, this South End restaurant has a menu inspired by a variety of Asian cuisines, including Chinese. (The food is “‘Asian-ish,’ if you need a label,” according to the restaurant.) If it’s currently on the menu, order the grilled mushroom longevity noodles, and don’t miss the classic Mama Chang’s pork and chive dumplings, served with a black pepper and scallion dipping sauce.

A brightly lit restaurant interior with a high-top table and some standard tables, all with white chairs. The sun-lit window is decorated by a large red and yellow dragon.
Myers + Chang.
Cal Bingham/Eater Boston

Noodles King

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Did you think you’d find a restaurant located inside a hospital food court on this map? Probably not, right? Well, think again. Noodles King serves some of the very best hand-pulled noodles in the city. Order them with spicy chile oil and vegetables.

A white plastic bowl, sitting on a purple table, is filled with hand-pulled noodles, bok choy, chile flakes, and bean sprouts. A plastic Coke bottle appears to the side.
Hospital food courts don’t have to mean a trip to McDonald’s — sometimes they’ve got exceptional hand-pulled noodles.
Terrence B. Doyle/Eater Boston

Yunnan Kitchen

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The team behind Brighton Yunnan rice noodle restaurant South of the Clouds expanded to the South End in 2022 with the debut of Yunnan Kitchen, a welcome addition to the neighborhood. The menu goes well beyond noodles here, with a far more expansive range of Yunnan, or Dian, fare including pea jelly salad (or fried pea jelly, either version is deeply satisfying), and bite-sized sticky rice meatballs garnished with goji berries.

A dark bowl filled with sticky rice-covered meatballs each topped with a red berry and steamed broccoli arranged around the outer rim.
The sticky rice meatballs at Yunnan Kitchen.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

My Happy Hunan Kitchen

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My Happy Hunan Kitchen is chef Wei Ding’s first U.S. restaurant, which he launched after running a successful chain of restaurants out of Changsha, the capital city of Hunan. The menu takes its spice levels seriously: Dishes like the sizzling cumin beef can be made “normal spicy” or “Hunan spicy,” depending on your palate. Ding recreated some of his favorite Hunan recipes here, including a golden beef soup with thinly sliced strips of beef and enoki mushrooms bathing in a pumpkin broth.

A quart container filled with a light yellow broth, shaved beef, white mushrooms, and green and red garnishes.
The golden beef soup, in takeout form.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Xi'an Rougamo

Mall food courts are mostly filled with heart palpitation-inducing grease bombs. The food court at the Corner Mall in Downtown Crossing breaks that mold a bit. Go to Xi’an Rougamo for its eponymous treat — a burger-like sandwich, the English transliteration of which is rougamo, served on flaky, layered flatbread and packed with stewed meat. Also worth your coins: the garlicky hand-pulled noodles.

Chopsticks lift a thick hand-pulled noodle from a plastic bowl full of noodles, chili flakes, garlic, and vegetables
Mall food court delights
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe

Gene’s is the OG player in Boston’s growing hand-pulled noodle scene. Order the hand-pulled noodles in chile oil; order the hand-pulled noodles with cumin-spiked lamb; order some lamb skewers; order everything.

Patrons eat at Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe in Downtown Crossing.
Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe.
David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Mala Restaurant

Mala is the hot spot for hot (as in spicy) food in Allston. The following dishes are compulsory: fresh whole fish with Sichuan hot and spicy sauce; dan dan noodles; mapo tofu; dry stir-fried chicken with spicy capsicum (a type of pepper); chile and cumin dry lamb; stir-fried string beans. This is good — no, great — beer-drinking food. Wash it all down with so many Tsingtaos (or another cold, crisp lager of your choice).

Hei La Moon Restaurant

This gilded dim sum destination relocated to a smaller space in 2022, but the food and the experience remains top-notch. The menu is full of good bets here, including the taro dumplings, bok choy drizzled in oyster sauce, and steamed roast pork buns. (Looking for more dim sum? Empire Garden Restaurant and Winsor Dim Sum Cafe are two other go-tos in the neighborhood.)

Five Spices House

The menu at this Sichuan spot is vast and therefore a little overwhelming. But you should definitely order the duck tongues with spicy green peppers, the hot and spicy pig intestines, the crispy beef, and the foil-wrapped lamb. And some dumplings. And the Chinese watercress. On the other side of the river? There’s a sibling spot in Cambridge’s Central Square.

Dumpling Cafe

Dumpling Cafe’s menu features cuisines from a number of regions and cities in China, and Taiwanese food features heavily too. Again, go for the thing that’s in the name — and specifically the mini juicy buns with pork, which are the best in the city.

A plate of sauteed string beans sits beside a plate of spicy eggplant. They are accompanied by two bowls of rice and various sauces.
The sauteed string beans and the Taiwan-style spicy eggplant are among Boston’s best bites.
Terrence B. Doyle/Eater Boston

Peach Farm

Before the pandemic, Peach Farm was a late-night favorite for restaurant industry types. It’s the spot for seafood — especially the lobster with ginger and scallions.

A plate with a blue border embellished by birds holds a portion of lobster with scallions and ginger
The lobster is the order at Peach Farm.
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

Hong Kong Eatery

Hong Kong Eatery is an old-school spot for Cantonese food. Order the barbecued meats, fried pork chop with rice, or anything with XO sauce, a spicy fish sauce from Hong Kong.

A white plate with a blue floral pattern around the edge holds a Chinese beef and rice dish.
Beef in Beijing sauce at Hong Kong Eatery.
Herman Saksono/Flickr (Creative Commons)

New Jumbo Seafood Restaurant

New Jumbo is also among the few restaurants that offer Peking duck, but it’s all about seafood here. The scallops cooked in black pepper, clams in black bean sauce, and seafood soaked in XO sauce are good places to start.

Signage for New Jumbo Seafood Restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown — raised red lettering on a gold background
New Jumbo is one of the best spots for seafood in Chinatown
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

Little Tao

Little Tao is a Sichuan newcomer in Allston led by chef Tao Liu, who hails from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan. Whatever you do, don’t pass up the Sichuan special noodle menu — the tao tao noodles, with minced pork and beans in a zingy chile sauce, are excellent.

Clay Pot Cafe

Clay Pot Cafe specializes in food prepared in clay pots, which is typical of Cantonese cuisine and popular in cities such as Hong Kong. The play here: the minced beef and egg clay pot.

MDM Noodles

MDM is another part of the small but growing cadre of hand-pulled noodle shops in and around Boston serving Xi’an-style biang biang noodles. Order one of each of the following: hand-pulled noodles with beef and scallions; hand-pulled noodles with scrambled eggs and tomatoes; and spicy hand-pulled noodles with boiled lamb.

The facade of MDM Noodles in Brighton. An orange sign is adorned with white type and sits above two glass doors and two windows.
MDM Noodles is worth a ride on the Green Line.
Terrence B. Doyle/Eater Boston

Myers + Chang

Open for over a decade, this South End restaurant has a menu inspired by a variety of Asian cuisines, including Chinese. (The food is “‘Asian-ish,’ if you need a label,” according to the restaurant.) If it’s currently on the menu, order the grilled mushroom longevity noodles, and don’t miss the classic Mama Chang’s pork and chive dumplings, served with a black pepper and scallion dipping sauce.

A brightly lit restaurant interior with a high-top table and some standard tables, all with white chairs. The sun-lit window is decorated by a large red and yellow dragon.
Myers + Chang.
Cal Bingham/Eater Boston

Noodles King

Did you think you’d find a restaurant located inside a hospital food court on this map? Probably not, right? Well, think again. Noodles King serves some of the very best hand-pulled noodles in the city. Order them with spicy chile oil and vegetables.

A white plastic bowl, sitting on a purple table, is filled with hand-pulled noodles, bok choy, chile flakes, and bean sprouts. A plastic Coke bottle appears to the side.
Hospital food courts don’t have to mean a trip to McDonald’s — sometimes they’ve got exceptional hand-pulled noodles.
Terrence B. Doyle/Eater Boston

Yunnan Kitchen

The team behind Brighton Yunnan rice noodle restaurant South of the Clouds expanded to the South End in 2022 with the debut of Yunnan Kitchen, a welcome addition to the neighborhood. The menu goes well beyond noodles here, with a far more expansive range of Yunnan, or Dian, fare including pea jelly salad (or fried pea jelly, either version is deeply satisfying), and bite-sized sticky rice meatballs garnished with goji berries.

A dark bowl filled with sticky rice-covered meatballs each topped with a red berry and steamed broccoli arranged around the outer rim.
The sticky rice meatballs at Yunnan Kitchen.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Related Maps

My Happy Hunan Kitchen

My Happy Hunan Kitchen is chef Wei Ding’s first U.S. restaurant, which he launched after running a successful chain of restaurants out of Changsha, the capital city of Hunan. The menu takes its spice levels seriously: Dishes like the sizzling cumin beef can be made “normal spicy” or “Hunan spicy,” depending on your palate. Ding recreated some of his favorite Hunan recipes here, including a golden beef soup with thinly sliced strips of beef and enoki mushrooms bathing in a pumpkin broth.

A quart container filled with a light yellow broth, shaved beef, white mushrooms, and green and red garnishes.
The golden beef soup, in takeout form.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Related Maps