Where to Eat in Flushing’s Chinatown (2024)

Caroline Shin

From black tea-braised pork belly to sprawling new hot pot spots, here’s where to eat in dynamic Queens Chinatown

by Caroline Shin Updated May 10, 2024, 11:44am EDT

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| Caroline Shin

This 2019 Michelin Bib Gourmand winner is still bringing its Hunanese kitchen savvy. Its braised fish head is spectacular: a mound of succulent white meat blanketed by pickled red chile peppers and scallions and served with buoyant fish balls to take away some of the heat. The braised Mao-style pork belly sports a red caramelized glaze and comes with tender chestnuts. The beef noodle soup is comforting with springy rice noodles and a warming broth. The free starters of salted, roasted peanuts and shredded kelp make hungry diners feel pampered from the start.

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Caroline Shin

Lucky Cafeteria carries solid cha chaan teng (Hong Kong-style cafe) classics at affordable prices in a charming setting. It features breakfast sets such as ham noodle soup with an egg sandwich and a robust milk tea, as well as items like French toast, pineapple bun with a slab of butter, and a robust milk tea. Other Cantonese favorites display finesse, too: rice rolls (seven kinds), clay pots, and dim sum. The black pepper lamb chops are tender, and the turnip cakes are golden crispy. Catch the $3 daily specials like crystal shrimp dumplings on Monday.

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Caroline Shin

It takes less than a minute for owner Jin Yuan to whip up a crackly eggy crepe inside her tiny family-run take-out window. She fills and folds each one with a number of fixings like freshly made baocui (cracker), youtiao (cruller), scallions, and thin slices of beef. Watching her make two at once with such precision is a feat to applaud — particularly when you realize this skill is what has sustained three generations of her family (from mother-in-law to her two kids). At $5 a pop, the jianbing makes for a lovely, multi-textured snack or breakfast that customers line up for throughout the day.

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Caroline Shin

Dong Yue is the destination for Cantonese-style seafood served and shared on a large lazy Susan. Hits include lobster with the signature sweet and savory glaze, steamed flounder, walnut shrimp, salt and pepper squid, and scallops resting on tofu slices in black bean sauce. With a spacious dining room and the karaoke rooms in the back, it’s a great spot for both casual dinners and rowdy affairs. For the latter, splurge on the king crab cooked three ways: steamed in garlic, fried rice, egg custard. Dong Yue is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Respect the all-day hustle.

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Caroline Shin

Regional food from the Shaxian district of the Fujian Province is a rare find in NYC, and the growing Shaxian Snacks chainlet is the place to get it. This simply designed spot in the once-vibrant corridor of Union Street welcomes lots of regulars who come for well-executed dishes at affordable prices. The miniature Shaxian wontons are a must-get. With long slippery drapes of wrapper, they look like tiny ghosts swimming in a light and savory peanut broth. The beef soup features thin slices of beef, al dente carrots and a clean, light broth of white and ginger. The soy bean paste noodles are heaping with minced pork and cucumbers.

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Caroline Shin

Fans start lining up well before the wooden doors swing open at noon, eventually to walk through corridors that lead them to a bi-level dining area that evokes an old Chinese village, complete with a water wheel, koi, and a faux fire at the foot of each table. One private section is elevated on stilts. Chongqing Lao Zao stands out from the high concentration of nearby hot pot spots — Hai Di Lao, Liuyishou, 99 Favor Taste. It offers varying grids: nine compartments to keep track of each ingredient, or three for just as many broths. On nearly every table, a hunk of red beef tallow slowly melts into the restaurant’s signature spicy broth that’s bubbling and fiery red — and can be ordered mildly spicy for the low of tolerance.

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Caroline Shin/Eater NY

The calling card at this compact, no-frills noodle spot is its juicy, golf ball-sized wonton stuffed with buoyant shrimp inside a thin, slippery wrapper. You can order frozen bags to go, or better yet, add them as a topping to your noodle soup for dine-in. Maxi’s Noodle runs a streamlined operation where you choose up to three toppings to go with your solo broth, noodle soup or dry lo mein. The oblong dace fish balls are also a must-order topping, exuding a smoked meat — and not fishy — flavor. Over the years, the three-table spot has filled with so many families slurping together that owner Maxi Lau opened up a second counter spot about one-and-half miles south in Flushing.

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Caroline Shin/Eater NY

Flushing has endless options for hot pot, and so for those who can’t handle the mouth-numbing fire of the predominant Sichuan hot pot style, Coco Hot Pot presents an appealing counterpoint. To create a light, sweet and savory broth, whole coconuts are poured into the pot and then chopped chicken pieces simmer in the coconut juice. To this, add any ingredients like filet mignon slices and shrimp paste as well as typical veggie fixings like watercress and assorted mushrooms. Hit up the sauce bar for dipping. Order any of the four clay pot options — beef and poached egg or pork ribs in black bean sauce — on the side.

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Caroline Shin

Joe’s Steam Rice Roll mainstreamed the sticky, chewy concentric Cantonese treat in Flushing, and now locals are lining up in front of the tiny takeout window of Fu Yuan. Favorites are the shrimp and watercress rolls as well as the thick rice logs (like those in Korean tteokbokki) with curry fish balls or peanut butter sauce.

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Szechuan Mountain House is a beautiful, high-end ode to chiles, from dried red peppers to Sichuan peppercorns. The signature swing pork belly, paper-thin slices of pork belly and cucumber, hang down in a line over a dipping sauce of chile garlic oil. The Jiangbei Style Boiled Fish is a swirl of tender, white fish fillets and crushed red chiles whose heat builds with every bite. Another bestseller is the frog braised in pickled chile peppers for a spicy, sour finish. Seek refuge from the heat in dishes like the shrimp fried rice served in a hollowed-out pineapple and sautéed water spinach — all served in a gorgeous setting complete with a koi pond.

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Jean Schwarzwalder

If craving top-notch Cantonese dim sum, such as is readily available in Sunset Park and Manhattan Chinatown, Asian Jewels is the place to go in Flushing. The dumplings go around and around on carts, often delivered only minutes after they’re made and steamed. The huge dining room is elegant and relentlessly red, and dim sum is served well into the afternoon. Pillowy vegetarian rice noodle rolls and minced beef balls scented with orange peel are particularly recommended, as are steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce and honeycomb tripe with black pepper sauce. Humongous servings of soup such as fish maw with diced seafood will satisfy an entire table.

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This enormous fast-casual chain in China landed stateside in the summer with a sole focus: Sichuan fish and fermented cabbage stew. The five broths hit up all the distinctive traits of Sichuan: spicy, tingly, and sour with sprigs of Sichuan peppercorns still on the vine. Take your pick of basa or snakehead (a thinner, flaky white-fleshed fish) fish fillets and toppings like enoki mushrooms. With rice on the side, portions are hefty.

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Caroline Shin/Eater NY

A tiny, cash-only operation out of a takeout window, White Bear gives pre-gentrification 1990s vibes and some of the city’s absolute best dumplings. Order the No. 6, juicy pork and veggie wontons steeped in chile oil crisp. A handwritten Sharpie message on a taped menu also notes that the No. 12, noodles in hot sauce, is a bestseller. It’s one of these neighborhood institutions with