Friday, March 6, 2015

AFBA 2015 City Guide: Chinese Food in Austin


** This guide has been updated for 2016. The new version can be found here. **

I spent the better part of the first eighteen years of my life eating Chinese food pretty much every day. My mom is a formidable cook, so this background led to me being a bit...picky...about my Chinese food. And while Austin isn't exactly a Chinese food mecca, there are some wonderful spots in town to find excellent Chinese cuisine.

CANTONESE

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Salt & Pepper Squid at Din Ho = "the usual"
I'll admit that the relatively convenient location of Din Ho Chinese BBQ (8557 Research Blvd., Austin, TX 78758) likely contributes heavily to the fact that I most often head there when I'm craving Cantonese food. I've been going there regularly for nearly twenty years, and the food has remained fairly consistent (though the service, unfortunately, has not). Our standard order here always includes salt & pepper squid (called "fresh and dried squid in special salt" on their menu) and sauteed snow pea leaves; other favorites are their won ton soup, Peking duck (served with steamed buns rather than the traditional pancakes), and Singapore style rice noodles.

Great Cantonese food can also be found at First Chinese BBQ (10901 N. Lamar, Austin, TX 78753) and Ho Ho Chinese BBQ (13000 N. IH-35, Austin, TX 78753). If you find yourself out in Lakeway, I've also had some truly outstanding meals at Pao's Mandarin House (2300 Lohman's Spur, Austin TX 78734). Hot tip: Pao's has a secret menu with some of the more traditional dishes on it that I've found you have to ask for unless your party is predominantly Asian.


SZECHUANESE

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Sichuan Spicy Sizzling Lamb at Sichuan River
When you start talking Szechuanese food, most people are familiar with the popular Asia Cafe (8650 Spicewood Springs, Austin TX 78759), known for their spicy fish. Ditto A+A Sichuan (13376 Research Blvd., Austin TX 78750), a little ways further west of Asia Cafe. But my favorite Szechuanese food actually comes from two restaurants that very few people seem to have heard of - Sichuan River (4534 Westgate Blvd, Austin TX 78745) down south and Szechuan House (11005 Burnet Rd, Austin TX 78758) up north (ignore the terrible Americanized-looking food on their website - this is not representative!). Both offer several dishes in common that are outstanding: a version of sizzling lamb; dry fried green beans; and ma po tofu. Szechuan House also has a mushroom dish called "Stir Fried Three Kind (sic) of Mushroom" that I would order pretty much every day if I were a vegetarian.


NOODLES

I'm not really sure this is a legitimate category for a Chinese food post, but there were three places whose noodles deserved mention so it seemed like they should all live together. 

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Rice Bowl CafĂ© (11220 N. Lamar, Austin TX 78753) serves up a GIGANTIC bowl of handmade noodles with beef and veggies for just $9; they also have my favorite green onion pancakes in town.


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Chen's Noodle House (8650 Spicewood Springs Rd., Austin TX 78759) and Chen Z (6705 Hwy 290, Austin TX 78735) both offer a variety of wonderful handmade noodle dishes in delightfully divey surroundings.


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Xian Noodles at Xian Sushi & Noodle

Xian Sushi & Noodle (Two locations: Mueller - 1801 E. 51st St., Bldg C 370, Austin TX 78723 and Northwest - 13201 RR 620 N. Ste U208, Austin TX 78717) is the only place in town where you can watch a chef hand pull your noodles before serving them. You can choose the thickness of your noodles; I think the texture of the thicker ones like the pappardelle adds a bit of oomph that makes the noodles taste more homemade.

DIM SUM

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Dan Ta (custard tarts) from Wu Chow
Austin is, unfortunately, sorely lacking in good dim sum spots; at the moment, Shanghai (6718 Middle Fiskville Rd., Austin TX 78752) is my favorite from a very small pool. But soon-to-open Wu Chow (500 W. 5th St., Austin TX 78701) from C.K. Chin of Swift's Attic completely won me over with the dim sum pop-up they hosted at Swift's a few weeks ago. Ridiculously good dim sum offerings including hands-down the best xiao long bao in town and the flakiest dan ta (custard tarts) I have ever tasted. They are using high quality ingredients and making everything from scratch (including those incredible tart crusts!) so I'm curious what the price point will be like, but this is definitely one of my most highly-anticipated restaurant openings of 2015. They'll be offering a comprehensive menu of Chinese dishes, not just dim sum.

What's your favorite spot in town for Chinese food?


10 comments:

  1. Great list! Can't wait for Wu Chow to open!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm almost ashamed to say it-- I've never been to Din Ho! I've got to remedy that!
    Great resource, Michelle. Great going!

    Maggie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mmmm I could go for some Xiao Long Bao from Szechuan house on Burnet. I would have put Taiwanese food on there - Tapioca House, Snow Monster, Cocos, and 1/3rd of the menu at Rice Bowl.

    ReplyDelete
  4. When people ask us where we go for the best Asian food here, we always say Nordic Circle. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this post.

    Have you tried the reopened Fortune? Din Ho has been a go to spot for me for 13 years!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't know Fortune reopened, Linda! Have you been? Maybe we could go for our next pre-blog dinner...

      Delete
  6. Totally agree that Sichuan River and Sichuan House are the best places to get spicy chinese in Austin. Now I'm hungry for some map tofu!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The hand cut noodle house in the same shopping center as Asia Cafe? No Chinatown (despite how one may feel)? Hunan Lion down in Brodie Oaks (which has been there at least 25 years..?). China Cafe on Spicewood Springs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kit, the hand cut noodle house in the same shopping center as Asia Cafe (Chen's) is included above. Chinatown was not my favorite previously, but after I wrote this post, I had some great dim sum there (which I blogged about more recently). Have not been to Hunan Lion or China Cafe. Are they worth checking out?

      Delete
  8. Pao's secret Chinese menu is the best! It's all good, as close to traditional Chinese cooking as you can get in this area. Close to 5 stars!

    ReplyDelete

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