541 Best Restaurants in China

Come to Bakehouse for its freshly baked egg tarts with buttery, crispy shells and creamy custard filling. Expect to stand in line whenever you go, and don't be surprised if it's sold out early in the afternoon.

The classy decor and warm ambience are good reasons to dine at 1881, but the delicious food is what makes this one of the most popular restaurants in Shenzhen. Located inside the Grand Hyatt Shenzhen, 1881 specializes in classic Sichuan and Northern Chinese cuisines, and it's particularly well known for its wood-fired Peking duck. Also on the menu are a slew of Chinese wines and teas.

The restaurant shuts down for a few hours between lunch and dinner, so be sure to call ahead.

Inside a renovated railroad station, this restaurant has outdoor seating and a historic atmosphere that are just as appealing as the menu full of tasty Yunnan dishes. The structure was built in the early 20th century by French colonists, and was once the terminus of the 535-mile railroad linking Hanoi to Kunming. Try some fried rubing (a local goat cheese), a spicy salad of chrysanthemum greens, or grilled tilapia. Don't pass up anything made with Yunnan's prized cured ham. The English portion of the menu is somewhat confusing, though pictures of most of the options help pick up the slack.

Full-flavored petiscos—Portugal’s answer to tapas—take center stage at this stylish bar-restaurant in São Lázaro, alongside Portuguese craft beer, wine, and cocktails. Sip a bottle of vinho verde or a port-and-lychee cocktail while splitting plates of pica-pau (beef cubes with pickles), tender fried octopus, baby snails, and bacalhau com broa (baked cod with a cornbread crumble and black olives). The decor is a treasure trove of antiques, from hanging fish traps and copper stills to old pedal bikes and plush, red executive seats salvaged from decommissioned TAP planes—all sourced from Lisbon’s vintage markets. This beautiful tavern wouldn’t feel out of place in Bairro Alto.

Tucked into a charming cobblestone courtyard in Macau’s historic St. Lazarus district, Albergue 1601 serves up classic Portuguese flavors in a setting steeped in Luso culture. Chaves-born chef Pedro Almeida’s specialties—seafood rice stew, braised Ibérico pork cheek, piri piri chicken, grilled octopus bathed in garlic and olive oil—pair beautifully with a deep Portuguese wine list. When the weather’s right, dine alfresco beneath century-old camphor trees.

Worth a visit for the decor alone, Beiyuan is a throwback to 1928, the year the restaurant opened. The two-story dining room wraps around a traditional Chinese courtyard and includes a well-manicured garden and a pond with goldfish. The restaurant's interior is jazzed up with Chinese screens, lanterns and chandeliers. The menu—specializing in Cantonese cuisine and dim sum—is available in Engish, though it can be a struggle to get your hands on a copy.

Take the lines outside of Binsheng as an indication that the food here is worth the wait. A local Cantonese favorite, Bingsheng is most famous for its char siu, or barbecued pork. Wading through the huge picture menu (which includes English) can be a task, so look for the specialties: the chef's black barbecue pork is a signature, as well as the homemade, extra silky tofu, and enormous, piping hot pineapple buns. People come here for lively, family-style surrounds and excellent local fare, not for the service.

Avoid the rush by getting in line by 6 pm or after 8:30 pm.

Known as the \"Demon Chef,\" Alvin Leung ripped up the rule book to create Bo Innovation, which wowed diners in Wan Chai for half a decade before moving to Central in 2022. Dishes tend to be clever reworkings of Cantonese classics using molecular techniques, and the nightly set menus are themed to help create a unique and thought-provoking dining experience unlike any other.

Celebrated chef Gray Kunz’s restaurant offers expertly prepared modern European fare in a casual and relaxed 49th-floor locale with stunning urban vistas. A fan of fresh, seasonal ingredients, Kunz incorporates local produce into the ever-evolving menu whenever possible, often adding Asian flavors to excellent effect.

Overseen by the two Portuguese brothers/chefs behind Albergue 1601, this spot celebrates Macanese cuisine in a unique setting: one of the charming, century-old Taipa Houses. The menu revives heirloom recipes rarely shared outside family kitchens. Think turmeric-infused porco bafassá, port wine-kissed vaca chau chau parida (stir-fried beef with ginger and wine), and fragrant shrimp curry with okra. Surrounded by antiques and Macanese decor, you can savor dishes passed down through generations in a setting as storied as its cuisine.

Consistently one of the hottest tables in Hong Kong, The Chairman gets booked up months in advance by foodies yearning to taste chef-owner Danny Yip's set menus of levelled-up Cantonese classics. Using only the freshest possible fare—from locally reared organic chicken to wild-caught seafood—this unique eatery focuses on the intrinsic flavors of each ingredient, putting quality and simplicity to the fore. Reservations are online only via the restaurant's own website.

Cantonese chef Tam Kwok Fung creates transcendent hyperseasonal cuisine based on the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese calendar. His signature tasting menu changes every two weeks, in line with subtle seasonal shifts. No matter the solar term, the menu will always feature a soup and a seasonal fish dish, both of which Tam—one of the most respected figures in Cantonese cooking—layers with intricate flavors. You can also order à la carte—the dim sum is highly recommended—or opt for a fixed tasting menu, which features favorites like seasonal fish with chicken jus in fig leaf, deep-fried lobster dumplings, and noodles tossed with abalone, barbecued pork belly, and fish roe.

The first American steak house in Macau serves premium-quality steaks and seafood in a space that evokes 1960s Las Vegas. Chefs flame-grill your favorite cuts from an open kitchen as you dine under chandeliers and celebrity photos. The steaks are great, but they don’t come cheap. A 40-ounce grain-fed tomahawk from Australia tops the list at MOP$1,688. Prep your palate with fresh Gillardeau oysters, roasted bone marrow, or a seafood tower featuring Boston lobster, king crab, marinated Galician octopus, and tiger prawns. For dessert, try the classic New York cheesecake with blueberry ravioli.

You won't go wrong with the namesake dish at this world-famous eatery. Dadong's version features crisp, caramel-hued skin (over meat that's less oily than tradition dictates) and is served with crisp sesame pockets in addition to the usual steamed pancakes.

Lined with street-food-style stalls, this wildly popular, well-established dining hall—the original and best of five locations around town—dishes up Yangtze wetlands specialities, including appetizers and soups that emphasize local vegetables rather than the usual starchy offerings; Nanjing's famous salted duck, served sliced on the bone; and steamers full of duck dumplings. Order from the picture menu (with tiny English translations) or get up and browse, pointing to what you want and giving your table number to a costumed attendant.

This beautiful courtyard restaurant serves refined Yunnan food. What's more, the menu is fixed, so this is an excellent choice for those who don't want to misfire on the ordering.

This Taiwanese restaurant specializes in beautifully crafted xiaolong bao—steamed dumplings that are filled with piping hot, aromatic soup. Crab, chicken, and duck are lovely alternatives to the standard pork dumplings, or go wild with the black-truffle option.

This place is good—really, really good. Tucked away in a nondescript building in a hidden alley off Lan Kwai Fong, this reservations-only private kitchen plates up inventive, French-inspired Shanghainese dishes that are prepped in a polished open kitchen.

There's no better place to sample the city's famous tangyuan (multicolor sugar dumplings served in a bowl of syrup and eaten like soup) than Gang Ya Gou. To get here, look for the hard-to-miss logo depicting a dog and a duck fighting over a pot of rice—or simply follow the crowds.

Thanks to its bright-red sign and big tower of steamers out front, this little hole-in-the-wall is easy to spot. Although the family who runs it doesn’t speak English, they will happily play charades in an effort to take your order for dishes such as steamed Hangzhou-style xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).

The Chinese chef at the rooftop restaurant in the waterfront Lujiang Harbourview Hotel prepares particularly good dim sum specialties like sweet pork buns and shrimp dumplings. The à la carte menu includes English descriptions and some pictures.

Open since 1995, this Sai Kung store sells homemade traditional Chinese desserts, such as black-sesame sweet soup and the refreshing mango-pomelo sweet soup. It also does newfangled items, including durian pancakes and glutinous rice dumplings dusted with desiccated coconut and filled with fresh mango. Locations exist throughout Hong Kong and Canada.

It’s easy to see why Hutong is a hot spot: it has some of the most imaginative northern Chinese cuisine in town. What's more, the beautifully decorated dining room sits atop H Zentre, overlooking the entire festival of lights that is the Hong Kong island skyline.

Frequented by locals and outfitted with wooden paneling and chandeliers, Intizar is the most formal of Kashgar's Uyghur restaurants. It offers a range of Uyghur cuisine, and the menu is translated into English, including helpful descriptions of each dish.

The miracle-worker chef transforms tofu, wheat gluten, mushrooms, and other vegetarian ingredients into delectable "fake meat" dishes at this upscale courtyard restaurant. The views of the Lama Temple across the street seem equally miraculous.

Founded by local culinary legend Florita Maria Natália de Jesus Morais Alves, La Famiglia is one of the city’s best places to try Macanese food. Homestyle dishes like minchi (wok-fried pork and potato hash topped with a fried egg), capela (Macanese-style meatloaf), and stuffed shrimp sautéed with butter and garlic represent the fusion of flavors that define the cuisine. Order a lot to share, and when the weather is pleasant, dine with views of Taipa village on the third floor.

On the eastern edge of Moon Lake, this Middle Eastern restaurant has consistently excellent food. One bite of the olive-oil-and-pine-nut-drizzled hummus, and you'll be hooked.

Duck into this cute counter-top restaurant for delicious baos—fluffy steamed buns sandwiched with all types of delicious ingredients, from teriyaki fried chicken to slow-braised pork belly. The rest of the menu is more globally inspired and includes sharing plates such as drunken clams, beef brisket dumplings, and truffle fries.

Often regarded as one of the best Shanghainese restaurants in town, Liu Yuan’s cooking style stays loyal to tradition with a no-fuss mentality that has worked in their favor for years. Easy favorites include sweet strips of crunchy eel, pan-fried meat buns, and steamed xiao long bao dumplings plumped up with minced pork and broth.