Over the past few years, Portland metro has attracted some international hot pot legends: Beaverton’s Happy Lamb consistently sees major lines, and Tasty Pots have popped up around the western suburbs. And yes, Seventeen Hot Pot in Bethany certainly is flashy, with its rolls of wagyu arranged on golden calf sculptures. But the humble, long-standing Beijing Hot Pot is a local standby, with die-hard regulars who appreciate its relatively inexpensive price point, handmade noodles and meatballs, and quality of meats. Begin with the chewy housemade rice cakes drizzled with brown sugar syrup while you wait for your platters of vegetables, noodles, and proteins, as well as one of two (or both) delicate chicken broths. An order of springy, juicy shrimp balls is nonnegotiable, and don’t skimp on the dipping sauces.

One of the hottest brunch spots in Northwest Portland is Bing Mi, where diners line up for jianbing: handheld Chinese crepes stuffed with egg, black bean chile sauce, and crispy wonton crackers. One bite in, it’s easy to see what the hubbub is about. The tender crepe and crackly wonton are a textural delight, and the black bean chile oil is an umami bomb, especially when combined with proteins like duck, bacon, or Chinese sausage. The brick-and-mortar location expands the menu with handmade dumplings and beef noodle soup, while the food cart, now stationed at Pioneer Courthouse Square, sticks with the traditional crepes.

If the vintage neon sign of this 75-year-old restaurant isn’t enough to draw you in, then the food certainly is. Though the restaurant served Chinese American food originally, chef and co-owner Wendy Li took over the business in 2017 and overhauled the menu, focusing on the cuisine of the Dongbei region where she grew up. Dumplings are the big draw, each wrapper rolled out by hand for optimal silkiness and stuffed with fillings ranging from pork with Chinese sauerkraut to leeks with scrambled egg, simply boiled and served with garlicky soy dipping sauce. Beyond that, don’t miss the summer essential la pi, a refreshing cold noodle salad with tangy, spicy dressing and julienned veggies, or the winter must-have casseroles combining the likes of pork belly, sweet potato noodles, and cabbage in hearty bone broth.

Usually, Chinese restaurants that offer multiple types of regional cuisine can nail only one of them, leaving the others as an afterthought. That’s not the case at Duck House, the Portland State University–area restaurant with sports bar vibes and tables full of college kids. The restaurant pulls off everything from Shanghainese xiao long bao to Chinese American honey walnut prawns to fish fillet in spicy Sichuan chile broth with aplomb, particularly nailing dishes reliant on chiles and mala. All that plus cocktails make this an ideal spot for big dinners with friends and family, or for a much-needed dose of comfort food takeout.

This relative newcomer to the dim sum scene, which opened in late 2020, excels at both steamer basket standbys and newfangled dishes. Plump ha gow and siu mai roll through the dining room frequently, bulging with juicy shrimp and pork, respectively. But give some of the more creative dishes a try, too, especially the red rice noodle rolls, a springy dumpling of minced shrimp wrapped in both a delicately fried, lacy wrapper and a red, silky rice noodle. The jiggly coconut pudding rabbits and mango pudding ducklings make for a cheerful finish. Dinners involve whole fried crabs fragrant with ginger and scallions and intimidatingly large piles of soy sauce noodles.

Slabs of roast pork and whole ducks hang in the case of this strip mall Cantonese barbecue spot, where couples share platters of char siu and young parents cut up shrimp wontons into bite-size pieces. Fortune BBQ is a choose your own adventure of meats and vehicles for said meats: various cuts of pork and poultry appear over rice, in noodle soups, and on their own, paired with plum sauce and seasoned soy. Roast duck is the star here, with beautifully rendered skin the color of hazelnut shells and impossibly juicy meat. It’s best on its own, though you could also a few slabs to a bowl of soup, among a handful of bobbing wontons.

First opened in Independence, Oregon, the family-owned Cantonese restaurant Happy Dragon moved to Portland in 2018, and our city’s Chinese food scene is all the better for it. Red and gold fill the spacious dining room and lazy Susans adorn the massive round tables, all evoking a big-city Chinatown teahouse. The menu matches, filled with page after laminated page of Cantonese and Chinese-American dishes—noodle soups, eggplant in garlic sauce, beef chow fun, sweet-and-sour pork, and live seafood cooked to order. With generous portions and a huge array of options, it’s all worth a visit, but the real draw is the Peking duck, offered nightly. The two-course meal opens with a swan-shaped platter of duck breast, each tender slice of meat still attached to its shatteringly crisp skin. A steamer rack of fluffy bao pockets and bowls of slivered scallions and salty-sweet hoisin sauce let diners build their own mouthfuls. The second course arrives soon after, a family-sized platter of stir-fried duck meat with crunchy veggies—it comes with crisp iceberg lettuce “bowls” ready to be filled. While the menu claims it serves two or three, it could easily feed more, especially with an order of fried rice, noodles, or vegetable sides.

HK Café is a veritable institution for dim sum, the biggest of the major teahouses left since Wong’s King and Ocean City shuttered. Grab a table near the kitchen for the best views of what’s hot and fresh out of the kitchen. You can count on solid versions of all the dim sum workhorses here, including bao and ha gow, but highlights include the siu mai, the ham sui gok (deep-fried meat dumpling), and pineapple buns.  

Jade Rabbit bucks dim sum traditions by forgoing rolling carts—not to mention all animal products. Following in the footsteps of his aunt, who made mock meats for decades in the Bay Area, owner Cyrus Ichiza creates entirely vegan renditions of standards like fluffy steamed bao, juicy siu mai, and even lo mai gai, fragrant parcels of glutinous rice and “chicken” wrapped in lotus leaves. The only animals on the menu are the bunny-shaped dumplings, which land somewhere between Filipino puto pao and the trendy animal-shaped custard bao found at dim sum shops around the world. Here, Ichiza fills them with vegan pork swimming in black garlic–bolstered sweetened soy sauce. Jade Rabbit also offers a robust tea service, pouring exceptional oolong and pu’erh teas.  

Before there was Master Kong, before there was Fortune BBQ Noodle, there was the red-roofed bungalow of Kenny’s Noodle House. Kenny’s is the place for comforting Chinese noodle soups and congees, with dozens of combinations and varieties. The congee is silky and salty, with all manner of toppings: pork liver, pork stomach, beef tripe, dry oyster, rock cod, pumpkin, black chicken, the list goes on. Similarly, the noodle soups—served in a mild, salty broth with springy noodles—come in a multitude of choices, like crispy fish cakes, succulent beef brisket, briny shrimp balls, and slick pork wontons. Most soup toppings are also offered as sides, so you can build your own heaping bowl if desired.

In a wood-paneled food cart behind the Hawthorne branch of Steeplejack Brewing, Jeff Chow stays connected to his mother through his cooking. The small menu is centered around the garlic noodles—a tangle of bouncy noodles slick with garlic sauce and bok choy—and the famed chicken lollipops he learned to make working with his mom. These are no mere chicken wing: For years, Chow learned how to painstakingly break down wings, clipping their tips, popping out the bone, and rubbing them with a blend of salt, garlic powder and, according to him, “love, passion, and a few secret items.” The result is a plump, juicy morsel with beautifully golden, crispy skin and a bone handle for easy eating. Other noodle toppings include fried tofu and pork belly, and an array of dumplings, soups, and sides round out the menu.

If you’re not already acquainted with the ultimate Chinese comfort that is congee, Master Kong is an ideal starting spot to dive in. Creamy and light, the congee makes an ideal canvas for proteins like preserved egg and pork, black chicken, or clam. You can take it to the next level with an order of Master Kong’s exceptional fried dough bar, super-crisp and served piping hot with a slightly salty, eggy, and airy interior, able to withstand a dunk into the rice porridge. Other standouts include hand-folded dumplings—plump and juicy with pork, chicken, or vegetables—as well as Chinese potstickers and a jianbing that competes with Bing Mi for Chinese crepe dominance.

This Sichuan restaurant opened downtown in 2022 without much fanfare, but it quickly developed a cult following as one of the central city’s strongest Chinese restaurants. Heat is the way to go here, so start with the super-garlicky mashed eggplant with century egg and peppers, bracingly spicy yet impossible to stop eating. From there, opt for one of the chile broth–based dishes, whether it’s the delicately chopped, bone-in bullfrog with peppers or tender slices of fatty, melt-in-your-mouth beef in golden chile broth. 

The ultimate office lunchtime treat? A container of steaming hand-pulled noodles from this Midtown Beer Garden food cart, which draws steady crowds every day. The move here is, unsurprisingly, any of the hand-pulled noodle dishes. While the menu, written on a chalkboard A-frame, changes often, customers can usually find the wide, flat biang biang noodles, served warm with a mild chile oil; the porky, salty dan dan noodles with crunchy bits of peanuts; the chewy stir-fried chao mian (more commonly known as chow mein in the US), with proteins options like chicken and shrimp or tofu; chilled noodle salads; and the popular la mian noodles in a homey five-spice beef broth, sure to stave off any colds or chills.

One of the newer additions to Portland’s ever-expanding Chinese scene is Tasty Corner in the Portland State University neighborhood, which balances its menu of Chinese American lunch combos with an impressive showing of Sichuan mainstays. Rich, eggy crab roe complement deep-fried shrimp, while lamb spicy dry pot gets a little freshness from cauliflower and celery. Spicy knife-cut noodles are another house specialty here that’s hard to find elsewhere, though while the noodles are delightfully chewy, the seasoning could be kicked up a notch. That’s not the case with the mapo tofu, a saucy, well-balanced pile of bean curd and pork reliant on a pleasingly hot chile oil.