Boston's Best Chinese Restaurants: 12 Picks From Dim Sum to Hunan

Boston’s best Chinese restaurants are no longer only in Chinatown. This guide, compiled Oct. 27, 2026, picks 12 places across Chinatown, Cambridge, Allston, the South End, Brookline, Malden and Quincy, chosen to cover China’s regional cooking styles: Cantonese seafood and dim sum, Sichuan, Hunan, Yunnan, Shanghainese soup dumplings, Taiwanese comfort food, Dongbei (Northeastern) cooking and hand-pulled noodles. Each pick is drawn from published reviews and awards by the Michelin Guide, Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston, Eater Boston, Boston.com and others, and each was checked against an official website or a current listing to confirm it is still open.

Eater Boston noted in its December 2025 update that Chinese restaurants emphasizing regional cuisines “have sprouted up in Quincy and Malden,” while Cambridge has drawn modern concepts. For a wider look at the suburbs, see our guide to 19 Asian restaurants in Quincy and Malden; for ingredients to cook at home, see our Asian grocery stores and food halls guide.

At a glance: Boston’s best Chinese restaurants

Restaurant	Neighborhood	Style	Known for
Sumiao Hunan Kitchen	Kendall Square, Cambridge	Hunan	Michelin Bib Gourmand
Szechuan Mountain House	Allston	Sichuan	2024 Best of Boston
Yunnan Kitchen	South End	Yunnan	2026 Best of Boston
Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe	Downtown Crossing	Xi’an hand-pulled noodles	Cumin lamb noodles
Peach Farm	Chinatown	Cantonese seafood	Ginger-scallion lobster
Hei La Moon	Chinatown	Cantonese dim sum	Banquet-hall dim sum
Nan Xiang Express	Chinatown	Shanghainese	Soup dumplings
Taiwan Cafe	Chinatown	Taiwanese	Rice platters, late hours
Noah’s Kitchen	Brookline Village	Sichuan	Mapo tofu, cured pork
Sun Kong	Malden	Cantonese dim sum	Budget dim sum
Go Chi	Malden	Dongbei	Northeastern stews, dumplings
Chili Square	Wollaston, Quincy	Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles	Beef noodle soup

Award winners: Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan

1. Sumiao Hunan Kitchen (Hunan)

Where: 270 Third St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Price: $$ per the Michelin Guide; Eater listed Grandma’s pork at $25 and a $17.50 lunch special in April 2026.
Order: Grandma’s pork, Chef Zhang’s stir-fried rice noodles, spicy crunchy cucumbers, farmer’s-style stir-fried yuba.
Why it made the list: Sumiao is the only restaurant the Michelin Guide classifies as Chinese among the Boston area’s six Bib Gourmand picks in its inaugural 2025 selection. Michelin notes owner Sumiao Chen trained as a doctor and scientist before opening the restaurant in 2017. Boston Magazine named it Best Chinese Restaurant in 2022 and 2025. Eater reported a line out the door at weekday lunch after the Michelin recognition and suggests arriving at the 11:30 a.m. opening.

2. Szechuan Mountain House (Sichuan)

Where: 89 Brighton Ave., Allston. Price: not listed in the cited reviews.
Order: Swing pork belly (sliced pork belly with chili-garlic sauce), mapo tofu, peppercorn beef, mala frog, salted-egg-yolk corn.
Why it made the list: The New York import opened in late 2023 and won Boston Magazine’s 2024 Best Chinese Restaurant award, which praised a menu that ranges from familiar dishes to blood curd, tripe and intestine in chili-oil broth. Eater called its opening “a big finale” in a year of New York arrivals.

3. Yunnan Kitchen (Yunnan)

Where: 1721B Washington St., South End. Price: small plates; prices not listed in the cited reviews.
Order: Stir-fried beef with longhorn peppers, stir-fried mint beef, sticky-rice pancakes, pea jelly salad, sticky rice meatballs.
Why it made the list: Boston Magazine’s 2026 Best Chinese Restaurant. It comes from the team behind Brighton noodle shop South of the Clouds and opened in 2022, according to Eater, and head chef Yisha Siu was a James Beard Award nominee in 2023. It is one of few local restaurants focused on Yunnan cooking from southwestern China.

Chinatown classics: Cantonese, Shanghainese and Taiwanese

4. Peach Farm (Cantonese seafood)

Where: 4 Tyler St., Chinatown. Price: live seafood at what Eater calls “a reasonable price”; market prices vary.
Order: Lobster with ginger and scallions, Beijing-style roast duck (no advance order needed, per Eater).
Why it made the list: A family-owned Cantonese seafood house that Eater includes in both its Chinese and Chinatown guides. The menu runs to hundreds of dishes; Eater recommends starting with the seafood.

5. Hei La Moon (Cantonese dim sum)

Where: 83 Essex St., Chinatown (the address on the restaurant’s website, which describes it as along Beach Street). Price: not listed in the cited sources.
Order: Har gow, chicken feet, cold poached chicken in chili sauce.
Why it made the list: A two-level banquet-hall dim sum house that Food & Wine described as a classic Cantonese dim sum and banquet house. Its website lists weekend opening at 9 a.m.

6. Nan Xiang Express (Shanghainese soup dumplings)

Where: 52 Beach St., Chinatown. Price: six soup dumplings were $10.95 at opening in 2023, per Boston.com.
Order: Crab-and-pork or spicy beef soup dumplings, served with black vinegar and ginger.
Why it made the list: A fast-casual offshoot of Michelin-recommended Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao in Queens, N.Y. It took over the former Gourmet Dumpling House space in 2023, and Boston.com noted that the 23-seat shop serves a different menu than its predecessor.

7. Taiwan Cafe (Taiwanese)

Where: 34 Oxford St., Chinatown. Price: rice platters; see the restaurant’s online menu.
Order: Stewed minced pork over rice, fried pork chop rice platter, Taiwan-style duck with cold-cut beef shank.
Why it made the list: Boston Magazine’s 2014 Best Chinese Restaurant pick. Its ordering site lists hours to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, making it one of Chinatown’s later options. Our late-night food guide has more.

8. Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Xi’an hand-pulled noodles)

Where: 86 Bedford St., Downtown Crossing; a second location is in Woburn. Price: $ on the restaurant’s website.
Order: Hand-pulled noodles in chili oil, hand-pulled noodles with cumin lamb, lamb skewers.
Why it made the list: Eater calls Gene’s “the OG player” in Boston’s hand-pulled noodle scene. Its website says the owner and chef grew up in Xi’an. Note the hours: Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., closed Sunday.

Beyond Boston: Brookline, Malden and Quincy

9. Noah’s Kitchen (Sichuan)

Where: 18 Harvard St., Brookline Village. Price: Sampan’s 2021 review listed bang bang chicken at $9.99 and beef noodle soup at $16.99.
Order: Mapo tofu, house-cured pork, braised pig trotter, spicy bullfrog casserole.
Why it made the list: Eater says it serves “some of the hardest-to-find Sichuan dishes in the area.” The restaurant’s website says chef Noah Jiang trained at a culinary school in Chengdu and worked at Michelin-recognized Alley 41 in Queens before opening in Brookline in October 2020.

10. Sun Kong (Cantonese dim sum and seafood)

Where: 275 Eastern Ave., Malden. Price: a Boston.com writer’s three dim sum plates came to just over $18 in March 2026.
Order: Pork and shrimp shumai, pan-fried turnip cakes, har gow, char siu bao, fish congee, baked durian pie.
Why it made the list: Dim sum (without carts) runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, according to Boston.com, and the restaurant becomes a Cantonese seafood spot at night, per Eater, which warns of weekend lines.

11. Go Chi (Dongbei)

Where: 290 Main St., Malden. Price: see the restaurant’s online menu.
Order: Pork-heavy stews, oversized dumplings, braised spare ribs, sweet-and-sour pork, candied fruit.
Why it made the list: Eater highlights Go Chi as a restaurant dedicated to Northeastern Chinese cuisine, a cold-weather cooking style that is less common in Boston than Cantonese or Sichuan food. (Eater’s listing shows 390 Main St.; the restaurant’s own website lists 290 Main St.)

12. Chili Square (Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles)

Where: 666 Hancock St., Wollaston, Quincy. Price: see the restaurant’s online menu.
Order: Cumin lamb biang biang noodles, Lanzhou beef brisket noodle soup, spicy sliced pig ear.
Why it made the list: Eater says it has “the chewiest and freshest Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles New England has to offer.” The noodles are made to order, so Eater recommends eating in.

Dropped from consideration

Gourmet Dumpling House at 52 Beach St., long a fixture of best-of lists for its soup dumplings, closed June 30, 2022, citing its lease, according to Eater Boston. Nan Xiang Express now occupies the space. Eater also removed South Garden in Quincy from its Chinese guide in December 2025.

FAQ: Chinese food in Boston

Does Boston have a Michelin-recognized Chinese restaurant? Yes. Sumiao Hunan Kitchen in Cambridge received a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide’s first Boston selection in November 2025. Jahunger in Cambridge, a Uyghur restaurant known for hand-pulled noodles, also earned a Bib Gourmand; Michelin classifies it as Asian.

Where is the best dim sum near Boston? Hei La Moon in Chinatown offers banquet-hall dim sum; Sun Kong in Malden serves it daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where can I get hand-pulled noodles? Gene’s in Downtown Crossing (Xi’an style) and Chili Square in Quincy (Lanzhou style).

Which picks are open late? Taiwan Cafe lists hours until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Gene’s closes at 6:30 p.m. and is closed Sundays.

Hours change; check each restaurant’s website before you go. For more, see our top 30 Boston restaurants and Lunar New Year 2027 events guide.

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Boston’s Best Chinese Restaurants: 12 Picks From Dim Sum to Hunan

At a glance: Boston’s best Chinese restaurants