Food & Drink Jan 16, 2014 at 3:20 pm

Recommendations for a Fancier Chinese Restaurant

Bethany Jean Clement
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Comments

1
There is a new Taiwanese restaurant (technically China) that opened in the University Village. I haven't tried it yet, but it's definitely upscale.

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House:
http://www.dintaifungusa.com/index.html
Tabula rasa on January 16, 2014 at 3:47 PM Report this
2
Thanks! While I appreciate your suggestions, and either like or will try them all, it seems like a pretty short list of higher-end Chinese places for a city that both loves it's fancy-pants restaurants and has a sizeable Chinese community. I hope someone puts two-and-two together. I'd go!

I think Red Lantern will be the first I try (I like Ba Bar, but it isn't chinese).

BTW, I smell damn good.
Cedar
ohthetrees on January 16, 2014 at 3:58 PM Report this
3
@1, that's also at Bellevue Square, and reviewed in the Stranger.

I love Tanaksan, although it's not traditional or Chinese food. I love Seven Stars on Jackson, Sichuan Chef in Bellevue and Jade Garden in Chinatown.
biffp on January 16, 2014 at 4:02 PM Report this
4
Chen's Village
cliche on January 16, 2014 at 4:32 PM Report this
5
@1 has a good suggestion, though be warned: That place is likely to have reaaalllly long waits (and the one time I went to the one in Bellevue, it wasn't spectacular enough to warrant it).

@3/4: None of those are especially nice/upscale inside, are they? That's what Cedar wants...
Bethany Jean Clement on January 16, 2014 at 4:39 PM Stranger Staff
6
@3 Sichuan Chef in Bellevue is great, and has been a Christmas eve tradition for the last few years when I visit home. It might not be modern or upscale, but I think the average person would consider it "nice."
I hope they maintain their awesomeness whenever/wherever they move to.
Dougsf on January 16, 2014 at 4:43 PM Report this
7
I love Chinese food, but my wife has a severe peanut allergy and every time we've gone to Chungee's or Regent and requested no peanuts on either of our dishes the server's unapologetically bring out food with peanuts. On top of this, they are generally confused why we can't just push them to the side.

Maybe it's a culture thing? None the less, it'd be nice to have a Chinese option.
dhammy on January 16, 2014 at 4:56 PM Report this
8
than
on January 16, 2014 at 5:00 PM Report this
9
China Village on 45th next door to the B&R just east of U Village is a decent place. Both the food and service are a bit upscale compared to many other places around town.
restlessnative on January 16, 2014 at 5:28 PM Report this
10
P.F.Changs! The sweet and sour chicken is like candy.
fletc3her on January 16, 2014 at 5:36 PM Report this
11
Joule and Revel, if Korea is sufficiently Asian.
robotslave on January 16, 2014 at 5:44 PM Report this
12
Good God Almighty. Have you not heard of O'Asian? This is exactly what you are looking for. Doesn't any Slogger actually have a job?
kk in seattle on January 16, 2014 at 6:06 PM Report this
13
new place in Belltown: Black Bamboo, "South Chinese and Malaysian" IIRC. Delicious, great lunch specials, perhaps not quite as upscale as Cedar desires.
JonnoN on January 16, 2014 at 6:23 PM Report this
14
I know Din Tai Fung has gotten off to a rocky start in the United States but that would qualify as fancier Chinese food.
Joel_are on January 16, 2014 at 6:33 PM Report this
15
Seconding Joule and Revel. Joule only if you're down with the fusion. Get the spicy rice cake. Revel if you want non-fusion and a slightly more casual atmosphere. Plus both have fire pits!

http://www.joulerestaurant.com/ http://www.revelseattle.com/

Bon Appetit called Joule (in conjunction with The Whale Wins next door) one of the hot 10 best restaurants in America for 2013.
http://www.bonappetit.com/restaurants-tr…
lilzilla on January 16, 2014 at 8:51 PM Report this
16
@12 Huh, O'Asian? Maybe it's the number of times I've gone there for lunch with coworkers; maybe it's the hugeness and medium-tackiness of the room; maybe it's how the name makes me think of some weird Irish-Oriental hybrid, but: eh. The honey walnut shrimp is wonderful but I haven't been particularly impressed with anything else. Is there something I'm missing?
lilzilla on January 16, 2014 at 8:59 PM Report this
17
@11/15: Joule and Revel are great suggestions, if Cedar wants to go in a Korean direction (TOTALLY DO IT, CEDAR!).

@12/16: I totally forgot about O'Asian, maybe because it's such a deeply weird (and mediocre, in my experience—I'm with you, @16) place... here's a thing:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/bar-e…

@13: I do not know Black Bamboo! Sounds interesting.

And for fancier Vietnamese, Tamarind Tree, the Belltown Green Leaf (sit in the bar, the tables are crowded together oddly), and Long Provincial are all really worth a try.
Bethany Jean Clement on January 16, 2014 at 9:29 PM Stranger Staff
18
O'Asian, are you shitting me? Why not recommend Wild Ginger? I stand by my suggestions for actually Chinese food. Revel is about as Chinese as Tanaksan, but it is great. Tamarind Tree isn't more than 3 blocks from Seven Stars and is in the back of a strip mall parking lot. It's great for Vietnamese though.
biffp on January 16, 2014 at 9:55 PM Report this
19
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll try many of them. Bethany, secretly I tend to like both Korean and Vietnamese better than Chinese food, but we are adopting a child from China and as silly as it sounds, I want to start immersing myself in all things Chinese, including food. I love cooking and do a lot of it at home, and I thought it would be a good idea to understand Chinese food, it's regions and styles, high-end and low, so that I could share that with my new son, understand it, and hopefully reproduce it at home. Both because the food might be more familiar to him, and to demonstrate to him that he isn't the only one expected to make cultural adjustments, and we will change how we eat to demonstrate that to him. So I expect to be eating a lot of Chinese from now on!

Cedar
ohthetrees on January 16, 2014 at 10:17 PM Report this
20
Uptown China in Lower Queen Anne fits the bill pretty well. It's not SUPER nice, but is beautiful and clean and quiet. Real cloth napkins, and the food is always excellent. The sesame chicken is crispy and tangy with ginger.
Powerfuldot on January 16, 2014 at 10:25 PM Report this
21
The Din Tai Fung is pretty good! But my friends spared me the wait by showing up early.
josh on January 16, 2014 at 11:01 PM Report this
22
@Cedar good for you. I know you said Seattle but the Chinese population is huge on the Eastside and that's where you'll find many more options. Bamboo Garden and Spiced are all super authentic. Facing East is Taiwanese regional but definitely upscale. Don't forget Vancouver isn't all that far away.
wockyjockey on January 16, 2014 at 11:11 PM Report this
23
In Seattle, I recommend Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant on Rainier Avenue South. Szechuan Chef, in Bellevue just off of 148th Avenue SE, has also been a consistently great place for Chinese food. Finally, while it's not a beautiful place, for some of freshest dim sum around, I always recommend King's in Bellevue, just off of NE 20th.
palamedes on January 16, 2014 at 11:14 PM Report this
24
Also, you'll find Asians in general focus more on taste than on atmosphere. Upscale Chinese/Asian in general caters to a more western sensibility and may not be the most authentic and perhaps not the most homey for the new child. Though it's not mutually exclusive, it's just rare to find both authentic and upscale in the same place in America. For evidence, just watch Bourdain's asian trips.
wockyjockey on January 16, 2014 at 11:24 PM Report this
25
@Cedar, we adopted a boy from China last year. I think it's great you want to sample all sorts of Chinese cuisine and it's awesome that you are working hard to make sure he will know you appreciate his culture. However, his actual tastes may be more narrow than what you develop during your explorations. Our son is from Guangzhou and tends to like non-spicy Cantonese food. We mostly go to dim sum restaurants (Ocean City is good; we like a hole-in-the-wall on Beacon Hill as well) and a few others (Kau Kau BBQ is one recent one). You may find depending on his age that he will be picky like an American-born child and your Chinese restaurant explorations may end up being minimal.

At home we end up making a lot of rice, congee (rice soup), jiao zhe and hom bao from Trader Joe's (no MSG like most of the ones we find in Asian groceries), and the occasional stir fry.
on January 17, 2014 at 7:32 AM Report this
26
Give me Jade Garden over any of those "upscale" places any day of the week. Chinese food doesn't need to be expensive.

That said, does anyone know of any strictly vegetarian Chinese restaurants in the city? My fiance is a vegetarian and has had bad experiences with most of the places I've taken her to (including my beloved JG).
T on January 17, 2014 at 10:44 AM Report this
27
@26, Bamboo Garden in Lower Queen Anne is strictly vegetarian Chinese.

@19, if you haven't been to Richmond, B.C., it really blows away any choice in Seattle - especially when it comes to dim sum. San Francisco is okay too, but Richmond is tops. The one place in Seattle that reminds me of the family restaurants at home is T&T Seafood in Edmonds. It's not fancy either, but they have some good, simple dishes.
biffp on January 17, 2014 at 5:03 PM Report this
28
Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon isn't posh upscale but it's a degree better than most Asian restaurants. And delish.
SchmuckyTheCat on January 17, 2014 at 5:09 PM Report this
29
No wonder no one here has a job. Cedar wants upscale Chinese in Seattle and she gets these helpful suggestions: try another country, try Vietnamese or Korean, and try downscale. Fuck o'dear.
kk in seattle on January 17, 2014 at 7:34 PM Report this

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