As we enter into the yellow tier, and after a 14 month hiatus, now seemed like a good idea to update the original post.
Below is a summary of forty something new additions to the Regional Chinese roundup since March 2020. Thank you to all the Hungry Onion users who reported on these in earlier posts, and my apologies for missing some places that had actually been open for years-- I’m increasingly out of touch, so additions, corrections, and comments are very welcome.
I’ve noticed that the bulk of new brick and mortars are sister-restaurants or parts of local, and in some cases national or international, chains. That’s nothing new, and testament to the quality and success of many businesses, but it jumps out in this climate where so few solo-businesses are having the opportunity to open. New virtual kitchens and pop-ups have opened, particularly in the Taiwanese category. As if we’re not lucky enough to have new tastes from overseas recreated here, there’s also been lots of chef creativity, from refined to crowd-pleasing. And, of course, there’s been no stop to bao-mania (gua, sheng-jian) and dumpling-mania, even in SF neighborhoods like Hayes Valley and Bernal Heights.
Northwest
Shaanxi 陕西 / Xi’an 西安
- Z One Kitchen (San Bruno)
Gansu 甘肅 / 甘肃 and capital Lanzhou 蘭州 / 兰州
- Lanzhou Hand Pulled Noodles (Cupertino)
- Lao Wai Noodles pop-up
Uighur ئۇيغۇر تائاملىرى 维吾尔族 / Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 新疆维吾尔自治区
- Kusan Uyghur (San Francisco) SF virtual-kitchen adds San Jose location. Sheila Tran interviewed owner
Wide-pulled noodle
- Noodleosophy (Cupertino) adds to San Mateo location
Northern 北方
Northeast / Dongbei / 东北 / 東北 Full menu restaurants
- Pan Fried Dumplings (Newark) SJB, “snowflake dumplings” (whispy edge potstickers), and a variety of northeastern dishes. Has a sister restaurant in San Jose, and is part of the same group that owns Yummy Yummy Bao.
Northeast Shao Kao (skewer) restaurants featuring Shenyang items
- H & E Bbq (Milpitas)
Jiaozi or bing
- Dumpling Home (San Francisco)
- United Dumplings (San Francisco) Owner Sandy Zhang also owns SF’s Beijing Restaurant
- Epic Dumpling (Sunnyvale) Sister to Dumpling Garden
- Vision Dumpling (South San Francisco) small dumpling menu
- Dough Zone Dumpling House (San Mateo) National chain
- Pan Fried Dumplings (Newark) SJB, “snowflake dumplings” (whispy edge potstickers), and a variety of northeastern dishes. They appear to be owned by the same group that owns Yummy Yummy Bao (hence the SJB et al.).
- Papa’s Dumpling available at farmer’s markets
Northern 北方 Shandong &/or Chinese Korean
- Paik’s Noodles (San Francisco) South Korean chain, inside H-Mart
Jiangnan 江南
- Shanghai No. 1 (Milpitas) AKA Jiangnan Culture also has a sister restaurant in Cupertino
- Dumpling Kitchen (Foster City) take out / frozen food extension of SF Parkside location
Central Highlands
Hunan 湖南
- Ping’s Bistro (Fremont) 2nd Fremont location
- Wonderful adds a Foster City sister restaurant called Chez Xue. The Millbrae location was the first US location of the Beijing-based Hunan chain.
- The Authentic Hunan (Fremont) may just be a rebranding of Hunan Cuisine at the same location.
- Grandma’s Kitchen (Cupertino)
Chongqing & Sichuan
Sichuan 四川
- Suanla Fen Noodles (Milpitas)
- Grandma’S Kitchen (Cupertino)
- Heritage Noodles (San Jose)
- Sichuan Tasty (San Francisco)
- Spices Noodle House (Oakland) sister to Spices Oakland
- Spicier the Better virtual kitchen on Ricepo app running out of 3944 Geary (SF Inner Richmond)
Guizhou 贵州省
- Mifen 101 (Mountain View)
Yunnan 雲南 / 云南
- Yunnan Style Rice Noodle (El Cerrito)
Southeast
Teochew-Singaporean
- Lion Dance Cafe (Oakland) “Flavors from our teochew-singaporean family recipes, nostalgic hawker favorites and the legacy of the chinese american diaspora”, pre-order or show up. Limited hours. Vegan!
Taiwanese 臺灣 / 台灣
- Hanlin Tea Room (Cupertino) international chain
- Chef Chris Yang’s Taiwanese influenced Hen Zhi pop-up (San Francisco) and casual pop-up El Chino Grande
- Ashyans Lu Ruo Fan (San Francisco) delivery-based, limited neighborhoods
- Yilan Foods (San Francisco, Oakland) virtual, pickup or delivery
- PM2 Kitchen virtual restaurant
- Maxine Kitchen (Hayward) Taiwanese snacks, take-out only (has been around for years, but off my radar until recently)
Taiwanese bento/steam plate, not tea-focussed
- O2+Valley (Cupertino)
Odds and ends
Hot pot (unknown or non-specific region)
- Fire Pot (South San Francisco) virtual-kitchen
Steam pot
- Seapot Hot Pot (Sunnyvale) 2nd location
Shao Kao 烧烤 / Chinese Skewers 串
- Rolling Snack (Newark) Luke Tsai deep-fried instead of grilled, Sichuan influenced
- H & E Bbq (Milpitas)
Vegetarian
- Cozy Wok (Oakland) plant-based virtual-kitchen
- Lion Dance Cafe (Oakland) “Flavors from our teochew-singaporean family recipes, nostalgic hawker favorites and the legacy of the chinese american diaspora”, pre-order or show up. Limited hours. Vegan!
Finally, some reported-closed restaurants are back (or have been back for a while…)
- Mingle’s Mango’s (San Jose) location is back open
- Northwest China Cuisine (Fremont) Ningxia has items available through certain apps
- Shanghai Flavor Shop (Sunnyvale), whose seam-down sheng jian bao arrived years earlier than the current wave
- Yi Hotpot (Newark)
- R Noodles & Bakery (Oakland Chinatown) re-opened as a bakery see @zippo1’s early report where he had the impression some of their original offerings are possibly forthcoming