The ultimate guide to eating in Houston’s Asiatown

A popular chain from Chengdu, China, with more than 1,000 locations worldwide, Malubianbian is one of Asiatown’s newest restaurants. The specialty is chuan chuan huo, or skewer-style hot pot. Fashioned to look like street-food stalls in Chengdu, the restaurant is also known for its spicy, numbing broth. Patrons choose from more than 50 varieties of skewers and protein plates, and the bill is calculated according to the number of plates and skewers eaten. Each skewer is a mere 38 cents.

Honey Pig — the seventh location of a chain founded in Virginia by Mickey Kim — was an instant hit when it debuted here in December. Offering the quintessential Korean barbecue experience, the restaurant offers meats cooked over cast-iron charcoal grills while high-energy K-pop music blares from the flat-screen TVs — chubby, bright-pink pigs are painted on the floors and walls throughout, adding to the festive ambiance. A la carte ordering is available, but the pre-set platters of beef, pork and premium meats are designed to wow.

A mom-and-pop Cantonese restaurant that’s been around for the better part of the past three decades, Wing Kee is known for its cash-and-carry Chinese barbecue. The crispy roast pork is the best in the city. Whole roast duck is a close second. This is the place where Chinese families eat on weekends. Wonton soup, pan-fried noodles and homey Cantonese dishes such as scrambled eggs with shrimp are a staple. The weekday lunch special is also popular — and a bargain.

Famous for nem nuong cuon (grilled sausage spring rolls) and its com phan gia dinh family meal, this stalwart Vietnamese bistro also does a fantastic banh xeo (Vietnamese crepe) and banh khot (mini savory pancakes). Bodard recently moved and now occupies a spacious high-ceilinged space across from the Hong Kong Mall IV.

Mom-and-pop One Dragon is one of the few restaurants in Houston that specializes in Shanghainese cuisine. The xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, are a must-order, as are the sheng jian bao, or crispy bottom bao. Begin with the dumplings, then supplement with dishes such as the braised pork belly and the sautéed snow pea leaves with garlic.

Best in class for an all-you-can-eat shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot) experience. Shabu Zone offers individual pots for each customer, a choice of seven types of broths and myriad options for seafood, vegetables, noodles and sauces. Akaushi Wagyu beef from Heartbrand Beef is among the meat choices on the all-you-can-eat menu, priced incredibly at just $26.99 per person at dinner.

One of the only restaurants in Asiatown with a bona fide patio and state-of-the-art smokeless charcoal grills, Handam BBQ opened just weeks before the pandemic, struggling to survive amid shortages of meat and mandatory shutdown. One year later, the Korean barbecue specialist has pivoted from a strictly a la carte model to a hybrid a la carte and all-you-can-eat model. Banchan side dishes are complimentary and refillable. Handam has a full liquor license and offers cocktails, soju, sake and beer as well.

Houston’s own version of a Hong Kong diner, the sound of scraping woks and colorful ’80s-themed décor greets customers at this family-owned eatery. Cantonese comfort food comes in the form of rice plates and noodle dishes; portions are generous, and the menu is extensive. Best bets: Dry-style Beef Chow Fun, Salt ’n Pepper Chicken Wings, any of the rice plates and the Hong Kong French Toast filled with peanut butter and drizzled with condensed milk.

Texas’ only outpost of this famous hot pot chain offers a true feast for the senses. On arrival, patrons find a space designed in the style of Sichuan’s famous tea houses and servers clad in beautiful brocade uniforms who perform an elaborate greeting. Diners are then treated to what is quite simply the best hot pot experience in the Bayou City.

Famous for appearing on chef David Chang’s Netflix show, “Ugly Delicious,” this modest family-owned spot specializes in central Vietnamese cuisine. Hugely popular are the Instagram-friendly rice cakes steamed in small round saucers (banh beo chen), closely followed by the flat, rectangular rice cakes wrapped in banana leaf (banh nam). Also worth trying: spicy beef noodle soup from the imperial city of Hue (Bun Bo Hue).

The ambiance at Mein, with its hand-painted wall murals depicting glamorous 1940s-era Chinese actresses, conveys affordable luxury. Chef Jack Tran’s sizable menu offers variety that can appeal to solo diners as well as families gathered over a shared meal. Dishes of note include Japanese sansai egg tofu, hand-pulled cold chicken, char siu garlic wonton noodles and squid-ink fried rice. BYOB is allowed with corkage.

“Ga di bo” free-range chicken is the name of the game at this newly renovated pho spot that’s now double its original size. The signature Chicken Pho (Pho Ga) will clear your sinuses and warm your soul. Dining in but don’t feel like a hot noodle soup? Try ordering the “dry” Pho Ga Kho with the soup on the side, or choose from other entrees such as the fried rice with shaking beef (com chien bo luc lac).

A pioneer in “Viet-Cajun” cuisine, Crawfish & Noodles is renowned for its sublime garlic butter crawfish and for Vietnamese dishes such as the unforgettable salt-and-pepper blue crabs. Featured numerous times on national TV, chef/owner Trong Nguyen is also the only Vietnamese chef in Houston to be recognized by the James Beard Foundation.

The menu can sometimes read like a listicle of tongue-in-cheek thriller movie titles, what with dishes including “Top Notch Pot of the Outlaws,” “Couples Lung Slices” or “Three Pepper Beaten Duck,” but that’s half the fun. The spicy, numbing heat of the Sichuan peppercorn enlivens dish after dish with some serious mouth-burning joy. Bestsellers include red-oil wontons, water-boiled fish and spicy crispy chicken.

This stalwart Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant offers a little something for everyone. Chinese barbecue — juicy roast duck and crispy-skinned roast pork — is available cash and carry. Live seafood such as King Crab and spot prawns can be ordered direct from the tank. Also available: an extensive menu of humble everyday fare from hot pot to wonton noodle soup.

Thai-style hospitality is on full display from the moment customers enter and gaze upon the twin bronze Buddhas inside the door. The food bears some influence from the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai, but the standouts are the tofu pad Thai, whole crispy garlic fish and tom kha gai chicken and coconut soup. The restaurant now offers a mini market assortment of handmade Thai snacks, sausages, chips and more, available for grab-n-go.

This handsome Bellaire-facing strip mall is curated to feature street food from Asia. Enticements include Vietnamese egg noodles at Migo Saigon Street Food; sizzling Japanese rice plates at Pepper Lunch; Korean fried chicken at Soho Chicken; Sichuan hot pot at Chongqing Chicken Pot; fanciful Japanese cream puffs at Beard Papa; and more. New to the center this year: Ichiko Sapporo Ramen, Malaysian restaurant Pappa Rich and the cult-fave drink brown-sugar bubble tea phenomenon called Tiger Sugar.

Asiatown’s equivalent to the Galleria, this sprawling air-conditioned space is the largest indoor shopping mall in the region. Weekend crowds flock for groceries, prescription eye exams at Spectrum Eye Care, facials and beauty services at Medispa Institute and gold jewelry at several reputable Vietnamese-owned jewelry shops. Dining, of course, is a specialty. Don’t miss weekend dim sum at the newly renovated Ocean Palace; steaming bowls of pho at Pho Danh; or the Viet-Cajun crawfish at Crawfish Cafe. At the opposite end of the mall, hit the food court for fresh-pressed sugarcane juice and pre-cut exotic fruits at Quan Binh Minh; pâté chaud and banh mi at Vi’s Sandwiches; combination Vietnamese food plates and giant banh xeo crepes at Lucky No. 9; or Thai cuisine at Anna Thai Food.