Better Chinese food: San Gabriel Valley, CA vs Flushing, NY (best, compared) Near Me | Near Me Direct

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March 15, 2025

Better Chinese food: San Gabriel Valley, CA vs Flushing, NY (best, compared)

12-14-2022, 05:35 PM

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For those that have either lived or travelled to both Flushing, NY or the San Gabriel Valley (SGV), CA, which area do you think offers the best Chinese food?

12-14-2022, 05:38 PM

Location: Houston, TX/Vancouver, BC

9,145 posts, read 6,441,648 times

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Depends on the region of Chinese food.

12-14-2022, 06:57 PM

1,300 posts, read 866,032 times

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh12

For those that have either lived or travelled to both Flushing, NY or the San Gabriel Valley (SGV), CA, which area do you think offers the best Chinese food?

Lived in both (used to be one major sucker in the middle of pregnancy taking the LOCAL 7 train from Grand Central to Flushing for an hour train ride to eat in Flushing.) and I’m Taiwanese (Taiwanese+Japanese+French) so i know Chinese food.

SGV, hands down.

First, Flushing is comparatively small. Most restaurants gather in a few blocks. It used to have such authentic Taiwanese street food/comfort food but in the recent years (according to my friends in NYC) the restaurants have been mostly taken over by Fuzhou immigrants. (The most famous food from Fuzhou: fish balls, so it’s not saying much.) For really authentic Cantonese/Hong Kong food I personally still think Chinatown in NYC are far better than Flushing. (Unless I’m missing something, haven’t been back to NYC for a while, planning a trip in Spring.)

The best Chinese food in NYC to me (and echoed by my Taiwanese/Chinese/Hong Kong friends) are Great Noodletown on Bowery. Big Wong on Mitt St. Joe’s Shanghai on Bowery. And one place (in the basement, Centre St, near corner of Bowery, Anthony Bourdain went there too. I can’t remember the name.) Wu Liang Ye near Rockefeller Center. (Best Sichuan in NYC!)

SGV: massive in geography and varieties. Since SGV is the biggest Taiwanese community outside Taiwan, (Taiwanese is its own country and with its own sovereignty-despite what the Chinese government keeps sounding like a broken record.-but many would consider Taiwanese food as a part of Chinese food repertoire, culturally there was a tie but Taiwanese food was developed in its own style.) there are enormous and endless Taiwanese food in SGV. The most authentic, closest to what you’d eat in Taipei, Taiwanese food in SGV is called Taipei 101 in Diamond Bar. The best Cantonese food (again according to my friends and my sister who’s been in LA since mid-‘80s.) is near Alhambra called Sam Woo. There were quite a few excellent restaurants that were unfortunately permanently closed possibly due to Covid gloom. Other than Chinese (Sichuan, Cantonese, Shanghai, Shandong, Northeast Chinese cuisine, Yunnan…..etc) you also have Asian hot pots, Asian BBQ…..I can’t name all of them here, but yes, much more diverse and culturally rich than Flushing.

Now I’m very hungry. Fortunately Houston has many really authentic Chinese/Taiwanese here to tide me over.

12-14-2022, 09:19 PM

Location: In the heights

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San Gabriel Valley, but the extended Flushing area gets pretty close with a very diverse set of Chinese cuisines and the addition of a lot of really ambitious Chinese restaurants in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn has been interesting while the southern Chinese strongholds in Chinatown and parts of Brooklyn have good highlights, so I may overall put the NYC region ahead of the LA region overall.

12-14-2022, 09:28 PM

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Quote:

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

How would you say SF compared to other the SGV in terms of Chinese food?

12-14-2022, 09:43 PM

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Quote:

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Please share the “really ambitious” Chinese restaurants in Manhattan. I’m due for a trip in NYC, I’m curious.

Are these “ambitious” Chinese restaurants catered to the rich (given the present day Manhattan) clientele or are they attracting the non-touristy, local, homegrown populations like the ones in Chinatown?

The restaurants in SGV are generally through the word of the mouth from the locals and native Chinese/Taiwanese/Hongkong/Singaporean people. They aren’t the white-washed water down “Americanized” Chinese food with chop suey or kung pao chicken or the horrible Panda Express available in every town USA.

Americans (I assume you’re not of Chinese origin.) often have the different “flavor profile” of what they consider good Chinese food.

12-14-2022, 09:46 PM

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh12

How would you say SF compared to other the SGV in terms of Chinese food?

You didn’t ask me, but LA is better than SF/San Jose. (From natives’ point of view.)

Everybody I know who lives in Bay Area and Silicon Valley, who IS Chinese/Mandarin speaking native, came down to LA for the food tour when they were in town.

12-14-2022, 10:03 PM

Location: New York, NY

535 posts, read 421,202 times

Reputation: 645

Quote:

Originally Posted by ainsley1999 Please share the “really ambitious” Chinese restaurants in Manhattan. I’m due for a trip in NYC, I’m curious.

Americans (I assume you’re not of Chinese origin.) often have the different “flavor profile” of what they consider good Chinese food.

Almost every Chinese person who's from China and has been to both areas will tell you San Gabriel has better Chinese food than the Bay Area.......

12-14-2022, 10:09 PM

14,710 posts, read 12,900,265 times

Reputation: 40429

I have not been to New York, but I've been to a Chinese wedding reception in the SGV at which I was almost the only non-Chinese. It was NOT "Americanized" Chinese food, it was the real deal.

I've also been to grocery stores in the area, Monterey Park comes to mind, in which you could go through the meat department and put the entire pig back together.

12-14-2022, 10:17 PM

1,300 posts, read 866,032 times

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Quote:

Originally Posted by SixthCoordinate

Almost every Chinese person who's from China and has been to both areas will tell you San Gabriel has better Chinese food than the Bay Area.......

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