You’re coming to Yuanbao Jiaozi to break your personal record for the number of boiled dumplings with pudgy creases eaten in one sitting. They make up most of the menu at this casual Sunset restaurant, and are folded up and dropped in bubbling vats of water for you after you order. The fabulous dumplings come in sets of fourteen, with fillings like pork and napa cabbage, chicken and corn, or mushroom and fish. You’re going to want more later, so stop by the fridge in the corner to grab pre-made dumplings for home.  

You’re at Hon's Wun-Tun House in Chinatown for one reason and one reason only—delicious noodle soup. They’ve been a fixture in Chinatown for more than four decades, and the space has barely changed over the years. The interior is simple and tiny (there’s just a few tables laid out on utilitarian brick-colored tile), but we never mind because you’ll be in and out having consumed life-giving soup in 20 minutes flat.

At this tiny, takeout-only bakery in Chinatown, you’ll have to sacrifice precious minutes of your life—the line is constant. But you should, because Good Mong Kok is dim sum glory. For starters, it costs less than $10 to fill a bag or box with enough food to feed the Brady Bunch. Everything is well prepared, and generously portioned, too—you’ll find the city’s biggest baked char siu bao here, waiting to be snatched up. More non-negotiables are the pineapple buns and meaty siu mai that are beyond textbook perfection. Maybe just order one of everything.

R&G Lounge has seen more birthdays, wedding banquets, and graduation celebrations than all the for-hire clowns in California combined. The multi-level seafood institution, established 1985, is still the place to mark a grand occasion—that’s because the Cantonese seafood, noodle, and rice dishes are as fantastic (and big portioned) as ever. Pack a dozen or more of your favorite people around a round table and fill every inch of it with salt and pepper crab, sweet glazed sea bass, and salted fish fried rice (plus rounds of just-sweet-enough lychee martinis). 

Ever had xiao long bao tableside service? Neither had we, until we came to HK Lounge Bistro in SoMa. Staff delicately pull soup dumplings off a steamer, dunk it in vinegar, and top it off with a string of ginger before handing the whole thing to you on a spoon. All of the dim sum at this place is some of the best in the city, but it’s the service—which will make you feel like you just stumbled into a luxury airport lounge—that takes a meal here over the top. Pots of tea never reach empty, and there’s a calm energy more reminiscent of a day spa than a bustling dim sum restaurant.

This small, always-packed Chinatown restaurant offers regional Chinese noodles galore. It’s also where we like to park ourselves on casual weeknights to get a steam facial over a bowl of dan dan noodles. The broth is nutty and rich, there’s an overabundance of wheat noodles, and it all leaves a tingly, numbing sensation in your mouth that somehow doesn’t overpower. On days when you really want to stay under the covers, order a wonton-packed soup with chicken broth, spicy and numbing Chongqing noodles, or spicy beef soup all the way. 

Restaurants in the SF Dim Sum Universe range in price points. They include everything from fancy Harborview to bakeries like Good Mong Kok where full meals hover around $7. Dragon Beaux in the Richmond is the happy middle we always prioritize. Experiencing the nice ambiance won’t put you in credit card debt, and the space gives the royal treatment: purple booths are flanked by gold pillars, intricate carved panels separate two dining rooms, and colorful beet and kale xiao long bao and charcoal sponge cake rolls go the extra mile in the presentation department.

Yank Sing is the city’s most famous dim sum spot—it’s been around since 1958 and is known to draw huge crowds, especially at the larger Spear Street location inside the Rincon Center. Coming here at least once is a quintessential dining experience. Once inside, metal push carts with bamboo steamers will zoom past you, and you’ll have your pick of everything from phenomenal kurobuta pork and Napa cabbage dumplings and steamed BBQ pork buns to scallop siu mai. Get one of everything and don’t hold back.

Mouth-numbing wizardry via fiery flavors is going down at Z&Y in Chinatown. These Sichuan dishes demand your attention. Specialties include fish filet soaked in hot chili oil, mapo tofu with lip-tingling spice, and clay pots filled with chilis and an aquarium’s worth of shellfish. We never leave without that mapo tofu and a bowl of hot and sour soup. The snug space is málà heaven for anyone who loves a good mouth burn. And since the menu is a short novel (it would take weekly visits for a year to try every dish), you’ll be back.

Just across the street from Z&Y is their swankier fowl-focused offshoot, Z&Y Peking Duck. And as you’d expect from a restaurant with the dish in its name, the duck here deserves all of your attention. It’s carved under a spotlight in the dining room with the razzle dazzle of an Olympic ceremony and arrives in front of you gleaming and tender. And it’s not even the only reason to come to this Chinatown spot—the other Sichuan dishes on the menu, especially the chicken buried in bright red chilis, pack heat and flavor. Come here when you and your duck-loving heart want some spiced up dishes in a group-friendly space.