World’s Best Chinese Restaurants

By ExtremeFoodies on May 11th, 2015

The 2015 ExtremeFoodies Global Award winners have been announced. 

With a seemingly endless array of delicious flavors from diverse regions to sample, Chinese cuisine is understandably a global favorite. We give you the restaurant that is serving up the most incredible Chinese food around.  


1. Winner: Kuala Lumpur - Sek Yuen Restoran
 


Opened in 1948 near bustling Pudu Market, Sek Yuen is one of the oldest restaurants in Kuala Lumpur. Occupying the same beautiful, time-worn, art-deco building for almost 70 years, Sek Yuen is an institution. Some of the aged chefs toiling in the wood-fired kitchen have served the same old-school Cantonese dishes to three generations of fans. Where else can you find a kitchen that still uses 100 percent wood fire in its cooking? Old-school stalwarts like Sek Yuen just don’t exist anymore. Food here is punchy, with requisite use of garlic, oyster sauce and siu heng wine – all to warm you up from the inside. The four-season platter will immediately remind you of Chinese banquets in the olden days. The Eight Treasure Duck is wonderous and the good luck Yusheng noodles, which are a spectacular New Years tradition, have been served here longer than anywhere else in the world. It’s hard to find a restaurant that perpetuates quality and tradition, but Sek Yuen is, after all, legendary.

There can be only one winner, but here's a look at the amazing nominations:


2. Chengdu - Yu’s Family Kitchen
 

 

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Down a narrow alleyway in Chengdu, an unmarked wooden door opens to one of the most revered restaurants in China. At Yu's Family Kitchen, only six private rooms are available for just one seating per night, and despite tremendous success over the years, the restaurant has not expanded. The chef celebrates the foundations of Sichuan cuisine in his cooking with technique and depth of flavor, but where he truly stands out is in the quality of his ingredients. Once a month he and his wife will personally drive hours out of Chengdu to hand pick huajiao- Sichuan peppercorn, mushrooms, organic pork, bamboo, artisanal soy sauce and vinegar. Yu Bo keeps his perspective fresh by frequently gathering inspiration from abroad, keeping an eye on the trends and techniques of modernist cooking, experimenting sometimes in his own kitchen.


3. London - Bar Shu
 

 

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The name “Bar Shu” is a poetic reference to the ancient kingdoms that make up the Chinese province of Szechuan, and this elegant Soho eatery aims to promote and celebrate its cuisine in palate-tantalizing detail. Punchy, fiery Sichuan food layered with subtle flavors is as much a work of art as the Chinese opera masks and carvings adorning the wooden panels that line the walls. Fans know to order the Sichuan hotpot in advance -- only 10 are served each night – and the sweet, fresh whole crab in a fiery sauce spiky with peanuts, ginger, garlic cloves and spring onions fused with Sichuan spices.


4. Los Angeles - Chengdu Taste
 

 

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People brave a 2-hour wait at Chengdu Taste and the spicy boiled fish is one of the reasons. The sweet, delicate fish tempers a broth of numbing, fiery peppercorn and chilies.


5. Queens - Lao Dong Bei
 

 

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This light, understated gem in Flushing, Queens has just six tables and specializes in Northeastern Chinese cuisine. The regional recipes make use of a variety of spices and flavors to dish up fish, beef and pork with a fresh crunch. We recommend the ‘Pork in Orange Sauce’, Lao Dong Bei’s answer to sweet and sour pork without the slimy sugariness of the sauce.


6. Melbourne - Flower Drum
 

 

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Flower Drum is often acclaimed as one of the best Chinese restaurants in the world and resonates with a sense of occasion. After decades of fine dining, Flower Drum is still riding high. This is the archetypal fine dining experience with expert service, standout food and classic fine dining ambience. Enter through a red door in Market Lane and up an elevator to the first floor to enjoy Cantonese classics such as Duck wontons, Steamed dim sum, Pork ribs, Peking duck and Quail Sang Choi Bao. Or try spectacular Grain fed eye fillet with Sichuan sauce or the luxurious Abalone.


7. San Francisco - Koi Palace
 


Koi Palace Restaurant is a tea house serving exquisite dim sum accompanied by a plentitude of prized teas. The Chilean Sea Bass at Koi Palace is a famous dish. It is made of fresh, flaky fish, marinated overnight and then cooked in low indirect technique. There is a red-colored honey-ginger glaze on the fish which goes perfect with rice, scallion and cilantro garnish

 

See the rest of the award winners here.