Where to Celebrate Lunar New Year in the Bay Area

Anything lamb is the jam at Old Mandarin Islamic, which specializes in northern Chinese cuisine. Stick-to-your-ribs lamb ribs, warming hot pot, or spicy, numbing lamb are good moves. For Lunar New Year, they’re giving away handmade sweet dumplings filed with mixed nuts, sweet red bean, sweet osmanthus, and more.

To order takeout, click here or call (415) 564-3481. 3132 Vicente Street, San Francisco

You can’t go wrong with the excellent Mister Jiu’s. Chinese classics with moderns twists through California sensibilities — there’s no other restaurant like it because there’s no other chef like Brandon Jew. For the first part of Lunar New Year, look out for a special vegetarian menu (“because you’re not supposed to have any animals killed that day,” says Jew), and towards the end of the two-week celebration, there’ll be a special crab and oxtail dinner set.

Order takeout here. 28 Waverly Place, San Francisco

The great thing about Chili House is you could go there for fiery spicy Sichuan specialties —mapo tofu, fresh fish fillet with chile oil, Chongqing chicken are all good moves. (It’s the same owners as the better-known Z&Y Restaurant in Chinatown.) But they also excel at Beijing fare, with things like beef pancakes, hand-pulled noodle dishes, and an excellent Peking duck. For Lunar New Year specials, keep an eye on their special menu page here, where you can also order from their multi-course banquet menus.

To order, click here or call (415) 387-2658. 726 Clement Street, San Francisco

For two weeks starting February 12, Belinda Leong’s beautiful B. Patisserie will have a full menu featuring special flavors to ring in the Year of the Ox. Think black sesame kougin amanns, mango pudding with evaporated milk gelee, mandarin orange and coconut red bean tarts, and so much more.

For more information, click here. 2821 California Street, San Francisco

Run by Amy Liu in Oakland’s Chinatown, eight-year-old Tian Jin Dumplings is a small take-away window spot that specializes in Tianjin-style jianbing guozi — a sweet savory egg crepe that’s slathered with sweet bean sauce, chile sauce, and stuffed with crispy youtiao (fried doughnut sticks). It makes for a pretty perfect breakfast.

To order, call (510) 459-6265. 989 Franklin Street, Oakland

This spot specializes in Lanzhou lamian, a beef noodle soup from Lanzhou, the capital of the Gansu province in northwest China. This soup features a clear beef broth fragrant of warming spices, thinly sliced braised brisket, chewy hand-pulled noodles, a scattering of cilantro, garlic, chives, and a spicy chile oil. The stewed pork rib noodle soup and the spicy ground pork dry noodles are also pro moves.

To order, click here. 1818 Milmont Drive, Milpitas

Run by brothers Eric and Simon Cheung, Hing Lung makes some of the city’s best Chinese barbecue. For siu yok – Cantonese crispy-skinned roast pork — this is your spot. Roast duck, juicy char siu, and poached free-range soy sauce chicken are also strong options that will give you all the meatsweats you can handle.

To order, call (415) 397-5521. 1261 Stockton St, San Francisco

Come to Hon’s Wun-Tun for their southern Cantonese cuisine — specifically a big steaming bowl of their wun-tun noodle soup. Can’t go wrong with the house special: thin and springy egg noodles, bouncy shrimp and pork dumplings, and a beautiful light broth that brings life back into your body.

To order, call (415) 433-3966. 648 Kearny Street, San Francisco

Being as how Dungeness crab season just opened, this is a nice spot to get your fix. You can go salt and pepper, ginger garlic, spicy Hong Kong style,  or our personal favorite, salted egg yolk with deep fried pumpkin. It’s so special. It’s so unique. It’s. So. Delicious.

To order, call (415) 759-8828. 1201 Vicente Street, San Francisco

It used to be that for truly a very particular type of xiaolongbao — the ones with very thin skins and lots of soup — San Franciscans would have to drive to Fremont. But now we have Dumpling Home, where dumpling master Mrs. Wong makes all the exceptional dumplings in a variety of flavors, including chicken, beef, shrimp with loofah, and more.

Order here. 298 Gough Street, San Francisco

Speaking of dumplings in Fremont, this is your spot. But the real pro tip is that you can get their superb soup dumplings frozen to take away and stock your fridge.

 34360 Fremont Blvd, Fremont