The best and most authentic Chinese places to check out in Vienna’s Chinatown

This sweeping Chinese restaurant set on a street corner is often full of people feasting around large round tables. It’s an institution to those who know it, and amongst especially those who know authentic Chinese cuisine. Their cooks repertoire is vast, with bountiful choice filling the menu’s pages, ranging from several kinds of Chinese soups (including noodle soups), homemade Dim-Sum and dishes from the Sichuan kitchen. There are a few odd characters thrown into the menu, like sushi and Indian curries, but we’d recommend you stick to the Chinese here, as that’s what they’re good at. Ordering a bunch of dishes to share is the best way to go, and be sure to order a few of the dishes that are out of your comfort zone, perhaps, like the fried sea cucumber, chicken feet, or the spicy chili-infused pig’s ear salad – it adds to the experience.

Right next to the more expensive and exclusive spots in the Vienna’s Naschmarkt, you will find this tiny and inconspicuous Chinese Restaurant. Not looking very posh or fancy, it might throw you off at first, but it will surely surprise you once you’ve stepped inside. The portions are huge, and the prices are low. The food is tasty and of high quality. Soup and rice are includedin the dish prices and you can taste every dish is freshly made. Tofu und Chili is a good quality Chinese restaurant that doesn’t try to put up a trendy front to make up for a lack in taste. The atmosphere is very homey – you almost feel like being somewhere in China. Nobody will look at you funny if you stick to tap water when asked what you’d like to drink, and they’ll put up an extra chair to fill up that last tiny bit of space for you. The dishes are out of China’s Shanxi region, so expect brilliant noodles and sour slash spicy flavours in whatever dish you choose.

Special: they also have great Ramen – the noodles are always fresh and homemade
Plus: you won’t find any glutamate in the food!

The easy on the eyes colour theme of green, and the plants hanging from the roof act to calm you before the spice hits your tastebuds of this neat little authentic Chinese restaurant. Run by another proud Chinese family bringing the fiery flavours of the Sichuan kitchen to Vienna, the China Kitchen are a friendly crowd that know their way around the kitchen. They’ve got all of the Sichuan favourites, from hot pots, Huigou Rou (double-cooked Pork Belly), the chili, chicken and nutty masterpiece, Gong Bao, and all the other delights of this kitchen that will blast your tastebuds and leave you numb and sweating. Meanwhile, they also have more adventurous dishes amongst their house specialities, like jellyfish, or octopus salad. Plus, they’ve got a special menu for the Dim-Sums.

On Market is a stunning looking place with a flawless, flavoursome menu. This is a Chinese restaurant at heart, but they like to get creative in the kitchen with traditional dishes. There’s a focus on South China dishes, while there’s also dishes out of Japan thrown in. Their claim is that they use traditional tricks in the kitchen out of south China and combine it with some inspiration from Japan. The flavours are bursting out of every dish here, with many layers to them. Behind it is the same inventor of the popular China Bar in the 7th district, and just like his earlier creations, this is just as good looking. It makes for a ideal spot just for a drink, as well, but it would be a shame to skip the eating part – trust us.

This place is one hell of a find for those that get excited and can’t stop talking about it when they find an insider eatery doing authentic things in the kitchen. As you might have guessed by the name, this Chinese restaurant specialises in the oh-so-holy Dim-Sum dumpling, and they exceed at the craft. Tables are piled high with the steamer baskets that the plump little steamed dumplings are cooked in, and each cost around 3-4€ a pop (with about 3 or 4 in each basket). There are also fried Dim-Sum variations in the book of a menu which is filled with pictures and numbers alongside them that you can use to order quicker so you can get to the eating part. We sounded like Einstein putting together an elaborate sum when ordering our table’s order. They also cook up a mean duck that a chef cuts up in the middle of the restaurant with skill, to both inspire awe and salivating mouths.

This one is no restaurant, yet rather it’s a store where you can buy everything you need to make your kitchen into a Chinese restaurant. There’s a whole heap of Chinese and Asian supermarkets along the rechte Wienzeile, but from our research we found Asia to have the cheapest prices and the widest selection. However, the nearby Lili Markt (29 Rechte Wienzeile) is also just as big and with similar reasonable prices. The part owner, Hu, told us that they have 4 other stores over in Budapest, Hungary which would indicate they know their stuff. They stock a sizeable selection of fresh Asian vegetables and have stacks of cooking utensils that you’d typically find in the Asian kitchen.

They also have… all the ingredients and utensils you need to make your own sushi and pretty little tins of Chinese tea straight from the Hong Kong market.