5 of the Best Chinese Restaurants on the Jersey Shore
Chinese food arrived in the United States during the mid-1800s as a result of the gold rush. With more than 150 years of learning, teaching, and perfecting dishes between generations, Chinese Americans have adapted their dishes to American tastes to the point where Chinese is the first choice of many Americans for takeout when they don’t have the time to make dinner or just want to celebrate a holiday or special occasion. So, it’s not hard to find fantastic Chinese food in New Jersey. Here are some of the best Chinese restaurants on the Jersey shore.
Xina Sushi and Oyster Bar Chinese Bistro
This Tom’s River restaurant serves Chinese, Thai, and Japanese fare, and everything is made in-house from high quality ingredients! Try rarer and fusion dishes like Tom Yum Seafood Soup, Pineapple Fried Rice, XO Fat Noodles, Bacon, Egg & Cheese Fried Rice, Thai Chicken Wings, Chinese Black Bean Clams, Steamed Peking Duck Buns, Spicy Rock Shrimp (with gochujang sauce), Beef Tataki, Treasure Island Sushi (tuna, yellowtail, salmon, fluke, avocado, daikon, spicy mayo, and ponzu).
If you have more room in your stomach, sample signature rolls like Caterpillar (BBQ eel, cucumber, and avocado), Out of Control (tuna, yellowtail, salmon, avocado, asparagus, eel sauce, spicy miso, and spicy mayo), Everything Bagel (salmon, cream cheese, crab, scallions, and bagel seasoning), and Painted Lady (lobster tail, mango, asparagus, spicy tuna, avocado, and spicy mango sauce). If you’re not a fan of sushi, enjoy a Milk Pie for dessert!
Dim Sum 88
This Brick, NJ restaurant has a comprehensive dim sum menu as will as some Southeast Asian, Moo Shi, and even diet food. Try Double Cooked Sliced Pork, Shrimp Toast, Steamed Sui Mai, Little Juice Pork Bun, or Pan Fried Turnip Cake.
West Lake Authentic Chinese Cuisine
This Matawan restaurant has a phenomenal range of seafood options. You can always tell it’s fresh because they’re taken from a large tank in the back! This place is also known for its peking duck and dim sum.
Try the Chilli Pork Chop, Diced Pork with Cashews, Sweet and Sour Prawns, Soft Shell Crab with Chili, Pan-fried Noodles with Black Mushrooms and Bean Sprouts, Amoy Mei Fun, Seafood Bean Curd Soup, House Special Garlic Chicken, Pan-Fried Bean Curd Roll with Spinach, or Sauteed Snow Pea Leaves for dinner. If you’re there for lunch, go for the Beef with Bitter Melon, Pan Fried Bitter Fish, Groupa Filet with Cream Corn Sauce, Steamed Carp Fish, or Baby Slime Fish with Scrambled Eggs.
Peking Pavilion
This Manaplan restaurant is wonderfully decorated in a modern style and serves food of the best quality. Zagat called its food the best ever, and The New York Times gave it praise as well. The menu is creative and the wine list is long. The Angus steaks are dry aged in-house and seared with a special mix of spices. The restaurant actually began in 1975 in Richmond before moving to New Jersey in 1983.
Try the Grand Marnier Prawns, Filet Mignon Egg Roll, Chicken Soong in Lettuce Wraps, Creamy Spick Rock Shrimp with Scallion Pancakes, Pineapple Chicken, Chicken Velvet, Crispy Tangerine Steak, Basil Beef, Chung King Beef, Honey Miso Salmon, Vegetarian Imperial, or their highly recommended New York Strip Steak
Elena Wu Restaurant
This Vorhees restaurant combines Chinese and French cuisine and also has a sushi bar! Wu, owner and operator, values civic duty, integrity, fantastic customer service, and quality. She aims to help the community her business serves by donating time and money to public parks, land development, education, cultural awareness, and literacy. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Long Island, she taught cooking classes in New Jersey and ran a catering business before opening restaurants in Marlton and Voorhees. She learned French cooking at the Culinary Institute of America and in Paris.
The chef, Kwong Chi Cheung, received culinary training at the Hong Kong Jockey Club and worked at Sichuan China Royal in Philadelphia and The Taste of China (his own restaurant) in Cherry Hill before working here. Wu’s restaurants have been honored by Zagat, New Jersey Magazine, South Jersey Monthly, and Philadelphia Magazine. The restaurant also holds private and corporate functions and parties and offers off-site catering.
The restaurant serves specialties like Seafood Wonder (jumbo shrimp and sea scallops with vegetables and a taro nest), Rack of Lamb, and Tuna Parfait (with avocado and caviar). Also try the Fried Crabmeat Puffs, Pan-seared New Bedford Scallops and Sesame Crusted Tuna Carpaccio, Kani Salad, Shrimp Butternut Bisque, or Cream of Crabmeat with Sherry to start. For the sushi bar, try specialty rolls like the Town Center (spicy salmon, cucumber, tuna, yellowtail, masago, jalapeno, and spicy mayo), Sweet Dragon (shrimp tempura with eel and avocado), or Pink Lady (yellowtail, white tuna, mango, pink soybean sheet, crab, and tobiko). For a Chinese entree, go for the Honey Walnut Chicken or Har Moon Ride Noodles.
This is just our list of the best Chinese restaurants in New Jersey, but there are so many other fantastic ones that we failed to mention. Where do you usually get Chinese food down the shore?