From plump shrimp dumplings served in a bamboo basket to crispy banh mi baguettes full of barbecue pork to artfully organized raw-fish sashimi, the culinary delights of China, Vietnam, Japan, and different Asian cultures all come collectively on a go to to Seattle’s Worldwide District.
As soon as identified primarily as Chinatown, the neighborhood that’s located between Seattle’s downtown and its sports activities arenas turned designated because the Worldwide District within the late Nineties. In the present day, the district takes in areas comparable to Japantown and Little Saigon together with the unique Chinatown.
On my current journey to Seattle, I got down to pattern as a lot of town’s Asian delicacies as doable, and I discovered many Worldwide District spots catering to locals and guests alike. One of many beauties of the district is that the numerous Asian cuisines are all in pretty shut proximity. You could possibly simply take pleasure in an genuine Vietnamese appetizer, a Chinese language entrée, and dessert from the Philippines all inside blocks of each other.
Listed below are 9 Asian meals to strive in Seattle’s Worldwide District.
Sizzling pot serving at Comfortable Lamb Sizzling Pot
Photograph credit score: Cindy Barks
1. Seafood Sizzling Pot
Comfortable Lamb Sizzling Pot
For a warming lunch on a cold Seattle afternoon, few choices are extra satisfying than sizzling pot. Because the identify implies, the new pot cooking methodology contains a heating supply in the midst of the desk, the place a pot of sizzling broth is positioned to simmer. Diners order their most popular broths, together with forms of meat, seafood, tofu, and greens. After the broth involves a simmer, everybody cooks their selections utilizing the useful utensils which might be supplied.
On a wet November afternoon, my household visited Comfortable Lamb Sizzling Pot, a comfortable second-story restaurant within the Worldwide District. We selected the all-you-can-eat choice, which allowed for a number of programs and a seemingly limitless mixture of meats and veggies.
I really like sizzling pot not only for the properly cooked meals that come out of the broth, however for the social points as properly. It makes for an incredible household meal, with everybody contributing and selecting their favourite combos.
Though Comfortable Lamb is understood for its tender lamb and beef, I additionally loved the numerous seafood selections, together with mini octopus, prawns, and fish.
Barbecue duck at Honey Courtroom Seafood Restaurant
Photograph credit score: Cindy Barks
2. Har Gow And Barbecue Duck
Honey Courtroom Seafood Restaurant
Dim sum — the standard Chinese language meal made up of small parts of dumplings, steamed buns, and deep-fried delicacies — is obtainable in quite a few spots within the Worldwide District. A fast web search will yield quite a lot of selections, every with its personal specialties. For traditional selections with a seafood focus, my household loves the Honey Courtroom Seafood Restaurant, an unassuming spot in the midst of the Worldwide District.
One of many issues I take pleasure in a couple of dim sum brunch or lunch is the flexibility to strive small bites of quite a few dishes. Honey Courtroom has an intensive menu that includes shrimp, crab, sole, oysters, spare ribs, duck, and tofu. We tried quite a lot of dishes, together with the barbecue duck served with small fluffy buns, walnut shrimp, and taro desserts. For me, the standout was the har gow, a steamed dumpling with shrimp encased in delicate rice flour dough.
Dim sum at Honey Courtroom Seafood Restaurant
Photograph credit score: Cindy Barks
Honey Courtroom permits diners to test off their selections on a paper menu, and the assorted dishes come out of the kitchen as they’re prepared. Historically served with tea, dim sum makes for a leisurely and enjoyable meal.
3. Garlic Shrimp And Cabbage Soup
Tai Tung
The Worldwide District’s venerable Tai Tung restaurant has a few claims to fame that set it aside. One is Tai Tung’s place because the oldest Chinese language restaurant in Seattle, and the opposite is the restaurant’s historical past as a favourite eating spot of martial arts legend Bruce Lee.
These two options — together with the restaurant’s basic Chinese language delicacies — make Tai Tung an iconic cease within the Worldwide District. The Go to Seattle web site notes that the restaurant “has been serving unimaginable Chinese language meals since Grandpa Quan opened the doorways in 1935.”
Tai Tung memorializes its reference to Bruce Lee with a sales space behind the restaurant that was Lee’s favourite. Followers of the martial artist and actor may also wish to try Lee’s two favourite dishes at Tai Tung — the garlic shrimp and the oyster sauce beef, each served with cabbage soup.
Roasted Peking duck at Uwajimaya Asian Market and Grocery Retailer
Photograph credit score: Cindy Barks
4. Sashimi And Peking Duck
Uwajimaya
For a tour of Asian delicacies all below the identical roof, the flagship location of the Asian market and grocery retailer Uwajimaya is the place to go in Seattle. The advanced within the Worldwide District options greater than 35,000 sq. ft of Asian specialties, which, together with its 93 years of historical past, make the shop “a must-see vacation spot in Seattle,” in accordance with the shop’s web site.
I really like to go to Uwajimaya not only for its wonderful choice of Asian groceries like high quality sesame oil, noodles of nearly each selection, and memorable choice of recent seafood, but additionally for its enjoyable meals corridor that options almost a dozen particular person eating places that includes cuisines from throughout Asia.
As well as, Uwajimaya’s deli has a formidable choice of favorites like sushi rolls, pork buns, and poke. Two of the standouts for me had been the freshly roasted Peking duck, and the raw-fish sashimi that’s out there superbly sliced and packaged on the sashimi island.
Ube cream puff at Beard Papa’s
Photograph credit score: Cindy Barks
5. Ube (Purple Yam) Cream Puff
Beard Papa’s
Among the many Asian specialty spots within the Uwajimaya Meals Corridor is Beard Papa’s, the Japanese cream puff chain that has develop into a well-liked dessert staple in areas all over the world. Billed as that includes “the world’s greatest cream puffs,” Beard Papa’s started in Japan almost 25 years in the past and has since expanded to greater than 400 shops in 15 nations.
What units Beard Papa’s aside are the distinctive flavors out there. You’ll discover inexperienced tea éclairs, crispy almond donuts, and cream puffs full of vanilla, inexperienced tea, or chocolate. For a decadently scrumptious deal with, strive the ube cream puffs that had been full of a fluffy cream flavored with the purple yam (ube) that originated within the Philippines.
6. Pan De Sal And Ube Latte
Hood Well-known Bakeshop/Café + Bar
A style of the Philippines is obtainable in a number of eating institutions within the Worldwide District and within the space typically generally known as Filipino City. For a standard breakfast or late-night snack, try Hood Well-known Café + Bar, a bakery-café throughout the day and a cocktail bar providing Filipino bar meals at night time.
Hood Well-known is situated within the Worldwide District’s Publix Constructing, which was initially constructed for migrant employees and was house to Filipino cannery employees and farm laborers, in accordance with the café’s web site. “Since opening our Café + Bar in 2019, we reclaim this historical past by means of our delicacies, Filipino model hospitality, storytelling, and outright visibility,” it provides.
The daytime menu focuses on desserts, baked items, and lightweight snacks, together with Asian-Pacific coffees. It’s arduous to beat an on-the-go breakfast of Hood Well-known’ pan de sal rolls, freshly baked all through the morning (additionally out there in a breakfast sandwich with candy pork, egg, mayo, and butter lettuce), and a sizzling ube latte.
Shrimp spring roll and banh mi at Saigon Deli
Photograph credit score: Cindy Barks
7. Shrimp Spring Rolls And Banh Mi
Saigon Deli
From pho to stir-fried noodles to banh mi, diners will discover all the conventional Vietnamese favorites on the Saigon Deli, a mainstay in Seattle’s Worldwide District.
Saigon Deli is understood for its flavorful barbecue pork banh mi served on a crispy Vietnamese baguette and full of shredded carrots, cucumbers, and cilantro. For an ideal accompaniment, think about the deli’s freshly made shrimp spring rolls (goi cuon) full of rice vermicelli and lettuce and served with peanut sauce, or the hearty pho (noodle soup) with beef, hen, tofu, or shrimp, and served with beansprouts, basil, and lime.
8. Sizzling Clam Miso Soup And Gyoza
Maneki
Lovers of conventional Japanese delicacies ought to make some extent to take a look at Seattle’s oldest Japanese restaurant, Maneki, a favourite in Japantown for greater than 100 years. When it opened its doorways in 1904, Maneki was town’s first sushi bar, tatami rooms (non-public matted rooms), and karaoke bar.
Maneki is understood for its genuine ambiance and delicacies, and its menu contains all the things from black cod collar miso to udon noodle dishes to beef teriyaki-and-tempura to nigiri sushi with yellowtail, prawn, octopus, or scallop.
For a sizzling and nourishing appetizer, think about the plain miso soup or the steaming sizzling clam miso soup served in an iron pot, alongside an order of Maneki’s do-it-yourself gyoza (potstickers). Maneki’s web site notes that the restaurant provides dine-in by reservation.
The window at BeanFish waffles
Photograph credit score: Cindy Barks
9. Japanese Taiyaki
BeanFish
One other Japanese consolation meals that may be discovered on the Uwajimaya Meals Corridor is taiyaki, a fish-shaped waffle that’s historically full of crimson bean paste and bought as avenue meals. The BeanFish restaurant at Uwajimaya makes its waffles to order utilizing forged iron pans, flame, and do-it-yourself batter.
The stuffed waffles are served both candy or savory. BeanFish’s candy fillings embrace distinctive flavors like the unique sweetened natural azuki bean or basic clean vanilla custard, together with selections like matcha inexperienced tea or strawberries and Nutella. Among the many savory fillings are bacon, egg, tater tots, cheese, inexperienced onions, or mushrooms and garlic sauteed in sesame oil with wasabi peas and Swiss cheese.
BeanFish’s web site notes that the enterprise began as a meals truck showing at avenue gala’s, enterprise parks, and markets earlier than turning into a everlasting restaurant at Uwajimaya.
Professional Tip: The Worldwide District is among the main stops on Seattle’s environment friendly mild rail system, and most of the district’s eateries are inside strolling distance from the Worldwide District/Chinatown Station.
