Authentic Chinese cuisine in the East Bay

See our feature, Where to rock the wok in San Francisco.

The Great Wall of China is far, but great Chinese food is not. Freshly pulled noodles, hand-pinched dumplings and chili-laden meat platters are within easy reach because East Bay restaurants keep those loaded Lazy Susans rotating.

Forego the fast food imitations and sit down for some authentic cuisine, whether you’re in a Chinatown or not. At one of the following BARTable Chinese restaurants in Oakland, Berkeley and El Cerrito, where the tea cups always feel half full, loyal locals have learned where to go to satisfy their grasping chopsticks.

Handmade noodles are the famous attraction here, with a visible area where dough is continuously rolled and cut atop a heavily floured counter space.

Shandong

12th St. Oakland City Center

Peking duck layered with crispy and thinly sliced skin is a celebrity on the menu alongside honey walnut prawns and the ever-popular potstickers.

Great China

Downtown Berkeley

The menu at this casual Oakland Chinatown restaurant makes it clear it celebrates plenty of full flavors not meant for the fearful.

Spices 3

12th St. Oakland City Center

With plenty of vegan and vegetarian options, Noodles Fresh serves authentic Chinese cuisine along with a charming tea tasting area stacked with tea pots for trial and decorative eye-candy.

Noodles Fresh

El Cerrito Plaza

by Linda Koffman

Linda Koffman is an SF-based freelance writer and editor. Also a beginner gardener by day/performing songwriter by night, she feels grateful to live a life of extremes balancing plenty of contemplative silence with rocking out in a band. When not writing, she keeps her hands busy (and dirty) with old guitar strings and soil, and enjoys engaging with the Bay Area’s diverse environmental and cultural beauty. She loves puns to a fault and shamelessly laughs at her own jokes.