Trey Yuen is a bright spot on the local Chinese food horizon, although you need to travel across the 24-mile causeway to the other side of the lake to find it. In the hands of the third generation of Wongs, who opened their first eatery in Hammond in 1971, this restaurant is full of Chinese art and artifacts and includes a pretty koi pond (ask about fish food for the kids). A few dishes to try: the ethereal shrimp and crab in a cloud, rich with egg and flavors of the sea; a bracing crawfish in spicy black bean sauce; and for the intrepid, alligator and fresh mushrooms. 

This friendly spot on Williams Boulevard near the airport has a massive menu of darn good traditional Chinese fare. Get the salt and pepper oysters if they’re on special or try the Peking duck, a rare find at most New Orleans Chinese spots. (The pancakes are bun style, not the thin kind, but very good). Avoiding fried? Try the chicken lettuce wraps, a light dish that satisfies.

Tucked away by a Lakeview shopping center, this Cantonese restaurant is open, airy, and offers outside seating. There are well-priced traditional lunch specials but chef and owner Ming Joe has a few tricks up his sleeve. Besides the usuals for dinner, try the crawfish velvet, a riff on shrimp with lobster sauce, and a sultry moo shu pork with five pancakes.

Royal China may have changed hands since longtime proprietor and dining room staple Miss Shirley (and her chef husband) sold the business in 2021, but the trusted new owners plan to make it a smooth, inconspicuous transition. The Metairie fave is known for its dim sum, not offered on traditional carts, but made to order from the menu. Pan fried shrimp dumplings, gelatinous chicken feet, curry squid are a few of dozens of choices offered.

New Orleanians love Five Happiness, a sprawling restaurant on Carrollton since 1979. Named for the Chinese tradition of five kinds of happiness: longevity, wealth, health, virtue, and peaceful death, Five Happiness adds a full belly to the list. The crispy whole fish with black bean sauce is a winner, ditto the Peking duck, which comes with ten thin crepes for bundling.

This family-run restaurant is a newcomer to the French Quarter, serving a full menu of both Chinese and Thai specialties right by Cafe du Monde on Decatur Street. It’s a pretty, modern space, with great cocktails, lo mein, peking duck, and the hot wok, a Sichuan-style dish of meat, onion, green pepper, cauliflower, jalapeno, and garlic tossed with spicy brown sauce. Cool down with the mango sticky rice.

China Orchid in the Riverbend neighborhood has been around for more than 25 years, first opened by the mother of Joe Ming, proprietor of Ming’s in Lakeview. Ming’s mother, Susan, taught him how to cook Chinese food in the kitchen of the family-owned Uptown restaurant, which changed hands in 1992. It’s still a neighborhood go-to for Chinese takeout, with an extensive menu and delivery available.

Shirley and Tang Lee, the original proprietors of Royal China in Metairie, brought Miss Shirley’s famed cuisine to the former home of Jung’s Golden Dragon II in late 2022, a happy new life for the space. Serving a new, smaller menu than at Royal China, Miss Shirley’s focuses on dim sum, as well as rich, brothy soups and a few Chinese-American staples. The recent refresh adds comforting blues, festive lights, and bigger tables, as dim sum is best enjoyed with a group.

Chef Hao Gong elevates everything he touches to another level, and while his mastery with sushi is Luvi’s calling card, his Chinese dishes, both hot and cold, are fantastic as well. The menu changes often, but usually features heavenly curried favor dumplings — beef and caramelized onions wrapped in the featherweight dough and swimming in a lightly curried broth — as well as Shanghai baby back ribs and crispy spring rolls.

Right off the freeway tucked behind a Best Buy on the Westbank, Hong Minh has an excellent menu of Chinese specialties, alongside some traditional Vietnamese and Asian fusion dishes. It’s a hidden gem for takeout, with menu highlights that include Mongolian beef, Peking duck, wonton soup, and beef with broccoli.

Arguably the West Bank’s favorite Chinese restaurant, China Doll’s Cantonese delights are well-informed by the family who founded it, the mother and siblings of the owner of Ming’s in Lakeview (the family also founded China Orchid). Try its version of barbecue shrimp and the catfish or crab fingers Cantonese.

The only place around that serves traditional dim sum from pushcarts, Panda King on the West Bank has always drawn hordes to the Hong Kong brunch of steamed dumplings, baked buns, roasted duck, and pork. It’s still serving authentic dim sum off the menu for dining in and for takeout, and with rigorous safety precautions in place, push cart service is offered on weekends, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.​​