Rice Box is the first hip and modern Cantonese restaurant in Los Angeles that really hits the mark. Diners can create custom rice boxes, choosing from the signature char siu (barbecued pork), black soy-poached chicken, crispy seven spice pork belly, or a vegan special. Chef and co-owner Leo Lee uses only organic produce, as well as ethically-sourced, sustainable, and hormone-free meat. The signature char siu barbecued pork uses Duroc pork and is marinated in a family recipe that’s been passed down for more than three decades. The triple-roasted porchetta is marinated overnight, cured, and roasted for three hours in the oven and then smoked.

Chef Lee’s rendition of the traditional Chinese celebratory dish beggar’s chicken is only available a few times a year and sells out quickly. Beaneath the proofed almond milk bao dough, beautifully decorated with Chinese characters for rice and box, is a deboned and brined whole chicken stuffed and steamed with abalone and shitake mushrooms, steamed rice, ginkgo nuts, and marinated egg stuffing wrapped in lotus leaves. 

Hidden inside a nondescript parking lot is a small mom-and-pop spot that’s been around for decades. The affordable Cantonese barbecue meats are better tasting than the big-name establishments in the area. In fact, ACC is a wholesaler to many popular San Gabriel Valley restaurants that cannot afford to have a barbecue master in-house. The restaurant serves both an Americanized and a traditional Chinese menu, along with daily specials like Hong Kong egg waffles, beef noodle soup, and even a handful of non-Cantonese dishes. The roast duck is a must-order, and the roast pork is only available on the weekends and can be preordered.

Cantonese cheung fun (steamed rice roll) is a common snack and dim sum must-order. Typically, the rolls are filled with shrimp, pork, beef, fish, or veggies and topped with a sweet soy sauce. The version at E&J Yummy has a bunched-up texture from the scraping motion used to make them. Diners can choose to add an egg topping to the steamed rice roll, which brings all the flavors together. Top it off with some chile sauce.

Delicious Food Corner is a chain of Hong Kong-style diners with multiple locations in the San Gabriel Valley. Known for its quick service and budget-friendly prices, the restaurant serves a diverse range of Cantonese and Western dishes. The extensive menu features a variety of options, including pineapple pork buns, congee, clay pot rice, rice rolls, stir-fries, and dumplings. For folks craving traditional Cantonese cuisine or a fusion of Western flavors, Delicious Food Corner has something to satisfy every palate.

Taste of MP, formerly New Lucky, is a renowned Cantonese food institution in the San Gabriel Valley. Must-try dishes include the silky clam steamed egg, wintermelon soup, salty duck yolk covered pumpkin sticks, and pickled pork belly. They offer affordable lunch specials until 5 pm and stand out by providing complimentary traditional soup during lunch and traditional Chinese dessert with dinner, a rare treat in the area.

The Congee offers humongous portions of wontons, lo mein, fish balls, beef balls, and other Hong Kong-style dishes, but its namesake congee is the star. Congee, pronounced jook in Cantonese, is a porridge made from rice usually served for breakfast or at dim sum. It’s made by boiling rice in a lot of water for a long time. Classic flavors include chicken, abalone, pork, scallions, ginger, and thousand-year-old egg. A good bowl of jook should be silky-smooth, which the Congee does just right. 

Henry’s Cuisine is a small restaurant specializing in Cantonese cuisine with a hint of Vietnamese influence. Their menu features classic dishes like XO fried rice, vermicelli noodles, salted egg shrimp, and deep-fried salted pig feet. They also offer a selection of higher-priced fresh seafood options, including garlic-steamed Alaska king crab, lobster, tiger prawns, live fish, Dungeness crab, and various clams.

A hallmark of a true Hong Kong-style cafe is a menu with enough variety to give the Cheesecake Factory a run for its money. The menu here, which varies at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, has something for everyone. There is a wide array of standard classics like pork chop baked tomato rice, pineapple buns with pork cutlet, clay pot rice, congee, noodles, and scallop fried rice. The grilled steak entrees are served with either rice or pasta and come with drinks. There are also an array of Chinese-American dishes like honey-glazed spare ribs and honey walnut shrimp. Alice’s Kitchen is operated by the family that opened the original Delicious Food Corner in Monterey Park.

Auntie Kitchen is a renowned restaurant celebrated for its authentic Cantonese cuisine. One of its highlights is the Cantonese barbecue, featuring a must-try dish: the rare Hainan chicken rice, a delicacy not commonly found in Hong Kong barbecue shops. The menu at Auntie Kitchen boasts an extensive selection, encompassing dishes such as beef brisket noodles, wontons, and rice rolls. Another standout is the Five Flavor duck, cooked to perfection by stir-frying until the skin achieves a golden hue and then slow-cooking for several hours.

Ho Kee is known for its roast duck and array of Cantonese and Hong Kong comfort dishes, but the specialty is its see fong choi (private kitchen dishes). These specialty menu items, which can be on the pricier side, include abalone and sea cucumber, winter melon soup, steamed egg custard in crab shell, garlic steamed razor clams, and jumbo shrimp.

Find Harlam’s Kitchen in Rosemead’s Square Plaza’s run-down food court. One of the reasons people still come to the plaza is solely for Har Lam’s Hong Kong-style comfort food: wonton noodle soup, chow fun, porridge, and rice noodles with beef brisket and tendon. The stall is so tiny that you can see the staff standing shoulder to shoulder, wrapping fresh dumplings and blanching noodles. The metal chairs in the food court haven’t been changed in decades, while the food is served in styrofoam containers. Harlam’s must-order item is the zhaliang, a crispy Chinese fried donut wrapped inside a thin rice-noodle sheet and topped with sweet soy sauce, sesame seeds, and scallions. 

Tam’s Noodle House opened during the pandemic selling only frozen Hong Kong-style wontons and dumplings. Now that on-site dining is allowed again, the restaurant serves Hong Kong- and Cantonese-style cafe foods like curry fish balls, barbecue pork, beef stew lo mien, steamed rice roll, and Hong Kong-style milk tea. All the noodles and dumplings are made in-house. Tam’s offers three varieties of egg noodles, including wonton-style egg noodles, rice noodles, and flat egg noodles. 

Colette is a standout addition to LA’s Cantonese dining scene this year. Their compact dim sum menu combines beloved classics with unique creations, like the sticky rice with chicken, salted egg yolk, and mushrooms wrapped in lotus leaf and torched tableside with molten mozzarella. Chef Peter Lai offers off-menu dishes for dinner, including the crispy flower chicken and Dungeness crab curry with pan-fried vermicelli. Don’t miss the stir-fried lobster sticky rice, lamb stew, and winter melon soup. Colette delivers an unforgettable culinary experience.

Ruby BBQ is a cut above when it comes to Cantonese-style barbecue. The roast pork’s crunchy exterior gives way to tender hunks of belly, while the roast duck’s crispy skin sheaths moist, gamey meat.

May Mei is a solid Cantonese restaurant that has been a local favorite for 15 years. The daily chef specials and long list of Cantonese specialities makes it a neighborhood must. There are many renditions of popular tofu dishes on the menu, like fish and tofu in black bean sauce, and  Cantonese-style soups that can take hours to make, like the crab meat fish maw soup. Seafood is a main draw here, including the salt and pepper shrimp, black bean clams, and salty fish fried rice.

Mr. Chopsticks has been a mainstay in the area for over three decades and is one of a few Cantonese restaurants that still provides free soup at the start of the meal. The lunch menu includes 40-plus affordable and generously portioned specials such as beef chow fun, kung pao shrimp, chicken wings, and salt and pepper shrimp. With 24-hour advance notice, Mr. Chopsticks prepares its famous seafood winter melon soup from scratch, using ingredients from the restaurant’s garden. The soup can serve up to 15 people.