Chinatown: Things to do in with kids!

Chinatown! We love it, but it can be overwhelming with all the shops and restaurants.

I am certainly not an expert... and generally just drive until I happen upon something we want to try. But since I get asked a lot, below are some things-to-do to get you started. If you have Houston Chinatown favorites, let us know!

Jump to:

1. My Table Chinatown Restaurant Guide:
2. Ice Cream:
3. Bakeries:
4. Grocery Stores:
5. Traditional Chinese Outfits:
6. More to Do:

1. My Table Chinatown Restaurant Guide:

When you drive down Bellaire Boulevard, you will see (literally) hundreds of restaurants. There are so many options I find it almost impossible to pick one for lunch... Fortunately My Table put together a guide with the eight kinds of Chinese food in Chinatown, with their recommendations.

2. Ice Cream:

Chinatown shops do ice cream well! To start, find sea salt ice cream, wrapped in cotton candy at Aqua S and some crazy creations at Red Circle.

3. Bakeries:

I love the bakeries... and if your kids are not especially adventurous, you can still find something good to eat. Also, if you go in the morning, the bakeries are awake before many of the other shops and restaurants.

85°C Bakery and Six Ping are good bakeries... and here is what Yelp rates as the best. (What are your favorites?)

4. Grocery Stores:

This might be my favorite thing to do in Chinatown. It's easy to go to a grocery store and we always find something new to try. A couple of our favorites are:

Hong Kong Food Market:

Every trip takes 2 laps around the 150,000 square foot store. One is to take in all the weird animal parts, raw meat counter and huge live fish tanks (with men standing on the counter scooping them out for dinner), and the next lap is to select some reasonable produce, some unrecognizable things to try and, my favorite, some candies or cookies.

H Mart:

This is a smaller Korean Market. It has plenty of unique things to try… but only takes us one lap around… because it’s not as huge or unbelievable as the Hong Kong Market.

5. Traditional Chinese Outfits:

If you want to find traditional Chinese outfits for the Lunar New Year, look in the Hong Kong Market Shopping Center. (Enter at the grocery store and turn right to find the store.) Cali Fashion has the kids outfits for around $15 (and more expensive outfits too).