Overseas Chinese cuisine

While Chinese cuisine may have originated in China, the legacy of the Overseas Chinese has brought the flavours, ingredients and cuisine of China all around the world. By far the most well known types of "Overseas Chinese" cuisines can be found in the sizable Chinese minorities in Southeast Asia, but there are also local styles in places like Australia and the Americas.

Understand
While Overseas Chinese cuisine is used as a very broad term to describe Chinese food that is consumed outside China, it differs significantly from place to place, and at times is hardly recognisable as Chinese food to people from China. This is particularly reflected in Western countries with a large Chinese population such as the U.S., UK, Canada or Australia, where it has been significantly modified to suit the Anglo-Celtic palate, although "Chinese Chinese" cuisine can also be found in many of these countries, particularly in large cities, parts of their wider metropolitan areas and places where there are university students from China.

In the 21st century, China's growing business ties with much of the developing world have led to a large influx of Chinese expatriates to these regions, and many places which historically had a negligible Chinese presence now have restaurants serving authentic Chinese food catering to these expatriates.

Australia
Today, Chinese food is a favourite when it comes to the meals of Australians, with many elements of Chinese cuisine now standard as part of Australian cuisine. The first traces of Chinese cuisine brought to Australia was during the Victorian Gold Rush during the 1850s, when an influx of migrants from southern China came for a better life. Although the White Australia policy severely limited Chinese immigration to Australia until the 1970s, a special exemption for Chinese chefs under that law led to the proliferation of Chinese restaurants as a way for Chinese immigrants to enter Australia.

Like American Chinese food, Australian Chinese food is mostly based on Cantonese cuisine but heavily modified to suit Australia's dominant Anglo-Celtic palate, and is usually much sweeter than authentic Cantonese food. Unlike Panda Express in the United States, there is no one Chinese fast-food chain that serves all of Australia, but Wok in a Box mainly operate in South and Western Australia while Noodle Box in the eastern states. Many suburbs and smaller towns also have local independent Chinese takeaways serving Australian Chinese food.

Authentic Chinese food can be found in the Chinatowns of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra, or suburbs with significant numbers of ethnic Chinese residents (e.g. Kingsford or Eastwood in Sydney, Box Hill or Glen Waverly in Melbourne, Dickson in Canberra, or Sunnybank in Brisbane). Australia is also a popular destination for ethnic Chinese immigrants from Malaysia, so there are numerous Malaysian restaurants in and around the major cities that serve Malaysian-Chinese cuisine. Vietnamese neighbourhoods and suburbs are also a good place to look for Chinese, in particular Cantonese food, as many of the boat people who fled Vietnam for Australia were ethnic Chinese.

Canada
Canadian-Chinese food was similar to American-Chinese food back in the day, and that is still largely true. Manchu Wok is a chain of fast food restaurants specializing in Canadian-Chinese food, with a strong presence in part of the United States as well. However, nowadays, Canada is generally considered to have the best authentic Chinese food in North America, as the country welcomed large numbers of immigrants from Hong Kong around the time it was handed over from Britain to China in 1997, and has seen a large influx of Hong Kong independence activists fleeing the National Security Law since 2020. Vancouver's Chinatown is perhaps the most famous, with some rivalry from Toronto, and smaller Chinatowns in Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Victoria. However, the original Chinatowns in Vancouver and Toronto have been eclipsed by newer suburban Chinatowns, and these days, most ethnic Chinese residents of the two cities will tell you that the best Chinese food is to be found in the suburbs and not in Chinatown; Richmond in the case of Vancouver, with the majority of its residents being of Chinese descent, and Markham or Richmond Hill in the case of Toronto.

Cuba
Cuba is home to the oldest Chinatown in Latin America, Havana's Barrio Chino. Prior to the Cuban Revolution, Cuba's ethnic Chinese community was the largest in Latin America, but most of the community fled to New York City following the revolution, resulting in a large number of Cuban-Chinese restaurants through the 1990s or so. However, a small community remains in Havana, and there is still a handful of Chinese restaurants in Havana's Chinatown serving mostly Cuban-Chinese food.

India
Kolkata is home to India's largest ethic Chinese community, mostly of Hakka or Cantonese origin, who trace their roots in India to colonial times. While most of the community fled to Western countries amid rising Sinophobia and heavy persecution by the Indian government in the wake of the 1962 Sino-Indian War, a handful of mostly elderly ethnic Chinese continue to reside in Kolkata. However, Kolkata has developed its own unique take on Chinese food that remains popular throughout the Bengal region, and has also spread beyond that to all of India's major cities. Due to the origin of the colonial-era Chinese immigrants to India, Indian-Chinese cuisine is predominantly based on Hakka or Cantonese cuisine, but has adopted numerous Indian twists, such as the use of Indian spices such as cumin and tumeric. India's sole official Chinatown is the Tiretta Bazaar area of Kolkata, where most of the remaining ethnic Chinese residents are of Cantonese origin, and you can find many food stalls selling Indian-Chinese street food. A newer de facto Chinatown is located in the suburb of Tangra, where most of the Hakkas moved to in the 1950s in order to be closer to the tanneries they operated, with numerous Chinese restaurants in the area catering to that community.

Japan
Although Chinese influences first reached Japan during the 6th century AD, the history of the modern ethnic Chinese community in Japan mostly dates back to the Meiji period in the late 19th century. Japan is home to three Chinatowns, in Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki respectively, and numerous Chinese dishes have been widely adopted in Japan and altered to suit the Japanese palate, to the point that they would be hardly recognisable to someone from China. Perhaps the most famous example of Japanese-Chinese food is ramen, which uses Chinese-style egg noodles and is served a hearty pork or chicken-based broth. A common condiment in ramen is chashu, which was derived from the Cantonese char siu, but is stewed in Japan, instead of roasted like the Cantonese original. Other dishes you might come across in "Chinese" restaurants in Japan include gyoza (derived from northern Chinese jiaozi), chukaman (derived from Chinese steamed buns with filling, with subtypes nikuman having meat filling, and anman having red bean paste filling), buta kakuni (derived from Dongpo pork, a local speciality of Hangzhou), mabo dofu (derived from Sichuanese mapo tofu), shumai (derived from Cantonese siu mai) and karaage (Japanese style fried chicken, deep fried using a Chinese technique for frying tofu for vegetarian meals).

Mexico
In 1882, the United States passed an anti-immigration law called the Chinese Exclusion Act to specifically ban Chinese immigrants, most of whom were settling in California. Thousands of Chinese headed south of the border where they found a more welcoming environment. Especially in the city of Mexicali where the Chinesca neighborhood became the city's Chinatown. It was a hotbed of a fusion of Chinese and Mexican cuisines. Some may seem like obvious translations to Spanish until you taste them and find that the Chinese dishes have been spiced with chiles, cumin, cilantro and other common Mexican ingredients. Chinese restaurants in Mexicali include dishes like Baja Style Salt and Pepper Fish, and Kung Pao Camarones. Many cities throughout Mexico have Chinese restaurants that adapt to their local clientele's tastes, but it's in Mexicali where the Chinese community has a large critical mass that has maintained its blended cuisine for more than a century.

Peru
The local variant of Chinese cuisine, known as chifa, was created by Cantonese immigrants in the early 20th century. By 1920, the first chifa restaurants opened in the capital Lima's Chinatown, or Barrio Chino in Spanish, and were immediately embraced by the city's elite. Its popularity spread from there to all socioeconomic groups, to the point that the city is now estimated to have over 6,000 chifa restaurants at all price levels, with many thousands more in other parts of the country. The cuisine has since spread to several of Peru's neighboring countries. As elsewhere, chifa is a fusion between Chinese cooking methods and local ingredients. A few of the dishes you might come across in chifa restaurants are arroz chaufa (fried rice), tallarín saltado (chow mein), lomo saltado (stir-fried steak with french fries and various vegetables), pollo tipa kay (sweet-and-sour chicken), and taypa a la plancha (stir-fry of multiple meats with seafood, tofu, and vegetables). While Lima's original Chinatown still exists, it has shrunk considerably since its heyday, and most of the ethnic Chinese have moved to the suburb of San Borja, where you can now find numerous chifa restaurants.

South Africa
South Africa has a small ethnic Chinese community, mostly of Cantonese origin, dating back to colonial times. As in other Anglophone countries such as the U.S. and Australia, South African-Chinese food is generally of the Westernised takeaway variety, being based on Cantonese cuisine, but having been heavily modified to suit the Anglo-Celtic palate, and can be found in most of South Africa's major cities. Africa's sole Chinatown dating back to the colonial era is the Commissioner Street area of Johannesburg, though most of the ethnic Chinese have either moved to the suburbs or emigrated abroad to escape rising crime rates and urban blight, and today, the area is only a shadow of its former self. Nevertheless a handful of Chinese restaurants and grocery stores remain, including the Swallow's Inn, the oldest Chinese restaurant in South Africa, and possibly on the entire African continent. That said, China's growing business ties with Africa in the 21st century have led to a new influx of Chinese expatriates to South Africa, and the suburb of Cyrildene is now known as Johannesburg's "New Chinatown", with numerous Chinese shops and restaurants in the area. As Cyrildene primarily caters to more recent arrivals from China, and from more diverse origins, the Chinese food served in Cyrildene tends to be more authentic than elsewhere in South Africa, with a variety of regional Chinese cuisines being represented.

Brunei
Like their counterparts in neighbouring Malaysia, Brunei's ethnic Chinese minority has preserved a separate cultural identity from the Malay majority. Although it is generally illegal to serve non-halal food in Brunei, an exception has been made for the Chinese community, and many of the Chinese food stalls and restaurants serve pork. Bruneian Chinese food is generally similar to Malaysian Chinese food, tracing its roots primarily to Fujian, Guangdong or Hainan, but incorporating numerous Malay influences such as sambal belacan and local spices like lemongrass and galingale.

Cambodia
Although most of the Cambodian-Chinese community either fled or were killed by the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian Genocide, a small community remains in Phnom Penh, mostly in the area around the Central Market, and many stalls inside Phnom Penh's Central Market are operated by ethnic Chinese. Like in the case of neighbouring Thailand, most Cambodian-Chinese are of Teochew descent. Perhaps the most noticeable Chinese-derived ingredient in Cambodian cuisine is kuyteav, which was derived from Chinese-style rice noodles known as kway teow in Teochew. Like their Southeast Asian neighbours, Chinese-style steamed buns have been widely adopted in Cambodia too, where they are known as num pauw.

Indonesia
Indonesia has the second largest overseas Chinese community in the world after Thailand, and Chinese influences have made their way into Indonesian cuisine. The quintessential Indonesian-Chinese dish is the ubiquitous mie goreng, which consists of Chinese-style thick egg and wheat noodles stir-fried with various Chinese and local ingredients, with the precise composition varying from region to region. The Glodok district is Jakarta's Chinatown, and where you can sample numerous Indonesian-Chinese dishes. Other Indonesian cities with large ethnic Chinese communities include Medan, Pontianak, Singkawang and Pematangsiantar.

Malaysia
Malaysia is home to the third largest overseas Chinese community in the world after Thailand and Indonesia. Unlike in many other countries, Malaysia's Chinese community has resisted assimilation and is fiercely protective of its distinct communal identity. Despite having settled in Malaysia for much longer than the ethnic Chinese communities in Western countries, the Malaysian Chinese community is widely considered to have preserved Chinese culture and language the best among all the overseas Chinese communities of the world. Malaysia's large Chinese population has resulted in a large range of Chinese food. The type of Chinese cuisine that is mostly eaten in Malaysia is the Chinese food from southern China – in particular, the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan. Unlike many other places, the Chinese food in Malaysia uses a lot more chilli in it, and Malaysian-Chinese cuisine also typically incorporates more shrimp paste (known as belacan in Malay) and local aromatic spices (lemongrass, galangal, etc.), too. Even restaurants in Malaysia that serve otherwise straight Cantonese cuisine are likely to have kangkung belacan (water spinach wok-fried with shrimp paste and red chillis) and often a curry or two on the menu. Asam dishes (spicy and made with a sour sauce redolent with the juice of the Malaysian tamarind fruit) are served and enjoyed by Chinese and Malays alike, and the same is true of various noodle dishes.

Malaysian food is highly flavorful, and Chinese Malaysian food is far from an exception. Any large city and many smaller cities will have delicious Chinese eateries (stalls, coffee shops and/or restaurants), and among the Malaysian cities renowned for their Chinese food are Ipoh, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Muar, Malacca, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.

Many Chinese traders arrived and settled in the Malacca Sultanate following the visit of Chinese Ming Dynasty Admiral Zheng He in the 15th century, and married the local Malay women. Today, their descendants are known as the Peranakan, or Straits Chinese, and as you would expect, their culture is a blend of Chinese and Malay cultures. This is also reflected in their unique cuisine, with signature dishes such as ayam buah keluak and babi pongteh that extensively fuse Chinese and Malay flavours. Malacca is the natural place to go if you want to sample some Peranakan cuisine, but Peranakan restaurants can also be found in Malaysia's other major cities, as well in neighbouring Singapore.

Myanmar
Ethnic Chinese have been settling in Myanmar since the colonial period, and Yangon has a Chinatown where many of these ethnic Chinese live, and numerous seafood stalls serving barbecued seafood in the evenings. Numerous Chinese-style dishes have also made it into Burmese cuisine, with baukci (derived from Chinese baozi) being a popular dish at traditional Burmese tea houses. Mandalay is also known for its large ethnic Chinese population, who constitute about half the city's population. While the ethnic Chinese in Yangon are mostly descended from immigrants from Guangdong and Fujian, those in Mandalay are mostly descended from immigrants from Yunnan. You can also find tea stalls selling ikrakwe, derived from the Chinese youtiao, in the local markets, though in Myanmar, it is usually dipped in some strong, sweet milk tea before eating.

Philippines
The Binondo area of Manila is the oldest Chinatown in the world, having been founded in 1594 by the Spanish colonists for the Chinese immigrants who had converted to Roman Catholicism. Today, the area is still home to a thriving Filipino-Chinese community, mostly descended from migrants from South Fujian, who still speak a localised dialect of Hokkien with strong influences from Tagalog. The Chinese community in the Philippines has developed a uniquely Filipino version of Chinese cuisine, mainly based on the cuisine of South Fujian, with numerous dishes such as lumpia (spring rolls), siopao (baozi; Chinese-style steamed buns with filling) and kuwapaw (braised pork belly buns) being typical of Filipino-Chinese cuisine.

Singapore
While ethnic Chinese form the majority in Singapore, Singaporean Chinese food also draws substantial influences from Malay and Indian cuisine. Singaporean Chinese food is thus very similar to Malaysian Chinese food, having mostly originated from the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan, but incorporating numerous local ingredients such as sambal belacan (shrimp paste with chilli), lemongrass and satay sauce. Singapore's Chinese community has also enthusiastically adopted the tradition of eating curry from their Indian neighbours, and you will often see numerous fusion dishes such as fish head curry and curry noodles. Many of Malacca's Peranakans settled in Singapore during the colonial period, and there is also no shortage of Peranakan restaurants for people looking to get their fix.

Thailand
Thailand is home to the world's largest overseas Chinese community, and has been heavily influenced by Chinese food and flavours. Thai cuisine would be almost unrecognizable today without its Chinese influences, and that should be no surprise with around about 9 million inhabitants of Chinese descent in Thailand.

Many of the Chinese influences come from Guangdong, in particular the Chaoshan region, and southern China in general. A good popular place to have some Chinese food in Thailand is Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown, which is said to be the birthplace of street food in Thailand. Even outside Chinatown, many of Bangkok's most famous street dishes are of Chinese origin, but have been given a Thai twist, such as the incorporation of Thai flavours and ingredients such as fish sauce, lemongrass and galingale. Ethnic Chinese from Malaysia in Singapore in particular will recognise many Thai dishes as variants of local Chinese dishes back home, examples including salapao (pau or baozi, Chinese-style steamed buns with filling), bamee moo daeng (wonton noodles), khao man gai (Hainanese chicken rice) and khao moo daeng (char siu rice). In some cases, Chinese dishes have become so widely adopted that they were simply given Thai names and are now regarded as local food, an example being khao tom pla, which is the Thai name of Teochew fish porridge.

In some remote villages near the Burmese border like Ban Rak Thai and Mae Salong, most of the residents are descended from Chinese Nationalist soldiers from Yunnan who fled there after losing the Chinese Civil War, and those villages are still known for their Yunnanese cuisine and Chinese tea to this day.

Vietnam
Having been under Chinese cultural domination for much of its history, Vietnamese culture exhibits strong influences from Chinese culture, and this is also reflected in its cuisine, with perhaps the most noticeable influence being the widespread use of chopsticks in Vietnam.

The city of Hoi An has been a major port for centuries, and for much of that history has played host to many Chinese traders, who have left their mark in the local cuisine.

There was also much Chinese immigration to Vietnam during the colonial period, and most of the immigrants settled in and around the major cities. Their influence is still very much visible in Vietnamese cuisine, with the deep-fried quẩy fritters that are often served with phở in northern Vietnam having been derived from Chinese youtiao. Another popular snack of Chinese origin that has been widely adopted by the Vietnamese population is bánh bao, a type of steamed bun with meat fillings that was derived from Chinese baozi. While the ethnic Chinese community in northern Vietnam was mostly expelled to China during the Indochina Wars, a significant ethnic Chinese community remains in southern Vietnam, with the Cholon district, Ho Chi Minh City's Chinatown, still being home to a large ethnic Chinese community, mostly of Cantonese origin, but with a large Teochew minority. As such, that is the natural place to go to try some local renditions of Chinese food. In general, Chinese influences tend to be stronger in the cuisine of southern Vietnam due to the larger ethnic Chinese population. Chinese food in Vietnam is often served with Vietnamese condiments such as pickled carrots and radish, and fish sauce. Examples of Chinese dishes in Vietnam include: vịt quay (Cantonese-style roast duck); bột chiên (Teochew-style fried radish cake, though in Vietnam, it is usually made of pure rice flour and does not contain any radish); hủ tiếu (Cambodian-Teochew-style flat rice noodles, ultimately from Teochew kway teow); mì vịt tiềm (egg and wheat noodles with duck in a Chinese herbal broth); mì xá xíu (wonton noodles); and cơm gà Hải Nam (Hainanese chicken rice).

South Korea
Chinese food in South Korea is often hardly recognisable from what is served in China. While most of the ethnic Chinese community fled during the xenophobic Park Chung-hee years, their impact on Korean cuisine can still be seen today. Perhaps the best known Korean-Chinese dish is jajangmyeong, which traces its origin to early 20th century Chinese immigrants from Shandong, and was adapted from the northern Chinese zhajiangmian; interestingly, while most Koreans regard it as Chinese food, most people from China regard it as Korean food. The only official Chinatown in South Korea is located in Incheon, though very few of the original Chinese residents remain, and most of the restaurants there are run by Koreans. Busan also has an unofficial Chinatown, but most of the Chinese residents had left by the 1980s, and today it is mainly inhabited by Russians.

United Kingdom
Chinese food in the United Kingdom is generally of the Westernised takeaway variety, having been heavily adapted to suit the British palate, making it similar to American-Chinese and Australian-Chinese cuisine. Due to the history of British colonial rule in those areas, most ethnic Chinese in the United Kingdom are immigrants from Hong Kong or Malaysia and their descendants, with the United Kingdom being the most popular destination for Hong Kong independence activists fleeing the National Security Law since 2020. Therefore, British-Chinese cuisine is typically based on Cantonese and Malaysian-Chinese cuisine. That said, London is regarded as one of the best cities in the world for dim sum and Cantonese-style roasted meats due to the large number of immigrants from Hong Kong, and there are also numerous Malaysian restaurants in London that serve fairly authentic renditions of Malaysian-Chinese cuisine. Naturally, a good place to look for Chinese food in London is Chinatown, though there are other areas too such as Bayswater, which is home to Four Seasons, one of the most famous Cantonese roast duck restaurants in the world (to the point that they have also expanded overseas with a branch in Bangkok, Thailand). Other British cities with notable Chinatowns include Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle.

United States of America
With about 5.4 million Americans of Chinese descent, finding Chinese food in the United States is never too hard. During the years of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese restaurants proliferated throughout the United States due to a special exception under that law allowing Chinese chefs to be brought into the United States. A popular takeaway/takeout fast-food store in the United States that specializes in American-Chinese food is Panda Express, which as of 2022 has its own overseas presence, as far as the United Arab Emirates. For many Westerners, this type of "Overseas Chinese food" closely resembles American-Chinese cuisine.

Outside the realm of fast food chains, it is common for Chinese restaurants in the U.S. to sweeten food for American tastes. That said, while independent Chinese restaurants in the U.S. are still mostly of the "chow mein and chop suey" variety of Toisanese or Cantonese food heavily modified to satisfy American tastes, there has been a proliferation Chinese restaurants in the U.S. that have at least some more "real-deal" Chinese dishes on their menus, especially in larger cities and college towns. In some cases, the authentic Chinese dishes are listed on a separate menu that is written only in Chinese, and may have to be pre-ordered in advance; some restaurants will make something traditional for you off-menu if you speak their dialect.

If you want to find authentic Chinese food, your best bets are in Honolulu and major West Coast cities such as Los Angeles (particularly the San Gabriel Valley), the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, but in addition, on the East Coast, there are at least four Chinatowns in New York City (two in Brooklyn, at least one in Queens and one in Manhattan), with Flushing probably the place where you can find the largest degree of regional variety at the best price, while in Manhattan, the East Village has also become a hotbed of regional Chinese cuisine, though it is generally not cheap. Other East Coast cities such as Philadelphia and Boston also have notable Chinatowns, Chicago's Bridgeport-Chinatown is king in the Midwest, while Houston reigns supreme in the South. Washington, D.C. also has a large ethnic Chinese community, but Chinatown is a tourist trap with mediocre and overpriced restaurants, and the best authentic Chinese food can be found in the suburbs. As many of the Vietnamese boat people who fled to the United States were ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese neighborhoods and suburbs are also a good place to look for Chinese food, with Cantonese and Teochew cuisine being the most commonly represented, while Thai restaurants often serve several Thai-Chinese dishes.