Whether you’re looking for Chinese or Vietnamese food or something in between, this list from our Sauce 75 feature spans the Asian continent and beyond.
Akar
This intimate space is a love letter to chef-owner Bernie Lee’s past. The name means “roots” in Malay, and the menu is inspired by Lee’s childhood, his travels and what he cooks at home. Try the insanely tender short ribs, which come topped with a rich and silky sambal-spiced demi-glace alongside mashed peas and burnt carrots, or the Rangoon stuffed with huge chunks of lobster meat and served with a spicy-sweet mango sauce. There’s also a handful of creative cocktails like the Serai, which includes lemongrass-infused tequila, cilantro liqueur and Thai chile simple syrup, as well as a well-curated wine selection.
7641 Wydown Blvd., Clayton, 314.553.9914, akarstl.com Credit: greg rannellsCate Zone
It takes a lot for a Chinese spot to stand out on Olive Boulevard, but Cate Zone’s Dongbei cuisine has amassed a large, loyal following since the restaurant opened in 2016. The recent addition of a Chesterfield location will only extend the restaurant’s fame. The menu offers plenty of familiar dishes, like sweet and sour pork – tender meat coated in a crunchy crust and served in a pool of gloriously sticky sauce – killer stir-fried noodles and crispy eggplant. But what sets Cate Zone apart is its bevy of traditional favorites from northeastern China. The hot crisp fish is seasoned with a spice blend including powdered Sichuan peppers and cayenne, dipped in a light batter then fried until golden and served on a bed of even more Sichuan peppers. Pro tip: While waiting for your table at the original University City location, head a few doors down to Soup Dumplings STL – or as we affectionately call it, the “Cate Zone Wait Zone” – for a pre-dinner appetizer.
Multiple locations, catezone.site Credit: Mabel SuenChiang Mai
Opportunities to enjoy northern Thai food are few and far between in St. Louis, but anyone who is already familiar with the region’s cuisine will be excited by Chiang Mai, which pays homage in name and spirit to chef-owner Su Hill’s hometown. The confident, straightforward menu’s northern Thai signatures include gaeng hung lay (a braised pork curry flavored with a variety of herbs and spices, garlic, ginger and onion), larb khua (sauteed ground pork served with steamed or sticky rice, vegetables and fresh herbs) and sai oua (a fragrant and funky grilled pork sausage). Even the khao soi, a chicken and curry noodle dish commonly found on Thai takeout menus, has its own distinct personality, with a darker, burnt orange color and nuanced spice mix.
8158 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314.961.8889, chiangmaistl.com Credit: Greg RannellsChiliSpot
If you’ve never experienced the ways green Sichuan peppercorns invigorate a dish, the boiled fish with Chinese green pepper at ChiliSpot is a revelation. There’s that signature numbing heat, but with an herbal, floral quality that adds a surprising, pleasing twist. ChiliSpot also offers this dish with chicken or beef, but the smooth, flaky texture of the fish is a pitch-perfect complement to the silky broth, which also includes green peppercorn oil. Their eggplant with garlic sauce is so good it’ll change your idea of what eggplant can be. This is one of the most common veggie dishes on Sichuanese menus, but it can be among the most difficult to get right. This one is cooked impeccably in a beautiful blend of oil, dried red peppers and sizable, aromatic pieces of garlic. ChiliSpot’s impressively thick menu could read as overwhelming, but the bounty of beautiful photos inside provide the diner with a thorough education in Sichuan cuisine. And let’s be real – you could open the menu at any random page, point your finger and land on something delicious.
7930 Olive Blvd., University City, 314.925.8711, chilispotusa.com Credit: izaiah johnsonIndo
Sauce’s Best New Restaurant of the year in 2019, Indo in Botanical Heights blends a unique combination of signature Thai flavors and classic Japanese techniques with a wild sense of fun. The Isaan hamachi – arguably Indo’s signature dish – is a useful cipher for understanding the restaurant’s genius. Salted hamachi (yellowtail) sashimi with coconut naam pla (a sauce made with chile, garlic, fish sauce, fish caramel, coconut milk and a lot of lime), roasted chile oil, Thai kosho (a paste of Thai chiles, Thai basil, lime, palm syrup and fermented fish paste) and candied garlic is a feast for the eyes and senses. The cabbage salad is another favorite: funky, sweet and savory at the same time with tamarind dressing and candied peanuts. The long list of temaki (sushi hand rolls) and creative bar menu are not to be missed. This juggling of the simple with the bold, the elegant with the aggressive, is the red thread tying Indo together.
1641D Tower Grove Ave., St. Louis, 314.899.9333, indo-stl.com Credit: Greg RannellsJoo Joo Restaurant & Karaoke
This quirky mom-and-pop eatery in Creve Coeur offers some of the finest Korean barbecue in St. Louis with the added fun of private karaoke rooms in the back available for hourly rental. The crowning glory of Joo Joo’s menu is the kori gom tang, a savory oxtail bone broth soup with flavor so dense it’s like liquid steak. The soup comes brimming with glass noodles, juicy chunks of beef and green onions in a rich broth. Other home runs are the doenjang jjigae (a fermented soybean paste stew packed with seafood, zucchini, onion and tofu), the omurice, and the tteokbokki, which comes swimming in a sweet, spicy, salty, peppery sauce with hard-boiled eggs and fish cakes.
12937 Olive Blvd., Creve Coeur, 314.469.1999, joojoo.us Credit: Joo Joo Restaurant & KaraokeKain Tayo
Sauce’s No. 8 Best New Restaurant of 2023, Kain Tayo (“let’s eat” in Tagalog) is the latest local eatery winning St. Louisans’ hearts and stomachs over to the cuisine of the Philippines. The Midtown restaurant offers a menu of traditional, comforting favorites like lumpia (egg rolls filled with pork, onions, carrots and celery with sweet chile sauce on the side), pancit (stir-fried rice noodles with pork and various veggies) and the unofficial national dish of the Philippines: chicken adobo (tangy chicken marinated in soy sauce and vinegar and served over rice). For those who want to dive a bit deeper into the cuisine, the restaurant also has dishes like sinigang, a sour pork soup, and pinakbet, a pork and shrimp stew chock full of squash, okra, eggplant, tomato and more. All of this deliciousness comes courtesy of chef-owner Sally Arcega. Before relocating their restaurant to Midtown, the Arcega family had been cooking up faithful Filipino flavors in Trenton, Illinois, since 2019. They moved to St. Louis to bring their food to a bigger audience, and we’re so glad they did.
2700 Locust St., St. Louis, 314.396.2110, kaintayostl.com Credit: Carmen TroesserLona’s Lil Eats
Fox Park is a long way from the tiny mountain village in China’s Yunnan province that chef and co-owner Lona Luo hails from. But you can pick up more than a trail of that mountain air over this little corner of St. Louis city where Luo cooks up tastes of home. Luo, who has been cooking since she was 6 years old, is primarily known for her giant rice paper wraps. But she’s also rightfully hailed for her dumplings, her village bamboo stew and her rich, spicy eggplant. It’s no surprise that she was a James Beard Awards semifinalist in the Best Chef: Midwest category not once, but three years in a row from 2018 to 2020.
2199 California Ave., St. Louis, 314.925.8938, lonaslileats.com Credit: virginia haroldMai Lee
This Brentwood restaurant remains an essential destination for Vietnamese cuisine in St. Louis, almost 40 years after founder Lee Tran opened Mai Lee in its original Delmar Boulevard location. The restaurant started as a Chinese restaurant, but Tran gradually introduced dishes from her home country, giving many St. Louisans their first taste of pho, goi cuon (Vietnamese spring rolls) and other Vietnamese staples. Tran’s son Qui (also of Nudo House fame) runs things these days, but the quality is still as strong as ever. We go back for the salt and pepper calamari (muc chien gion), but there’s much to love here. The mango sticky rice, covered in a warm, delicate sauce of sweetened coconut milk and topped with cool, golden mango is a treat for dessert.
8396 Musick Memorial Drive, Brentwood, 314.645.2835, maileestl.com Credit: Carmen TroesserMenya Rui
Very few ramen shops in the United States make their noodles in-house, and restaurants offering broth-less styles like tsukemen and mazemen are comparably rare. Local jewel Menya Rui (Sauce’s Best New Restaurant of 2022) does both, but it’s the broth-less tantanmen that really has us hooked. The fresh, chewy noodles take center stage in this Japanese take on Sichuan dan-dan noodles with ground pork, aromatic chile oil, sesame paste and pleasing notes of that signature numbing spice. Owner and chef Steven Pursley’s passion and expertise – which earned him a Food & Wine Best New Chef class of 2023 honor – are evident from your first slurp to your last lick of the empty bowl. Menya Rui is a restaurant that is clear in its identity, proud in its craft, rigorously on point in its execution and unrivaled in St. Louis.
3453 Hampton Ave., St. Louis, 314.601.3524, menyarui.com Credit: Greg RannellsGrilled kinmedai at Sado. Credit: photo by Michelle VolanskyTai Ke Shabu Shabu
A slick, white bar lined with induction cooktops is the star of the space here, and this is where the magic happens. Tai Ke’s specialty is the Taiwanese take on shabu shabu (the Japanese name refers to the sound of “swishing” meat in boiling broth), with pots of flavorful, simmering broth for DIY cooking. Choose between original or spicy broth, then pick from the list of add-ons: seafood, vegetables, fried tofu, thin slices of beef, pork, clams, noodles, and special hot pot dumplings. The shabu shabu is great, but don’t overlook the rest of the menu, which features a selection of Taiwanese cuisine you can’t find anywhere else in town. Yan su ji, or Taiwanese popcorn chicken, is a can’t-miss street food classic. Lightly battered dark meat nuggets are tossed in a gently spicy combination of white pepper and Chinese spice. The generous plate of crunchy, tender chicken and fried basil will keep you reaching for your cold beer, like you’re sweating it out in a Taiwanese night market instead of an Olivette strip mall.
9626 Olive Blvd., Olivette, 314.801.8411, taikeshabushabu.com Credit: photo by Alexander GrmanTiger Soup Dumplings
We fell for this restaurant’s small, unassuming Fenton location when making selections for the Sauce Best New Restaurants of 2022. Tiger Soup Dumplings has built a steady following over the last few years, and with a second location recently opened in Des Peres, we think this is only the beginning. The succinct menu is topped by Shanghai-style soup dumplings filled with beef, pork, chicken or shrimp and cheese. While steamed dumplings are more traditional, the pan-fried versions are equally good. The interior of these little parcels of joy is very hot, and the soup can squirt in any direction – follow the guide on the wall to avoid burns. Pair your dumplings with a side of the cold, crisp cucumber salad and the spicy wontons.
Multiple locations, tigersoupdumplings.square.site Credit: by David KovalukWonton King
This is the place to go to partake in the Cantonese weekend ritual that is dim sum. Almost from the moment the restaurant’s doors open, tables fill up with groups of families and friends gathering to catch up over pots of tea and bite-sized morsels, from steamed char siu buns and shrimp dumplings to sweet egg tarts and delectable steamed buns filled with rich custard. Order a few items from the menu to get started, but save space to grabbing some dim sum from the carts that servers wheel around the dining room. Once you hit your stride, the only challenge is knowing when to stop. Wonton King also has a full menu of classic Chinese dishes for lunch and dinner.
8116 Olive Blvd., University City, 314.567.9997, asianfoodstl.com Credit: wonton king
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