Chinatown Bakeries, Tea and Gifts

Chicago's Chinatown is a food-first shopping trip. The shops run along S Wentworth Ave from Cermak Rd to 24th St, and the two-story Chinatown Square plaza sits just to the north, between S Archer Ave and S China Pl. Come hungry, and plan to leave with a box of egg tarts, a bag of dried mushrooms and a blind box or two.

Chinese businesses moved here from the Loop around 1912, after rents rose downtown, and the On Leong Merchants Association bought dozens of properties along 22nd Street, now Cermak Road. Its building on Wentworth, today the Pui Tak Center, was finished in 1928. The Chinatown Gate over Wentworth, just south of Cermak, was dedicated in November 1975, and Chinatown Square opened on Archer in 1992.

This route starts at the Cermak-Chinatown station by the gate, heads south down Wentworth, then loops back north to Archer and the square. Bakeries open early. Tea shops open late morning and run into the evening, and shops in Chinatown Square set their own hours.

The Wentworth Bakery Block

The 2200 block of Wentworth is the bakery stretch. Chiu Quon Bakery (2253 S Wentworth Ave), opened in 1986, is Chinatown's oldest existing bakery, and its main draw is the barbecue pork bun, cha siu bao. Get the baked ones, add a few Portuguese-style egg tarts, and look over the sesame balls, pineapple buns and savory dim sum such as shumai and rice noodle rolls. Bring cash: Chiu Quon doesn't take cards. It opens at 7am every day and stays open until 9pm Sunday to Thursday and 10pm on Friday and Saturday.

A few doors north, Paris Baguette (2239 S Wentworth Ave) is the bakery-café stop, with whole cakes and slices, pastries, donuts, breads, breakfast sandwiches and coffee drinks. It is the easy place to pick up a whole cake.

Make It a Bakery Crawl

Chinatown's bakeries are cheap enough that the best plan is to buy one or two things at each and eat as you walk. Time Out's January 2026 round-up of the neighborhood's bakeries points to a few more counters worth a stop. At Feida Bakery, skip the Western-style cakes and tarts and get the embossed baby moon cakes, filled with red bean paste or lotus seed, and a winter melon cake. Tasty Place Bakery & Cafe makes a barbecue pork pineapple bun, with pork in a hoisin-ginger sauce under a streusel-like crust. Saint Anna Bakery & Cafe is the other egg tart stop, and also sells sesame balls filled with red bean paste and a pineapple custard bun, which, despite the name, holds custard rather than pineapple.

Tea and Boba

Molly Tea (2227 S Wentworth Ave) is a Chinese bubble-tea shop known for fruit-based drinks such as the jasmine mango smoothie, with plant-based milks on the menu. Up on Archer, Tiger Sugar (2116 S Archer Ave) pours brown sugar boba milk from the first floor of its building, plus passion fruit boba and lychee black tea. Neither posts hours we could confirm, so check before you make a special trip.

Archer Avenue and Chinatown Square

Walk back north past Cermak to Archer. Yin Wall City (2112 S Archer Ave) is a bulk-goods store for traditional Chinese medicine shoppers, with herbal teas, natural remedies and dried goods such as scallops and mushrooms. It keeps steady hours, daily from 10:30am to 6:30pm. A few doors on, The Midi (2124 S Archer Ave) sells blind boxes, collectibles and gifts, and new merchandise lands every week, so it rewards a repeat visit. Tous les Jours Chinatown (2144 S Archer Ave, Unit A) is a Korean-French bakery for breads, cakes, pastries and donuts, with coffee, teas and blended drinks.

Chinatown Square (2133 S China Pl) is a two-story outdoor mall between Archer and Wentworth. Its shops sell herbal teas, beauty products, imported snacks and souvenirs, and each one sets its own hours. Korean Beauty (2121 S China Pl) is a beauty shop on the plaza, and Dreamlight Creation Gift Shop (2171b S China Pl) is a gift shop a few doors from the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce office. Neither posts hours; Korean Beauty's listed phone is 312-631-3056.

Jewelry, Clothes and Two Museums

Two more stops sit at the ends of the Wentworth strip. Somi Jewelry & Gifts (2347 S Wentworth Ave) is at the south end, and Rose Premium Clothes sells clothing from unit B20 of the 2002 S Wentworth Ave building at the north end. Call ahead for both.

If you come on a weekend, pair the shopping with the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum (2245 S Wentworth Ave), which opens only on weekends. The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (238 W 23rd St) is open Wednesday and Friday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, with a suggested donation of $8 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.

Where to Eat

For dim sum, MingHin Cuisine (2168 S Archer Ave) is a large Cantonese dining room; order the fried taro puffs, har gow and custard-filled sweet buns. Dolo Restaurant & Bar (2222 S Archer Ave) is the other dim sum pick, for clam shells stuffed with shrimp and pork and crispy shrimp and leek dumplings. In Chinatown Square, Ken Kee Restaurant (2129 S China Pl) is a Hong Kong-style cafe for cart noodles, salt and pepper pork chop, Ovaltine toast and a pineapple bun with butter.

On Cermak, Xi'an Cuisine (225 W Cermak Rd) is a casual counter for hand-pulled noodles: get the cumin biang biang noodles, lamb skewers and a rou jia mo sandwich. Golden Bull Restaurant (242 W Cermak Rd) is a small Cantonese spot known for claypot rice; get the one with Chinese sausage and add the farmer's chicken. Qing Xiang Yuan Dumplings (2002 S Wentworth Ave) does boiled dumplings such as beef and onion, lamb and coriander, and tomato and egg. On the east edge of the neighborhood, Hello Jasmine (2026 S Clark St, Unit C) serves Taiwanese bento boxes, snacks and drinks from 11am daily.

For an ordinary visit, come early. Chiu Quon opens at 7am, the early-bird parking rate rewards a morning arrival, and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum opens only on weekends, so a Saturday or Sunday morning lets you fit in bakeries, a museum and dim sum.

Lunar New Year is the neighborhood's biggest weekend. In 2026, Choose Chicago listed celebrations from Feb. 15 to March 1, and the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade ran on Sunday, March 1, from 24th Street and Wentworth Avenue to Chinatown Square. After the parade, lion dancers went shop to shop to bless local businesses for the new year, and many parade-goers stopped into local businesses. Hing Kee Restaurant's family-style dumpling-making dinner during the holiday sells out each year, so book early if you want a seat. Check the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce site for next year's parade date, and take the train: street parking that day is close to impossible.

The train is the easy way in. The CTA Red and Green Lines both stop at Cermak-Chinatown, at Cermak and Wentworth by the gate, and several buses run on Cermak Rd and Wentworth Ave. In warmer months the Chicago Water Taxi stops at Ping Tom Memorial Park. Weekend street parking is tight, and during the Lunar New Year parade it is close to impossible.

If you drive, the Chinatown Parking Corporation lots at Cermak & Wentworth and Archer & Wentworth charge $10.99 for up to an hour, $14.99 for up to 3 hours and $18.99 for up to 24 hours. Many shops validate 3 hours for $3, so ask at the register before you leave. The Chinese American Museum of Chicago also validates Chinatown public parking tickets. Early-bird parking is $6.99 if you enter after 5am and leave by 11am, which suits a dim sum breakfast and a bakery run.

Tip: Public restrooms are scarce. The chamber's guide points to the second floor of HeungSeng Square, and to Starbucks and Tous les Jours with a purchase.