Memphis, TNChinese

Wang's Mandarin House is a long running Highland Street dining room with a broad Chinese menu suited to family style ordering. Dumplings, soups, stir fries, and sauced meat dishes offer an easy route through the kitchen. Bring enough people to add greens and a second protein, since the restaurant makes more sense as a table of contrasting plates than as a single takeout carton.

The White Station bistro also ranges into broader Asian flavors, but those Chinese dishes provide a clear starting point. Pair soup or dumplings with a stir fry or noodle plate, using the menu's breadth to build a balanced shared meal rather than a collection of similar sauces.

A-Tan combines a traditional Chinese dining room with a working sushi bar in Dillard Square. Focus on the Chinese side through soups, dumplings, vegetables, noodles, and familiar meat preparations served for sharing. The split identity is useful for mixed groups, but a coherent meal still comes from ordering several Chinese dishes together and letting rice, greens, and contrasting textures connect the table.

Petals of a Peony brings Sichuan cooking to an Overton Square dining room busy with shared plates, bowls of rice and sizzling stews. The room has conveyor tables and a bar pouring Asian beers. Order the boiling fish for the dish singled out in the local dining guide, then share it with rice and another plate.

MingXia Dumpling is a Cordova Chinese restaurant centered on dumplings and noodles. Its soup dumplings arrive in their steaming basket, and the xiaolongbao prompted a direct recommendation from a local food writer who compared them with those she remembered eating in China. Order the soup dumplings first and let their broth set the pace for the meal.