Ten Best Chinese Restaurants in Broward and Palm Beach County

During the Chinese Diaspora (starting in the 19th century and lasting until 1949), Chinese people traveled across the world, bring with them their culture and flavorful fare.

Throughout its travels, the cuisine adapted to several variations and forms. Different versions of traditional versions can be found all over the globe, ranging from South America to India to Eastern Europe to the U.S.

Hey, we're not the only ones to adapt and globalize the foods of other cultures.

While there is a huge contrast from one to the other -- and we like anything bursting with exotic spices and herbs -- we try to stick closely to the original, as possible (with a few exceptions, of course).

From piquant Szechuan to spicy Hunan to small-plate dim sum to some good old Americanized Cantonese-style fare, we sampled our way through South Florida's Chinese food scene to find the best of them all.

Here are the ten best Chinese restaurants in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

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10. Wing's Chinese Restaurant

After operating for about 25 years in a sleepy shopping center across from the Broward College Central Campus, Wings Chinese Restaurant started serving chifa, a Peruvian version of Chinese food, around 2010. The tiny dining room is frequently filled with a large Spanish-speaking contingent, chowing down on arroz chaufa con pollo ($8), the Peruvian version of fried rice; and Tallarín saltado ($11.95), noodles with roasted pork, shrimp, and vegetables in a thick soy and oyster sauce. Sure, the plain run-of-the-mill American-style dishes are on the menu, but why not try something different? With flavorful food, large portions, and low price points, it's worth the trek out west.

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9. Grand Lake Chinese

The dim sum served daily at Grand Lake, out in the middle of suburban McMansion west of Jog Road in West Palm Beach, is worth the tank of gas it'll take to get there -- depending on your vehicle, of course. You'd be hard-pressed to spend more than $20 on a dish. With founders hailing from New York, it's no wonder the following is so profound. Their steamed-shrimp dumplings are soft and lustrous, jam-packed with big chunks of fresh shellfish. Pan-fried pork dumplings have a crisp exterior, bursting with steam within. The dishes here taste as though they've come straight out of China Town -- i.e. freaking delicious.

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8. Christina Wan's Mandarin House

Winner of New Times' Best Chinese Restaurant 2008 and this year's recipient for Readers' Choice, this long-running Fort Lauderdale spot specializes in Mandarin, Szechuan, and Cantonese specialties like lemon grass beef ($14), shrimp foo yong ($14), and a selection of first-rate homemade potstickers and dumplingsn ($5 to $8). Wan's feels like a throwback to the old New York Chinatown of the '50s, when lo meins and foo yungs seemed impossibly exotic. That may no longer be the case of Chinese food, but even with the proliferation of the regional cuisines, this place is still just as exciting.

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7. Singing Bamboo

Family owned and operated for more than 20 year, this West Palm Beach restaurant offers a huge selection of delicacies for event the pickiest Chinese food aficionados. The menu encompasses every diet imaginable from full-on meat-lover to heart healthy and vegetarian. As is the case with all our other picks, the authentic dishes are our favorites. Moo Shu Pork ($10.95) and Peking Duck ($38) for two; seafood, such as hot and spicy shrimp ($13.95) and calamari black bean sauce ($13.95); vegetarian, including eggplant in hot garlic sauce ($9.50); and dim sum offerings to order, are so good, you'll think you're eating dinner at a Chinese friend's house.

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6. Toa Toa Chinese Restaurant

You usually don't need a pen and paper when you're out to eat. Here, you do; and it's why you should go. The pictorial checklist menu offers a wide assortment of Hong Kong-style dim sum: sticky shrimp dumplings, fried scallop cutlets, a number of different rice pastes, marinated chicken feet. Operating since 1989, this Sunrise spot has been catering to local suburbanites and Asian families looking for genuine small bites from the Chinese coast.

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5. Uncle Joe's

Set on Northlake Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens, this little Chinese spot is one of the areas best-kept secrets. Serving an array of Hong-Kong style dishes for eat-in, take-out, and delivery, the spot has all the old reliables and more. While the Americanized honey chicken ($9.95) and crab rangoon ($4.95) are as good -- if not better -- than anything else you'll find around, the traditional dishes are the reason to check it out. Dishes like chow fun ($8.25 to $9.75), roast duck ($14.95), and Yu Hsiang eggplant ($8.75) offer a taste of the country.

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4. China Pavilion

Known for its traditional Cantonese dim sum offerings, this spot is actually frequented by South Florida's Chinese community -- that's exactly why it got our pick for Best Chinese Restaurant 2013. Hidden near the back of Pembroke Pines strip mall, it serves a selection of cooked to order specialties like veal with black pepper ($3.50), pork buns, and fun gor ($2.70); a steamed dumpling filled with mushrooms, ginger, scallion, and tiny dried shrimp. While it's small plates are a big part of the draw, the seafood is what most people come here for; tanks stacked across and entire wall hold live tilapia, lobster, and golden crab -- it's fresher than almost anything else around.

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3. Uncle Tai's

Boca is not known for being cheap; quality is what it's about. This institution represents the surrounding area in more way than one. Serving authentic Hunan cuisine, it certainly is not your typical delivery spot, which is reflected in the prices. Dishes range on the pricier side with specialties ranging between $20 and $50 a plate, such as sliced lamb in hot pepper sauce ($23.50), Hunan-style seafood delight over noodles ($29.25), and crispy whole fish, Hunan-style ($48.95). Even so, this place is always packed -- to get a reservation for Jewish Christmas, one had to book weeks in advance. For a more budget-friendly experience, head over for Oriental Sunset Dinner (5 to 6:15 p.m.) or lunch (11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.).

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2. Pine Court Chinese Bistro

One thing we can never get enough of is dim sum. And this push cart-style dim sum spot keeps is coming without a second thought. Without even batting an eye, steaming hot stainless steel carts waltz on by carrying an array of traditional offerings. One might contain dumplings: shrimp, shrimp with parsley, pork and ginger, and rice crepes filled with whole shrimps or strips of roasted pork, doused in a sweet soy sauce. Another will stroll by with congee. And another with crispy bone-in duck and chicken feet ($3.25). The restaurant also features menus with American-Chinese biggest hits, but it's no where near as exciting. Go for adventurous offerings.

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1. Silver Pond

If you're searching for authentic Chinese seafood, look no further. Silver Pond is about exotic and genuine as it gets.Winner of New Times' Best Chinese Restaurant in 2012, this 441 strip-mall spot serves some of the best Cantonese fare that can be found in South Florida. The menu features interesting seafood, ranging from sea cucumber and abalone to conch and lobster to traditional meat dishes like Hong Kong chicken and Peking duck and everything in between. As rare and foreign as the menu may be, don't worry if you have a Chinese food philistine in your midst; the restaurant also offers another menu with a selection of mainstream Americanized choices.

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Follow Sara Ventiera on Twitter, @saraventiera.