A DAY IN HOUSTON'S CHINATOWN

One neighborhood, one full day: from your first cup of coffee to your last song of the night. Houston's Chinatown (you'll also hear it called Asiatown) runs along Bellaire Boulevard in the southwest part of the city, and it is not a single stop you check off a list. It is a whole day waiting to happen. The strip malls out here hide some of the best food in Texas, with plazas stacked full of bakeries, boba, and beauty shops, claw arcades glowing until 1am, and hot pot worth dressing up for. If you only have one day (or you're in town for the World Cup and want to eat like a local between matches), here's how to do it right. We built this guide the way we'd plan it for a friend who's visiting: morning to midnight, block by block. Morning: Start with breakfast (or just coffee) Tao Rice Roll Begin your day where Taipei begins its mornings. Tao Rice Roll is a tiny Taiwanese breakfast shop serving the kind of street food you'd find at a stall outside a Taipei metro station: warm rice rolls (fan tuan) packed with pork floss, fried dough, and pickled greens, plus flaky sesame pancakes and cold, sweet soy milk. Order the double egg crispy pancake. It is the move. Get there early, because this is a small, no-frills, order-at-the-counter kind of spot, and the weekend crowd knows it. The pancakes have been known to sell out before lunch. The details: @taoriceroll · 9889 Bellaire Blvd, Ste E207 (inside Dunhuang Plaza), Houston, TX 77036 · Open daily from 7am through mid-afternoon.

Not hungry yet? Just grab a coffee. If a full breakfast feels like a lot first thing, swap it for a cup at Trung Nguyên E-Coffee, Houston's first outpost of Vietnam's most iconic coffee brand (founded back in 1996 in Buôn Ma Thuột, the coffee capital of Vietnam). This is the real thing: bold, slow-dripped phin filter coffee. Order a classic cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk) if you want tradition, or branch out into one of their cream-topped specialties like the black sesame cream or the sea salt cream coffee. Matcha drinkers, they hand-whisk ceremonial grade to order. The space is comfortable and modern, so you can sit a while or grab it to go before the day gets rolling. The details: @tnecoffeetx · 9750 Bellaire Blvd, Ste 188, Houston, TX 77036 · Open daily, 8:30am to 7:30pm.

Afternoon: Win a plushie, then wander Claw Mania Kingdom Once you're fueled up, walk it off at Claw Mania Kingdom, Houston's first claw machine arcade and a full-blown Chinatown obsession. There are 30+ machines stuffed with the plushies you actually want (think Labubu, Pokémon, and Sanrio), plus a cotton candy machine that builds your candy to order. Insider tip: the tokens never expire, and you can trade smaller wins up toward the bigger prizes, so there's no need to rush. Coins and tokens work across their locations too. It is the perfect low-stakes way to spend an hour (or three) with friends, a date, or the kids in tow. The details: @clawmaniakingdom · 9889 Bellaire Blvd, Ste D223 (above Kung Fu Tea in Dunhuang Plaza), Houston, TX 77036 · Open 11am to 11pm (until 1am Friday and Saturday).

Explore Dunhuang Plaza You're already here, so stay a while. Dunhuang Plaza is one of the anchors of Asiatown, with more than 150 Asian businesses in and around it: bakeries, boba shops, dessert bars, gift shops, beauty stores, and restaurants representing kitchens from across the continent. Grab a mango shaved ice or a custard bun, browse, and let yourself get a little lost. This is where the neighborhood really opens up. The details: Dunhuang Plaza · 9889 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX 77036.

Evening: Dinner you'll be glad you saved room for Shabu En For dinner, level it up at Shabu En, an upscale all-you-can-eat hot pot spot where everyone gets their own personal pot (no negotiating over whose broth wins). The quality is the draw here: premium wagyu, fresh seafood, and freshly made noodles, plus a full bar with cocktails, sake, and soju. Vegan meat and seafood options mean nobody at the table gets left out. It is hot pot, but dressed up: a steakhouse setting at a fraction of the price. Book ahead if you're going on a weekend, because the prime times fill fast. The details: @shabuen.htx · 9110 Bellaire Blvd, Ste B, Houston, TX 77036 · Open 11am to 10pm (until 11pm Friday and Saturday). Reservations recommended.

Night: End it loud One Shot Pocha When the rest of the city is winding down, Asiatown is just getting started. End your day at One Shot Pocha, a Korean pocha (think Korean street bar) with K-pop on the speakers, soju by the bottle, and private karaoke rooms in the back. Order the sticky glazed fried wings and a creamy yogurt soju, hit the call button at your table when you need a refill, and settle in. The army stew is built for sharing, and the energy stays high right up until last call. It is the kind of place you walk into for one drink and leave at closing time. The details: @oneshot.htx · 9938 Bellaire Blvd, Ste A, Houston, TX 77036 · Open 5pm until late (around 2am), closed Mondays. Private karaoke rooms available by reservation.