You may have eaten a meal in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, but how much do you know about its history? Click here for a quick video tour.
Host Rachel Belle sets out on foot for the popular Tastes of the Chinatown International District tour to visit the neighborhood’s oldest Chinese restaurant, eat handmade dumplings in the C-ID’s only Thai restaurant and enjoy gooey, fried cheese at a Korean snack shop.
The tour was created in 1985 by neighborhood travel agent Vi Mar, who wanted to restore the C-ID’s image after the Wah Mee massacre. And the tour felt particularly relevant to its roots on the heels of the pandemic, when folks stopped visiting Chinatowns across the world.
Rachel’s trek started at 90-year-old Tai Tung, a five-generation family-run Chinese restaurant that was Bruce Lee’s favorite when he was a student at the UW. Next, a visit to E-Jae Pak Mor, a Thai street-food restaurant where the dumpling skins and rice noodles are made fresh to order. And Rachel achieves the ultimate cheese pull at Chung Chun Rice Hot Dog, where you can also grab a tender mochi doughnut.
It’s a reminder that we must protect and support the neighborhoods and restaurants that we love by giving them our business.