Houston: King Flavor

9968 Bellaire Blvd
Ste 230B
Houston, TX 77036
(713) 271-5888

Houston is teeming with cheap authentic and tasty Chinese eateries. A newish one popped up in Houston called King Flavor. My friend and Houston resident, Cindy suggested this place for dinner. In her email, she said to grab a Chinese friend to help with the language barrier and to be sure to check out their meat pancakes and soup dumplings.

I had just spent a full day of stuffing my mouth (progressive meal style) with 4 other friends. We took a small break to fold origami cranes and to digest burgers, sandwiches, pasta, and hot dogs. For dinner, we decided to head to Chinatown and snack at King Flavor. It’s a tiny hole in a wall with maybe 6 tables. Thomas helped us with ordering in Chinese.

We ordered beef meat pancakes, lamb meat pancakes, soup dumplings, and spinach and fish dumplings. I cannot recall how much our party of 5 paid, but it was ridiculously cheap.

When you come here, make sure to visit the condiment table in the back with self-serve soy sauce and hot chili. The food we ordered definitely wanted to be dipped, save for the soup dumplings.

The meat juices are sealed into the crust of these meat pancakes. I preferred the lamb over the ground beef, but they were both good. The flavors were mellow and the meat is tender and moist, while the crust is slightly crispy. Definitely order these if you are craving Chinese comfort food.

I love soup dumplings! These will satisfy a hankering for soup dumplings (my best experience by the way, are the soup dumplings from Joe Shanghai’s in New York City). I love the adventure of precariously balancing a dumpling on your spoon and slurping flavorful broth. Sadly, these weren’t as adventurous or soupy, but they do the trick. Soup dumplings are one of King Flavor’s popular items.

My favorite of the four different dishes were the fish and spinach dumplings. I could not stop popping them in my mouth.

All in all, King Flavor is good place for cheap Chinese eats. Don’t forget to drag a Chinese speaking friend to help with the language barrier! Oh, also bring cash! They’re a cash only establishment.


* The photos used in this post were all taken by my eating buddy and talented photographer, Thomas Chen.