Chinese, Japanese
& Taiwanese

Chinese and Taiwanese

Four Bib Gourmands and a name with history

1. Bib Gourmand

   Hop Alley

   RiNo · 3500 Larimer St.

   Tommy Lee's modern Chinese restaurant in a former soy sauce factory in RiNo. Its name recalls Hop Alley, Denver's original Chinatown on what is now Wazee Street in LoDo, which a mob burned and looted on October 31, 1880, in the city's first recorded race riot. Bar director Dustin Lawlor won Michelin's 2025 Exceptional Cocktails Award.

   MICHELIN Guide listing

2. Bib Gourmand

   MAKfam

   Baker · 39 W. First Ave.

   Kenneth Wan and Doris Yuen's counter-service Chinese restaurant on South Broadway in Baker, which grew from pop-ups and a food-hall stall. Wan was a 2026 James Beard semifinalist.

   MICHELIN Guide listing

3. Bib Gourmand

   The Ginger Pig

   Berkeley · 4262 Lowell Blvd.

   Natascha Hess's Asian-inspired restaurant on Lowell Boulevard, which began as a Boulder food truck in 2016.

   MICHELIN Guide listing

4. Bib Gourmand New 2026

   Pig and Tiger

   Five Points · 2200 California St.

   Chang and Masar's Taiwan-leaning menu, which reached Bib Gourmand status this September.

   MICHELIN Guide listing

Beyond the guide

Little Saigon and a James Beard winner

Some of Denver's most important Asian food is not in the Michelin Guide at all. After 1975, roughly 10,000 Vietnamese refugees settled in Denver, and many chose South Federal Boulevard because property there was affordable. The city designated the area the Little Saigon Business District in 2014. At its heart is the Far East Center at Alameda Avenue and Federal Boulevard, opened by the Luong family in 1988, with restaurants, a supermarket and shops behind torii gates and red tile roofs. History Colorado added it to the state register of historic properties in 2024.

None of Federal Boulevard's restaurants is in the Michelin Guide, and we do not list individual businesses we cannot verify. The best approach is to visit the Far East Center and the surrounding blocks and see what is busy. Just over the city line on East Colfax in Aurora, the sisters behind Dân Dã, daughters of the family that ran New Saigon, earned a recommended listing in 2026; see Best Restaurant Colorado.

Yuan Wonton

Penelope Wong spent several award cycles on the James Beard long and short lists before winning Best Chef: Mountain at the June 2026 ceremony in Chicago. Her dumpling-focused restaurant started life as a truck and settled into a building on Fairfax Street in 2023. Because we could not verify its own website, we link to the foundation's announcement instead. Confirm its current service before you go, since coverage has described limited daytime hours.

James Beard Foundation: 2026 winners

Sources

Where These Facts Come From

Awards and addresses are checked against the sources below. We do not publish hours or prices; confirm details with each restaurant before you go. Spotted an error? Tell us.

1. KDVR: 2026 MICHELIN Guide, all recognized restaurants in Colorado
2. MICHELIN Guide: Colorado restaurants
3. Molly Brown House Museum: Denver's Hop Alley and Chinatown
4. Wikipedia: Chinatown, Denver
5. Rocky Mountain PBS: Denver's Little Saigon
6. Denverite: Far East Center historic designation
7. Westword: Sushi Den founder opens omakase concept on South Pearl
8. 303 Magazine: Temaki Den at The Source
9. James Beard Foundation: 2026 James Beard Award winners
10. CBS Colorado: Denver chef Penelope Wong wins James Beard Award
11. Colorado Public Radio: Yuan Wonton finds a permanent home