# What's the largest city in the world with no Chinese restaurants? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2014, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075 "2014-07-01T08:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/21 "2014-07-01T12:37:17Z")
> [@nani](#): > > My guess is going to be Karaganda, Kazakhstan’s 4th largest city with 460,000 people. I am pretty sure there is no specifically Chinese restaurant there, and a quick google search doesn’t turn one up. Vaguely remember having seen a Chinese place in Karaganda a few years ago. Google search in Russian comes back with a [few](http://www.realkz.com/page.php?page_id=2329&lang_id=1&item_id=58&city=6)[hits](http://karaganda.restoran.kz/restaurant/3705-printsessa). Kazakhstan has a lot of Korean restaurants that can also serve some Chinese stuff, but there are a decent amount of Chinese places around too. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/22 "2014-07-01T12:47:38Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Yes, but the way I understood the OP’s question was that it somewhat implied the Chinese restaurant had to be run by people from China. But that’s a bit racist, innit? I mean, do pizza places have to be run by Italians? Do hot dog stands have to be run by Germans? Can only Belgians make french fries? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/23 "2014-07-01T13:13:00Z")
Again, I think we could waste immense amounts of time arguing how authentic a particular Chinese restaurant is and who runs it. I think that the OP is asking what’s the largest city in the world with no restaurant in it that calls itself a Chinese restaurant. Trying to put any other restriction on the OP will make the question nearly unanswerable. Incidentally, there are Chinese restaurants in Karaganda, Kazahkstan: [http://beccazsky.blogspot.com/2009/10/karaganda-field-trip.html](http://beccazsky.blogspot.com/2009/10/karaganda-field-trip.html) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/24 "2014-07-01T13:17:15Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Hell, I know plenty of very good restaurants here in Tel Aviv run by Israeli Jews. A “Chinese restaurant” is a restaurant serving Chinese cuisine. The ethnicity of the people working there is utterly irrelevant. Except perhaps for the patrons. The food might be OK, but I’m not especially inclined to eat in a Mexican restaurant with all-Anglo staff, or a kosher deli run by Scandinavians. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/25 "2014-07-01T13:28:46Z")
What is special about Chinese food is that it has become so ubiquitous all over the world, very much like Italian food (or Mexican food in the United States). Maybe the largest city in the world in which there is no Chinese restaurant also has no McDonalds? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/26 "2014-07-01T14:17:19Z")
Perhaps some restrictive Islamic city might be it? I guessed Tehran, but it looks like i’m [wrong](http://www.lonelyplanet.com/iran/tehran/restaurants), there is at least one “Asian” restaurant offering Chinese food. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/27 "2014-07-01T14:29:11Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > There are at least two Chinese places in Francistown, Botswana - Mr Chang and Calabash. Wow. Thanks! > [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > AFAICT, there are no Chinese restaurants in the entire province of Nunavut. It’s 20% of Canada! [sub] I was going to return to my original idea and checked population centers in Quechua land. Urubamba, Peru, for example, seemed a good candidate. Largest town in the sacred valley of the Incas, but the population is only 2,700. If you’re correct that there are no Chinese restaurants at all in Nunavut, then its largest city—Iqaluit—might take the prize with a population of 6,699. Or maybe someplace remote from the patterns of Chinese settlement in Africa. Like the Central African Republic or Burundi. Bangui, population 734,350? Bujumbura, population 497,166? ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/28 "2014-07-01T14:36:00Z")
As a place holder, I suggested [Colatina,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colatina) ES, Brazil.]It has a population of 120,677. Chinese food isn’t nearly as popular in Brazil as Japanese food is. The greater Vitoria, ES area has very few Chinese restaurants, especially for a population of almost 1.8 million. Japanese places are a dime a dozen. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/29 "2014-07-01T14:39:49Z")
When I lived in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia there were no Chinese restaurants that I was aware of. Population 1.2 million. The only “ethnic” restaurants I found were a Indian/Pakistani place and a Mexican one. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/30 "2014-07-01T14:45:06Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > When I lived in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia there were no Chinese restaurants that I was aware of. Population 1.2 million. The only “ethnic” restaurants I found were a Indian/Pakistani place and a Mexican one. [http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g294195-c11-Tbilisi.html](http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g294195-c11-Tbilisi.html) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/31 "2014-07-01T14:46:47Z")
Well, I guessed wrong again. Bangui, Bujumbura, and Iqaluit all have Chinese restaurants. Urubamba doesn’t have anything called that as such, but they have a Peruvian Chinese Cultural Center, which [apparently](http://revistaoriental.com/en-el-centro-cultural-peruano-chino/) doubles as a Chinese restaurant. There’s got to be somewhere a city bigger than 2,700 people with no Chinese restaurant. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/32 "2014-07-01T14:50:20Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > [THE 10 BEST Chinese Restaurants in Tbilisi (Updated 2025)](http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g294195-c11-Tbilisi.html) I don’t think any of those Chinese places were there in 2002. Tbilisi was a lot different then. Only about 1000 expats in the country at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/33 "2014-07-01T14:52:26Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > True. But I wonder, though, how authentic some of these places really are. Too subjective to matter. I have several Chinese co-workers (as in, born and raised there but work in the US). One of them claims that none of the Chinese restaurants in Houston’s Chinatown are actually authentic, despite being owned and operated by expatriates serving a mainly ethnic Chinese clientele, many of whom don’t speak a word of English in a district where even the street signs are in Chinese. Others claim they’re all mostly authentic. “Authentic” is in the eye of the beholder. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/34 "2014-07-01T15:23:04Z")
Joao Neiva, ES, Brasil doesn’t have any Chinese restaurants. It has a population of approximately 16,000. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/35 "2014-07-01T15:29:46Z")
The Chinese restaurant down the street, run by real Chinese, has a two-sided menu - American Chinese and Chinese Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/36 "2014-07-01T15:54:35Z")
There are Chinese people everywhere in Africa. It’s not all big companies and projects, either (though there is plenty of that). Even in remote towns it’s not unusual to see individual Chinese families running a small shop or traditional clinics. These are largely poor rural families who can have a slightly better standard of living than back home, and are hoping to ride the boom as Africa develops. You also meet hopeful young people looking for untapped markets, adventure, and a break from China’s political constraints. Remember that rural China can have the same standard of living as Ghana, so it’s not a huge change in living conditions, and the market is so much less crowded. And along with that comes food. Chinese people tend to be quite serious about food and averse to eating other cuisines. When my Chinese students studied abroad, the most common complaint was the food. And when the Chinese government sends doctors and other skilled workers out on development projects, they bring their own cooks. Food is a big deal, hence all the Chinese restaurants everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Suicide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Suicide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suicide)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/37 "2014-07-01T20:26:21Z")
i was in havana, pop. several million, and i didn’t see any chinese restaurants there…didn’t see any chinese either, tourists or residents…interestingly enough though there is one mcdonalds in cuba it’s on guantanamo ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/38 "2014-07-01T20:38:46Z")
> [@Suicide](#): > > i was in havana, pop. several million, and i didn’t see any chinese restaurants there…didn’t see any chinese either, tourists or residents…interestingly enough though there is one mcdonalds in cuba it’s on guantanamo Havana [has it’s own Chinatown](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FaVsIkDAic) with several Chinese restaurants. In fact, there’s an entirely distinct cuisine of [Cuban-Chinese food](http://chineseculture.about.com/od/chinesecuisine/a/CubanChinofood.htm) due to the influx of Chinese immigrants in the 1850s. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/39 "2014-07-01T20:51:54Z")
After systematically looking through the largest cities in Chile, [Puerto Montt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Montt) with a population of 220K appears to have no Chinese restaurants, to the best of my googling abilities. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075/40 "2014-07-01T20:58:11Z")
I’d postulate McMurdo station. As an antarctic research station, it seems unlikely they’d be able to support an indepently owned restaurant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-largest-city-in-the-world-with-no-chinese-restaurants/692075.md?page=3)