Northern Cuisine: A Culinary Journey into Authentic Dim Sum and Seafood Delights

A very nice Chinese restaurant. (The upscale of Golden Harbor ) They have quite quite options for food you can try. There are all tasty!! The atmosphere is very nice. The staff here are very friendly. A nice place!!

This place is outstanding. For our first visit, we had eggplant with pork bones and stir fried green beans. This is my new “can’t miss” whenever I go to UIUC.

We stopped by UIUC, where my son-in-law is studying, and went to Northern Cuisine for an early dinner. We ordered the dish that made the NYT’s Best Foods of 2025 list, along with two other items, and got to enjoy some real Sichuan flavors for the first time in a while. The food was great and the portions were generous, so everyone in the family felt happy and well-fed. I did find myself wondering whether the chef was from mainland China or Taiwan, but I didn’t bother asking. At the end of the day, what really matters in a restaurant is the food and the service. I used to travel a lot to both mainland China and Taiwan for business and grew pretty fond of Chinese food back then, so it was nice to enjoy a really good meal again after such a long time. The only downside was that I had to drive, so I couldn’t wash it down with a glass of gaoliangjiu(高梁酒).

We really enjoyed our lunch at Northern Cuisine. We had four main dishes and they were all delicious. The best one was probably the croaker fish. It was so good only remember to take a picture after we were almost done. The second best was a tie between the pork intestines and the eggplant. The pork intestines were spicy and delicious, fried just roght. The eggplants were perfectly fried with honey based sauce (very sweet). We also had the chicken cashew with celery and carrots that was very good but not as special as the other dishes. It's not out first time at Northern Cuisine and we will return there!

What a remarkable place. The Chinese restaurant scene around UIUC is astonishing. This is a more upscale place relative to more student centered restaurants. The quality is impeccable and you can taste the care given to every dish. I had a cucumber salad with bean curd, mushrooms, cilantro, and peanuts in a delicious chili sauce. Couldn’t stop eating it. For an entree pork ribs that were fall off the bone tender accompanied by eggplant. Will go back to this place in a heartbeat to try more of the menu.

The food was really delicious and came fairly quick. The service was great as well. Would definitely recommend trying it. The portions and pricing were also decent. I turned my meal into 2 meals for about $17. Starting from the bottom my family had: Chicken with long peppers (my favorite), Northern Kung Pao chicken, Eggplant in garlic sauce, and Dry Chili Chicken (second favorite)

Great spot for authentic northern Chinese cuisine. I went for lunch and ordered the cucumber and bean curd salad and the short rib and fried eggplant entree. Food was amazing. Atmosphere was clean, modern and comfy. Service was a bit odd though. The appetizer was served with the entree but the entree wasn’t what I ordered. I immediately let the server know that it was the wrong dish. The server left the dish in front of me and walked away. A minute or so later, they returned with a menu and asked me what I ordered. I told them and they walked away with the wrong entree. Not a minute later, I noticed the server give that dish that was in front of me to the next table. And there was a bit of confusion upon paying where the server asked if I wanted a receipt and as I was asking to have an email receipt sent, they touched the print button. Then spent a couple awkward minutes trying to figure out how to go back on the screen to send an email receipt. I just ended up taking the paper copy and left. Aside from that, the food was excellent. 5 stars for food and atmosphere, 4 for service.

Amazing flavors and great portions! The tofu was soft and tasty, the spicy beef was full of flavor, and the stir-fried chicken with lotus root was fresh and delicious. Fast service and a cozy atmosphere—definitely worth coming back!