Tufts Blogs

An incredible area of Boston is Chinatown- a neighborhood downtown that is a cultural gem emulating Chinese culture and community. Here you can find a range of Chinese bakeries, dumpling houses, dim sum places and more. Historically this area was filled in the 1800s becoming the residential, commercial and cultural hub of the city’s Chinese community as well as other Asian immigrants. As a result the area is home to restaurants and buildings of various Asian cultures. You could encounter a variety of restaurants serving Japanese ramen, Chinese hot pot, Vietnamese Pho, and even Malaysian cuisine. It is an incredible community within the greater Boston area where an exposure to Asian culture is possible. With this area nearby, students have the great opportunity to immerse themselves in a different culture and also a great excursion if you’re leaving campus.

Last week, 6 of my friends and I took a trip to Chinatown and had dinner at a restaurant called Taiwan Cafe. Taiwan Cafe is rated #3 among the 20 best restaurants to try in Chinatown and the pictures my friends and I looked at online quickly led to everyone agreeing on this place. We all got ready to leave after class and headed to jump on the T, Boston’s public transportation train line, at Davis Square. Now that it’s very cold, especially for my Floridian self, we often take the Tufts shuttle from campus right into Davis Square to avoid the cold for 10 minutes. After we get dropped right in front of the Davis Station we can buy our tickets for our trip. I have found the reloadable CharlieCards to be the easiest way to travel on the T because you can load $10 or $15 onto the card and use it until it runs out. We rode 7 stops towards Braintree and got off at Davis Square. A two minute walk later we were at the restaurant. We were able to order around 7 dishes for everyone to share consisting of a beef noodle dish, scallion pancakes, Szechuan wontons, pork and shrimp dumplings, Sesame Chicken, and Chicken fried rice. Sometimes it’s nice to have a meal off campus with friends. I really enjoyed the chance to get off campus with friends and experience a small part of Asian culture in Boston’s very own Chinatown. 

After we finished eating, we spent some time walking around and exploring the area. We found countless little shops that peaked our interest and before we knew it hours had passed. Feeling very cold at this point, we stopped for bubble tea but tried it warm because of the weather. We went to Kung Fu Tea and I ordered the Honey Oolong Milk Tea with Boba, hot! Some of my friends ordered Thai Milk Tea or Classic Kung Fu Milk Tea. It was delicious and warmed us up quickly while we walked back to the Downtown Crossing T Station. After an incredibly enjoyable night out, we were ready to get back into our warm dorm rooms and get ready for school the next morning. After just a short 15 minutes we were back at Davis Square and took our 10 minute walk back up to campus. With so much to do in and around the Boston area, I feel lucky to be a Tufts student who is able to explore these areas with the great friends I have made in such a short amount of time.