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Food guide

How to find good congee

Congee is rice cooked in far too much water for far too long until the grains break down into a savoury porridge. It is breakfast across much of Asia, it is what you eat when you are ill, and it is almost impossible to find done badly in a place that specialises in it.

What separates a good one from a bad one

  • Grains fully broken down — Good congee is smooth and creamy with no distinct grains left. If you can see whole rice, it was rushed — it takes hours.
  • Stock, not water — The best congee is cooked in chicken or pork stock. Water-based congee is comforting; stock-based congee is a dish.
  • Served scalding — It should be too hot to eat immediately and hold that heat, which good congee does because of its density.
  • Toppings added at the table — Ginger, scallion, white pepper, youtiao, century egg, peanuts. If it arrives pre-mixed you cannot adjust it.
  • Youtiao on the side — Fried dough sticks for dipping. A congee shop without them is missing the standard accompaniment.

What to order

  • Century egg and pork — The classic Cantonese combination. Start here.
  • Plain, with toppings — If you want to judge the congee itself.
  • Fish congee — Sliced raw fish cooked by the heat of the porridge as it is stirred in.
  • Youtiao to dip — Always.
  • Jok or okayu variants — Thai jok comes with a raw egg and ginger; Japanese okayu is plainer. Different traditions, same comfort.

Where to find congee

Congee is mostly found at Chinese restaurants, so that is where to look. Open listings put 30,057 of them across the US, and these are the cities and campuses with the most.

Cities with the most

New York, NY 853 Philadelphia, PA 363 Chicago, IL 338 San Francisco, CA 292 Los Angeles, CA 256 Houston, TX 215 Las Vegas, NV 193 Orlando, FL 133 San Jose, CA 124 Portland, OR 119 Sacramento, CA 115 Baltimore, MD 113

Campuses with the most within a mile

NYU 177 Pace University 160 BMCC 148 Touro University 135 CUNY Graduate Center 131 Baruch 131 FIT 115 The New School 112 Jefferson 77 Community College of Philadelphia 69

A few to start with

Counts are listings in Overture Maps open data (September 2026), counted by the town in each address. Independent places only in the examples above, and they are a starting point rather than a ranking.

How Savor Scout looks for it

Congee searches read for texture language in reviews and for breakfast hours, since a shop open at 7am for congee is cooking it the way it is meant to be eaten. Places serving it only as a side dish on a large menu rank lower than specialists.

Find congee near you →

Looking in a particular city?

Each of these opens Savor Scout with the location already set, so you can say what you want and it searches from there. It covers 1,000 US cities in total — these are simply the largest.

All 1,000 cities →

When you might want this

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