Dumplings may be one of the most universally loved foods across China. Shanghai’s soup dumplings, gushing broth when you bite in. Sichuanese wontons, glazed with crimson chile oil. Cantonese shrimp har gow, with in their distinctive transparent wrappers.

Find directions to all of these dumplings in “Many Chinas, Many Tables,” the Chronicle’s curated, interactive guide to Bay Area restaurants serving regional Chinese cuisines: www.sfchronicle.com/chinese-cuisine

Search the site — the most comprehensive curated guide of its kind in the country — by city or by cuisine. In addition, you can learn more about how to order from a massive menu of unfamiliar dishes and find dozens of Chronicle articles profiling Chinese chefs and restaurants.

A few of the dumpling specialists listed in our guide:

There are those who swear that the xiaolongbao, or soup dumplings, here rival those of Din Tai Fung’s vaunted ones. They are larger than Din Tai Fung’s, gush with perhaps even more broth and possess thin wrappers, though not quite as fragile and delicate as those at the champion Taiwanese dumpling chain. Din Ding’s boiled shrimp and pork dumplings are nearly as juicy as the xiao long bao. — Carolyn Jung

3213 Walnut Ave., Fremont, (510) 797-8122. Open for lunch and dinner Monday, Wednesday-Sunday.

No other restaurant in the Bay Area is translating the innovative spirit that cooks in Asia are bringing to dim sum like Dragon Beaux, owned by the family behind the legendary Koi Palace in Daly City. Instagram is an influence on the many vividly colored dumplings. The dish most customers are ordering, and photographing, is the “Five Guys” soup dumplings, one of each color, tinted and flavored with truffle, kale, turmeric and other seasonings. Fear not: appearance alone doesn’t make them worth ordering. — Jonathan Kauffman

5700 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, (415) 333-8899, dragonbeaux.com. Dim sum served daily at lunchtime.

You won’t find staples like goat milk or yak butter on the menu at Nomad Tibetan Restaurant, tucked away on the Solano Avenue strip in Berkeley, where owner Kyal Kha serves traditional cuisine with modern twists. Tibet’s well-known momos, or dumplings, are typically filled with meat, but at Nomad, vegetarians can also find varieties with seasoned potatoes or spinach, cabbage, carrots and glass noodles. — Momo Chang

1593 Solano Ave., Berkeley, (510) 984-0738, www.nomadtibetan.com . Open for lunch Wednesday through Sunday and dinner Monday through Saturday.

At Millbrae’s Tasty Place, owners Lucy Liu and Andy Gao make crescent-shape jiaozi (dumplings) in full view of the small dining area. Liu says jiaozi recipes vary from block to block in Anshan, her hometown in Liaoning province in northeastern China. Vegetables add a light, crisp component to many of the 12 filling options, which include the House Dumpling (fish and celery), Chicken and Corn, and Vegetable (frozen tofu, cabbage and crystal noodles). — Craig Brozinsky

1625 El Camino Real, Millbrae, (650) 872-2338, http://tastyplace.us . Open lunch through dinner daily.

At this Sunset restaurant, white-jacketed women face the dining room, behind a glass wall, making no dumpling until the waiter delivers an order ticket. Their freshly stuffed dumplings, with firm but pliant wrappers and served either boiled or in a bowl of clear stock. Many of Yuanbao Jiaozi’s dumplings contain northeast Chinese fillings that are relatively uncommon in the Bay Area, such as fish with mushrooms or green pepper, pork with three delicacies and shrimp with zucchini. (Read more on Yuanbao Jiaozi here.) — Jonathan Kauffman

110 Irving St, San Francisco, (415) 702-6506. Open lunch and dinner Monday, Wednesday-Sunday.

Jonathan Kauffman has been writing about food for The Chronicle since the spring of 2014. He focuses on the intersection of food and culture - whether that be profiling chefs, tracking new trends in nonwestern cuisines, or examining the impact of technology on the way we eat.

After cooking for a number of years in Minnesota and San Francisco, Kauffman left the kitchen to become a journalist. He reviewed restaurants for 11 years in the Bay Area and Seattle (East Bay Express, Seattle Weekly, SF Weekly) before abandoning criticism in order to tell the stories behind the food. His first book, "Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat," was published in 2018.