There's nowhere else in Chinatown where we’d rather drink rare tea, slurp Taiwanese beef noodle soup, and eat piles of juicy pork and leek dumplings. When you walk into this breakfast and lunch spot, you’ll see old-school maps on the wall, siphon coffee machines with water boiling in glass bulbs, and cooks spooning pork filling into thin-skinned wrappers. It’s the kind of completely relaxed room that'll make you feel like you snuck into someone's aunt’s house and she’s insisting you stay for soup. You can't say no to Evelyn. Or that soup. The long menu of dumplings, combo specials, noodles, and stir-fry dishes make Ray’s a great option for lunch (though the cafe opens at 8am). We usually inhale the dumpling sampler, which comes with pork with nappa cabbage, vegetables, pork and leek, and curry chicken. But if you’re looking for a non-dumpling option, get the beef noodle soup with thick noodles, tender beef, and a slightly salty broth that works as an antidote to Philly winter. Grab a bowl, demolish it in between sips of rare tea or siphon coffee—the owner wanders around giving out tips about how to heat red oolong tea so you don’t burn the leaves—and you'll have a comfort meal that makes even the longest of weeks seem a little shorter.