Brunch in Sharpstown and Gulfton: 10 Weekend Spots, 7 a.m. to Dim Sum

The best brunch in Sharpstown and Gulfton is a breakfast tour of the world along Bellaire Boulevard in southwest Houston. Start with Taiwanese rice rolls at Tao Rice Roll or Vietnamese coffee at Le'Drip in Dun Huang Plaza, eat Tampico-style eggs at Tacos El Jaibo in Gulfton, then move on to dim sum at Dim Sum King, HK Dim Sum or Fung's Kitchen once the steamers fire up around 10 a.m. Nobody here calls it brunch, and nobody needs to.

Here is a fact worth knowing: when 85°C Bakery Cafe, the Taiwanese bakery chain, opened its 1,000th store anywhere in the world in 2017, it chose Bellaire Boulevard in Sharpstown, according to the company's own milestones page. That store is still pouring sea salt coffee at 9750 Bellaire Blvd.

Our one-line version: in Sharpstown and Gulfton, a weekend morning comes in a rice roll, a steamer basket or a hot plate of chilaquiles, and you can have all three before noon.

Where are Sharpstown and Gulfton? How we define them

We use the City of Houston's own super neighborhood lines, and we checked every address on this list against the city's super neighborhood map. Sharpstown is Super Neighborhood 26: the big trapezoid bounded by Beltway 8 on the west, the Westpark Tollway on the north, the Southwest Freeway (I-69/US-59) on the east and Brays Bayou on the south. That puts the eastern half of Houston's Chinatown, from Gessner Road to the Beltway, inside Sharpstown. Gulfton is Super Neighborhood 27, the dense wedge on the other side of the freeway, just outside the 610 Loop and north of the city of Bellaire.

Two boundary notes save you a wasted drive. First, Beltway 8 is the hard western edge: favorites such as Golden Dim Sum and Kim Son sit just across it in Alief, so they live in our Alief brunch guide instead. Second, the Beechnut Street strip just south of Bellaire Boulevard near the Beltway falls in the Westwood super neighborhood on the city map, so we left out Beechnut spots too.

Sharpstown has a story worth knowing before you eat there. The Southwest Management District says developer Frank W. Sharp announced it on March 13, 1955, as Houston's first large-scale, master-planned, car-centric suburb, and Sharpstown Center opened in September 1961 as Houston's first fully air-conditioned enclosed mall. Today the mall is PlazAmericas.

How we chose

Every pick had to sit inside the city's Sharpstown or Gulfton boundary, serve breakfast, brunch-style dishes or dim sum on weekend mornings, and show its current hours on its own official website or ordering page as of October 2026.

Hours change, and several of these restaurants keep different hours on weekdays, so treat every time below as "typically" and check the official site before you go.

The quick list

• Earliest coffee: Le'Drip Coffee and Tea, from 7 a.m.
• Most unusual breakfast: Tao Rice Roll's Taiwanese rice rolls and salty soy milk
• Best Mexican breakfast plate: Tacos El Jaibo in Gulfton
• Best bakery stop: 85°C Bakery Cafe, the chain's 1,000th store
• Best all-day dim sum: Dim Sum King
• Best dim sum for a group: Fung's Kitchen
• Latest Sunday start with a bar: La Tapatia on Bellaire Boulevard
• Any hour at all: Denny's on Hillcroft, open 24 hours

Early birds: coffee, rice rolls and breakfast tacos (from 7 a.m.)

The earliest brunch in Sharpstown and Gulfton starts at 7 a.m., and three of the best early stops share one address.

Le'Drip Coffee and Tea

Sharpstown, Dun Huang Plaza, 9889 Bellaire Blvd, Ste E-205 · typically 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Le'Drip Coffee and Tea is a Vietnamese coffee shop in Dun Huang Plaza in Houston's Chinatown, and its own site says it sources its beans and tea leaves from Vietnam. It opens at 7 a.m. every day, which makes it the natural first stop of a Sharpstown weekend.

What to order: a Vietnamese coffee, or the Pandan Bac Siu, which the shop describes as the lighter sister of its Vietnamese coffee topped with pandan foam. The Black Sugar Matcha Latte is the non-coffee pick. For more, see our Vietnamese coffee guide.

Tao Rice Roll

Sharpstown, Dun Huang Plaza, 9889 Bellaire Blvd · typically 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tao Rice Roll in Dun Huang Plaza says it is dedicated to bringing the flavors of Taiwanese breakfast to Texas, and it is the most unusual brunch on this list. The signature is the rice roll: sticky rice wrapped around fillings such as Taiwanese sausage with salted egg, preserved mustard greens or tuna.

What to order: the house Tao Roll, the sesame pancake with a fried bread stick, and a cup of salty soy milk, a savory Taiwanese breakfast classic.

Why it's here: it's a true breakfast shop that closes in the afternoon, so it rewards early risers. Our Taiwanese restaurant guide has more.

Tacos El Jaibo

Gulfton, 5821 Bellaire Blvd · typically 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, breakfast 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Tacos El Jaibo on Bellaire Boulevard in Gulfton cooks in the style of Tampico, the port city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and its tagline promises Mexican food with the flavor of Tampico. Breakfast is served with handmade tortillas all day, but the official menu says it's priced as breakfast from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; after that, breakfast tacos, burritos and plates cost a little more.

What to order: huevos con machacado (eggs scrambled with dried beef), the Desayuno Centro Americano with fried eggs, plantain, sour cream and beans, or chilaquiles con huevo.

Insider tip: arrive before 2 p.m. and the same breakfast costs less: the menu adds $1 per taco or burrito and $2 per plate after that.

Taquerias Arandas (South Gessner)

Sharpstown, 8111 S Gessner Rd · typically opens by 7:30 a.m.

Taquerias Arandas is a Houston taqueria chain that calls itself family-run since 1981, with about 25 locations across the city; the South Gessner shop is the one inside Sharpstown, south of Bellaire Boulevard. The official menu lists menudo every day, which is the classic weekend-morning order across Houston.

What to order: huevos divorciados, machacado, or a bowl of menudo. Breakfast tacos are on the menu for a quick stop.

Why it's here: a dependable, early, sit-down Mexican breakfast. The site lists slightly different hours on different pages, so check before you go. For more tacos, see our Chinatown Mexican restaurant guide.

The bakery stop

85°C Bakery Cafe

Sharpstown, 9750 Bellaire Blvd #168 · typically 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily

85°C Bakery Cafe is a Taiwanese bakery cafe chain, and its Bellaire Boulevard store in Sharpstown is the one the company lists as its 1,000th store, opened in 2017. The name comes from 85 degrees Celsius, which the company calls the perfect brewing temperature for espresso, and it says each store bakes over 50 varieties of pastries fresh hourly.

What to order: the signature Sea Salt Coffee, plus a few buns or a slice of cake for later.

Dim sum brunch (from about 10 a.m.)

Dim sum is the weekend brunch of Houston's Chinatown, and three of the best Sharpstown options open at 10 or 10:30 a.m. For the full Bellaire Boulevard dim sum list, including the big halls west of the Beltway, see our Chinatown brunch guide.

Dim Sum King

Sharpstown, 9160 Bellaire Blvd #B · typically 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily

Dim Sum King on Bellaire Boulevard is a casual dim sum spot with a menu in Chinese, English and Vietnamese, sorted into small, medium, large and special sizes. Because it serves dim sum from opening to close every day, a late brunch never runs into a cutoff.

What to order: crab king shiu mai, steamed shrimp dumplings, shrimp rice noodle rolls, and the fried turnip cake with XO sauce.

HK Dim Sum

Sharpstown, Dun Huang Plaza, 9889 Bellaire Blvd #110 · typically 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

HK Dim Sum is a Hong Kong-style dim sum restaurant in Dun Huang Plaza, which describes itself as the largest commercial condominium in Houston's Chinatown and has two large covered parking garages. Note the weekday hours: on Monday through Wednesday it typically closes at 5 p.m.

What to order: steamed shrimp dumplings, shrimp and pork shu mai, sticky rice with mixed meat in lotus leaf, and beef rib with black pepper.

Why it's here: park once in the covered garage and you can walk from coffee at Le'Drip to rice rolls at Tao to dim sum here.

Fung's Kitchen

Sharpstown, 7320 Southwest Fwy #115 · typically 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays

Fung's Kitchen on the Southwest Freeway in Sharpstown is a Chinese seafood restaurant that advertises dim sum daily and live seafood, and it hosts banquets and weddings. It's the pick when you're feeding a big family or celebrating something.

What to order: the Peking duck rolls, which the menu calls its gold medal appetizer, the bacon-wrapped shrimp Red Dragon Rolls, and a spread of dim sum for the table. For more duck, see our Peking duck guide.

Late starts and any-hour options

La Tapatia (Bellaire)

Gulfton, 5710 Bellaire Blvd · typically opens 10 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday

La Tapatia is a small Houston chain of Mexican restaurants, cafes and cantinas, and its Bellaire Boulevard location in Gulfton welcomes guests for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The chain's breakfast menu lists weekend breakfast from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the Bellaire cantina typically stays open until midnight or later.

What to order: huevos rancheros, huevos divorciados in red and green sauce, chilaquiles con fajita, or an order of three breakfast tacos.

Why it's here: the best option on this list for a slow Sunday brunch with friends who want a drink with their eggs.

Denny's (Hillcroft)

Sharpstown, 6060 Hillcroft St · open 24 hours

The Denny's at 6060 Hillcroft St, near the Southwest Freeway in Sharpstown, is listed by the company as open 24 hours. It's the fallback when your group can't agree or brunch turns into breakfast at midnight.

Save this: the Sharpstown and Gulfton brunch crawl

Screenshot this route for a Saturday or Sunday. It runs east to west and ends with dim sum.

1. 7 a.m., Gulfton: Tampico-style eggs and handmade tortillas at Tacos El Jaibo, 5821 Bellaire Blvd. Order before 2 p.m. for breakfast prices.
2. 8:30 a.m., Sharpstown: drive west on Bellaire Boulevard to Dun Huang Plaza, 9889 Bellaire Blvd. Park in a covered garage.
3. 8:45 a.m.: a rice roll and salty soy milk at Tao Rice Roll.
4. 9:15 a.m.: a Vietnamese coffee to go from Le'Drip, in the same plaza.
5. 9:45 a.m.: head a short way east to 85°C at 9750 Bellaire Blvd for sea salt coffee and a box of buns.
6. 10:30 a.m.: finish with shrimp dumplings at HK Dim Sum back in Dun Huang Plaza, or at Dim Sum King at 9160 Bellaire Blvd.

Checklist: breakfast shops open at 7 a.m. and dim sum kitchens around 10; Dun Huang Plaza has covered garages; Beltway 8 is the western edge (cross it and you're in Alief); skip Mondays if Fung's Kitchen is on your list; and check each official site for the day's hours.

Getting there and parking

Sharpstown and Gulfton are about 10 miles southwest of downtown Houston. Take I-69/US-59 south (the Southwest Freeway) and exit at Hillcroft, Bellaire Boulevard, Fondren or Gessner. Parking is free in plaza lots. METRO local buses run along the main corridors; plan a trip on the METRO website.

More brunch nearby

For more dim sum and bakeries, start with our Houston Chinatown guide, or see the best brunch in Houston for the whole city.

Last verified: October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I get brunch in Sharpstown and Gulfton?

The best brunch in Sharpstown and Gulfton is along Bellaire Boulevard: Tao Rice Roll and Le'Drip in Dun Huang Plaza (9889 Bellaire Blvd) from 7 a.m., Tacos El Jaibo at 5821 Bellaire Blvd in Gulfton for Mexican breakfast, and Dim Sum King, HK Dim Sum and Fung's Kitchen for dim sum from about 10 a.m.

What are the boundaries of Sharpstown and Gulfton?

Sharpstown is City of Houston Super Neighborhood 26, bounded by Beltway 8, the Westpark Tollway, the Southwest Freeway (I-69) and Brays Bayou. Gulfton is Super Neighborhood 27, the dense area across the freeway just outside the 610 Loop and north of the city of Bellaire.

Where can I get dim sum in Sharpstown?

Dim Sum King at 9160 Bellaire Blvd typically serves dim sum from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, HK Dim Sum in Dun Huang Plaza opens at 10 a.m. on weekends, and Fung's Kitchen at 7320 Southwest Fwy serves dim sum daily except Mondays, when it is closed.

What is the earliest brunch spot in Sharpstown?

Le'Drip Coffee and Tea and Tao Rice Roll, both in Dun Huang Plaza at 9889 Bellaire Blvd, typically open at 7 a.m. Tacos El Jaibo in Gulfton also opens at 7 a.m. daily, and the Denny's at 6060 Hillcroft St is open 24 hours.

Is Houston's Chinatown in Sharpstown?

Partly. The stretch of Houston's Chinatown along Bellaire Boulevard from Gessner Road to Beltway 8 is inside the City of Houston's Sharpstown super neighborhood, while the section west of the Beltway is in Alief.

Where can I get a Mexican breakfast in Gulfton?

Tacos El Jaibo at 5821 Bellaire Blvd serves Tampico-style breakfast from 7 a.m. daily, and La Tapatia at 5710 Bellaire Blvd has a breakfast menu with huevos rancheros, chilaquiles and breakfast tacos, served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends.