No matter what neighborhood you’re in, NYC has no shortage of Chinese food establishments, serving up delicious soup dumplings, endless noodles and every soul-satisfying favorite inbetween. We know most New Yorkers have their local Chinese food joints for both ordering in and dining out, but we can’t help but share our favorite dim sum spots that will be worth cheating on your reliable go-to.
“A classic NYC establishment, you’re here for soup dumplings. Waiters pretty much assume you want these when you sit down, so don’t be intimidated by the shared tabletops. Just nod with a smile and say crab and pork please.” – The Infatuation
“Set in an old community opera house on Doyers Street in Chinatown, the bi-level spot pipes The Roots through the sound system, charges steep sums for hifalutin beef with broccoli and modernist eggplant fries, and occupies sufficient square footage to evoke a proper clubstaurant.” – Eater
“Old school is an understatement when it comes to this 1938-era Chinatown classic known for tried-and-true Cantonese cooking at rock-bottom, cash-only rates; despite abrupt service and no-frills digs decorated with a zillion photos, long lines are the norm – especially late-night.” – Zagat
“Founded in 1978 and seating over 800, Jing Fong is the largest restaurant in Chinatown, maybe in the entire city. It’s also well regarded for its dim sum that’s delivered to tables by rolling carts daytime only, seven days a week. Late in the afternoon the menu switches to semi-modern Cantonese, with an emphasis on seafood.” – Eater
“Dry pots arrive in huge bamboo bowls, slick with oil, bathed in sesame seeds, and heaped with cilantro. Cumin, ginger, cardamom, licorice, and twenty other spices are tossed in, but all you’ll feel is that signature mouth-tingling that renders self-control futile and makes consumption an exercise in stamina.” – The New Yorker
“Its narrow, wood-lined space looks like a subway tunnel redesigned by a Cirque du Soleil set director, with multi-colored orbs and unusual light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, and there’s a fairly large kitchen visible through big windows in the dining room. We like all the food coming out of that kitchen, including the rice noodles, which come in bowls of broth topped with things like thin-sliced beef or oyster mushrooms – but our favorite dish is the stir-fried chicken.” – The Infatuation
“Hot in just the right way, these awesome Philly transplants offer unapologetically spicy Sichuan dishes including knockout dan dan noodles; the Villager is always crowded while the UWS offshoot is much more spacious, and though both are no-frills, they’re priced for value; P.S. a third branch is set inside DeKalb Market Hall, complete with a bar and table service.” – Zagat
“New Yorkers come here because prices are reasonable and it’s BYOB. The bird that emerges from the kitchen is exceptionally attractive, first presented whole and then carved nearby. An unsmiling cook wearing a big toque will cut large, even slices, but he will make no effort to remove the fat.” – GQ
“Of all the Sichuan restaurants in the city, this one is probably the chicest, outfitted with cool, vintage chinoiserie and pretty ceramics, old schoolroom-style chairs and blue-velvet-backed booths. And the food is very good, enough so to have earned a Michelin star — but the fact that it did is evidence that it’s also a bit reined-in, perhaps to please a milder palate, and some dishes leave you wishing they were spicier, saltier, and funkier.” – Adam Platt, New York Magazine
“Known for their “Lucky Six Soup Dumplings” in pretty pastels — which comes in the flavors of pork, crab meat & pork, chicken, scallop & pork, black truffle & pork, and gourd luffa with shrimp & pork — Nan Xiang is a beloved Flushing staple that now has an additional home in Midtown’s Koreatown, a block from the Empire State Building.” – Secret NYC
“Nom Wah Tea Parlor has been around since 1920. Nom Wah Nolita has been around since 2016. And that says a lot about these two establishments. Nom Wah is one of Manhattan Chinatown’s classic dim sum spots, and it’s a place you arguably come for the atmosphere more than for the food. At Nom Wah Nolita, you arguably come for the food more than for the atmosphere.” – The Infatuation
“Forget the red dragons and paper lantern décor. Famed restaurant designer Alvarez Brock LLC has created a classy interior sporting crisp white walls decorated with chic textured stars.Tables turn over quickly at Uncle Ted’s during lunch and dinner. Local clientele — longtime Villagers, as well as a slew of N.Y.U. students (many of whom are from China, but still crave the American Asian cuisine) — are the regulars that keep the restaurant packed, requesting age-old menu items, like Suzie’s famous chicken wings, beef with broccoli, and Ted’s interpretation of a Chinese-American invention, General Tso’s Chicken.” – The Villager
“Eddie Schoenfeld and his partner in crime, chef Joe Ng, prepare only 25 birds every evening at this first-rate little Peking-duck atelier down on Hudson Street, and all of them are hand-picked from local farms out on Long Island. The steamed pancakes with which these plump, tender birds are served are hand-rolled every day, which is rarely the case down in Chinatown, and hoisted to the table in steamy bamboo baskets” – New York Magazine
“Channeling a 1940s Macao gambling parlor, this dazzling, bi-level TriBeCan offers plentiful eye candy to go with its Chinese-Portuguese chow; late-night, it turns club-like – loud and crowded with uneven service – but most are having too much fun to care.” – Zagat
“There is skillful, contemporary Chinese food all over the menu, and color photographs to let you know what you’re in for. Most of the dishes are drawn from either Beijing, Shanghai or Chongqing. Peppers are not quite everywhere, but they are strongly represented in many dishes. So many fresh green chiles lurk in Madam Zhu’s Spicy Fish Stew that eating it is a contact sport. There is some shading to the cooking, too. I counted three distinct frying styles, and clearly need to return to finish the survey.” – New York Times
“This SoHo restaurant features soup dumplings made by Charlie Chen, a former executive chef at famous Taiwanese dumpling chain Din Tai Fung. There are three versions here, not only the classic pork but also chicken and a seafood variation fortified with pork fat.” – New York Magazine
“Upper Eastsiders who don’t want to schlep to Chinatown depend on this reliable vet for tasty dim sum and other solid Chinese classics ferried by efficient servers; the decor gets mixed responses, but there’s always speedy delivery.” – Zagat
“They have plaintive black sesame-seed eyes, the dumplings at RedFarm, giving them the appearance of strange, adorable characters in a Miyazaki film. These flat-bellied duck and crab dumplings look like a school of wide-mouthed catfish; the pale-green ones, filled with shrimp and snow-pea leaves, like moon-faced tadpoles. In exchange, all the flavors have been turned up as high as they can go. The dishes can be salty, or sweet, or rich. Often they are all three at once. At RedFarm, the food goes to 11.” – New York Times
“There’s no better prelude or conclusion to a Museum of Natural History visit or stroll in Central Park than this nominally Shanghai restaurant, where strong cocktails are part of the package. Though lion’s head meatballs, soup dumplings, West Lake beef soup, and other Shanghai regional delicacies are presented, the menu goes further afield with Sichuan, Cantonese (including lots of dim sum for convenient snacking), and even Teochew dishes.” – Eater
