Flatiron’s Getting a Dim Sum Parlor and Coffee Shop Combo Today

There’s a new dim sum parlor and cafe in the Flatiron District cheekily named Baodega.

Opening tomorrow at 7 West 20th St., Baodega is an all-day restaurant with dim sum and dishes with influence from Shanghai cuisine, from an accredited team including chef and owner Salil Mehta (Laut, the Chinese Club), chef Kenny Yie (Shanghai Traditional Dumpling), and Asian craft coffee company Kopi Trading Co.

It’s a 60-seat space with a plant-filled outdoor patio, plus a separate cafe area where Kopi Trading Co.’s coffees will be poured.

Yie has created a varied menu of lunch specials, family-style entrees, noodles, dim sum, baos, and buns. Some dishes like Shanghainese cold noodles with egg and ham, fried pork dumplings, and pork and crab roe soup dumplings pay homage to the chef’s native Shanghai. Ice cream from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory will be available for dessert. See a sample opening menu below.

Dim sum derives from Cantonese teahouses, but here, coffee from Kopi Trading Co. will be priority. Its beans are sourced from several Asian countries and roasted in Brooklyn. Classic options like espresso, pour over, and cold brew will be available, though cold-brewed teas such as passion fruit lemonade and ginger tonic will be served, too.

Valeria Pinto [Official Photo]

Owner Mehta opened Union Square Malaysian restaurant Laut in 2010 and Chinese-Indian restaurant the Chinese Club in Williamsburg in 2016 and in Murray Hill last year. Both locations of the Chinese Club have since closed, but later this summer, the restaurateur has plans to open a follow-up to Laut, a popular place that once held a Michelin star, though it no longer does.

Chef Yie brings experience from his previous restaurants such as Shanghai Traditional Dumpling and Shanghai Family Dumpling in Brooklyn’s Fei Long Market, as well as Shanghai King in Elmhurst.

Valeria Pinto [Official Photo]

Baodega opens tomorrow at 7 a.m. Hours are 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on week days; 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday; and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. The cafe opens earlier, with food arriving around lunch time.