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An overhead photograph of buns, siu mai, and other dim sum dishes in bamboo steamers. — Jing Fong is one of NYC’s most popular dim sum destinations.

21 Crowd-Pleasing Dim Sum Parlors in NYC

Consider these spots for Lunar New Year 2023

by Robert Sietsema and Eater Staff Updated Jan 9, 2023, 1:38pm EST

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Jing Fong is one of NYC’s most popular dim sum destinations.

| Gary He/Eater NY

by Robert Sietsema and Eater Staff Updated Jan 9, 2023, 1:38pm EST

2 comments / new

New Yorkers and tourists alike often find themselves in one of NYC’s Chinatowns in search of dim sum. After all, there’s something for everyone in this collection of delicate dumplings, braised chicken feet, sweet fresh tofu, rice noodle rolls, fluffy steamed bao, tiny custard pies, and other small dishes — many requiring extraordinary skill to make. Competition between dim sum parlors has resulted in innovation, so a visit to the most popular spots means there’s often something new on the menu (or rolling by on a roving cart).

Dim sum is also conducive for group dining during holidays like Lunar New Year from January 22 through February 5, especially at those with banquet halls, where it’s not uncommon to find three or even four generations of families seated at big round tables. The best dim sum spots in town also don’t break the bank as diners enjoy the little heartwarming morsels even the humblest budget can afford. But these days dim sum is also an all-day affair in smaller fast-casual establishments that have appeared all over town, as this map demonstrates.

Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

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Jing Fong

Opened in 2017, this elegant Upper West Sider offers the usual dim sum late into the evening, some of it innovative but most of it standard. Platings are lush, and there are mixed drinks, too, making it a popular destination for a quick bite or for group brunches.

380 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10013

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Four shrimp glazed with white sauce and a sugary walnut on top of each. — Honey walnut prawns at the uptown Jing Fong.

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New Mulan

Inside Flushing’s slick Queens Crossing Mall, New Mulan is a luxuriously draped dining room with cart-service dim sum and a broad-ranging, pristine product. Stuffed vegetables like green pepper and eggplant have a profuse shrimp-paste stuffing, the congee is offered with whatever you want to put into it, rice noodle rolls taste just-made, and all sorts of soups like West Lake beef are available to round out your dim sum meal. Sometimes plates are delivered by cat robots — but don’t be alarmed.

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136-17 39th Ave, Queens, NY 11354

Three amorphous pink balls in a steamer. — Shrimp balls at New Mulan.

Dim Sum Garden Express

This narrow commuter snack shop in the midst of Flushing’s transportation hub is not what many may think of as delivering stellar dim sum — but it does. A broad range is available, but the specialties are congee and steamed rice noodle rolls, the latter bigger and lush with such fillings as pork ribs with black bean sauce, curried fish balls, and stewed beef brisket, among a dozen others. Chiles stuffed with shrimp paste are another delight.

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136 - 55 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11354

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A plastic tray with white noodles underneath tiny pork ribs. — Pork rib rice noodle rolls at Dim Sum Garden Express.

Tim Ho Wan

A visit to this imported dim sum parlor should make you proud since New York’s dim sum is just as good as Hong Kong’s. Here, har gow is thinner-skinned and has more shrimp crammed inside, while the baked char siu bao is sweeter than many versions found in NYC. Tim Ho Wan has done away with communal tables, too, making dim sum feel like a private experience. Much of its dim sum is very good, including eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste and shrimp rice noodle rolls. Another location lies at 85 Fourth Avenue, near East 10th Street.

610 9th Ave, New York, NY 10036

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<span data-author="-1">Three round barbecue pork buns photographed from above</span> — Baked char siu bao at Tim Ho Wan.

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Asian Jewels

Though located in a hard-to-find industrial district by the Flushing River, Asian Jewels (formerly Ocean Jewels) is one of the neighborhood’s pre-eminent dim sum palaces, offering a bit of luxury at surprisingly low prices. Though its dumplings lack the delicacy of, say, Bamboo Garden’s, the dim sum choices are solid and even creative. Recommendations include vegetarian rice rolls, minced beef balls, and salt and pepper fried anchovies

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13330 39th Ave, Flushing, NY 11354

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Buddhist rice noodle rolls and minced beef balls

Hey Yuet

If it’s up-to-the-minute Hong Kong dim sum in a stylish setting you’re after, Hey Yuet is your place. Right outside the gates of FIT, it offers innovative dishes such as black bao colored with powdered charcoal and filled with salted egg yolk custard and shrimp har gow with some of the biggest crustaceans you’ve ever seen in dim sum. E-fu noodles and wonton soup are also good bets.

251 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001

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Two hands hold up a steamer with three round black steamed buns inside. — Charcoal-laced bao.

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Dim Sum Sam

When it appeared just off Madison Square a year ago, Dim Sum Sam caused a sensation. No longer did one have to go to Chinatown to find a complete selection of roast duck and char siu pork, noodle dishes, pan-fried pot stickers, rice noodle rolls crammed with various fillings, custard mini-tarts, or any of the other small dishes previously unavailable in the area.

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28 E 23rd St, New York, NY 10010

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Two round pies filled with very yellow custard. — Dan tat, Macao-style egg tarts.

Steam

Shanghai and Sichuan are the partial focus of this informal but comfortable Chinese restaurant in the Village, but dim sum is the draw, implied by the name. Don’t be surprised, given the Shanghai focus, that the soup dumplings are wonderful (including lots of crab in the crab-pork version), but there are plenty of other choices, including red bean pancakes, shrimp and watercress dumplings, pan-fried wontons, and so on.

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470 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011

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Four light green curled dumplings in a steamer. — Snow pea leaf and shrimp dumplings are lovely.

Dim Sum Palace

Along with the fast-casual cafes popping up all over town, this homegrown chain that broadcasts its Hong Kong roots may be the future of dim sum. Offering a soupcon of elegance, it fabricates a broad range of congees and dumplings, including relatively thin-skinned xiaolongbao, and diaphanous siu mai bursting with shrimp, served with multiple dipping sauces. Tea is another specialty. Currently, there are seven locations, including a newer, more gigantic one at 47 Division Street, near Market Street in Chinatown.

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59 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

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A basket steamer with six puckered dumplings. — Shanghai soup dumplings at Dim Sum Palace.

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One East Ocean Palace

This sprawling Chinese restaurant in Forest Hills, a neighborhood with a growing number of Chinese restaurants, serves favorite dim sum plates like watercress-and-fish dumplings, beef rice rolls flavored with cilantro, shrimp har gow, humongous siu mai, and fatty pork riblets in a steamer dotted with black beans.

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113-09 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills, NY 11375

Crunchy shrimp dumplings

Royal Seafood

Cantonese behemoth Royal Seafood reasserted itself as one Chinatown’s best dim sum parlors after a pandemic shutdown. Carts still speed back and forth dispensing some of the best braised tripe in town, and the miniature custard pies, fresh tofu, shrimp rice noodle rolls, and pea-shoot dumplings are also top-notch.

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103 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

Pea shoot dumplings

Mott Street Eatery

This place provides magnificent dim sum in a food court setting — point to the selections you want through a plexiglass divider. The largest of the stalls, 89 Eatery, specializes in dim sum from a selection of 10 or so types at one time, plus congees and more kinds of la rou fan (Chinese charcuterie including ducks, chickens, and pork) than are found many places in Chinatown.

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98 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

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Two white rice noodle rolls in one container and two yellow crimped dumplings in the other. — Beef rice noodle and shrimp siu mai at Mott Street Eatery.

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Yin Ji Chang Fen

The last couple of years have seen the demise of some of the larger banquet halls, which were the primary destinations for dim sum, while new places have specialized in much narrower selections, as Yin Ji Chang Fen demonstrates. This Chinese import from Guangzhou specializes in steamed rice rolls more fully stuffed than the city has seen before, proffered as a main course; two or three make a full meal.

Open in Google Maps

91 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013

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Two black plastic containers of translucent rice noodle rolls. — Yin Ji Chang Fen’s rice noodle rolls.

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Mee Sum Cafe

Taking Chinatown back to the 1950s, Mee Sum is a place not to be missed for romantics and history buffs. This antique lunch counter offers great dim sum of the coffee-shop sort, neither delicate nor expensive, eaten mainly by old-timers who might linger over a plate or two. Dim sum, mostly pulled from a steam cabinet, falls into three categories: dumplings, baked buns, and congee.

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26 Pell St, New York, NY 10013

Two met sit at a metal table in front of a very old looking storefront. — The action spills into Pell Street at Mee Sum.

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Dim Sum Bar

Williamsburg may be the last place you’d go looking for great dumplings and other Cantonese brunchy snacks, but here they’re available from lunchtime every day until late in the evening. Many have fanciful names and are on the slightly trailblazing side, like lava bao and shrimp pompoms, while others are doctrinaire, like shrimp shumai and shrimp turnip cakes.

Open in Google Maps

167 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11249

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Three reactor towers with shrimp paste bulging out the top. — Shrimp-stuffed eggplant, in Williamsburg?

Nom Wah Tea Parlor

The oldest continuously operating restaurant in Chinatown, this relic of a bygone era has been lovingly restored to something like its 1920s founding date. With no carts, customers check off dim sum orders on a pad of paper. The dim sum offerings veer toward the traditional, as seen in the well-braised chicken feet, funky turnip cakes, and fluffy steamed char siu bao.

13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

Who doesn’t like a turnip cake?

Also featured in:

Ping’s

There are many dim sum options in Manhattan’s Chinatown, but Ping’s is a crowd favorite for good reason. Whether it’s steaming siu mai or fluffy bao filled with char siu, the quality of the dishes — fresh, always served hot — are often better than many spots in the neighborhood. There can be a wait for tables.

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22 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

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Dim sum on plates and in steamers on a white tablecloth. — Ping’s still has one of the best dim sum services in town.

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Golden Unicorn

Since 1989, this restaurant has offered Cantonese dining at its glitziest. Take the elevator to either of the two levels at the direction of a walkie-talkie-wielding host. Inside, sample dim sum displayed on rolling carts. The braised chicken feet are impossibly tender, the turnip cake earthy and wiggly, the shrimp siu mai sprinkled with crunchy roe, and the vegetarian crystal dumplings possess a green translucence.

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18 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

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The bacon wrapped shrimp come with mayo and two Pringles potato chips — The bacon-wrapped shrimp come with mayo and two Pringles potato chips.

East Harbor Seafood Palace

On the border of Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, East Harbor is one of the largest restaurants in Brooklyn, with rolling carts, private rooms, big round tables with lazy susans, and an extensive sum menu. Oversized fish balls, soy-braised chicken feet scattered with fresh green chiles, open-ended rice rolls cut like tekkamaki, and goji berry gelatin are highlights.

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714 65th St, Brooklyn, NY 11220

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Shrimp har gow dumplings in a bamboo steamer. — Shrimp har gow

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Bamboo Garden

Bamboo Garden closed and reopened in 2017, refurbishing a pair of luxurious dining rooms in gold and powder blue, and adding meats and dumpling carryout in the front vestibule. Many now-popular forms of dim sum appeared here for the first time, including pig-shaped custard buns (aimed at children), giant soup dumplings that floated in bowls of soup, and a chicken-and-mushroom hot dish that circulates on small saucers.

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6409 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Shrimp rice noodle rolls on a white plate inundated with dark soy sauce. — Shrimp rice noodle rolls

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Affable Eatery

There is no more affable dim sum parlor in the city than the cavernous Affable Eatery — where the owner is apt to step up and welcome you with a clap on the back upon your first visit. The dim sum is the best in town, with rice noodle rolls gooier and more voluminous than elsewhere, braised chicken feet sweeter and cooked longer, and slight innovations on the canon like extra garlic in the steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce.

912 65th St, Brooklyn, NY 11219

Three steamers of chicken feet, riblets, and orange rolls cut in segments. — A selection of Affable dim dum.

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32 Glorious Chinese Restaurants to Try in NYC

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Jing Fong

380 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10013

Opened in 2017, this elegant Upper West Sider offers the usual dim sum late into the evening, some of it innovative but most of it standard. Platings are lush, and there are mixed drinks, too, making it a popular destination for a quick bite or for group brunches.

380 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

Four shrimp glazed with white sauce and a sugary walnut on top of each. — Honey walnut prawns at the uptown Jing Fong.

New Mulan

136-17 39th Ave, Queens, NY 11354

Inside Flushing’s slick Queens Crossing Mall, New Mulan is a luxuriously draped dining room with cart-service dim sum and a broad-ranging, pristine product. Stuffed vegetables like green pepper and eggplant have a profuse shrimp-paste stuffing, the congee is offered with whatever you want to put into it, rice noodle rolls taste just-made, and all sorts of soups like West Lake beef are available to round out your dim sum meal. Sometimes plates are delivered by cat robots — but don’t be alarmed.

Open in Google Maps

136-17 39th Ave, Queens, NY 11354

Three amorphous pink balls in a steamer. — Shrimp balls at New Mulan.

Dim Sum Garden Express

136 - 55 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11354

This narrow commuter snack shop in the midst of Flushing’s transportation hub is not what many may think of as delivering stellar dim sum — but it does. A broad range is available, but the specialties are congee and steamed rice noodle rolls, the latter bigger and lush with such fillings as pork ribs with black bean sauce, curried fish balls, and stewed beef brisket, among a dozen others. Chiles stuffed with shrimp paste are another delight.

Open in Google Maps

136 - 55 Roosevelt Ave, Queens, NY 11354

Visit Website

A plastic tray with white noodles underneath tiny pork ribs. — Pork rib rice noodle rolls at Dim Sum Garden Express.

Tim Ho Wan

610 9th Ave, New York, NY 10036

A visit to this imported dim sum parlor should make you proud since New York’s dim sum is just as good as Hong Kong’s. Here, har gow is thinner-skinned and has more shrimp crammed inside, while the baked char siu bao is sweeter than many versions found in NYC. Tim Ho Wan has done away with communal tables, too, making dim sum feel like a private experience. Much of its dim sum is very good, including eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste and shrimp rice noodle rolls. Another location lies at 85 Fourth Avenue, near East 10th Street.

610 9th Ave, New York, NY 10036

Visit Website

<span data-author="-1">Three round barbecue pork buns photographed from above</span> — Baked char siu bao at Tim Ho Wan.

Asian Jewels

13330 39th Ave, Flushing, NY 11354

Though located in a hard-to-find industrial district by the Flushing River, Asian Jewels (formerly Ocean Jewels) is one of the neighborhood’s pre-eminent dim sum palaces, offering a bit of luxury at surprisingly low prices. Though its dumplings lack the delicacy of, say, Bamboo Garden’s, the dim sum choices are solid and even creative. Recommendations include vegetarian rice rolls, minced beef balls, and salt and pepper fried anchovies

Open in Google Maps

13330 39th Ave, Flushing, NY 11354

Visit Website

Buddhist rice noodle rolls and minced beef balls

Hey Yuet

251 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001

If it’s up-to-the-minute Hong Kong dim sum in a stylish setting you’re after, Hey Yuet is your place. Right outside the gates of FIT, it offers innovative dishes such as black bao colored with powdered charcoal and filled with salted egg yolk custard and shrimp har gow with some of the biggest crustaceans you’ve ever seen in dim sum. E-fu noodles and wonton soup are also good bets.

251 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001

Visit Website

Two hands hold up a steamer with three round black steamed buns inside. — Charcoal-laced bao.

Dim Sum Sam

28 E 23rd St, New York, NY 10010

When it appeared just off Madison Square a year ago, Dim Sum Sam caused a sensation. No longer did one have to go to Chinatown to find a complete selection of roast duck and char siu pork, noodle dishes, pan-fried pot stickers, rice noodle rolls crammed with various fillings, custard mini-tarts, or any of the other small dishes previously unavailable in the area.

Open in Google Maps

28 E 23rd St, New York, NY 10010

Visit Website

Two round pies filled with very yellow custard. — Dan tat, Macao-style egg tarts.

Steam

470 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011

Shanghai and Sichuan are the partial focus of this informal but comfortable Chinese restaurant in the Village, but dim sum is the draw, implied by the name. Don’t be surprised, given the Shanghai focus, that the soup dumplings are wonderful (including lots of crab in the crab-pork version), but there are plenty of other choices, including red bean pancakes, shrimp and watercress dumplings, pan-fried wontons, and so on.

Open in Google Maps

470 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011

Visit Website

Four light green curled dumplings in a steamer. — Snow pea leaf and shrimp dumplings are lovely.

Dim Sum Palace

59 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

Along with the fast-casual cafes popping up all over town, this homegrown chain that broadcasts its Hong Kong roots may be the future of dim sum. Offering a soupcon of elegance, it fabricates a broad range of congees and dumplings, including relatively thin-skinned xiaolongbao, and diaphanous siu mai bursting with shrimp, served with multiple dipping sauces. Tea is another specialty. Currently, there are seven locations, including a newer, more gigantic one at 47 Division Street, near Market Street in Chinatown.

Open in Google Maps

59 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

Visit Website

A basket steamer with six puckered dumplings. — Shanghai soup dumplings at Dim Sum Palace.

One East Ocean Palace

113-09 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills, NY 11375

This sprawling Chinese restaurant in Forest Hills, a neighborhood with a growing number of Chinese restaurants, serves favorite dim sum plates like watercress-and-fish dumplings, beef rice rolls flavored with cilantro, shrimp har gow, humongous siu mai, and fatty pork riblets in a steamer dotted with black beans.

Open in Google Maps

113-09 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills, NY 11375

Crunchy shrimp dumplings

Royal Seafood

103 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

Cantonese behemoth Royal Seafood reasserted itself as one Chinatown’s best dim sum parlors after a pandemic shutdown. Carts still speed back and forth dispensing some of the best braised tripe in town, and the miniature custard pies, fresh tofu, shrimp rice noodle rolls, and pea-shoot dumplings are also top-notch.

Open in Google Maps

103 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

Pea shoot dumplings

Mott Street Eatery

98 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

This place provides magnificent dim sum in a food court setting — point to the selections you want through a plexiglass divider. The largest of the stalls, 89 Eatery, specializes in dim sum from a selection of 10 or so types at one time, plus congees and more kinds of la rou fan (Chinese charcuterie including ducks, chickens, and pork) than are found many places in Chinatown.

Open in Google Maps

98 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

Two white rice noodle rolls in one container and two yellow crimped dumplings in the other. — Beef rice noodle and shrimp siu mai at Mott Street Eatery.

Yin Ji Chang Fen

91 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013

The last couple of years have seen the demise of some of the larger banquet halls, which were the primary destinations for dim sum, while new places have specialized in much narrower selections, as Yin Ji Chang Fen demonstrates. This Chinese import from Guangzhou specializes in steamed rice rolls more fully stuffed than the city has seen before, proffered as a main course; two or three make a full meal.

Open in Google Maps

91 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

Two black plastic containers of translucent rice noodle rolls. — Yin Ji Chang Fen’s rice noodle rolls.

Mee Sum Cafe

26 Pell St, New York, NY 10013

Taking Chinatown back to the 1950s, Mee Sum is a place not to be missed for romantics and history buffs. This antique lunch counter offers great dim sum of the coffee-shop sort, neither delicate nor expensive, eaten mainly by old-timers who might linger over a plate or two. Dim sum, mostly pulled from a steam cabinet, falls into three categories: dumplings, baked buns, and congee.

Open in Google Maps

26 Pell St, New York, NY 10013

Two met sit at a metal table in front of a very old looking storefront. — The action spills into Pell Street at Mee Sum.

Dim Sum Bar

167 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11249

Williamsburg may be the last place you’d go looking for great dumplings and other Cantonese brunchy snacks, but here they’re available from lunchtime every day until late in the evening. Many have fanciful names and are on the slightly trailblazing side, like lava bao and shrimp pompoms, while others are doctrinaire, like shrimp shumai and shrimp turnip cakes.

Open in Google Maps

167 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11249

Visit Website

Three reactor towers with shrimp paste bulging out the top. — Shrimp-stuffed eggplant, in Williamsburg?

Related Maps

Nom Wah Tea Parlor

13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

The oldest continuously operating restaurant in Chinatown, this relic of a bygone era has been lovingly restored to something like its 1920s founding date. With no carts, customers check off dim sum orders on a pad of paper. The dim sum offerings veer toward the traditional, as seen in the well-braised chicken feet, funky turnip cakes, and fluffy steamed char siu bao.

13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

Who doesn’t like a turnip cake?

Ping’s

22 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

There are many dim sum options in Manhattan’s Chinatown, but Ping’s is a crowd favorite for good reason. Whether it’s steaming siu mai or fluffy bao filled with char siu, the quality of the dishes — fresh, always served hot — are often better than many spots in the neighborhood. There can be a wait for tables.

Open in Google Maps

22 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

Dim sum on plates and in steamers on a white tablecloth. — Ping’s still has one of the best dim sum services in town.

Golden Unicorn

18 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

Since 1989, this restaurant has offered Cantonese dining at its glitziest. Take the elevator to either of the two levels at the direction of a walkie-talkie-wielding host. Inside, sample dim sum displayed on rolling carts. The braised chicken feet are impossibly tender, the turnip cake earthy and wiggly, the shrimp siu mai sprinkled with crunchy roe, and the vegetarian crystal dumplings possess a green translucence.

Open in Google Maps

18 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

Visit Website