Can anyone tell me where to get great dim sum in NYC???
any idea??? Thanks...new to NYC
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michele cindy
Apr 17, 2008 05:12 AM
103 Mott St. I like it there, but know one on this board really seems to comment on it. Not sure why, it's a good place, not touristy, and very lively. The one comment I did get here was it is best to go before 1:00.
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Try them all except for Chinatown Brasserie. CB is awful at best. Olive Garden is to Italian food as...ya' get the point? Ocean Jewel in Flushing is hard to top on any given day.
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re: cubanat
Actually, Chinatown Brasserie is probably the BEST dim sum restaurant in Manhattan. Contrary to what Cubanat says, it is definitely no Olive Garden -- far from it. The dim sum there is extremely refined, miles better than what you get at Ping's, Jing Fong, and any other place in Chinatown. The soup dumplings are actually really good too - again very refined, far better than New Green Bo or Joe's Shanghai.
BTW, I am Chinese, and I have eaten at all manner of dim sum restaurants here in NY, Hakkasan in London, as well as in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.-
re: vwqueen
Sorry, vwqueen, I am also Chinese and have eaten at many of the world's great dim sum houses, but thumbs way down to Chinatown Brasserie for authentic dim sum. Good place if you like "pretentious dim sum" which is an oxymoron. I agree with cubanat's analogy to Olive Garden. Ocean Jewel is a great choice as is Gum Fung, in Flushing. 9 Chatham Square is also a great choice, nothing to look at, but really tasty- great baked pork buns, too. Favorite pork buns, are from Mei Lai Wah on Bayard (both white steamed and brown baked), across from Chinatown Ice Cream factory. The general rule I tell people is to look at the lines of people waiting to enter a restaurant: If you have more "American" tastes, look for the lines with the most Americans or tourists. If you have more authentic tastes, look for the lines of mostly Asians.
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re: Edansan
Edansan, what did you have there that you disliked? I've eaten dim sum at Chinatown Brasserie several times, and always found it tasty and satisfying, if overpriced (the pork buns are too small). If anything, it's a chance to order more creative dim sum items you don't see anywhere else.
BTW, Gum Fung closed, and Jade Asian has taken its place.
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re: kathryn
the dimsum i had at Chinatown Brasserie during their "soft opening" was easily the worst i've had in NY...so bad we couldn't finish it...it's a restaurant you literally couldn't pay me to return to...
for the OP, while i don't have any Manhattan dimsum place that i love, i usually go to 88 Palace, the divey one in that dirty mall under the Manhattan Bridge on East Broadway...not great, but usually tasty and fun and less-touristed than the more central ones like Jing Fong...
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re: kathryn
My friends and I kind of went nuts ordering just to get a sampling of all of the dim sum a few months ago. The good standouts I remember were: the watercress dumplings w/ pork & shrimp and I thing the crunchy veg and peanut dumplings because they were interesting, and the spare rib tips b/c they were tasty.. I didn't care for the deep fried stuff like the taro-root shrimp (normally one of my favorites elsewhere) and the BBQ duck spring roll. I found them very greasy. I love beancurd rolls, but theirs with the mushrooms and ham was very bland. I didn't try them all.
I am not saying not to try CB, at all. Everybody has their own tastes. I just didn't care for it.
Thanks for the heads up on Gum Fung. I hadn't been in a while and was thinking about going because of this post. Is Jade Asian any good?
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re: Edansan
I don't think the dim sum there is inauthentic, but keep in mind that the first great dim sum (and probably the greatest) I've had was in Thailand, where there can be a fantastic fusion of Thai and Chinese tastes, and Malaysia, where fusions of Cantonese and Malay/Indian tastes are common. I'd rather say that Chef Ng's work is not traditional Hong Kong dim sum.
I'm curious whether you sampled his stuff at his previous place, Word Tong, where there were long lines of Asians. Did it seem more authentic in that setting?
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re: Pan
I've not yet gone to Word Tong or Ocean Port Seafood yet, so I can't give an opinion. I'm sorry to say that I have not explored the Brooklyn Chinese food scene extensively. I've sampled a few leftovers from 8th Ave. Chinatown, but not made it to Bensonhurst yet.
I am saving for a trip to Thailand and the prospect of having Thai dim sum is something to look forward to. Any recommendations?
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re: Edansan
Listen, I'm happy to leave it that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. There are several other reviews on this website of CB which are pretty favorable. However, I've also eaten dim sum at Hakkasan and Yauatcha in London several times and find it very comparable to CB's. If one considers guilt by association, the fact that Hakkasan is Michelin-starred, that dim sum at Hakkasan is generally considered to be one of the best in London and that the Chinese food in London is widely considered to be generally better than in New York, then CB must be doing okay. I have also eaten at Spring Moon in Hong Kong (in the Peninsula Hotel) and Lei Garden, Crystal Jade Palace and Imperial Treasure in Singapore. I do agree that some of the unconventional dim sum items at CB are less successful than the more straightforward, traditional ones and that prices are 2-2.5X that of Chinatown places. I would also agree that the dim sum at CB is definitely not like the dim sum served at some places both in the U.S. and Asia which do 1,000+ covers in a 100 dB atmosphere, characterized by greasy bits of pork and chopped-up shrimp delivered in careening little metal carts. I was originally taken to CB by a Hong Konger who now lives in NYC and have gone back there with other people from Hong Kong and Singapore, all of whom agree that it's authentic and good. I don't think people should be dissuaded by the ritzy/trying decor and by the inexplicable lack of Chinese diners. Finally, it's fine to legitimately dislike this place but the comparison by some to Olive Garden is entirely inaccurate -- Olive Garden is a chain of low price-point "restaurants" that serve food even few Italian-Americans would recommend as being from the motherland.
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re: vwqueen
Sorry vwqueen, I too would have to agree with Edansan. We made the mistake to give it a try last saturday and the dimsum was marginal at best.What made it worse is the fact that we were entertaining some friends from HK, They were polite but agreed that CB was not very good and far from authentic.
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Hop Chings in chinatown is great.9 chatam square @ e. broadway. They charge you by how many plates you have on the table when your done.You just point to what you want as they walk around hocking dishes and choose what looks good, very little to no english is spoken but communication is good, everybody speaks food. good luck
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Depending on where you're from and whether or not you're talking about Manhattan or other boroughs, you may be very pleased or very disappointed. Manhattan dim sum would pale in comparison to that found in places such as Vancouver, and suburban Los Angeles and San Francisco, but is pretty good on an absolute scale and compared to lesser metropolises. Flushing dim sum compares favorably to most dim sum everywhere.
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"Search this board" is your friend:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/481518
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/507560
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/502934
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/482497The names that come up most are Dim Sum Go Go and Chinatown Brasserie, with some strong votes for Ping's, Oriental Garden, Jing Fong, etc.
Note that this is the Manhattan Board. If you want answers for Queens or Brooklyn etc, you need to post on the Outer Boroughs board.
