Nom Wah Tea Parlor – Surprisingly Good Dim Sum at One of Chinatown’s Oldest Restaurants

[Lau]

**For full post and pics**: http://www.lauhound.com/2011/02/nom-wah-tea-parlor-%e2%80%93-surprisingly-good-dim-sum-at-one-of-chinatown%e2%80%99s-oldest-restaurants/

Nom Wah is one of Chinatown’s oldest restaurants; in fact it may be the oldest restaurant in Chinatown as it opened in 1920 (91 years old!!). This was the first time I’ve eaten here as I’d always heard it was more of a nostalgia type of place and the food was just so so. I’m not much for nostalgia if the food isn’t good, but I recently read this article (http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-...) that discusses how the nephew of the owner had taken over the restaurant and revamped it. A friend had also recently told me that the food is now good, so I decided it was time to try it out.

The décor is literally a throwback to a different time. It’s got old school red booths, red and white checkered table clothes, really old school looking counters and pictures on the wall from ages ago. It doesn’t look like a Chinatown place at all, but I liked the décor and it is nice and clean. It also happens to be on Doyers Street, which is one of the cooler looking streets in Chinatown. The service was very good and the owner was a nice guy. They do speak English very well here and it’s probably among the most English friendly places in Chinatown.

One thing that I really liked about the place is that everything is cooked to order as opposed to having carts. Very few good dim sum places in Hong Kong have carts anymore as the dim sum is just so much fresher when you cook to order. They also kept their menu pretty short, which I think is great because the downfall of so many restaurants in Chinatown is that they try to offer everything under the sun, which is something you rarely see in Asia, but for some reason is very prevalent in NY.

Here’s what we got:
- Tea: They’ve got an interesting tea list, we got the chrysanthemum tea and it was standard, but good.
- Parsley and Scallion Rice Roll: This was regular cheung fan (steamed Chinese rice crepe) with chopped parsley and scallions then covered in a lighter sweet soy sauce. The rice crepe was fresh and had good texture. The flavor of the parsley (tastes like cilantro, I think they’re basically the same thing) and scallion with the soy sauce were great. Overall, this was quite good. 7.5/10
- Steamed Pork Bun (Cha Siu Bao): There are four items on the menu that are circled in red and these are the house specialties. The cha siu bao is one of those specialties. The bun was excellent, very fluffy with a nice slightly sweet flavor, definitely among the best buns in Chinatown. The filling was pretty decent as it wasn’t too sweet and I don’t like the really sweet filling that is common among Chinatown places. However, the bun to filling ratio was way off as there was way too much bun and barely any filling. If they changed that this could be one of the better cha siu bao in the city. 7.25/10
- Shrimp and Snow Pea Dumplings: These were steamed dumplings with chopped shrimp and snow pea leaves. The skins were nice as they weren’t too thick, were freshly steamed and had good texture. The shrimp was very fresh and the snow pea leaves were a nice addition. Overall, these were surprisingly good. 7.5/10
- Stuffed Green Peppers: These were green bell peppers stuffed with a minced shrimp cake and covered in a black bean sauce. The shrimp cake was quite good, nice fresh minced shrimp. The green bell pepper was good, but the slight downfall of the dish was the black bean sauce while not gloppy was quite bland flavor-wise. I also prefer it in the spicy green peppers. Decent, but not amazing. 6.75/10
- Chinese Broccoli in Oyster Sauce: This was a very standard, but well prepared version of this dish. Simple boiled Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce, not much more to it than that. The vegetables were cooked well, so they retained their crunch without being over cooked. 7.5/10

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at Nom Wah, it probably has some of the better dim sum in Chinatown right now and the environment is definitely very unique in Chinatown. I’d recommend checking it out.

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Nom Wah Tea Parlor
13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

[scoopG]

Thanks Lau! I think they got a mention in the NY Times recently too which mentioned an upgrade. Another reason to visit Chinatown.

[Lau]

yah it was a fun place, glad they upgraded it

[rouxdauphine]

Thanks! BTW, how are they on MSG?

[Lau]

i didn't notice it, MSG doesn't do much to me, so i'm not hyper sensitive to it, but i dont think they used alot here

[small h]

That was the first place I ever had dim sum, probably around 1975. I don't know how I feel about the upgrade, but I'm glad the place has survived.

[Lau]

well according the article they haven't changed anything decor wise and it is still the same family's ownership, but it seems that the food is what got an upgrade

how was it back then?

[small h]

It was definitely a cart place back then. The clientele was mostly Chinese, but Jewish families like mine ate there as well. The waiters were about a thousand years old and wore black vests. The other Chinese restaurants I'd been to were in NJ and pretty Americanized, so I can't say if what I ate at Nom Wah's then was any good by my standards now (at the time, my favorite Chinese dishes were Shrimp Almond Ding and Wor Shu Op). But I remember various kinds of steamed dumplings, clams in black bean sauce, spare ribs, and sticky rice in lotus leaves.

[Lau]

ah sounds quite a bit different, the waitresses are all women and aren't that old and there are no carts. the clientele though definitely has a significant non-chinese population far more than most ctown restaurants although i guess its likely b/c of the media coverage as well as being very english friendly

[Windy]

I also had dim sum at Nom Wah in 1981 or so with cousins who were regulars. It was the first time I'd ever had dim sum, and I remember being amazed when they tallied the bill by counting the plates. A curry puff was the defining bite, along with the famous almond cookies.

[Lau]

you should try it out again, id be curious to how the dim sum stacks up to way back then

[diprey11]

Thanks Lau!
What was interesting on their tea list? Do they offer good aged teas, as some HK establishments?

[Lau]

well actually if you go to my blog and look at the pics, i actually took pics of the tea menu so u can read to see what they offer

most chinese places in NY tend to offer just hong cha (black tea) and occasionally will have something more like ju hua cha (chrysanthemum), so its just more that they offer alot more in the tea arena, i'd have to try them to see how they are

[Polecat]

"...everything is cooked to order as opposed to having carts"

Wow. They've definitely changed. Have long stopped in here, at all times of day, weekends and weekdays, for the almond cookies, maybe a cup of tea. Loved the old school atmosphere and especially the tea tins lining the high shelves. Time definitely seems to slow down at this place, so, overall, I like it. Our few dim sum experiences, albeit several years ago by now, were, number one, of the cart variety and, number two, of the extremely greasy, almost stomach churning variety. I'm in Chinatown quite a bit, and never, ever see anyone in there either. That's not the sort of thing that bothers me - just makes me wonder how they survive.

Thanks, as always, for your report.

P.

[Lau]

yah i've heard similar things about the old food at this place and i also never saw anyone in there either....seems like things have changed quite a bit, nothing was greasy at all actually

btw i asked them if they have almond cookies and they said they are getting the equipment set up and they should have it in a couple weeks

[Polecat]

The almond cookies and tea became their thing. Whenever I walked in, I'd see the cookies stacked in boxes, several of them. I figured all this time they did a brisk business selling a bunch of those to go, all while no one was looking. But anytime I read comments from other customers, it was almost always about the cookies. It's actually great that they've changed things up again. If the photo on your website pictures, say, 15 or so customers, that would be 15 customers more than I'd usually notice on a Saturday afternoon at 1pm. Looks like I'll be headed back for more than tea and cookies.

Nice work.
P.

[Lau]

actually the place was basically full the whole time i was there except when we first walked in and it was about half full....its very rare to see these types of places continue on let alone improve the quality of their food, so its certainly nice to see

[K K]

Nice writeup! I noticed that the steamers used are not the traditional bamboo kind. Is this the norm in Chinatown or other communities (e.g. Flushing) like in Southern California?

[Lau]

you mean the metal steamers? well u see them sometimes, actually sometimes the bamboo steamers are lined with metal, so basically the same thing, i think they're just around for aesthetics....i dont know if they make a difference, i think its unlikely it makes a difference flavor / texture wise

[Chandavkl]

Thanks for the update. I would never have thought about going back. But you can get almond cookies anywhere--what I'm wondering about is whether they'll still have those big walnut cookies!

[Lau]

well i wouldve never gone if they hadn't changed mgmt and i hadn't heard the food had gotten good. they don't actually have the cookies yet, bu supposedly they are good. the almond cookies do have a walnut on them, so maybe you're talking about the same thing? (they are called almond cookies in chinese though)

[asiansupper]

Thanks to this review I went there for dim sum the other weekend. It was quite nice not have to jostle with crowds for a table (we were able to sit down immediately) and I liked almost everything we ordered. I never went to the old Nom Wah but I thought the old diner decor was cute.

Among the things we ate:

- Shrimp & Snow Pea Leaf Dumpling
- Bean Curd Skin w/ pork & oyster sauce
- Steamed Spare Ribs
- Turnip Cake
- Turnip Cake w/ xo sauce
- Chicken & Mushroom Rice Wrap

The only two things that we didn't like were:
- Shanghainese Style Soup Bun - not bad, just nothing special. Lacked flavor.
- Crispy Taro Turnover - this was actually not good. Cold and tasteless.

[Lau]

glad you enjoyed!

fyi, my advice to ordering in chinese restaurants is to avoid ordering dishes from other regional cuisines other than the region the restaurants specializes in. A lot of people expect the soup dumplings to be good at a dim sum place b/c its a chinese restaurant even though the dim sum place is specializing in food from guangdong not shanghai (very different cuisines). there are always exceptions, but i think its a general good rule of thumb

crispy taro turnover is a cantonese dish, so sounds like it was just not good

[i8NYC]

AVOID the fried stuff. stick to the steamed. I did a writeup as well but left indifferent.

[asiansupper]

thanks for the tip!

[sugartoof]

Either you're an excellent food photographer or those are some beautiful dim sum. Those aren't all dishes I would ever order for myself (I lean towards the fried, and buns) but I'm impressed with the freshness of the greens in those pictures.

Your rating points seem conservative though.... who is your first pick for dim sum?

[Lau]

haha sometimes my photos come out good, sometimes not....my gf also has a better camera than me, so usually when the pics look really good its her camera (and her taking the photo b/c she takes better photos than me)

re: my ratings - i try to rate places on an absolute basis not on a relative basis, which can be hard sometimes. So i rate things based on how i think they should taste, i wouldn't for example give a dish a high rating b/c it's "good for new york" etc. the problem with chinese food in NY is that alot of it is just okay (to down right bad) and the "best" places are merely good (not bashing NY by any means as NY is better than most of the US except LA and SF). So these are the ratings I think are about right (don't get me wrong btw i liked nom wah).

re: what would i rate "first" - In the city, i generally like dim sum go go the best, but nom wah and chinatown brasserie are contenders as well. In flushing, i prefer jade asian and guangdong. All this said, i think the dim sum scene is NY is somewhat weak. one of the things i liked about nom wah was the dim sum was cooked to order and therefore was quite fresh, this is uncommon in NY, but the norm in HK. I think few people in the US have actually had good dim sum (not their fault obviously). I think dim sum in HK vs NY is hugely different in terms of quality, so i think people's knowledge of what it should taste like is somewhat flawed (not to say that it still can't be tasty here).

Now look i totally understand that we're not in HK and i dont expect that level of quality ever, but i still do look at it on an absolute basis as i think thats the way to judge food. If you went to HK and tried alot of american food (a burger for example) you'd be like this is crap and im not going to say its good just b/c its better than the other crappy places, so i kind of think of it the same way (although i generally just don't review places i don't like unless they really turn out something awful as people are trying to make a living and i don't want to quash their livelihood)

[sugartoof]

Interesting read. I find the Chinese food in NY to be far superior to the West Coast though, but just not in the case of Dim Sum. I'm surprised Chinatown Brasserie ranks high for you. I guess their freshness helps. Most NY Dim Sum really tastes like it's been sitting too long.

[Lau]

where exactly have u eaten on the west coast? LA is sort of weird in that historic chinatown is not very good at all b/c most of the chinese people moved out a long time ago, so everything is in the san gabriel valley (SGV) which is not close at all to where most people stay in LA (west LA). To a lesser degree there is some quite good chinese food in orange county as well (but you have to know where to go)

SF is the same way although not to the same degree (there are still some chinese people living in their chinatown), but alot of their good restaurants like koi palace are in the suburbs although im less knowledgable about the SF scene than i am about LA (i'm from socal, so i know the LA scene pretty well)

[Chandavkl]

What? New York Chinese food is way behind the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, as long as you stay out of the respective Chinatowns. Obviously there are Chinese restaurants in New York that are better than some Chinese restaurants in the LA and SF area. But as a group there is no comparison.

[Lau]

agreed

[Windy]

I couldn't agree more. I threw a Cantonese banquet for my mom in Flushing last year, after a lot of research, and while my family enjoyed it, I thought the food wasn't nearly as good as the Hong Kong style restaurants in the SF Bay Area.

[Lau]

yah unfortunately NY doesn't really have high end cantonese food that uses really good ingredients

[scoopG]

Featured in today's NYT, under $25 column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/din...

[buttertart]

Good, they deserve to be better known. We had some very good steamed sumplings (the assortment), salt and pepper shrimp, and the gai lan in oyster sauce there recently. The old-timey thing (reminds me of the Jackson Café as was in SF) is fun too.

[scoopG]

I wished they would have shelled out a bit more dough to re-grout the floor!

[buttertart]

Would have been a good idea, yes. I'm still thinking about the stuffed eggplant I saw on a table as we were leaving.

[MahatmaKanejeeves]

When I wanted to go to Nom Wah a few weeks ago, Doyers St. was closed for a camera crew. They were shooting inside Nam Wah. It wasn't possible to eat there after the shoot. Perhaps they will get some film or TV exposure.

[Lau]

i think they're going to be on some relatively famous show, but i cant remember which one i think i read about it somewhere

[Miss Needle]

Very cute decor. I think the dim sum is better at Dim Sum Go Go, but this was better than many other options in Chinatown. But one of my favorite dishes there is the turnip cake in XO sauce. A riff on home fries, the turnip cake is cut into cubes, seared til crisp on the outside, and stir-fried with XO sauce and green and red pepper. Must-order in my opinion.

Bonus points for not having a huge wait. But that may change with all the press they've been receiving lately.

[Lau]

glad you enjoyed!

btw that turnip cake in XO sauce is an actual dim sum dish, but you don't see much modern dim sum in NY. i actually had it for the first time in LA at christmas, you can see it in my post about sea harbour in LA: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/758951

i asked some HK friends and they said you can find this dish reasonably easily

[Miss Needle]

Yeah, I've seen those turnip cakes on the West coast and they've looked like the ones on your blog -- scallions and bean sprouts or scallions only. I think the owner had a bit of a sense of whimsy when he concocted his version so they looked just like home fries -- except the XO turnip cakes taste better. And I love home fries. : )

[Lau]

haha both dishes are pretty genius inventions

[masterofceremonies]

love, love, love the turnips at Nom Wah, stuffed lotus leaf too.

[small h]

I stopped into Nom Wah the other day for a late breakfast (or a very early lunch), right when they opened. I was the only customer for the duration of my visit, and I didn't feel especially welcome. I got my food in a timely fashion, but I had to chase down the lone server for tea and the check, although all she was doing was gabbing with some guy at the counter. I did get a nice greeting from Wilson Tang, at least, who was dealing with vendors.

As to the food, I can't say I was overly impressed. I liked the dumplings with shrimp and snow pea leaf quite a lot; it had a very clean, fresh flavor. But the vegetable rice roll was a sticky, gluey mess. The filling had very little taste and reminded me of buddhist delight after a couple of days in the fridge. And the wrapper was a travesty. Dim Sum Go Go's rice rolls are far superior, in my opinion.

That I couldn't enjoy my third dish was my own damn non-pork-eating fault. I got confused between the bean curd skin roll (which has pork) and the tofu skin roll (which has vegetables), and ordered the wrong one. So I pried the shrimp free from the pork and ate the bean curd skin, which wasn't bad. I would be most grateful if someone would explain the difference between bean curd and tofu to me, since I use the terms interchangeably and obviously Nom Wah does not. (Neither does South China Garden. They serve tofu with seafood and bean curd with seafood, and I love one and am lukewarm on the other - and I can't remember which is which.)

[scoopG]

I agree. I also question whether the food is really individually prepared. I went with a small group and we asked that items not all be brought out at the same time. That's exactly what they did. I wish the renovation job would have included re-grouting the tile floor.

[diprey11]

Yeah, I agree. I think small H hit a batch carefully prepared well in advance for a group of a hundred starving tourists. Happened to us twice: well, this is a very thoughtful place. Nice decor, though.

[Lau]

interesting, i didnt have the problem although i could see that happening...maybe re-try it when its more prime time. i think its on par with dim sum go go in general although the selection is more limited

[MVNYC]

I went recently and enjoyed the food quite a bit but I don't think it equaled Go-Go. The Shrimp and Snow Pea Dumplings were excellent for the reasons described above. I had the Shrimp Rice Rolls and agree with small h that they were a bit too gluey. The Bacon and Shrimp Roll was very good though, Nicely fried with a very fresh shrimp taste and texture highlighted by the bacon. I liked the Char Siu Bao too which was freshly made and had a tasty filling. My only gripe was that I wish there had been more of that sweet porky goodness but I am picking hairs. All of our order took a while to come out and seemed to have been freshly made but I was there at 4:30 or so before the rush.

[small h]

You may be correct, but I figured if I went first thing in the morning, I was bound to get freshly-made stuff - unless they prep the night before. I'd like to give them more credit than that.

[sugartoof]

Nobody is making 4 dumplings at a time. They're prepping batches and cooking them to order. The difference is if they're sitting in warmers all day long.

[Lau]

agreed when i went a few times it was all fresh to order, but you are right in that i bet it is made in batches and then steamed to order. however, its totally possible the initial batch is a big batch and therefore wouldnt be really made to order

[citykid426]

Lau I've been reading some of your posts on Chowhound and on Lauhaund and I have to say I absolutely love that you out ratings at the end of every dish description! Fabulous! I like knowing which dishes are seemingly better as compared to others (subjectively, of course). I wish all reviews, even in the newspapers, were like that.

[Lau]

haha thanks, i figured it'd be easier for people to figure out what dishes i really thought were good vs what i thought was just decent rather than a subjective description

[samjam101]

Our parents used to take us to Nom Wah but we never ate there, only purchased boxes of delicious almond cookies. Years later, as an adult, I wonder if my parents avoided eating there because of the fast-paced mahjong tiles clacking nearby. Recently walked by and saw that it was still there and even asked my sister if it could have survived all these years just selling cookies? When she visits from Kansas next, we will definitely try it. I had lived in HK as an ex-pat and had an opportunity to try some incredible dim sum, both "local" and "high end"...so am looking forward to trying Nom Wah! Thank you, Lau! By any chance, has anyone tried the hand pulled noodles place located at 1 Doyers St?

-----
Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles
1 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

[Lau]

well i think the food has changed b/c as i wrote in the original post the food was supposed to be pretty bad prior to the new owner re-vamping it (well semi-new owner since still related).

I believe they started selling the almond cookies again (they weren't selling them at the beginning)

Also, if you're comparing this to HK then you'll be disappointed b/c NY does not have great dim sum even the "best" places in NY wouldn't even be average in HK. However, Nom Wah serves decent dim sum that is much better than alot of the other places in manhattan ctown which are serving garbage (i generally like dim sum go go and nom wah the best in manhattan ctown).

i havent tried the one at 1 doyers since i usually go to super taste or lan zhou at 144 east bway, but i heard that one on doyers is pretty decent

-----
Super Taste
26 Eldridge St, New York, NY 10002

Lam Zhou Handmade Noodle
144 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

[sugartoof]

I did see photos from shortly after they opened where the cases appeared to be filled with the stacks of almond cookies. The difference being that it was the new brighter decor, and you could see they had customers. What did they have in the cases without the cookies? I've seen them empty, but only when the restaurant itself was empty.

[Lau]

the owner told me they didn't actually have the machine to make them, but i believe they do now

[Westminstress]

Had lunch here today and thought it was great! Loved the decor and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the dim sum. My favorites were the shrimp and snow pea leaf dumplings, the turnip cakes (both kinds), also liked the salt and pepper shrimp and a vegetarian dish of fried dough in rice rolls. Scallion pancakes are to be avoided, however. We ordered chinese broccoli in oyster sauce but they never brought it out for some reason, though we saw it on lots of other tables and it looked good. We enjoyed the chrysanthemum tea as well, and thought it complemented the almond cookies nicely for dessert.

-----
Nom Wah Tea Parlor
13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

[Lau]

glad you enjoyed!

i actually think they dim sum has gotten better, i ate here for the first time in a while recently and i think they actually may have taken mine (and others) recommendations into their food. im going to re-review it soon

fyi, scallion pancakes aren't cantonese dish, so in general i wouldn't order them at a cantonese restaurant

[Pan]

Thanks for the review! I just read through this thread. I remember playing with the owner's son at the restaurant when I was 4 in 1969. He was the same age as me. Like many New Yorkers, I had my first dim sum at Nom Wah, and I probably haven't been there since the 70s. I do look forward to going back. My girlfriend needs an experience of this historic interior.