If you haven’t seen Chinatown, New York City you’re in for a surprise. It a clash of other Chinatowns in other cities with a New York City flare. It’s so darn cute. And today, I went dumpling hopping in NYC’s Chinatown and I want to show you how you can do it on your day off. It’s also cheap and easy, and we all know great a good bargain is.

To start, I didn’t explore all there is, but I thought Chinatown was super cute. The old streets are wide enough for a horse and carriage. Although cars can fit on some of the roads, it made for an exciting traffic situation.

The streets are artistically painted with graffiti art. Some look like murals while others might not be so legal. In any case it’s brilliant urban art.

It reminds me of the old depictions of New York City I see in the movies. The buildings are red and brown. The escape letters on each building zig-zag their way up. I half expected the Little Shop of Horrors trio to start singing and maybe an old Italian man throwing pasta out his window while yelling about my existence.

It is very New York City. Although the decor makes it different. The Chinese characters adorn the streets. Some signs competing with each other made bigger and brighter than the other. 

“Tchotchke” stores with buddhas for purchase lined the sidewalks. Paper lanterns adorned the streets. 

Although all these screamed Chinatown in New York City, New York City screamed back louder. Chinatown in New York can’t escape The Big Apples’ ultimate feel. This is New York City after all. A giant city with a whopping personality. 

Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Chinatown, New York City

Upon arrival, we hit Nom Wah Tea Parlor, located at 13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013. This old restaurant has been here since the 1920s still has some of NYC’s best dumplings. 

The restaurant itself is surprisingly big. Even so, every table is full. Tables filled up as others emptied out. This place is busy. They are making “bank!”

We placed our order on one of those menu sheets where you mark how many orders you want of each item and waited.

It’s very inexpensive which is great if you’re on a budget. There’s no reason to eat expensive Chinese food if you can get the real deal for cheap.

The decor is stark. Minimal. The walls are white and there are portraits of movie stars getting their grub-on here. A giant but old 1920’s menu on the far wall. Although they tried to decorate it, it still just felt very minimal. Perhaps it was the simple chairs and tables. You sit on plastic but basic chairs. It’s appropriate and fitting.

Our pork steam burn arrived. I couldn’t wait to shove it down my gullet. I was starving.  This American-sized steam bun is the size of my face! I cannot believe it’s so huge. I break open part of it and exposed its meaty insides. Steam came rushing out. It’s hot. Lovely gooey juices stared oozing out as I held it. I blew on it a bit.

I waited a couple of minutes before I took my first bite. This beautiful pork bun tasted just like it should. It’s as authentic as they come and now I had a giant one waiting to be devoured. This pork bun came into my life just to sacrifice itself to me. It. Was. Glorious.

The Soup Dumplings From Heaven

Then came our orders of soup dumplings. It came with four per order. My partner had one order and I ate the other. Soup dumplings always come boiling. I picked one up with my giant Asian plastic spoon and poked a hole in it. This ventilation allows it to cool faster.

I created a concoction of vinegar and soy sauce. I poured some on my dumpling and slurped it into my mouth. It’s so juicy. If this soup dumpling could talk it would say “I love you baby” as I ate it.

We paid our cheap bill, under $25, and headed to our next dumpling restaurant.

Dim Sum Go Go

Our goal was to go down our list of restaurants, taste a few items and head to the next dim sum place. Our second restaurant on our list was closed for renovations. Therefore, we headed to our third and final option.

Dim Sum Go Go restaurant is modern. It’s covered in red paint and red Asian art. It’s more of a family restaurant with big circular tables.

We got an order of chicken steamed dumplings, pork soup dumplings and a side of scallion pancakes. 

Our scallion pancakes, which I love, came out first. If you’ve never tried these you NEED to get them next time you’re at a Chinese place. They’re the best.

Our pork soup dumplings came out next. Exited I punched a hole in mine to ventilate it. I began eating but it wasn’t as tasty as the last place. I noticed the ratio of dough to pork was off. It has too much dough, it’s overpowering. It threw the flavor off. Although it wasn’t my favorite, I’m not about to waste a perfectly fine dumpling. We ate them all.

The chicken dumplings were also just okay. They weren’t bad but there was something off about the flavor. Perhaps it was a mixture of pork and chicken because it didn’t taste like chicken.

My partner didn’t like them and stopped eating them after the first one. I took care of the rest.

Chinatown New York City

We walked around Chinatown, observed the kosher Japanese noddle places around. Eventually we made our way through little Italy where we waved down a taxi and rode to our next attraction, The Vessel.

Chinatown in New York City is so cute. It’s different. It’s a lot smaller than I thought. I was told it was pretty big but it didn’t seem too big to me. It felt more old New York than Chinese. Although it’s small you can find dim sum heaven!

Let Me Break It Down For You:

There are many restaurants to choose from. You can make a day of it as we did. Jump from dim sum place to dim sum place.

The first place we hit is called Nom Wah Tea Parlor. I highly recommend it. Check out their website here: https://nomwah.com/

The second place we hit is Dim Sum Go Go. You can check out their website here: https://www.dimsumgogonyc.com/

Do I recommend Chinatown in New York City? Yes. Definitely come here and make an afternoon of it.

PIN ME ON PINTEREST