Best Dim Sum in NYC: Chinatown, Flushing, and Beyond

Nom Wah opened in 1920 and is the oldest dim sum restaurant in New York. The menu is served from a paper checklist — you mark what you want and a server collects it. The egg tarts are non-negotiable. The shrimp rice noodle rolls are silky and delicate. This is the most accessible dim sum experience in the city for first-timers.

Joe's Shanghai brought soup dumplings to New York and they remain the standard. The broth inside is made from pork gelatin that melts during steaming. Each dumpling contains a full mouthful of rich, porky broth. The technique for eating them is specific: place on a spoon, bite a small hole, drink the soup, then eat the dumpling.

Jing Fong is one of the largest dim sum restaurants in Manhattan. The carts still roll through the dining room on weekends — the traditional service style where you flag down servers and choose from what they are carrying. The har gow here is excellent: thin, translucent wrappers around plump shrimp.

Golden Unicorn is a multi-floor dim sum hall that has been operating since 1990. The sticky rice in lotus leaf — glutinous rice packed with pork, mushrooms, and Chinese sausage, steamed in a lotus leaf — is one of the best versions in the city. The custard buns, baked golden-brown, are worth ordering at the end as dessert.