I arrived early on Doyer Street to meet my friend for our Chinatown birthday crawl. I noticed no line at Nom Wah, Chinatown’s first Dim Sum Parlor. Founded in 1920 as a bakery and tea parlor, Nom Wah has been the location of many movies and TV shows, including Reversal of Fortune, Premium Rush, All Good Things and Law and Order. 

I planned to have cocktails first at the speakeasy Apotheke, but I changed the order of stops and stood first in line while awaiting my friend to begin our celebration.

Once inside the tea parlor, I completed the paper menu, ordering a glass of white wine and two dim sum. I hoped my friend would arrive before the server placed the food on the table. It worked.

We only had three dim sum with our wine; we knew we’d be eating more. Don’t miss the minced shrimp steamed in a wonton wrapper (shrimp sui mai, $4.75 for 4) or the Shanghainese pork-filled soup dumplings ($4.5 for four).

I instructed my guests and the table neighbors to eat soup dumplings without scalding their mouths. Before eating them, I suggested biting a corner of the dough of one in your soup spoon and allowing the hot soup to escape into the spoon or slurped into your mouth, as the soup can be hot.

I loved the flavor of their one large cha siu bao, the Cantonese (bun) filled with barbecue-flavored pork and caramelized onions; it just had too much dough. The flavor, tho, was wonderful.

I recommend a visit.

Nom Wah Tea Parlor
Chinatown
13 Doyer Street
New York, NY 10013
212.962.6047
nomwah.com/