Best of Chinatown
Ten Chinatown classics verified open and cooking in 2026, from Nom Wah's century-old dim sum to Fong On's warm tofu pudding. No fluff, no closed legends.
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The list
- 1Chinatown · $$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 13 Doyers St
Also No. 1 on Best Dim Sum in Manhattan → · No. 3 on Best Cheap Eats in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 13w agoA vintage dim sum parlor on the crooked Doyers Street bend, serving Hong Kong style dumplings, rice rolls and its famous original egg roll under a preserved 1940s interior since 1920.
Because it has steamed dumplings on the Doyers Street bend since 1920, making it the oldest continuously running restaurant in Manhattan's Chinatown, and the 1940s interior is the real thing, not a renovation pretending to be one.
Order The original egg roll
Weekend waits on Doyers get long, so aim for a weekday morning and order the original egg roll even if you think you don't like egg rolls.
Photo: Bagelpigeon, CC0 1.0 Photo: Bagelpigeon, CC0 1.0 - 2Chinatown · $$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 46 Bowery
Also No. 1 on Best Dumplings in Manhattan → · No. 3 on Best Dumplings in NYC →
Map ↗verified 13w agoThe Chinatown soup dumpling landmark, on Pell Street from the mid-1990s until 2019 and now in a bigger room at 46 Bowery, famous for crab and pork xiao long bao.
Because its crab and pork xiao long bao made soup dumplings a citywide obsession after the 1995 founding, and the December 2019 move from Pell Street to 46 Bowery changed the seating, not the dumplings.
Order Crab and pork soup dumplings
The dumplings come out scalding, so lift one into your spoon, bite a small hole and let the broth cool before you commit.
Photo: Alexis Lamster (amlamster), CC BY 2.0 Photo: Alexis Lamster (amlamster), CC BY 2.0 - 3Chinatown · $$ · Chambers St (4 5 6 J Z) · 17 Mott St
A basement Cantonese-American time capsule open since 1938, now with a new street-level dining room upstairs, serving chow fun, egg foo young and wonton soup under walls of celebrity photos.
Because the basement at 17 Mott St has served chow fun and egg foo young since 1938, won a James Beard America's Classic in 2022, and in June 2025 added its first street-level dining room in nearly 90 years.
Order Beef chow fun
The new upstairs room is easier to get into, but the 1938 basement with the celebrity photos is the pilgrimage, so take the stairs down.
Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim (edenpictures), CC BY 2.0 Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim (edenpictures), CC BY 2.0 - 4Chinatown · $$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 28 Bowery
A no-frills Cantonese noodle and roast meat shop at Bowery and Bayard since 1981, with roast duck and char siu hanging in the window, salt-baked seafood, and a cash-only register.
Because the roast ducks hanging in the window at Bowery and Bayard have anchored this room since 1981, and when Eater re-reviewed it in December 2025 the verdict was that it still holds up.
Order Wonton noodle soup with roast duck
It is cash only, so bring bills, and if the roast duck is what you came for, go before the evening rush thins out the window.
Photo: Ryan (ruffin_ready), CC BY 2.0 Photo: Ryan (ruffin_ready), CC BY 2.0 - 5Chinatown · $$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 64 Bayard St
Also No. 10 on Best Dim Sum in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 13w agoA Cantonese coffee-shop bakery founded in 1968, famous for baked and steamed roast pork buns, pineapple-pork buns and egg tarts, now at 41 Mott St with a Wonton Bar offshoot on Pell Street.
Because it has baked the same roast pork bun since 1968, long enough that the operation outgrew its original Bayard Street storefront and moved to a larger space at 41 Mott St.
Order Baked roast pork bun
Head to 41 Mott St, not the old Bayard Street address, and buy an extra bun for the walk home because one is never enough.
Photo: Jason Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo: Jason Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0 - 6Chinatown · $$$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 42 E Broadway
Also No. 7 on Best Dumplings in NYC → · No. 7 on Best Dumplings in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 13w agoThe resurrected Sichuan grande dame of East Broadway, Shorty Tang's 1968 original reopened in 2017 by his son, with duck service and the city's most storied bowl of cold sesame noodles.
Because this is the address where Shorty Tang introduced New York to cold sesame noodles in 1968, and his son Chien Lieh Tang reopened the restaurant in the same East Broadway building in 2017.
Order Cold sesame noodles
The cold sesame noodles are mandatory but the duck needs a group, and since it opens at noon daily, a late lunch beats fighting for a dinner table.
@hwa.yuan.nyc ↗Hwa Yuan Szechuan
Loads from Instagram
From @hwa.yuan.nyc on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 7Chinatown · $$ · Chambers St (4 5 6 J Z) · 18 E Broadway
A multi-floor banquet-hall dim sum palace on East Broadway since the late 1980s, one of the last in Manhattan Chinatown with weekend rolling-cart service, plus Cantonese banquet dinners in wedding-scale rooms.
Because it is one of the last rooms in Manhattan Chinatown where weekend dim sum still arrives on rolling carts, a format Michelin's inspectors singled out in their roundup of the neighborhood's best Chinese restaurants.
Order Dim sum from the weekend carts
The carts roll on weekends, so go Saturday or Sunday morning, ride the elevator up with the banquet crowds, and flag down whatever is steaming.
Photo: young (Flickr user, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo: young (Flickr user, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 2.0 - 8Chinatown · $$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 28 Mott St
Chinatown's temple of tableside-carved Peking duck since 1978, serving whole ducks with pancakes, scallion and hoisin in a white-tablecloth, BYOB room at 28 Mott St.
Because it has carved whole Peking ducks tableside at 28 Mott St since 1978, and the Chinatown room is still BYOB, so the full duck ritual comes with whatever bottle you carry in.
Order Whole Peking duck, carved tableside
Pick up a bottle on the way since the Chinatown location is BYOB, and plan on one duck feeding two to three people with the pancakes.
@peking.duck.house ↗Peking Duck House
From @peking.duck.house on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 9Chinatown · $$ · East Broadway (F) · 81 Division St
NYC's oldest family-run tofu shop, founded in 1933 on Mott Street and revived in 2019 at 81 Division St by third-generation owner Paul Eng, selling silky tofu pudding, fresh soy milk and rice cakes.
Because the Eng family has made tofu in Chinatown since 1933, and since the 2019 revival at 81 Division St the shop sets its tofu pudding fresh daily and sells wholesale to Michelin-starred kitchens.
Order Warm tofu pudding (dou fu fa)
It is closed Mondays, and the tofu pudding is best eaten warm on the spot rather than carried home.
From @fongon1933 on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 10Chinatown · $$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 65 Bayard St
The Seid family's ice cream shop on Bayard Street since the late 1970s, scooping Chinese-inflected flavors like lychee, black sesame, red bean, taro and pandan in its dragon-logo yellow cups.
Because the Seid family has scooped lychee, black sesame and taro at 65 Bayard St since the late 1970s, decades before those flavors became standard on dessert menus around the city.
Order Lychee ice cream
Order from the house list of Chinese-inflected flavors rather than the familiar standbys, and eat fast because the dragon-logo cup won't slow a July melt.
Photo: Jason Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo: Jason Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0
Good to know
- Which spot is BYOB and good for a group?
- Peking Duck House is BYOB, so pick up a bottle on the way, and one whole Peking duck feeds two to three people with the pancakes.
- Is dim sum with rolling carts still around?
- Golden Unicorn still runs weekend rolling-cart dim sum service, so go Saturday or Sunday morning and flag down whatever is steaming.
- Any cash-only spots or timing tips?
- Great N.Y. Noodletown is cash only, so bring bills, and go before the evening rush thins out the roast duck in the window; for Nom Wah, weekend waits on Doyers Street get long, so aim for a weekday morning instead.