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Where is the tastiest dim sum these days?

Hi, i want to bring some out of towners to a nice dim sum restaurants. Any suggestions?

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  1. Hakkasan, but with an asterisk. I blew $50 at lunch there a couple of days ago. However, nothing else in New York comes close.

    1. Is "nice" code for "not in chinatown"? Or "nice" food...?

        1. Nom Wah - solid and adorable, very busy on the weekends though, better to go on a weekday.

          Dim Sum Gogo - been decent lately, kind of divey ambience.

          Jing Fong - largest dining room in NYC, more fun for the madhouse experience than for the food, which is just okay.

          Or head to Pacificana in Sunset Park, also a crazy scene but much better food than Jing Fong

          2 Replies
          1. re: sgordon

            +1 Dim Sum Go Go.

            Food is decent, despite its shabby ambience.

            1. re: kosmose7

              Amazing 88
              Golden Unicorn
              Hop Shing
              Or head to Lake Pavillion in Queens

          2. I like Golden Unicorn for the more traditional dim sum experience [ladies pushing the carts around].

            I went to Nom Wah recently and wasn't too impressed. It's more on the "expensive" side for dim sum and you order off a menu. Definitely caters to more of an American dining style.

            9 Replies
            1. re: AquaAllegoria

              Ordering off a menu for dim sum is not an American thing. The better places in Hong Kong started this. They steam your items to order that way.

              I recently took some out of town guests, who are rather dim sum newbies, to Golden Unicorn. It was my first visit in a few years. This is like the perfect place to experience dim sum with training wheels. The room is clean and bright and the carts have bilingual labeled photos on the front. The selection is pretty standard. The two best items we had were the shrimp shumai and the radish cake- which they griddle to order table side. Everything else was decent, though there were some gummy oversteamed items in the mix. Overall though, nothing really popped......A large tour group came in toward the end of the meal.

              1. re: Silverjay

                At GU i usually try to sit by the kitchen, so I can get items right out of kitchen or at least get a good feel what items have been around the restaurant a few times. Usually i get the Lo May Gai, the chicken feet, the spare rib, shumai, and har gow or is it har gao. ( not gonna worry about wrong phonetic spelling). I like to end with egg custard but I find the egg custard at the nearby bakery is better. As far as other dim sum places in Ctown, Golden Unicorn I find better than Jing Fong where I had really horrible shrimp, DSGG i like their originality but I've had too many unfresh items there, Red Egg I don't like at all and they double charged my credit card. Hop Shing I like for take out. Amazing 88 aka Triple 8's used to be great, then soso, and last time i went it was very good. I have to try 30 Pell again, its been quite awhile and probably changed hands 10 times since last I was there, but years ago it was the best. Nom Wah I went to recently after not going for decades, I didn't think it was as good as GU for dim sum. That being said, I agree that nothing at GU really pops, but the food is usually fresh, ( i never get the room temperature fried items, they usually taste older to me). Turnip cakes fresh grilled are usually good. As I'm typing, I remember a dim sum place called Vegetarian Paradise on Pell street had some good vegetarian dim sum, i'm not sure if it still exists.

                1. re: Silverjay

                  as Silverjay said ordering off the menu is not an american thing, most places (and every good place) in HK is off the menu, the carts are a relic of the past

                  ordering off the menu is way better bc the dim sum is much fresher

                  1. re: Lau

                    Ordering off the menu vs carts, freshness depends on how busy a place is and how they run their kitchen. I have ordered off menu and have gotten not so fresh items in a few places( including in Queens).I have ordered off carts and have gotten very fresh items. I often ask for items I don't see on carts and they go into kitchen and get it done for me. I have not been to HK, which ordering off the menu seems to be what is most prevalent these days, and undoubtedly fresh. But NYC is not HK. PS: i'm a relic of the past too lol

                    1. re: foodwhisperer

                      which place in queens is off the menu? i think pretty much every place in flushing is carts

                      btw cart is just luck of the draw as to when you run into the cart as to whether it will be fresh or not

                      ordering off the menu should be fresh to order although i think as you may have experienced that is not always the case in NY

                      1. re: Lau

                        #1 dim sum or #1 Restaurant or something with Number One at beginning of name, on Main St off menu dim sum.
                        With carts, I find you can tell if same cart is going around with same stuff. But even in cart places if you want, say Lo may gai, and they go into kitchen and bring it out, it is usually fresh. In other words you can request certain things you don't see.
                        Red Egg i've had terrible stuff ordered off menu. DSGG ( it was in evening which is not good time) I had old , very old, dim sum ordered off menu.
                        At Lake Pavillion, I have had fresh and good dim sum.

                        1. re: foodwhisperer

                          hmmm #1...not sure which place that is, ill go look around for it

                          1. re: Lau

                            it is on the corner ,same side of street as McDonalds, I think a block or two towards Northern Blvd. i think it has a red sign. I am pretty sure it is called #1 Chinese Restaurant

                2. re: AquaAllegoria

                  Almost all of the dim sum in Vancouver, the dim sum capital of North America is menu, not cart. In Los Angeles there are two tiers of dim sum--high quality and ordinary. All the high quality stuff is menu driven, all the ordinary stuff is off carts. My picks for the top dim sim in Manhattan Chinatown, Red Egg and Dim Sum Go Go, are both order off the menu.