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Ian Hunter's Guide to New York's Best Restaurants, Bars, and Gourmet Markets

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I happen to absolutely LOVE Dim Sum..... A Top 20 to choose from is generously given to you here!  :)  Shrimp Dumplings... no greater dish in the world.  At the bottom, I list the best shop to BUY pre-made Dim Sum either fresh or frozen for your home!!!  There are Dim Sum restaurants outside of Chinatown... but I find them less authentic and even the good ones are far more expensive. I therefore limit my list to Chinatown!
 
1) Double Eight Palace: 88 E Broadway @ Forsyth; 941-8886; Located under the Manhattan bridge on the 2nd floor of a Chinese Mini-Mall - this huge place is amazing. Truly authentic Dim Sum that is completely mainstream in nature as well. You know it's good when 98% of the restaurant is Asian.  Also, see This Article.
 
2) Golden Unicorn: 18 E Broadway @ Catherine; 941-0911; Gets very crowded; Huge 3rd floor palace of Dim Sum. I've been here 25+ times; Always good, sometimes great. Slightly more pricy but still cheap. An absolute must try in this genre.
 
3) Jing Fong: 20 Elizabeth @ Bayard-Canal;  964-5256; Best looking of the major Chinatown Dim Sum Palaces; Huge place; Very popular; Like eating in a warehouse decorated by Chinese dragons and other decor; Reliable.
 
4) Mandarin Court: 61 Mott @ Bayard-Canal;  608-3838; Incredibly good tasting Dim Sum - especially Shrimp Dumplings and Shrimp Noodle; Extremely small place - 20 tables or so and poorly decorated but food is amazing.
 
5) Sun Hop Shing: a/k/a Chatham Restaurant: 21 Mott St @ Mosco near Chatham Sq;  267-2729;  Very inexpensive; Very true to style; Has all the classic favorites; Also a Tea House; Voted #1 in City Search for Dim Sum.
 
6) Ping's Seafood: 22 Mott St @ Mosco;  602-9988; Seafood specialist;  Cantonese shellfish is what they are known for when not dolling out top shelf Dim Sum 10-3pm all week long. Gets packed and you may share a table but it is Dim Sum Heaven.
 
7) Oriental Garden: 14 Elizabeth @ Bayard-Canal;  619-0085;  Fresh out of the tank seafood and a huge selection of Dim Sum. Up and comer.  Great place for a regular meal as well.  More pricy than others but worth it as it is still dirt cheap! 
 
8) Nice Restaurant: 35 E Broadway @ Catherine;  406-9510;  500 seat Dim Sum restaurant that is solid all around. Great mix of choices and options. If Golden Unicorn is crowded.... head here to this nearby option!
 
9) New Green-Bo:  66 Bayard @ Elizabeth-Mott;  625-2359;  This place is found under Chinese Restaurants in the Restaurant guide. They have unreal Soup Dumplings. Mostly a hole in the wall, this restaurant was ranked in the Top 5 in the United States by the USA Today recently.
 
10) Joe's Shanghai: 9 Pell @ Bowery-Mott;  233-8888;  There are locations of this place outside of Chinatown. Incredible Soup Dumplings is what they are known for. More upscale than other Chinatown Restaurants, you can't go wrong here!
 
FOR SOUP DUMPLINGS
-Last two restaurants are not PURE Dim Sum restaurants... more regular Chinese restaurants but you can order Dim Sum and more importantly, they have the BEST Soup Dumplings in Manhattan.  Green Bo- the best on the planet.  You can go to these two for DIM SUM of course as well!  They's rank in the top 3 for Dim Sum - again, just no pushcarts.
 
 
BUYING DIM SUM FOR HOME
 
May May:  35 Pell @ Bowery-Mott; 21/21/I:  406-9809;  Delicious Dim Sum! Frozen food perfectly cooked; Chinese condiments.