Dim Sum at Nom Wah Tea Parlor

I love this Robins Egg blue old hutch!

 

Sticky rice with sausage (left), and turnip cake (right)

 

Waiters wear a graphic of the restaurant on t-shirts.

 If you like dim sum, there are a lot to choose from in New York’s Chinatown.  Nom Wah Tea Parlor sits on the elbow of Doyers, which is one of the neighborhood’s most crooked and shortest streets.  It’s a relatively quiet and almost forgotten stretch but so rich in Irish and Chinese immigrant histories.  There are dim sum “palaces” that are multi-floor, cavernous and heaving with activity.  Nom Wah is not, rather it is instantly comfortable with the air of bygone days still lingering.  Step inside and it’s a familiar feeling, maybe familial, since the business passed batons between Uncle Wally Tang to nephew Wilson Tang over a year ago.  It’s heartening to see a younger generation not only bring new life to an establishment that began in 1920 but for a 30-something, former financier to see opportunity and success outside of “big business.”

You order by checking off a list of dim sum items in English.  My all-time favorite dishes include the shrimp rice roll, turnip cake and sticky rice in lotus leaf.  Do you know the feeling when you’re walking through a crowded and noisy restaurant, you notice little and look at nobody but for the way out?  At Nom Wah, I saw everybody, which says a lot about its non-chaotic ambience and organization.  I really liked the diversity of the patrons: five Asian kids in their early 20s, a family of tourists, two elderly Chinese women chatting over tea, and a group of eight non-Asian, college-aged friends.  

Comments

[Michelle Dawson]

I've been there and loved it!

[Joli]

YUM!

[Annmarie J.]

Yes, I love dim sum and especially when there's English involved! LOL.

[Lillian]

That hutch is gorgeous and YUM the food looks yummy.