#94 – SHRIMP AND SNOW PEA LEAF DUMPLINGS at NOM WAH TEA PARLOR

For the third year in a row, I’m going to attempt to eat every single item on Time Out New York’s annual 100 Best Dishes list. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100. Let the gluttony continue…

Hip and classic restaurants like Brooklyn Farmacy and Torrisi Italian Specialities really link present food trends with the past. Old-time dishes like egg creams and the Delmonico steak have been re-imagined and introduce to a new generation of eaters.

Nom Wah Tea Parlor certainly belongs on that list of restaurants bridging the gap between old and new NYC too. Technically, this is the oldest dim sum parlor in the city, first serving pastries and Chinese bites in 1920. In 2010, it underwent a renovation and is now owned by Wilson Tang, the nephew of one of the previous owners. While the menu remains authentic, there is now a Twitter feed and the restaurant is firmly planted in the current generation.

We arrived late on a Sunday and were shocked that the dining room, which is really more of a diner, was packed. I guess we’re not the only ones who eat lunch at 3pm on the weekends. However, it didn’t take long for one of the surly waiters to find us a table.

Instead of a menu, you get a check-list and I began checking off the items I wanted to try not worrying too much about price since most hovered around $3.

And then the food started coming. A giant savory roast pork bun. The underwhelming and rather soupless soup dumplings. Strands of chewy and stretchy rice rolls topped with fatty nubs or pork spare ribs. The same unusually delicious rice roll texture wrapped around fried crullers drizzled with sweet brown sauce. Plump and tender eggplant stuffed with a shrimp cake.

We actually never got the Turnip Cake, which I’m positive I checked off, but at that point we were too full to eat anything else. We didn’t even finish all the starchy bites that did arrive.

However, every bite of the Time Out list item was consumed. The surprisingly light and fresh shrimp dumplings were perhaps the prettiest dumplings I’ve ever seen. The translucent wheat wrappers held a moist patty of shrimp, scallions, and snow pea leaves! The unlikely vegetable adds a fresh herbal quality that helps cut the richness of the seafood. It’s a pleasant little bite with a little bit or earth and a little bit of sea.

Nom Wah is a great way to relive the history of Chinatown without worrying about the gang violence that took place on Doyers Street back in the 1930’s. Now the violence is all about who will get a table for brunch.

Would Nom Wah Tea Parlor’s Shrimp and Snow Pea Leaf Dumplings make my Top 100 of the year? The unique fresh ingredients adds another level to the dim sum staple of dumplings and they get my vote with a 9 out of 10.