Chatham Square Restaurant
6 Chatham Sq
(212) 587-8800
Pricing:Cheap
Venue: Sit Down
Cuisine: Chinese, Dim Sum
Favorite Dish(es): Steamed shrimp rolls, Crystal Shrimp Dumplings, BBQ Pork Buns
Lately we’ve been on a dim sum streak. It’s the ultimate recession meal plan. As mentioned in our previous dim sum posts, we’re usually too lazy (and hungry) to get up and make it all the way down to Chinatown before the big rush on the weekends. However, this one time we had early afternoon plans in the area and Dim Sum fit perfectly into the schedule, so we set out to check out Chatham Sq Restaurant, at the corner of Mott and Chatham Square (across from Dim Sum Go Go). It’s a much smaller place than the main Dim Sum bastions (Jing Fong and Golden Unicorn), but is just as busy as the larger restaurants with equally high turnover, making it good for small groups and impatient (redundant) New Yorkers.
THE GOOD
The star of the show. Steamed shrimp rice crepe/rolls. Nothing fancy here, just a great crepe skin and fresh shrimp.
Fresh, perfectly steamed crystal shrimp dumplings. Some of the best we've had in Chinatown.
Steamed Char Siu Bao, or BBQ Pork Buns. Sure, you can get these almost anywhere in Chinatown, but these were served fresh and hot, with a very tasty BBQ pork filling. We saved one for the road as dessert.
THE NOT SO GOOD
We were in a rush and didn’t feel very adventurous, so we made a few bad judgment calls trying to play it safe. Next time, we’re just going to order what the old grannies at the other tables are ordering.
Here are some of the other less notable dishes we encountered:
These are supposed to be Shao Long Bao, but were small, wrinkled, and overcooked with no soup.
Some sort of firm, flavorless fishcake. Not horrible, but a waste of space.
They looked nice, but were super doughey on the inside, like they were filled with extra dumpling skin. All dump, no ling.
All in all, the bill for two (very stuffed) people came out to less than $22. Well worth waking up a little early on the weekend to do brunch the Chinatown way.
Filed under: Cheap, Chinatown, Chinese, Dim Sum, Good for Groups, Sit Down Tagged: | chatham, chatham square, Cheap, Cheap eats, Chinatown, chinese food nyc, Dim Sum, dim sum go go, Good for Groups, jing fong, mott street, new york dim sum, nyc chinatown, shao, Shao Long Bao
glad you guys made it to this place. they have the best pastries in chinatown if you ever go back for something other than dimsum (formerly called hop sing). they’re still one of the few old school places left.