Where to Eat in NYC’s Original Chinatown

In 2024, NYC’s original Chinatown is a densely packed neighborhood where established bakeries and dim sum spots share loud, traffic-congested blocks with up-and-coming restaurants representing everywhere from Northern Mexico and Western Europe to Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and The Philippines.

On Canal Street and East Broadway, you can enjoy everything from Peking Duck served on white tablecloth to handmade chocolates infused with Southeast Asian flavors like calamansi and ube.

Whether your budget is $10 or $200, you’ll find something to eat in Chinatown that will leave you wanting to explore more. Here are 11 places to eat in NYC’s original Chinatown.

Corima

Located next to the iconic Chinatown mural, Corima is a modern Mexican restaurant led by Chef Fidel Caballero, who grew up on both sides of the Texas/Chihuahua border. Don’t expect traditional tacos and enchiladas here. The tasting menu, which Chef Fidel recommends all first-time visitors try before sampling the a la carte menu, is replete with items that demand you forget every prior Mexican dining experience.

Part of the fun is that the tasting menu is not posted on the Corima website. And the Corima Instagram page only drops hints. You can book a table on Resy.

Curry House

Chinatown is also the best Manhattan neighborhood for Malaysian food. There’s no Little KL, but Chinatown does seem to have the borough’s highest concentration of Malaysian restaurants. Curry House has Thai staples like pad Thai and tom yum, but as the owners are from Ipoh, it’s best to try dishes like bah kut teh, which is a pork rib-based Chinese herbal soup that translates to “meat bone tea.” Classic char kuey teow is typically served with thin noodles, but the Curry House version uses thin rice noodles. And the slow-cooked meat in the curry beef is tender enough to cut with a plastic fork.

For dishes that are more entry-level, you can’t go wrong with the Ipoh Shredded Chicken Noodle Soup or the classic Hainanese Chicken, which comes in three different sizes. You’ll also have the choice of dark, white meat or a mix. The white meat is tender enough, but owner Jennifer Tang prefers the dark meat, which comes on the bone.

Hwa Yuan Szechuan

Hwa Yuan has a special occasion vibe. This upscale three-level East Broadway landmark has a history dating back to the 1980s and is known for xiao long bao, cold sesame noodles and Peking Duck. The latter is prepared at your table by laser-focused servers wearing protective gloves who will tell you to eat the skin first.

The extensive menu of 100 items also includes Chinese takes on French classics like foie gras and tuna tartare.

Jing Fong

Coming to NYC’s original Chinatown without trying a dim sum spot is like doing a Little Italy food tour and skipping the pasta. Jing Fong has been around since 1978 and also has an Upper West Side location. The new, scaled-down Chinatown location at 202 Centre Street seats around 125, with cart service available daily until 3:30 p.m.

The shrimp or beef stuffed rice noodles are a must-try from the dim sum menu, as are the har gow (shrimp dumplings). For the more adventurous, there are dishes like chicken feet and durian pastry puffs. While dim sum is the main attraction here, there are dozens of larger plates like clams with black bean sauce and the more extravagant abalone shrimp pumpkin tower.

Kopitiam

This no-frills 65-seat cafe, which means “coffee shop” in Hokkien, filled a few voids when it opened in NYC’s Chinatown back in 2017. Firstly, this is still the only Malaysian spot where you can have all-day breakfast items like kaya butter toast, which is thick-cut toast smeared with a little bit of butter and a lot of chef/owner Kyo Pang’s pandan kaya jam. That’s the same jam that she sells in nine-ounce jars.

Then, there’s the extensive coffee and tea menu. Drinks are served in clear pouches. Cham is a mix of the two with condensed milk.

Last but not least is the dessert menu. While offering desserts is not remarkable by itself, the mix of hard-to-find options like honeycomb cake and the increasingly popular around Manhattan kuih talam makes for a dessert menu as notable as anything on the savory side. The former doesn’t have any honey but gets its name from the honeycomb-looking middle, while the latter is lighter, with the texture of Jello and custard’s love child, and has the perfect balance of sweet and salty.

Kyuramen

Kyuramen is probably the most fun place on this list. East Asian pop tunes play in the background as servers carry yakitori platters and ramen bowls to a mix of tourists and locals. Each booth has a bell you ring when you’re ready to place your order.

There are multiple locations, but not all have elevated honeycomb seating like the one in Chinatown does. The Bowery spot is also the only location with a Matcha Cafe Maiko counter at the entrance. Yet that doesn’t mean you have to skip dessert at Kyuramen. The matcha tiramisu is served in a small wooden box and topped with a generous layer of matcha powder. But the Japanese Cherry Blossom Jelly captures the Kyuramen vibe more than any other dessert.

Le Dive

This Parisian cafe gets its inspiration from the French capital’s 11th arrondissement. The massive outdoor seating area makes Le Dive seem like the only place to eat on its Canal Street block, which is closed to traffic. Executive Chef Nicole Gajadhar designed the food menu, which is a mix of seasonal items and permanent dishes like artichoke, falafel and steak frites. The latter three have become classics in the short two-year span that Le Dive has been open just a block from where Chinatown meets the Lower East Side.

The oysters are all from the East Coast and served with a rose mignonette heavy on the shallots. The fresh whipped ricotta may stand out the most. It’s light, airy, smooth and soaked in a mix of honey and olive oil. If you forgo the bread that comes with it, it could be a dessert. Speaking of desserts, they also have a crème caramel made in-house and a variety of gelato options.

West New Malaysia

This is the oldest dedicated Malaysian restaurant still operating in Chinatown. Now in its fifth decade and third generation, West New Malaysia moved to a larger Bayard Street location in 2022. The front of the menu lists the 10 best-sellers, half of which are entry-level.

You can’t go wrong with the roti canai, but you also have to try the mee goreng, which, like roti, celebrates the Indian influence on Malaysian cuisine. Laksa has been gaining popularity in recent years, and their (asam) version is the spicy and sour one, as opposed to the more common and spicier version, which can’t be modified for Western tastes.

Wok Wok Southeast Asian Kitchen

At Wok Wok, you’ll find unique takes on Southeast Asian staples like roti, laksa and the rice-based nasi lemak. The beef rendang stew is a must-try meat dish by itself. But you can also enjoy it here with nasi lemak, which comes in a few different versions.

If you’re not experienced with Malaysian food, you might only be familiar with the crispy, flaky presentation of roti, known as roti canai. That’s the one that’s usually served with a small bowl of chicken curry for dipping. But at Wok Wok, you can get it stuffed with cheese or beef. The latter version is called roti murtabak and is not easy to find outside Urban Hawker or Elmhurst, Queens.

Wu’s Wonton King

Wu’s Wonton King dominates the southeast intersection of East Broadway and Rutgers with its gritty outdoor dining spot mere steps from the window where you can’t miss the whole fish and king crab swimming in fish tanks as they look straight ahead for all passersby to see.

Some tables have rotating glass that diners can use to spin favorites like fried grouper, rice rolls and clams in black bean sauce around the table for sharing. The duck, which you’ll see several of hanging in the window along East Broadway, is served with bao so that you can stuff your own bun(s) with crispy meat, scallion and cucumber.

Xi’an Famous Foods

The setting is simple here. But get ready for some of the best dumplings and noodle dishes in Manhattan’s Chinatown. If you think there aren’t enough lamb dishes on most Chinese menus, this is the place for you.

Noodle dishes like stewed pork and spicy cumin lamb are available dry or as a soup. The spicy and sour dumplings come in three versions and have taken off to the point where you can now buy frozen bags of 30 to go. Those are also available as a soup, which is a perfect way to try them for the first time.

The burgers are the most unique item on the menu. Picture the spicy lamb cumin noodle dish, with the lamb, onions and peppers sandwiched between griddled white bread, known as mo.