One of the city’s oldest Chinatown restaurants is currently planning an exciting new expansion to join Pier 57’s highly anticipated new food hall.
Nom Wah Tea Parlor is widely celebrated as one of the most historic Chinese restaurants in New York. The restaurant bares the rare honor of being the oldest continuously running restaurant in Chinatown, and was originally established at 15 Doyers Street in 1920, back when the street was known as the “Bloody Angle” due to the rampant gang violence that used to saturate the neighborhood. The restaurant began as a tea parlor, and was particularly well known for its mooncakes, which often drew out long crowds waiting in lines outside the door. By the second half of the century though, Nom Wah began selling the specialty that many fans now recognize it by – dim sum.
Today, over a century after opening up its original Chinatown location, Nom Wah is recognized by many as one of the city’s premier dim sum dining destinations. Their dim sum has proven to be so popular that the restaurant even hosted the Met Gala pre-party in 2015, and the restaurant has been featured in multiple New York-based films like The Amazing Spider Man 2. Nom Wah was even responsible for the invention of the “baogel”, a hybrid dish that fuses a cha siu bao with a classic New York bagel. Beyond New York, many fans recognize Nom Wah from their popular brand of frozen dumplings, which can be shipped nationwide.
Now, after initiating a relatively recent period expansion, the Nom Wah team is currently getting ready for their next big move. Their latest expansion will see the restaurant developing a brand new outpost for the hotly anticipated Pier 57 Food Hall. Powered by The Jams Beard Foundation and the management and investment team behind Chelsea Market, Pier 57 is currently developing a brand new food hall that intends to bring the best and brightest of New York’s culinary scene and house them under one roof at Hudson River Park. We previously covered the announcement that acclaimed Thai restaurant Zaab Zaab would be opening up at Pier 57, and now it appears that Nom Wah will be joining the venerable group of restaurants preparing to operate in the new food hall.
According to a sample menu provided with their application (which is by no means final), Nom Wah will be offering both pan fried noodles as well as their signature dim sum. Noodle options include pulled char siu pork, crispy chicken, and market vegetables, while dim sum options include shrimp dumplings, scallion pancakes, chicken soup dumplings, pan fried pork dumplings, and sweet chili tofu buns. Additionally, Nom Wah will serve red bean buns peach buns for dessert, as well as their classic teas.
The team at Nom Wah is currently looking to acquire a beer and wine license for the new outpost, and are currently proposing operating hours of 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM every day, seven days a week. Of course, the food hall at Pier 57 is still quite a ways away from opening, but you can follow Nom Wah on Instagram for updates on all of their latest endeavors.
