The 18 best dumplings in NYC

Wilson Tang's tea parlor and dim sum haunt (the oldest in New York City) is an all-day, cooked-to-order operation. The refreshingly light, crowd-favored shrimp and snow pea leaf dumplings are encased in slightly translucent rice wrappers.

The famous wontons with hot sauce—no. 6 on the menu—are reason enough to travel to Flushing, Queens if you aren't a local. For a reasonable price, this hallowed dumpling haven serves up 12 wispy-skinned pork and cabbage wontons swimming in a surprisingly temperate sea of chili oil, roasted chilies and pickled greens.

Michelin-starred chef Sungchul Shim has followed his fine dining restaurants with a new, more casual concept. Here, he’s serving up Korean hand rolls alongside mini bowls of pho and wang mandu, which are dumplings stuffed with pork, chive and tofu. With a nearly translucent wrapper and a pleasingly hefty size (wang mandu translates to “king dumpling”), a single mandu and a set of four hand rolls make for a perfect midtown lunch. 

At this Flushing favorite, piping hot xiao long bao are served so large they actually come with a straw. Filling up their entire steamer basket, these soup dumplings are plump with crab and have a dough that’s been dyed in pastel pinks and greens. It’s a food for the grid, but it’s also one for the books—the salty broth and slightly chewy bun make Shanghai Young Garden a soup dumpling destination. 

No dumpling crawl would be complete without a visit to this Lower East Side linchpin. Insiders flock to the bare-bones, in-and-out eatery for affordable plates of handmade pork and chive dumplings. A plate of six will run you under $3, so you might as well throw down an extra dollar for 10.

This Uyghur cafe has both the manty, a spiced meat-stuffed dumpling, and the fried pelmeni, a Russian dumpling soaked in butter. Uyghur food is hard to find, even in a city as big as New York, and Brighton Beach delivers for a taste of the chewy, hand-pulled dough. 

In a neighborhood teeming with ducks and spareribs, this vegetarian-focused dim sum house is a shift. Its oversized spinach dumplings arrive three to an order and the verdant, leaflike wrapping is a good indicator of what’s to come—hearty bites of minced spinach enlivened by generous doses of malty Chinese vinegar.

Bánh bột lọc, Vietnamese dumplings wrapped in translucent tapioca paper, shine on Van Da’s menu. Filled with shrimp and pork and served in banana leaves, they offer a distinctive chew from the tapioca wrapper. Fried dumplings, hiding savory mung beans beneath a layer of golden mochi and crispy shallots, are a must-order, too. 

This Flushing-born Chinese chainlet carries the cuisine of Xi'an, an ancient city in north-central China that was once a vital part of the Silk Road trade routes. Lamb is a menu focus, as seen in the dumplings stuffed with ground lamb meat, served in a spicy-sour sauce and topped with fragrant fresh cilantro.

This hyped Williamsburg restaurant has a Manhattan locale, too. Order the wok-seared long dumplings with Berkshire pork, the vegan bok choy potstickers and the broiler chicken dumplings with cinnamon red oil.

There's no shortage of no-frills, cheap dumplings in Sunset Park, but this dollar dumpling counter ranks among the best in all of New York. Find those greasy, crispy-on-the-outside, steamy-on-the-inside pork dumplings at a pocket-friendly price.

Famed for its wonton noodle soup, this Chinatown noodle house folds a whole piece of shrimp into each Hong Kong-style pork wonton. Floating in soup with springy yellow egg noodles, the wontons form a delicious vessel for soaking up the chicken broth.

Avoid the painfully long wait and plan your trip to this affordable Michelin-starred restaurant during off-hours. With dozens of dim sum plates available, there’s no wrong choice, but we’ll happily order seconds and thirds of the ever-expanding, paper-thin steamers with succulent shrimp and verdant chives.

This sister-owned, scratch-made Taiwanese dumpling house proudly stuffs each pocket with high quality meat and produce hailing from small, sustainable family farms in upstate New York. Signature flavors like the chicken and zucchini and “mighty veggie” are available year-round, while out-of-the-box special offerings like kung pao chicken change each month. When in doubt, order the 50/50, which includes two signature flavors of your choice.

A red-and-white color scheme covers this Chinatown dim sum spot, where dumplings (more than 24 types) are the focus. A neophyte-friendly menu is divided into categories like “fried,” “baked” and “steamed." Order the dim sum platter, where the artful array of ten items includes juicy shrimp and curry beef dumplings.

With wooden tables and red gingham seats, this perpetually packed West Village restaurant has a modern farmhouse look to match the menu. Its soup dumpling skin is made with saffron and leek, while the filling is a mix of fresh crab, pork, mushroom and yellow leeks.

A wide variety of xiao long bao—dumplings prepared in a bamboo steamer basket—includes spicy, salty egg yolk or black truffle dumplings. The crispy pan-fried pork dumplings, which come six to an order, are a must-eat, too. They're the perfect vessel for collecting excess chili oil and tangy black vinegar.

Fans of Chinatown’s dumpling stands can also get their fill all over town. Vanessa Weng, owner of Vanessa’s Dumpling House, has five locations where you can sample her handmade dumplings.