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Neighborhood in New York City, US
Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Manhattan's famous Chinatown is a lively neighborhood, full of good values in restaurants and food shopping. Also on sale are cheap knockoffs of designer labels made in China, and all sorts of trinkets and toys. Chinatown is a much larger neighborhood in population and area than it used to be a few decades ago, and for all practical purposes encompasses most of "Little Italy" and a large portion of what was traditionally called the Lower East Side, north of Canal Street and on the north side of the Manhattan Bridge overpass. Indeed, in a real sense, it can be said that the center of Chinatown is no longer on Mott Street between Canal Street and Chatham Square (though that stretch is well worth visiting), but has moved further north and east to East Broadway between Chatham Square and Pike Street and Grand Street between the Bowery and Chrystie Street, where locals shop for foodstuffs - and you can, too, for good values.
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At this square at the confluence of several major streets, there is a memorial archway to Chinese-Americans who died in World War II which has some interesting calligraphy. Also in the square is a statue of Lin Zexu, a Chinese scholar who opposed the opium trade in the 19th century.
An excellent place to relax and people-watch. Early in the mornings, people practice their tai chi there. If you're interested, some of these people might teach you a little bit of it. At times, a group of women practices traditional Chinese fan dances. Also, there are usually basketball tournaments in the summer you can either participate in or watch. In the afternoon when school is out, many adolescents hang out in this park.
Exhibits on the history and culture of Chinese-Americans.
The museum, a non-sectarian cultural organization based in the restored 1887 National Historic Landmark Eldridge Street Synagogue, presents the culture, history and traditions of the great wave of Jewish immigrants to the Lower East Side drawing parallels with the diverse cultural communities that have settled in America. The museum offers guided tours of the synagogue, new exhibits and programs -- including concerts, neighborhood walking tours and film screenings.
When many tourists arrive in Chinatown, they are greeted by the stench of dead fish that are sold along the streets. It's definitely a sight worth seeing since it is a distinct quality of Chinatown.
This is in back of a jewelry and gem shop; no kidding! Both the Banh Mi Saigon (pork) and Banh Mi Ga (chicken) sandwiches are fantastic. Get them to go and eat them in a nearby park such as the one on the corner of Spring and Mulberry, a few blocks north and one block west. Note: Do not confuse this place with Saigon Banh Mi So at 369 Broome St, which serves sandwiches that are fine but nowhere near as good.
Very inexpensive food, reliable soups that are especially welcome in cold weather. Very quick service. They have side dishes of offal (pig's ears, etc.) for those who like them. They are also known for their Teochew country-style duck. There is another branch with an identical menu at 216 Grand St., between Mott and Elizabeth. Cash only.
Enjoy the "regular" flavors like taro, green tea, lychee, black sesame, mango, and coconut (or the "exotic" flavors like strawberry, vanilla...), and don't neglect the sorbets. The owner also experiments and creates new flavors. Even though there is a Haagen Dazs down the street from this ice cream store, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is the go-to place for ice cream when you visit Chinatown. On a nice, sunny day, you'll most likely find a long line of customers outside the store waiting to purchase their ice cream. That is how popular this store is. If you really like the ice cream, you may purchase one of their Chinatown Ice Cream Factory t-shirts.
This bakery offers a wide assortment of traditional and fusion buns, pastries, cakes, as well as an assortment of drinks and bubble teas. All their buns are freshly baked every morning so the quality and consistency is always there. It's a self-serve bakery so you can easily pick and choose while taking your time.
宏安
This family-run shop has been serving elaborate Chinese-style tofu pudding since 1933. Sweet or savory toppings available. If you've never tried tofu pudding before, it's worth having: surprisingly flavorful and different from other kinds of tofu you might be more familiar with. The shop also sells other Chinese snacks and drinks like sticky rice cakes, grass jelly, and herbal tea. Nearly everything is vegan (you can ask them to leave off the dried shrimps from the savory pudding).
This restaurant, which is open late, has the feel of a Chinese diner. It can be very crowded at peak hours. Try the noodle soups ($5.25-7.95) and congees ($2.50-8.50), the ginger-scallion lo mein ($5.50), the barbecued items, and the salt baked dishes, but don't neglect the less inexpensive specials, like the dishes with chives or pea shoots (around $11.95-15.95, with different charges depending on choice of beef, chicken, shrimp, scallops, etc.).
This is the most famous of the Shanghainese restaurants in Chinatown, but not the best. Like most every other Shanghainese restaurant, it serves the popular "soup dumplings" (xiaolong bao in Chinese) which contain either pork or crab+pork with soup all within a dumpling. However, due to its popularity, here are some tips: Don't wait on line, go only at odd hours and order adventurously (get things like eel).
Small restaurant decorated with caricatures of Hong Kong celebrities on the walls. If you hit the morning stream of customers, you'll definitely have to wait for a seat since their breakfast is... to die for! Extremely cheap! This restaurant is the best restaurant to eat at if you're looking for something similar to the diners in Hong Kong. A mix of Chinese and American tastes. Definitely try their French toast, pan fried rice noodle, and iced milk tea!
This is a very good restaurant and a good value. They serve their noodles nicely al dente and use good roast pork and roast duck. Their vegetables are fresh, too. Excellent rice dishes and casseroles, too — for example, they make a delicious spicy curried oxtail rice dish.
This is a very cheap place to eat, as you can easily fill up on a single dish. For example, their standout dish is 10 steamed pork dumplings for $3. Some dumpling connoisseurs consider Sheng Wang's dumplings the best in Chinatown today. Most of the rest of their dishes are noodle soups with hand pulled or peeled noodles made in house, and be warned that for a single person, trying to eat an order of dumplings plus a bowl of noodle soup is likely to be quite excessive. Also, one type of tripe they use in soups can be overly chewy. But you can't beat the value.
大福星, previously known as He Nan Flavor
This very informal eatery across the street from Sara Delano Roosevelt Park serves food from the province of Henan. All items are good, but the highlight is the Spicy Big Tray Chicken ($12.95), a very large soupy, stewy bowl of flavor, including cumin seeds and a generous helping of potatoes, that's not quite like any other style of Chinese food. Take at least one friend with you if you can, so you can share the chicken and some cold dishes. The proprietress is very nice.
This bakery store offers numerous Chinese breads, delicacies, and both hot and cold beverages/snacks. It shares its name with a popular bakery store chain in Hong Kong.
This restaurant was opened in 2013 by personnel from the defunct South China Garden, which used to be around the corner on Mott St. The portions are large and the food is delicious. This is in the estimation of many people the best Cantonese restaurant in Chinatown right now, and best to go to with at least a couple of friends and a big appetite, so that you can share a few dishes. If you like chicken, get the garlic fried chicken, which is one of their standout dishes.
Some of the best cheesecake in the city, with individual-sized slices so that you can sample multiple flavors.
A decades-old Cantonese restaurant with classic dishes (Roast Pork Lo Mein, etc.) Open late on weekends (until 4AM), but like many other Chinatown restaurants, cash only.
The establishment in its current incarnation was opened in 1994, but describes itself as a continuation of "America's first pizzeria" (established in 1905). Their coal oven pizza is served by the pie, not the slice. Many New Yorkers think it has coasted off its prior reputation for years, but tourists can sometimes be seen lined up outside the door.
Good seafood restaurant especially the seafood pan-fried noodles & calamari. Also has dim sum. This place can get very crowded during weekend dinner.
Can make the best Shanghainese food in Chinatown, but has some consistency problems. Many young Chinese-American couples have dates there. Do not be shocked if the check is delivered to you unbidden, but don't feel that it must be paid right away. It's easy to have a sizable meal here for around $15 and possible to eat here for less. "Temporarily closed for renovations" per their website as of June 2024.
This restaurant is part of a small chain with other Nyonya and Penang restaurants and is popular and crowded on weekends. Their roti canai is good. One word of warning, though: If you are looking for food like you had on your visit to Kuala Lumpur, for the most part, you won't get it here. Instead, you are likely to get very watered-down, Americanized versions of most of their Malaysian dishes. Expect to spend around $25/person for dinner.
More expensive than the average Chinatown restaurant and catering to a mixed clientèle of Chinese and non-Chinese, it is many connoisseurs' favorite spot for dim sum in Chinatown. All the food is made to order; no carts. Some of their non-dim sum items are also good. Dumplings are mostly excellent — tasty, with a good texture and thin wrapper — but there have been some problems in the past with overly doughy buns that then got mushy from condensation, so you might consider avoiding those.
Occupies a few floors. There is a bit more decor than at Jing Fong and the prices are a bit higher. Unfortunately, the food is mediocre.
It used to be housed in a huge eating hall on Elizabeth St. but moved into smaller quarters in 2021. The quality of the food is generally acceptable, if not refined, but it is best when fresh from the kitchen. They also have a new branch as of 2022 at 380 Amsterdam Ave at 78th St. on the Upper West Side, but do not assume the food is the same there.
Nom Wah was the first dim sum parlor in New York, opening in 1920. In 2011, they renovated, sprucing up the interior but leaving most of the old-fashioned feeling intact. A few new dishes were added, but the core of Nom Wah's menu remains Cantonese. They serve dim sum all day. Unfortunately, the quality of the items is not consistent.
Medium priced, but according to some, the best dim sum in Chinatown (others vehemently disagree). They have exotic offerings such as calamari and sugar cane shrimp.
Some of the best bubble tea in town, but price is slightly towards the expensive side compared to other bubble tea stores in the neighborhood.
A small (with a grand total of three seats) but very popular branch of this bubble tea shop chain, with inexpensive drinks and some rather quirky decorations, like Homer Simpson sitting on a bench out front and little coin-operated prize machines to entertain you while you wait in line. The tea can have a weird chemical taste and also be kind of dilute at the same time; your mileage may vary.
This local bar is pretty chill on the weekdays, but it can get packed on the weekends. Chinese-inspired cocktails & bar bites, plus a jukebox.
A fairly typical Best Western, with Wi-Fi and complimentary breakfast, in a good location.
Rock bottom accommodation. Single rooms are smaller than the size of a double bed, and the place is not exactly sparkling. Rooms have no roof, so there is no privacy, and you can hear everyone else packed in inches away from you. Wifi is slow. But you can't beat the price.
Shared bathrooms, roof "garden", and bike rental.
If New York hotel prices have made you resort to sleeping under a bridge, this may as well be your choice (pardon the pun), as it consistently ranks as one of the lowest-priced decent hotels in the city, and is also almost literally located under the Manhattan Bridge. The location is a bit remote and not quite charming, but the hotel does not lack anything in its limited-service standards, although it is on the small side with only 43 rooms and most facilities sized to match.
Standard chain hotel, with Wi-Fi, decent breakfast, and pets allowed for a fee. Reviewers often note friendly service.
Billing itself as "the oldest running hotel" in the city (the building has been housing a hotel for over a hundred years), the hotel is in an old building with rooms with hardwood floors and exposed brick walls, giving it a pretty unique feel. Lots of in-room amenities, although reviewers have noted issues with noise and cold showers.
Simple, clean, and quiet accommodations in a great location near the Grand St. subway station. All rooms require at least 1 flight of stairs up from street level (no elevator). Many rooms have shared bathrooms for the floor, and the cheapest have no windows, but there are options with private bathrooms and windows. But it's a low price for a bedbug-free room.
If you want to purchase cute Asian accessories or dolls, Elizabeth Center (also known as EC, for short), is the right place for you to shop. Once you enter, go down the escalator and all the shops downstairs sell cute Asian merchandise. If you want to take sticker pictures, EC has it too. It's on the first level in the far left corner of the building.
Hong Kong snack shop, very popular with locals and tourists alike. The staff are friendly and give samples.
Renovated several years ago from a dusty, old grocery store with tight aisles and rusty shelves into a brighter, more spacious store with a wider selection of goods, Asia Market supplies a variety of Asian ingredients, snacks, and drinks. Usually the difficult, hard to find Southeast Asian ingredients will most likely be available at this store. Even if something you want isn't available, the staff here is very friendly. You may leave the brand name of the product you want and they may try to order it for you. There is also a vegetable and fruit stand outside the store. Basically, this may be your one-stop store to shop for everything. One good example of the products this store has is fresh kaffir lime leaves.
This modest-sized store contains a large quantity of Thai goods of various descriptions, and also sells inexpensive prepared sweet and savory items. Friendly, helpful service.
This humongous store has almost anything you can think of and more, both raw and prepared. Seriously; go and see.
This is not a cheap snack, but their chicken and beef jerky are excellent and come in spicy and regular varieties. Unlike American-style jerky, Malaysian-style jerky is moist. Its sugar content may surprise you, so low-carb dieters, beware! There is nowhere to sit inside the store, so business is strictly for takeout.
This subterranean bookstore is a neighborhood gem, with a carefully curated selection of books. The books are fairly prices and cover a range of topics, such as philosophy, art, culture, history, mysticism, and esoterica.
Formerly McNally Robinson Booksellers, this independent bookstore features an extensive collection of magazines, fiction, and nonfiction. The store also features a cafe, as well as a number of ongoing events, signings, book clubs and discussion groups.
2 Bridges Music Arts sells new and used records, tapes and books while staging exhibitions and events from their post in a Chinatown mall. The space is meant to host overlapping tendencies in experimental music, art and knowledge production internationally.
By MTA bus
Several city bus lines including the M9, M15, and M103 traverse Chinatown.
By long distance bus
Chinatown is the home of several super-cheap long distance bus companies.; to various cities further afield; and to casinos in Atlantic City.
On foot or by bicycle
You can of course walk to Chinatown. If you're coming from Brooklyn, you can cross the Manhattan Bridge.
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