A Throwback Dim Sum Spot Has Opened in Nomad (2024)

Hong Kong-style cha chaan tengs (tea restaurants) have opened by the handful in Chinatown and the Lower East Side over the last few years, including places like M Star, S Wan, and Mabu Café. With their engaging menus featuring hearty soups, dim sum, all-day breakfasts, over-rice dishes, curries, and tomato-sauced pastas, these places unite East and West into a global cuisine.

So, when I learned that Nomad Tea Parlour was opening at 244 Fifth Ave near 28th Street, I assumed it would be some version of a Hong Kong cha chaan teng. This one comes from Jae Yang and Mandy Zhang, the latter a partner at the notable Midtown Hunan restaurant Blue Willow. I went to Nomad Tea Parlour recently with a party of four to find out exactly what was being served.

For starters there are several items one might find in a cha chaa teng, including dim sum as good as any at Royal Seafood or Golden Unicorn. Shrimp har gow ($14), four to a steamer, were plump and pink with the thinnest wrappers imaginable; while the scallion pancake, flaky and light, marshaled on a long green plate in wedges, was one of the best in town.

Another dish that at least channeled the spirit of Hong Kong tea parlors was Coca Cola chicken wings ($16); they were not nearly as sweet as you might imagine and a worthy addition to the city’s chicken-wing panorama. The dan dan noodles were just so-so, lacking the funk of the Sichuan originals. Much better was a Singapore-style fried rice bursting with fragrant duck, a variation on Singapore fried noodles.

Eventually, the menu turns into a celebration of Chinese American fare, with a menu that parallels the banquet halls of Chinatown, minus much of the large-format seafood. This sort of Chinese menu ruled Midtown decades ago at Cantonese chains like Shun Lee and Philippe Chow. Why revive it in Nomad? Among the luxury high-rise hotels in Nomad, maybe this sainted cuisine now seems novel.

Naturally, there’s a salt and pepper noodle dish, which may remind you of Japanese tempura or Sicilian fried squid. “Wu’s signature pork chop” ($28) is a wonderfully fatty and juicy chop cut up into small pieces and fried crisp, sprinkled with fried shallots. The XO rice rolls — name checking a famous Hong Kong sauce invented in the 1980s and almost immediately popular in our own Chinatown — is something akin to Chinese American chow fun, with a slight spicy fish-laced kick. There are plenty of vegetable dishes, too, including garlic sauce eggplant ($20), a take on a Cantonese classic that features the purple vegetable in a thick dark sauce with red pepper and scallions.

The most outstanding dish is the walnut shrimp ($28): Not quite in the dim sum canon, the recipe coats fried jumbo shrimp in a mayo-like sauce and then tosses in candied walnuts, which retain their crunch. It could double as dessert.

What to drink? The list of alcoholic beverages is as long as the food menu. For a Chinese restaurant, there’s an unusual emphasis on wine, and the wines are generally well-matched to the food. I couldn’t resist ordering a glass of Pray Tell’s Fruit Snacks ($18), a blend of Pinot Noir, Syrah, Merlot, and Malbec from Oregon. Light, sweet, and fruity, it had enough acid to complement the sweeter dishes like walnut shrimp and garlic eggplant.

There are strong co*cktails, of course, like doctors orders ($22) — a martini served in a cordial glass with both vodka and gin flavored with ginseng, for a dirty-martini effect. As usual, beer may be your best option, but this being nominally a tea house, five teas are available by the pot for $12 to $20, including jasmine and a chamomile and chrysanthemum blend.

In many ways, Nomad Tea Parlour is a nostalgic throwback to the luxury Cantonese restaurants of New York’s past, with a yearning for historical Hong Kong as evidenced by the antique advertising placards distributed here and there in the dining rooms. Despite some unevenness in the food, it’s a restaurant worth visiting, if only for its reinterpretation of Chinatown classics with a little cha chaan teng in the mix.