Ping - Dim Sum New York Chinatown

Christmas Joy New York City Entry #46

This being Christmas in New York, orthodox tradition demanded dim sum. Last night we slept with visions of dancing dumplings and steamed buns. Tonight we spin our dreidels. With Jing Fong largely filled with a private party, we walked to Ping, the two-story Cantonese seafood restaurant on Mott Street. Ping is somewhat more sedate, elegant, quieter, and smaller than the larger Hong Kong dim sum halls, but its ambiance was just right.

Ping’s dim sum included suitable renditions of traditional choices (the larger seafood dishes seemed the more creative, but we preferred quantity of selections to quality). As might be expected from the expertise of the kitchen, the choices tended toward fish and shrimp away from pork dishes. Ping does not wheel carts between the closely spaced tables, servers bear trays. There was no disappointment among the buns, dumplings, and rolls, even if they didn’t redefine dim sum. The dish that I will recall was a dessert: coconut balls filled with a runny grey-black center of sweet sesame. The contrasts of rich sweetnesses was a splendid surprise for Christmas noon.

And a Merry Christmas and Hanukah to all. And, if Bill O’Reilly will forgive me, Happy Holidays as well.

Ping Seafood Restaurant
22 Mott Street (near Worth Street)
Manhattan (Chinatown)
212-602-9988

http://www.vealcheeks.blogspot.com

Since GAF mentioned Jing Fong in the post above, this would appear to be an appropriate place. We were in NYC back in June and had one morning to ourselves and a number of reviews pointed us in this direction. We waited in line (though the locals rushed the door, completely ignoring the line when the doors opened) and then took a very, very long escalator to the second floor. Immense dining hall that filled up surprisingly quickly; the only surprise was that there seemed to be relatively few tables of tourists there. Chinese families predominated (it was a weekend morning) with only scattered gwailo. Doesn't matter: the food was great. Herewith a photo essay; no commentary since it has been too long and our consensus is clear that almost everything was excellent.

























Jing Fong Restaurant
20 Elizabeth Street (btn. Bayard and Canal)
New York, NY
(212) 964–5256; (212)964–5257
www.jingfongny.com
Subway:
NQRW, JMZ, 6 to Canal Street
BD to Grand Street